The irony of Micheal Owen's european hopes

[glennaldo_sf]

With Oooh-goochicoo Onyewu at the back, Newcastle will definitely win the champions league.

Mmm.. maybe not next season, but the season after.

:D

[glennaldo_sf]

Anyhoo... being serious here... I don't really feel sorry for Owen. He knew EXACTLY what he was getting into at Real Madrid. They had Raul and Morientes - two linpins in both Real Madrid, and the Spanish national team... the former even being the captain. And they had Ronaldo ... possible the best player of his generation to compete with. Regardless of their form, these players, especially Ronaldo - were never going to be pushed down the pecking order. Owen should have selected his next club more wisely. Instead, he went for a team that already had three established world class strikers on their books. They brought Owen in to sell shirts, and increase their squad depth - but not to be a key first team player.

If they had wanted him, Arsenal or Manchester United would have been better fits for Owen. Even Alan Shearer failed to win anything at Newcastle

[three lions]

Bull.......he had the highest goal per minute......UNTIL....he began to start games regularly at the end of the season....infact he started in 12 of the last 14 games he played at RM......scoring 5 of his 13 goals
The more games he started the worst it got.....i guess thats one of the benefits of being a supersub....read em and weep.

R99......32 starts/2 subs......21 goals/2788 mintues.....a goal every 133 minutes

Owen....20 starts/16 subs........13 goals/1868 mintues.....a goal every 144 minutes

Raul..........31 starts/1 subs..........9 goals/2570 mintues..........a goal every 286 minutes


I'd be interested to see the "true" number of playing minutes in relation to their goals.. Anyways, he is back to the league where he belongs...

[brassmonkey]

I seriously dont know why Chelsea doesnt pick him up. They've got the money and they can hold on to Shevchenko for another year as a contingency plan. He's only 27 for christ sake, and you know that if he's healthy he will score goals.

[pookspur]

... He's only 27 for christ sake, and you know that if he's healthy he will score goals.

but, then, you also know that he won't be healthy.

[brassmonkey]

but, then, you also know that he won't be healthy.

It's not like he has a long history of injury up until last summer. He had surgery and he says he's stronger than ever. Again, even if he does break down, Chelsea can afford it, they can bring Sheva off of the bench.

[pookspur]

It's not like he has a long history of injury up until last summer...

it's not?

[brassmonkey]

it's not?

Well I wouldnt really call the hamstring thing a history of injury, he wasnt out for long and came back stronger than ever(Ballon d'or!). And there was like a 6 or 7 year gap between that and his foot injury his first season with Newcastle. You can't view those things as connected. And the foot thing had nothing to do with the knee injury. To my knowledge his foot is fine now. He doesnt have persistant problems with a certain part of his body that keeps giving out was the point I was trying to make. He's just a little unlucky.

[pookspur]

fair enough. i don't mean to come off quarrelsome about owen - whom i rate. but i have to be honest, much as i like him, i don't think i'd be terribly excited if my club were to shell out big money for him.

and for that very reason: hamstring, knee, foot, whatever - if we can say, based on history, that owen's going to score goals, we can also say, based on the past, that he's going to score fewer than his talent suggests, because he's going to be spending more than his share of time on the treatment table.

then again, as you said, we're talking about chelsea, and if 'my club' were (God forbid!) the blues, i guess i wouldn't be worried about value for the dollar (ok, pound) that much, after all.