Liverpool FC Forum

[supersub]

Why aren't the top clubs in Europe falling over themselves trying to sign Michael Owen,in the light of his admission he needs to get away from Madrid to play 1st team football?

Perhaps the World Class player,some quarters like to trumpet,is not seen as World Class in the eyes of the top coaches and managers.

Perhaps the complete footballer,according to the Stu's of this world,isn't as complete as they think.

Personally I think his control is mediocre bordering on poor,his passing link with the midfield and a forward partner is average if not below avg.

Yes he will score you goals,primarily against the poorer opposition...don't believe it check your stats.

If we lump the ball up the field he would be great chasing after it like a puppy but Benitez wants a more controlled approach and I doubt if Owen fits the bill.

I wouldn't take him back because he's a scab...The only reason he even contemplates a return is because he wants to go to the world cup and not because he wants to wear the Red shirt.He took the pi.ss out of Houllier,Rafa and us fans last season so he could get the move to Madrid.

[muttleyp]

Maybe its becuase he's not intrested in playing for any of the top clubs in europe and may just want to come home to a team in champions league.

[supersub]

Maybe its becuase he's not intrested in playing for any of the top clubs in europe and may just want to come home to a team in champions league.

yeah right!

[A.B.]

Supersub has an excellent point. I've heard that Benitez isn't keen on taking Owen back and he wants to sign Crouch instead, now if that's true and as good as a manager Benitez is there must be a really good reason why he doesn't want MO back here.

[Krafty]

I am new to forum, and not posting this to inc my post count.
Even though RB said that he would like to be kept informed of MO last year, he is not interested in him for what ever reason. I voted yes to poll some thing in reagrds to 'who was driven out', and I voted MO. RB jumped the moment and sold MO at ist opertunity it so seems, { this the saga of SG few weeks ago, same scenario to any player, i.e. same boat as MO and manager is looking to sell as fast as can. }

I am not Criting RB, he is great manager and knows the inside/outside of the game and knows what telents he is looking for.

Just as LFC fans didn't want SG wearing Chelsea shirt, the are some who don't want MO waering any other shirt in England except LFC, and it seems the LFC board agress to that.

The current top 2 stikers have a lot to prove, that is goals for price that has been paid out for them and as far as one can tell, they have lots of goals to deliver to make up for last year. The way last CL game went, if they score as they did against TNS, well I hope LFC board pushes RB to sign MO and perhaps as last min sub he may deliver.

PS: This is not a post to crit RB, but if LFC board insists on MO coming back, will RB go for it ? will there be fall out of some kind ?

[mikopool]

I think he averaged something like 7 seconds of ball possession a game, which is , we need a player like crouch, although I think Owen would be a different player, would rather have proven class overtop of possible class

[76-1115222408]

Why aren't the top clubs in Europe falling over themselves trying to sign Michael Owen,in the light of his admission he needs to get away from Madrid to play 1st team football?

Perhaps the World Class player,some quarters like to trumpet,is not seen as World Class in the eyes of the top coaches and managers.

Perhaps the complete footballer,according to the Stu's of this world,isn't as complete as they think.

Personally I think his control is mediocre bordering on poor,his passing link with the midfield and a forward partner is average if not below avg.

Yes he will score you goals,primarily against the poorer opposition...don't believe it check your stats.

If we lump the ball up the field he would be great chasing after it like a puppy but Benitez wants a more controlled approach and I doubt if Owen fits the bill.

I wouldn't take him back because he's a scab...The only reason he even contemplates a return is because he wants to go to the world cup and not because he wants to wear the Red shirt.He took the pi.ss out of Houllier,Rafa and us fans last season so he could get the move to Madrid.

All i will say to this is SPOT ON!!!! 

[76-1115222408]

It's not being selfish it's called being the playmaker

So now people haved moved on to even sillier levels...Now you are saying Michael Owen is a PLAYMAKER!!!
Plllleeeeeaaassssssseeeeeee!!!  Dont make me laugh, playmaker??  I dont think you know what the word means if you think Owen is a playmaker!!!

Some people just seem to be blinded by his stats as opposed to his ACTUAL skills and abilities.

[The_Rock]

hahahhaha...rafa prefers crouch to owen...hahahhahahahha


http://itv-football.co.uk/Teams/Liverpool/story_157155.shtml


Rafa wants Crouch, not Owen
Liverpool, Saturday July 16 2005
Rafael Benitez is reportedly set to snub Michael Owen's attempt to rejoin Liverpool because he wants to sign Peter Crouch instead.


Saturday's papers are awash with stories claiming that Owen has tired of playing second-fiddle at Real Madrid and wants to return to Anfield. The Daily Mail even claims the England striker is 'desperate' to rejoin the European Champions after a year of frustration in the Spanish capital.

With Robinho likely to join Madrid to form an all-Brazilian strikeforce with Ronaldo, his opportunities are set to be further reduced.

Yet Owen's wish to return to England will reputedly be scuppered by Benitez's preference for bean-pole striker Crouch.

"It emerged yesterday that Liverpool were thinking over the prospect of a loan deal for the player they sold in August for £8m," reports The Daily Mirror.

"The idea is being driven by the Anfield board, but it appears manager Rafael Benitez is not particularly keen, and would prefer to press ahead with attempts to sign Southampton striker Peter Crouch."

It is a view shared by The Sun: "After shelling out more than £10m on transfers this summer, Kop chief Benitez does not have the cash to buy him and Southampton hitman Crouch.

"The Spaniard is hopeful he can seal Crouch's signature when the Saints return from their pre-season trip to Scotland this weekend."

The second stumbling block is that Liverpool may not have the financial resources to re-sign Owen, with Madrid keen on cashing-in on the England striker.

"Real would prefer to sell rather than loan, and have set Owen's price at the £18m. That is more than Liverpool could pay, leaving Owen's best hope of a return home seeming to rest with Manchester United, who expressed some interest."

However, Manchester United have made signing a midfielder a priority, with Sir Alex Ferguson keen on signing Bayern Munich's Michael Ballack. With just a solitary year left on his contract, Ballack is reputedly available for a fee of £15m.

[red37]

owen on loan  yeah
£15-18 million  nah!

[L-type]

hahahhaha...rafa prefers crouch to owen...hahahhahahahha


http://itv-football.co.uk/Teams/Liverpool/story_157155.shtml


Rafa wants Crouch, not Owen
Liverpool, Saturday July 16 2005
Rafael Benitez is reportedly set to snub Michael Owen's attempt to rejoin Liverpool because he wants to sign Peter Crouch instead.


Saturday's papers are awash with stories claiming that Owen has tired of playing second-fiddle at Real Madrid and wants to return to Anfield. The Daily Mail even claims the England striker is 'desperate' to rejoin the European Champions after a year of frustration in the Spanish capital.

With Robinho likely to join Madrid to form an all-Brazilian strikeforce with Ronaldo, his opportunities are set to be further reduced.

Yet Owen's wish to return to England will reputedly be scuppered by Benitez's preference for bean-pole striker Crouch.

"It emerged yesterday that Liverpool were thinking over the prospect of a loan deal for the player they sold in August for £8m," reports The Daily Mirror.

"The idea is being driven by the Anfield board, but it appears manager Rafael Benitez is not particularly keen, and would prefer to press ahead with attempts to sign Southampton striker Peter Crouch."

It is a view shared by The Sun: "After shelling out more than £10m on transfers this summer, Kop chief Benitez does not have the cash to buy him and Southampton hitman Crouch.

"The Spaniard is hopeful he can seal Crouch's signature when the Saints return from their pre-season trip to Scotland this weekend."

The second stumbling block is that Liverpool may not have the financial resources to re-sign Owen, with Madrid keen on cashing-in on the England striker.

"Real would prefer to sell rather than loan, and have set Owen's price at the £18m. That is more than Liverpool could pay, leaving Owen's best hope of a return home seeming to rest with Manchester United, who expressed some interest."

However, Manchester United have made signing a midfielder a priority, with Sir Alex Ferguson keen on signing Bayern Munich's Michael Ballack. With just a solitary year left on his contract, Ballack is reputedly available for a fee of £15m.

yeah I laughed when I saw the article, but as much as I want Owen to come back it looks less and less likely...   

[115-1073096938]

He scores against the good sides aswell.

Argentina, Portugal, Brazil, France, Germany, Roma, Porto, Man Utd, Arsenal, Newcastle, Chelsea, Barcelona...

He scores in derby's and yes he gets ALOT of goals against rubbish sides. You know why? Because he's that damn good only the good sides can cope with him.

For christs sake the lad scores everywhere. I NEVER once thought, where's a goal going to come from against that defence when we had Owen. He went to Italy and cracked in two match winners, he single handedly won an F.A. cup for us, he single handedly destroyed a German national team in an extremely high pressured match on there own ground. He didn't pick up the europian footballer of the year for nothing.

The lists endless. Its not even an arguement. If you say he's only top class, your probably clueless but for those to say he's average, poor, decent, or just about good then you need your head testing. So what if Henry, Ronaldo, Raul, Adriano, Rooney, Schevchenko, Etoo are better players... Owen's still world class and better than 95% of the players out there.

I find it shocking and pathetic that people look for excuses to belittle what Owen's about. The lad simply oozes class, anyone who says otherwise simply hasn't got a clue.

How many goals does Baros, Cisse, Morientes, Defoe, Keane, Kluivert, Drogba and Kezman score against the poor sides? Let alone the good ones.

Infact if Owen was only good enough to score against EVERY team in the bottom half of the table then i'd still have him back as he'd still be more lethal than Morientes, Cisse and Baros have proven.

To many blind idiots that can't admit he's WITHOUT QUESTION one of the top 10 strikers in the world and was probably at one stage one of the top two or three out there who are saying we don't need him... Yanno what... get a grip, get a clue, then come back.

[yckatbjywtbiastkamb]

He scores against the good sides aswell.

Argentina, Portugal, Brazil, France, Germany, Roma, Porto, Man Utd, Arsenal, Newcastle, Chelsea, Barcelona...

He scores in derby's and yes he gets ALOT of goals against rubbish sides. You know why? Because he's that damn good only the good sides can cope with him.

For christs sake the lad scores everywhere. I NEVER once thought, where's a goal going to come from against that defence when we had Owen. He went to Italy and cracked in two match winners, he single handedly won an F.A. cup for us, he single handedly destroyed a German national team in an extremely high pressured match on there own ground. He didn't pick up the europian footballer of the year for nothing.

The lists endless. Its not even an arguement. If you say he's only top class, your probably clueless but for those to say he's average, poor, decent, or just about good then you need your head testing. So what if Henry, Ronaldo, Raul, Adriano, Rooney, Schevchenko, Etoo are better players... Owen's still world class and better than 95% of the players out there.

I find it shocking and pathetic that people look for excuses to belittle what Owen's about. The lad simply oozes class, anyone who says otherwise simply hasn't got a clue.

How many goals does Baros, Cisse, Morientes, Defoe, Keane, Kluivert, Drogba and Kezman score against the poor sides? Let alone the good ones.

Infact if Owen was only good enough to score against EVERY team in the bottom half of the table then i'd still have him back as he'd still be more lethal than Morientes, Cisse and Baros have proven.

To many blind idiots that can't admit he's WITHOUT QUESTION one of the top 10 strikers in the world and was probably at one stage one of the top two or three out there who are saying we don't need him... Yanno what... get a grip, get a clue, then come back.

listen mate, i`m not doubting owens a decent forward - he is, he`s a goalscorer in the clive allen / gary lineker mould, his link up play and general skills are poor, but he plays the last man as good as anyone i`ve ever seen. his runs are as clever as i`ve probably ever seen. he also probably has the weakest shot i`ve ever seen for a front man and he probably is the worst penalty taking leader of the line i`ve ever seen.
when he wore the red shirt i got into heated arguments in the stands with fella`s slagging him off, i defended him when he made the glaring missess (which he did) i defended him when he took penalties like a big fairy, i even defended him when people were saying he`s not interested and he`s going through the motions but i wont defend him for planning for over a year to leave this club whilst stringing the fans along with `my agents on a 6 month holiday` cr@p and leaving us because he thought we were a sinking ship and he wasnt prepared to start bailing water.
this club has got pride and not getting him back is a good lesson to players who think they can use this club like a dosshouse and to be honest its just like the old days again. we won the champions league without him and we`ll win the league without him.
it says in the paper he`s only interested in a move to liverpool or united, says it all really.

[El Nino_#9]

michael owen won't come back to liverpool or utd.
he'll stay in real madrid or at least in la liga, to prove critics wrong.
he is a fighter and really competitive, and he'll be a success.


END OF!

[TheoRacle]

For what its worth...

I agree with Stu - MO is a class act and scores goals full stop.

I'm in Brisbane Queensland a regular reader of the forums and a Red since our European Cup win against Borussia Monchengladbach in 1977.

Viewing the EPL from afar and so maybe missing out on some of the gossip and rumour leading up to MO’s departure – I distinctly got the impression that Michael jumped ship at the last minute rather than be forced out by a the change of management. I have no evidence of that of course but at the time and from the press reports we got down under – that’s what I thought.

Maybe there is a personality clash between RB and MO at the bottom of this… after all the press seem to think that RB prefers Crouch FFS! Now I admire RB as much as anyone but someone please tell me that the Crouch link is just a ruse to keep the press away from our real intended signings!  Mori on top of his game offers everything that Crouch does plus a whole heap more so why on earth would you want to gamble 8 million quid on an ‘effective’ striker but someone who is just not in the same league (literally at the moment) as Owen, Mori, Cisse, Henry, Van Horsehead, Rooney, Drogba and yeah even Baros. Let’s face it, to compete for the trophy its players of this calibre that we need – not I’m sorry to say a Peter Crouch.

To those who are slagging MO off at the moment perhaps you should put yourself in both Stevie G and Michael’s position at end of last season.  New manager coming in, trophies coming in on the trickle rather than the flood we all want and expect, discontent amongst players and friends you’ve played your entire career with and uncertainty over the direction the club you love is going in.  We all know that Stevie ummed and aaghed over his decision and people labelled him a turncoat and immature and all sorts of other names not worth repeating.  In the end (finally!) he tossed a coin (?)  and decided to stay.  So last year, MO’s toin coss landed the other way and he walked. Rash, immature, wrong advice, pushed - who here can really say with 100% certainty? I for one do not think it was ego. Whenever I’ve seen him speak on the box, he always displays respect, humility, intelligence and poise. Take the ‘midget’ incident for example with Carlos Alberto.  MO’s response to Alberto showed that he is a true diplomat and great ambassador for the game.  Compare him against the definition of ego in Mourinho and you’ll see my point.

So yes, I’d like to see Michael Owen back where he belongs… the options provided by Cisse, Owen, and Mori upfront with Gerrard, Alonso, Sissoko, (an in form) Kewell, Garcia and maybe Figo providing the service really is a mouth watering prospect!