Michael Owen is unique among England's strikers because of his guaranteed goalmouth impact
Kevin McCarra [Guardian]
February 12, 2008 1:04 AM
Lack of fitness and shortage of goals gave Fabio Capello reason enough to park Michael Owen on the bench for England's friendly with Switzerland last week. If the Newcastle United captain resents the demotion, it can be only because he feels that scarcity value alone should make him precious. Where else will the national team find a striker who specialises in scoring?
Capello was wholly within his rights to sideline Owen but the fact that the Italian included him in the squad at all showed a consciousness of the uncommon talent that lurks within the forward. With everything going wrong at Newcastle, Owen has still scored as if he cannot help himself. He traded in his pace for strength long ago, does not possess hardiness and has no one to ply him with chances, yet he struck against Middlesbrough and Aston Villa. Few others know how to be alone at the near post in a bustling penalty area.
The 28-year-old cannot be discarded entirely by Capello when he is unique among Englishmen. Even that statement undervalues Owen. Strikers of any nationality who guarantee impact in the goalmouth are rare. It is a craft that might almost be dying out. Manchester United, for instance, are the epitome of the modern side, with an ability to release people into the penalty area from deep positions, but they no longer have a predator like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer or Andrew Cole.
It showed when they were beaten in the derby match on Sunday, when City were secure in defence thanks to Micah Richards and Richard Dunne. United's goal in the 2-1 defeat came too late to matter, from the substitute midfielder Michael Carrick. Some of the losers' tameness was blamed on the suspension of Wayne Rooney. He might have helped but could have done so as a genuine centre-forward only if he had stifled his inclination to break from midfield.
That self-sacrifice had been made for England four days earlier and might well be demanded of him in future. Capello, with the debatable exception of Rooney, has no outright strikers. It looked briefly as if Reading's Dave Kitson might make the England squad, which would have been extraordinary for a player who did not arrive in the top flight until he was 26. In view of the alternatives there would have been nothing unreasonable about his inclusion.
That, all the same, reflects a dwindling of resources. It can be measured in the changes to the England squad in modern times. Say what you will about their actual worth to Sven-Goran Eriksson at the 2002 World Cup finals, but the head coach had the luxury of including a quintet of forwards in Owen, Teddy Sheringham, Robbie Fowler, Emile Heskey and Darius Vassell.
Four years later the options had shrunk to such an extent that the Swede's pen came to a halt as soon as he had jotted down the names of Owen, Rooney and Peter Crouch. The addition of the then 17-year-old Theo Walcott was a gesture of despair more than idealism. Eriksson could not bring himself to ferry, say, Jermain Defoe or Darren Bent to Germany.
This is not an exclusively English problem and in the rich Premier League the dearth is partly disguised by the acquisition of overseas talent. Liverpool, for instance, mustered £26.5m for Fernando Torres. One could sense the lengths to which clubs have to go when Chelsea met the full £15m valuation placed by Bolton on Nicolas Anelka, a great talent who set his career on the wrong course with that insistence on leaving Arsenal when he was 20.
At Stamford Bridge Avram Grant also has in the £24m Didier Drogba a forward who is an extraordinary assemblage of power, speed and deftness. Arsenal, for their part, might not be topping the Premier League without the acquisition of Emmanuel Adebayor. Tottenham can console themselves that a vast fee will be due for Dimitar Berbatov if he does insist on leaving.
Manchester United, with Louis Saha regularly injured, sometimes feel the lack of a true spearhead and there must be moments when the split that saw Ruud van Nistelrooy head for Real Madrid is rued. As Sir Alex Ferguson knows, prolific forwards are scarce. Such is the dearth that Middlesbrough, for instance, had to find £12.7m to secure Afonso Alves, despite the dread that, as the case history of Mateja Kezman illustrated, a prolific record in Holland can peter out in England.
In all the emphasis that modern coaching puts on attacks from deep positions, in which players such as Thierry Henry and now Cristiano Ronaldo have thrived, we have ceased to nurture individuals who burst into life in the thick of the goalmouth. Capello will suffer for the lack of them, barring an upsurge in Owen's fortunes.
Kevin McCarra [Guardian]
February 12, 2008 1:04 AM
Lack of fitness and shortage of goals gave Fabio Capello reason enough to park Michael Owen on the bench for England's friendly with Switzerland last week. If the Newcastle United captain resents the demotion, it can be only because he feels that scarcity value alone should make him precious. Where else will the national team find a striker who specialises in scoring?
Capello was wholly within his rights to sideline Owen but the fact that the Italian included him in the squad at all showed a consciousness of the uncommon talent that lurks within the forward. With everything going wrong at Newcastle, Owen has still scored as if he cannot help himself. He traded in his pace for strength long ago, does not possess hardiness and has no one to ply him with chances, yet he struck against Middlesbrough and Aston Villa. Few others know how to be alone at the near post in a bustling penalty area.
The 28-year-old cannot be discarded entirely by Capello when he is unique among Englishmen. Even that statement undervalues Owen. Strikers of any nationality who guarantee impact in the goalmouth are rare. It is a craft that might almost be dying out. Manchester United, for instance, are the epitome of the modern side, with an ability to release people into the penalty area from deep positions, but they no longer have a predator like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer or Andrew Cole.
It showed when they were beaten in the derby match on Sunday, when City were secure in defence thanks to Micah Richards and Richard Dunne. United's goal in the 2-1 defeat came too late to matter, from the substitute midfielder Michael Carrick. Some of the losers' tameness was blamed on the suspension of Wayne Rooney. He might have helped but could have done so as a genuine centre-forward only if he had stifled his inclination to break from midfield.
That self-sacrifice had been made for England four days earlier and might well be demanded of him in future. Capello, with the debatable exception of Rooney, has no outright strikers. It looked briefly as if Reading's Dave Kitson might make the England squad, which would have been extraordinary for a player who did not arrive in the top flight until he was 26. In view of the alternatives there would have been nothing unreasonable about his inclusion.
That, all the same, reflects a dwindling of resources. It can be measured in the changes to the England squad in modern times. Say what you will about their actual worth to Sven-Goran Eriksson at the 2002 World Cup finals, but the head coach had the luxury of including a quintet of forwards in Owen, Teddy Sheringham, Robbie Fowler, Emile Heskey and Darius Vassell.
Four years later the options had shrunk to such an extent that the Swede's pen came to a halt as soon as he had jotted down the names of Owen, Rooney and Peter Crouch. The addition of the then 17-year-old Theo Walcott was a gesture of despair more than idealism. Eriksson could not bring himself to ferry, say, Jermain Defoe or Darren Bent to Germany.
This is not an exclusively English problem and in the rich Premier League the dearth is partly disguised by the acquisition of overseas talent. Liverpool, for instance, mustered £26.5m for Fernando Torres. One could sense the lengths to which clubs have to go when Chelsea met the full £15m valuation placed by Bolton on Nicolas Anelka, a great talent who set his career on the wrong course with that insistence on leaving Arsenal when he was 20.
At Stamford Bridge Avram Grant also has in the £24m Didier Drogba a forward who is an extraordinary assemblage of power, speed and deftness. Arsenal, for their part, might not be topping the Premier League without the acquisition of Emmanuel Adebayor. Tottenham can console themselves that a vast fee will be due for Dimitar Berbatov if he does insist on leaving.
Manchester United, with Louis Saha regularly injured, sometimes feel the lack of a true spearhead and there must be moments when the split that saw Ruud van Nistelrooy head for Real Madrid is rued. As Sir Alex Ferguson knows, prolific forwards are scarce. Such is the dearth that Middlesbrough, for instance, had to find £12.7m to secure Afonso Alves, despite the dread that, as the case history of Mateja Kezman illustrated, a prolific record in Holland can peter out in England.
In all the emphasis that modern coaching puts on attacks from deep positions, in which players such as Thierry Henry and now Cristiano Ronaldo have thrived, we have ceased to nurture individuals who burst into life in the thick of the goalmouth. Capello will suffer for the lack of them, barring an upsurge in Owen's fortunes.
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