http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,1152905,00.html "Michael Owen intends to ask Liverpool for a one-year extension on his contract at Anfield when talks over a new deal open next month."
Screw him after today...!!! That's not fair I know, he was isolated for long periods and often had 3 men climbing on him but he still has to step up a bit more and take his chances.
A one year extension is ridiculous. He should either commit himself to the club or ask to be sold. If he extends it 1 year, that means we will sell him next summer instead of this summer...thats all it comes down to. Either sign for 5 years or get out.
And realistically with his current play and durability over the last 3 years does anyone think he could make the pitch for a CL challenging team. Would he beat out Henry, Ronaldo, Raul, or horseface?
I firmly believe that if Owen were playing in a sqaud of class players who played their correct positions, got along well, had good team spirit, and were able to play good, flowing, attacking football, then he would succeed. Ronaldo's goal tally would cut in half were he playing for us right now.
Baros today showed for the ball, ran at people, and played like a lead striker. Now I will admit that MO is playing in a situation that doesn't help him but he is too one dimensional for what he thinks of himself. He isn't a threat when in the box unless played in for a quick ball, he never scores from a long strike, he heads a ball so few times that I can remember almost every one, he's no threat on a free kick, nor ( as we saw today) is he a PK scorer. He needs to be played in on the deck to score and he seems to have lost a step or two on the longer runs. If he wants to stay I'm ok with it but if he wants to hold us hostage I say hasta la vista, baby!
I just think that when you have a striker the quality of Michael Owen, you have to allow for his playing style and his shortcomings.. He's not a Thierry Henry-style of player, so we can't expect him to play like that and then get mad when he doesn't. If he gets quality service, he scores. We've seen him do it well over a hundred times.
I'm at the point where I don't even care if Owen stays or goes. If he wants to commit himself to the club for the long term, thats great and I'm glad to have him. If he isn't going to commit to the club THIS SUMMER, he should be sold for 25-30 million pounds, and we could more than replace him with that type of money.
i say sell him... not because he isnt a class striker (although you wouldnt beleive it over the last two years) but i honestly believe he is part of the reason we are so poor going forward... The team is set up around him, heskey plays becuase he is a good foil for micheal, the midfield revolves around trying to slide the ball through to micheal, we are so one dimensional it is unreal... Id much rather see a combination of FSP, baros, heskey, and cisse up front, at least the team then might play like a normal team, we might play with a bit more width (im sure half the reason we play so narrow is because were trying to play to micheal...) Baros shows a damn sight more determination that owen does, FSP can turn a game on its head, and heskey shows his best form when micheals not playing, mainly cos we actually cross the ball then... And cisse is just another addition... Let him go, be done with it, and lets get back to playig football.!
Too many kids, IMO. I think the last couple of seasons has taught us...experience, folks, experience. Baros is great, FSP shows alot of promise and I've read the hype on Cisse, but is it worth it to automatically assume we don't Owen because we have them??
youve got heskey for the experience, and he is a completely diferent player when micheals not playing... i just think we lay out the team tooo much around micheal, its hardly suprising heskey never scores because we dont play to suit his style.. were too busy revolving around micheal owen..
sounds cruel, a couple of years ago, or maybe five minutes after the cup final, if someone had said micheal owen leaving it would have been the end of the world.. but to be honest his contributions to the team, either with goals, or with attitude over the last two years have been minimal.. You see steven gerrard stepping up and making comments all the time, you see him geeing players up on the feild and working his arse off... micheal is a similar age, and one of the longest standing players at the club.. when have you ever over the last two seasons seen him encourage the other players, gee people up, all ive ever seen is him looking sulky and whingy when he misses a goal recently, or wandering around the pitch with his hands on his hips like hes bored.. For god sake, watch emile heskey, he may not be a striker in owens class, but he works his butt off for the team, as does baros, murphy, el hadj, and a fair few others.... I couldnt give a monkeys nuts if he left, and £30million would be too good to refuse tell ya what three reasons why he should go.. 1/ £30 million in the bank 2/ The team is too focused around him, and therefore we have no variety 3/ He doesnt seem to give a **** about the club can you give me three reasons why we should keep him
i was going on the figures suss55 bandied about chelsea might if there was another interested party, but i cant see micheal signing for chelsea.. might put madrids offer up a bit though.. was that your reason why he should stay then