Over-Protecting Owen: Dissecting A Popular Media Pastime

Manchester United’s overwhelming dominance of Everton in their 3-0 win at Old Trafford exposed more than just the obvious flaws in a Toffees side riddled with injuries and lacking zest. Sir Alex Ferguson’s team put in a performance so energtic, so adept and so skilful that, nevermind Everton, even one of their own players couldn’t keep up.

In the first half especially, the Red Devils played the sort of wonderful football that would raise a hearty grin from Roy Keane himself. As Everton sat contentedly with ten men behind the ball, United took to the task of carving them open like a butcher getting his turkeys ready for the festive season. The clever flicks, the fast-paced one and two touch passing, the intelligent runs into space, the relentless cutting edge in wide areas; it all came together for the champions as they played with a style and verve not seen arguably since playing Spurs off the park at White Hart Lane back in September.

Despite the overall brilliance though, one man in red looked well below the level of his teammates, the gulf in technical class so cavernous it was like watching a fan who has won a competition to play for Manchester United for a day.

That man was Michael Owen.

In the opening forty-five minutes against Everton, Manchester United managed 71% of the possession, a glowing symbol of their command on proceedings. Yet in the entire half, Owen managed just 14 touches of the ball. By contrast, striker partner Wayne Rooney saw the ball 52 times. When Owen did see possession his touches were laboured, his movements weary. Owen struggled to match the quick-thinking of his colleagues and United’s repeated attempts to rev the engine towards a powerful crescendo stuttered visibly whenever the keys were in the hands of the former Ballon D’Or winner.

In comparison with his teammates, Owen was technically and physically exposed against Everton, and not for the first time in a red shirt. Owen has struggled to stand out several times now – Burnley being another prominent example, though fortunately for him the rest of the team was equally lacklustre in a timid 1-0 away defeat. And I can’t help but feel that while obviously signed for the cutting edge he offers in front of goal, Owen’s inability to tune into the same wavelength as his illustrious colleagues when United have possession makes him a questionable purchase even on a free transfer.

Press love-in

What transports Owen’s underwhelming performances in a United shirt from slightly concerning to mildly irritating however, are the wild levels of protectionism offered the England striker by a media seemingly desperate to prop up the 29-year-old’s fading hopes of boarding a plane to South Africa for the World Cup next summer.

It seems everywhere I turn at the moment lies a journalist or pundit in waiting, quip in hand, ready to absolve Owen any responsibility whatsoever in the time continuum commonly referred to as ‘the present’, because of the Chester-born striker’s past achievements.

On ESPN, Kevin Keegan, Chris Waddle, Ray Stubbs and co nearly succeeded in turning a Premier League transmission of United v Everton into an extended, impassioned appeal to Fabio Capello to restore Michael Owen his place in the England squad. “In that final third there’s no-one better,” Keegan eulogised, ignoring the awkward fact that there were actually three better men on the pitch in that one game alone.

Meanwhile in the gantry, Waddle did all he could to defend Owen, excusing him any and every error over 90 minutes before eventually caving in and admitting the obvious – that he was dreadful. Prior to Waddle’s final, reluctant concession that Owen had had ‘an off-day’, United’s number 7 was exonerated blame for simple, misplaced passes because he’s the one who ‘gets on the end of chances’, supported for a desperately weak left foot effort because he ‘needs those to fall on his right’ and defended his obvious tiredness towards the game’s conclusion because he wasn’t ‘used to playing 90 minutes.’ (A fair comment, but still worrying for a 29-year-old to be so short of fitness after a two-week international break, having made 16 appearances already this season).

Pundits have long since pointed to history and other irrelevant intangibles when it comes to assessing Michael Owen’s present-day credentials, as if they somehow represent the trump card in any Owen-as-England-striker debate. See Alan Hansen’s quotes in the Telegraph just last week:

“When it becomes a struggle against better opponents, you question who will score the goals. Owen is the one who has the proven track record.

He is not playing regularly for United and that is not ideal, but while [Peter] Crouch is a genuine threat with his height, if you asked any defender who he would rather see coming off England’s bench in the final 15 minutes of a World Cup game, none of them would choose Owen.”

Since when did hypothetical player surveys become acceptable, conclusive evidence of a footballer’s ability? Unorthodox as it may be, Hansen might think to measure a striker on goals or form rather than imaginary opinion polls.

Then up pops Henry Winter on Twitter. “Poor Owen… didn’t score v Everton but impressed with clever runs.” With the greatest respect to Winter, an accomplished journalist, if Owen’s runs were so clever, how was it he managed only three shots all game in a team that were offensively rampant? Winter’s sympathetic tone only accentuates his part in this Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Owen that appears to be doing the rounds.
Now as most any pundit will tell you (alternatively you can check out his brochure), Michael Owen has 40 goals in 89 appearances for England. That is undeniably a remarkable record due high praise. But that is all it is now unfortunately, a record. Just as his efforts today should not be judged alongside it, neither should these statistics somehow pad his claims for an England place.

Owen v Defoe v Bent

Let’s look at statistics though. Based on the 13 Premier League games so far this season, here is how Michael Owen compares to his two other main contenders for an out-and-out striker role in England’s World Cup squad:

Darren Bent – Total Shots: 44, Shots on Target: 19, Goals: 9
Jermain Defoe – Total Shots: 44, Shots on Target: 21, Goals: 11
Michael Owen – Total Shots: 12, Shots on Target: 4, Goals: 2

Owen has far fewer minutes under his belt, granted. But if you assess the goalscoring ratios they still provide worthy insight:

Darren Bent – Shots on Target: 43%, Goals scored from all shots: 21%, Goals scored from all shots on target: 47%
Jermain Defoe – Shots on Target: 48%, Goals scored from all shots: 25%, Goals scored from all shots on target: 52%
Michael Owen – Shots on Target: 33%, Goals scored from all shots: 17%, Goals scored from all shots on target: 50%

These figures show that when Michael Owen gets an effort on target, his goal ratio does stand up favourably with other rivals. However, so far this season only 33% of Owen’s shots have hit the target, a vastly lower number than both Bent and Defoe despite them having more efforts (and therefore more room for error). One might argue the oft-trotted out phrase that Owen knows better than any of his peers ‘where the goal is’ needs putting on temporary hold.

Now normally I don’t like to get on players’ backs unnecessarily. And I certainly don’t want to write Owen off unfairly. He is one of this generation’s finest England goalscorers, and is clearly trying hard to readjust to life in football’s upper echelons after some troublesome years. And while I personally have my doubts, maybe in time he will adapt and measure up to the rest of the United squad’s speed and technical mastery.

But in the meantime, the press and pundits need to tone down slightly the sugarcoating of this ‘world-class-striker-reborn, triumphantly saves the day’ narrative. There’s already a brochure for that.

Darren Bent, England, English Premier League, Jermain Defoe, Manchester United, Michael Owen, The Media

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About Jonathan F

The boss of this here... Creator and Editor of Just-Football.com and world football analyst, watcher, freelancer and all-round enthusiast. Write for FourFourTwo, have also written for ITV, When Saturday Comes and others. Open to offers.