Michael Owen Retiring

Morzadec

sky88 wrote: »

whats weird is that torres career at the moment is starting to look a lot owens both left liverpool and their play went downhill

Another parallel (and one which goes further to explain their demise) is that they both had numerous injuries which seriously effected their explosive pace over the first few yards, something that both relied on heavily.

Red Crow

sky88 wrote: »

whats weird is that torres career at the moment is starting to look a lot owens both left liverpool and their play went downhill

Torres's 'play' was going downhill before he left Liverpool.

Beefy78

That hat-trick in Munich was one of my greatest ever footballing moment and for that I'll always be greatful to Michael Owen. I was convinced at one time that he'd set an England goalscoring record which would stand for decades.

roanoke

I imagine he'll be remembered best for 'that' goal vs Argentina, but also for his 00-01 season (or just the calander year 2001) where he was seriously on fire and probably the best striker in the world over that period. I wasn't really following the game as much back then but I do recall there was little doubt he was going to smash Bobby Charlton's England goalscoring record and write himself into the history books. I'd say few would have believed if you'd told them that his playing career would already much be on a downward trajectory by age of 26.

v3ttel

I'm a United fan, but I have to say I really enjoyed watching him play when he was at Liverpool. He was a clinical finisher with electric pace.

He did fairly well at Real Madrid when he was given an opportunity. It's just a pity he had such imperiously good players in front of him at the time (Raul, Brazilian Ronaldo, etc). He won the Ballon D'Or at a time when there were an amount of incredibly talented footballers.

He always seemed to keep his nose out of trouble on and off the pitch. He seemed like a model pro and always speaks very well (I understand how people find him 'boring' though - I don't).

I'll never forget being at Old Trafford the day he scored the winner 6 mins into stoppage time against City... it seemed like time stopped for a second, then when it went in, it seemed like a moments pause before 76,000 people created a wall of sound. Magic.

Best of luck to him.

HalloweenJack

I always thought he was a very good player and definitely was someone I had a lot of time for off the pitch as he seemed like a very decent person.

willowthewisp

Morzadec wrote: »

Another parallel (and one which goes further to explain their demise) is that they both had numerous injuries which seriously effected their explosive pace over the first few yards, something that both relied on heavily.

Both of them have also earned major medals for doing not very much

Tom.D.BJJ

I don't think most Utd fans are being honest here. I hated the fecker when he played for Liverpool. Looking back now, i have to admit he was a decent striker though, but i can only do that now years later.

earlytobed

One of the best English strikers ever.
Unlucky with injuries in recent years.

recyclops

As a united fan i managed to see him play twice, he missed a one on one against qpr and he scored a hat trick in wolfsburg, the wolfsburg game was special both he and obertan turned up.

Something in the air in germany that night there was. :P

billymitchell

The fact that Liverpool let him got for 8m and Antonio Nunez was a shocking piece of business. Nobody ever heard of nunez before or after that move.

But back to Owen, he was a top drawer striker in his prime, did something very simple that Liverpool failed to do on a regular basis for a number of years afterwards, put the ball in the back of the net.

Moneymaker

Can't stand him.

His attitude in the relegation season(when he was our captain) was absolutely atrocious. Unforgivable.

He cost us 17m, millions more in wages and played a handful of games and scored a few goals.

Probably the worst value for money signing in our history.

Edit: Luque would be a strong contender too!

ForeverYoung90

So Michael Owen has retired from football. Strange that it took him seven years to tell us about it.:rolleyes:

Insect Overlord

dd972 wrote: »

Didn't he retire in 2006 ?

mirwillbeback wrote: »

Did he not retire before, i.e. when he signed for Newcastle?

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

Didn't he retire before? In 2006 if I recall correctly.

Anyone wrote: »

I thought someone had necro'd a 5 year old thread.

ForeverYoung90 wrote: »

So Michael Owen has retired from football. Strange that it took him seven years to tell us about it.:rolleyes:

You guys are so fucking cool. Please, teach the rest of us your ways.

JP Liz V1

He was great at LFC a natural goalscorer at a young age but injury costed him alot, hope he enjoys retirement

dfx-

This is similarly an announcement that I'm old. I still remember my brother listening to one of his first goals on BBC radio at Wimbledon in 96/97

irish-stew

irish-stew wrote: »

I'll always remember him for that goal at France 98.

But tbf he was alot more then that. Over a goal in every 2 games ratio for Liverpool given his unfortunate injury history was a good return. 18 in 41 for Real Madrid where he was living on scraps of appearances. 40 international goals.

In fairness to Owen his career never quite hit the heights it possibly could have assailed to but i think given the quite unassuming nature of the guy and his ability to go about things quietly coupled with his injury history it would be very easy for us to underrate him.

eagle eye

Insect Overlord wrote: »

You guys are so fucking cool. Please, teach the rest of us your ways.

They are not far wrong though. His career has limped to a conclusion.

dd972

Insect Overlord wrote: »

You guys are so fucking cool. Please, teach the rest of us your ways.

we try our best darling !

ForeverYoung90

Insect Overlord wrote: »

You guys are so fucking cool. Please, teach the rest of us your ways.

Breaking News: Michael Owen's retirement from football will be delayed by 8 weeks due to a damaged cruciate ligament.:D

Anyone

Insect Overlord wrote: »

You guys are so fucking cool. Please, teach the rest of us your ways.

And your only contribution to the thread is to throw an insult.

/golfclap

niallo27

I nearly died in an accident at the Nestlé factory, I was trapped for ages because every time I shouted "the Milky Bars are on me!" everyone just cheered.

ForeverYoung90

Joey Barton banned for 12 games, or in Michael Owen terms - 3 seasons.


I've reset my controller configuration for Michael Owen on FIFA 13:

A: Injure hamstring.

B: Injure hamstring.

X: Gaze at pitch from bench.

Y: Injure hamstring.


Alex Ferguson: "Michael, get your tracksuit off, son"

Michael Owen: "Am I going on to save the day, boss?"

Alex Ferguson: "No son... Giggsy's getting cold."


Im here all night folks.:cool:

Augmerson

billymitchell wrote: »

The fact that Liverpool let him got for 8m and Antonio Nunez was a shocking piece of business. Nobody ever heard of nunez before or after that move.

But back to Owen, he was a top drawer striker in his prime, did something very simple that Liverpool failed to do on a regular basis for a number of years afterwards, put the ball in the back of the net.

Considering how his record went, I don't think it was terrible that Liverpool and Owen parted ways when they did. Of course, at the time, nobody could have predicted his best days were behind him. Probably could have gotten more than 8 million for him though.

Corholio

A superb player at his peak, don't think England have had as naturally gifted a player since, besides Rooney perhaps. Something I think was underrated was how well he read the game, saw him live a few times and his positioning was always fantastic.

Unfortunate the last few years he has been riddled with injuries. I've always found Owen an understated guy and it's a pity we didn't get to see him in his prime at full tilt.

niallo27

Augmerson wrote: »

Considering how his record went, I don't think it was terrible that Liverpool and Owen parted ways when they did. Of course, at the time, nobody could have predicted his best days were behind him. Probably could have gotten more than 8 million for him though.

It was either 8 million then or nothing the year after. He wasn't signing a new contract. I hope he enjoyed the CL final the following year from his apartment in Madrid.

EdenHazard

Seriously a goal against Man City is all he has to show for the last 7 years, I loved him but he belongs in the 'where did my career go' category. Just because he played for stoke and man united and won a league as a squad player doesn't mean his career didn't go off the rails. He got them moves on reputation and loads of average/crap players have picked up medals as squad members.

Mad really how he just went from being one of the best strikers in Europe to a nobody. Does the same faith await Torres? I hope not. I think every boy wanted to be Michael Owen in 1998.

ceegee

Amazing the amount he achieved considering the impact injuries had on his career.

Top scorer in competitive games for England. 89 caps and 40 goals overall.
Ballon d'Or.
Won pretty much everything in England bar a champions league.
Played and scored in Merseyside derby, el Clasico,the Tyne-Wear derby and the Manchester derby.
Annoyed Piers Morgan.
Bought his family a street.

Seems a decent chap and I'm sure he'll walk away with more good memories than bad. He's got his horses to keep him busy so should be better able to adjust to life outside soccer than many of his peers.

Beefy78

ceegee wrote: »

Amazing the amount he achieved considering the impact injuries had on his career.

Top scorer in competitive games for England. 89 caps and 40 goals overall.
Ballon d'Or.

I believe he scored in every knock-out match he played in for England. He was a big time player.

St.Spodo

Overall I think he has a lot to be proud of in his career, despite never realising his potential. His goal record throughout his Liverpool career was excellent: 0.53 goals per game. To put that into context, his goal-scoring record was better than that of Yorke, Cole, Sheringham and Solskjaer for Man United. If it wasn't for injuries there's no reason to suggest he wouldn't have continued in that vein into his late 20s.

He never did quite so well for United or Real Madrid, and some will perhaps rightly say that he undeservedly picked up medals for the former.

All in all, he contributed a lot to Liverpool's success under Houllier and was very good in an England shirt. Sadly, though, his best days deserted him prematurely and you get the impression that he is insecure about his legacy in football.

Very good player, but not a great one, as someone might say.

Dietsquirt

A tremendous player throughout his career... until 2005

Icaras

When he was with Newcastle it used to really annoy me when he would be injured for ages but when internationals came up he would always be fit, then pick up an injury a game or two later, especially in the first season I think we paid a 16m for him he got injured in Dec then "rested" until the world cup came along.

EdenHazard

Remember that injury in WC06? Felt so bad for him.

messinkiapina

I'm pretty shocked he's retired really. He's made a career out of sitting on the bench, surely he could do that for many more years to come? Maybe he's picked up a career ending hemorrhoids injury?

smileyj1987

He really should have retired years ago , he was a cracking player before the injuries set in . If he had to do this to get a contract then he should have known his time was up .

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1194209/MICHAEL-OWEN-BROCHURE-The-complete-32-page-agents-dossier-fallen-Newcastle-star-England-striker.html

RayCon

smileyj1987 wrote: »

He really should have retired years ago , he was a cracking player before the injuries set in . If he had to do this to get a contract then he should have known his time was up .

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1194209/MICHAEL-OWEN-BROCHURE-The-complete-32-page-agents-dossier-fallen-Newcastle-star-England-striker.html

Slide 12 has a few stretches of the imagination .... "charismatic"

Ferris_Bueller

I personally would consider Michael Owen a great player. Fantastic goal scoring record, plenty of individual and team honours, played at the top level for both club and country, I think it's a great shame the way a lot of people look at him as a joke now. It is obviously a great disappointment that his career came to such a halt when he really should have been just hitting his peak, but I guess he just peaked early. I wonder if his career had of been the opposite way around, as in he wasn't great from the age of 18-25 and then was fantastic from 26-32, would people still have the same opinion of him or is it just because these poorer performances from him are fresh in the memory?

I really cannot understand how Liverpool fans don't respect this man. One of the best players I have ever seen at the club, came up through the youth system and scored some very important goals, we really struggled to replace him until Torres came. I would definitely have him in the same category as Torres and Suarez at the minute, saying he was a notch below them is unfair IMO.

I wish him all the best in whatever he chooses to do in the future, seems to be a nice guy on top of everything so deserves every success in my eyes.

messinkiapina

I hear Stoke have already lined up a replacement from Mansfield Town :pac:

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Mansfield-Town-Official-Club-Official-Seat-Warmer-Brand-New-/140916028774?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item20cf3ff566#ht_782wt_1163

Mr.Nice Guy

I think he was a great player. Injuries had a big effect, but at his peak he was clinical. I remember well that England/Argentina goal and being floored by how good it was.

I was happy for him to get that league winner's medal with United too because he must have felt gutted to see Liverpool win the CL in '05 without him. At least he was able to claim a big honour before he retired. Plus he's one of his country's leading goalscorers so that's a pretty fine career as far as I can see.

starviewadams

Good article on Owen from the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/mar/19/michael-owen-retirement

EdenHazard

Emotional Ahhh I can't believe he's retiring. I'm gonna play FM and give Owen his 2001 stats in the editor.

Soby

EdenHazard wrote: »

Emotional Ahhh I can't believe he's retiring. I'm gonna play FM and give Owen his 2001 stats in the editor.

iregk

Corholio wrote: »

A superb player at his peak, don't think England have had as naturally gifted a player since, besides Rooney perhaps. Something I think was underrated was how well he read the game, saw him live a few times and his positioning was always fantastic.

Really? It's long since been said and I fully agree that the mental skills to the game where things Owen sime didn't possess. His movement, reading of the game, awareness of team mates, runs off the ball were absolutely abysmal. His touch was distinctly average and he had no real dribbling skills. His trick was his pace and his hit it far ahead and out pace the defender approach worked perfectly for him.

Once injury and burn out set in his paced went a bit and with that his game. He never learned those skills as he never had to. At Liverpool they had a lethal striker who banged in the goals at all levels and never coached him on the rest. It's exactly what the Madrid coaches said when he went there. They couldn't believe a player with his record was so basic and lacking in a lot of the skills.

Morzadec

iregk wrote: »

Really? It's long since been said and I fully agree that the mental skills to the game where things Owen sime didn't possess. His movement, reading of the game, awareness of team mates, runs off the ball were absolutely abysmal. His touch was distinctly average and he had no real dribbling skills. His trick was his pace and his hit it far ahead and out pace the defender approach worked perfectly for him.

Once injury and burn out set in his paced went a bit and with that his game. He never learned those skills as he never had to. At Liverpool they had a lethal striker who banged in the goals at all levels and never coached him on the rest. It's exactly what the Madrid coaches said when he went there. They couldn't believe a player with his record was so basic and lacking in a lot of the skills.

I didn't watch Owen week in week out to the same extent I would watch, say, Suarez now, but really was his movement and positioning bad? I thought it was one of his main strengths? His ability to move into space and time his run well, I thought his off the ball skills were excellent?

Even in that goal against Man City (not in his peak) you can see him drop into space, time his run off the last man perfectly, take a great first touch and a perfect finish. If he gets any part of that wrong it's not a goal.

Think you're being harsh on Owen there. You don't score that many goals at the top level being a one-dimensional pace merchant. Just ask Djibril Cissé.

Beefy78

Owen's technical skills were never great but his awareness, movement and ability to find space were top notch. I saw him live plenty of times and that was always very clear to see.

sReq | uTeK

Good goalscorer, but that's about it.

GavRedKing

sReq | uTeK wrote: »

Good goalscorer, but that's about it.

TBF if your a CF, that's what you want, everything else is secondary.

Corholio

iregk wrote: »

Really? It's long since been said and I fully agree that the mental skills to the game where things Owen sime didn't possess. His movement, reading of the game, awareness of team mates, runs off the ball were absolutely abysmal. His touch was distinctly average and he had no real dribbling skills. His trick was his pace and his hit it far ahead and out pace the defender approach worked perfectly for him.

Once injury and burn out set in his paced went a bit and with that his game. He never learned those skills as he never had to. At Liverpool they had a lethal striker who banged in the goals at all levels and never coached him on the rest. It's exactly what the Madrid coaches said when he went there. They couldn't believe a player with his record was so basic and lacking in a lot of the skills.

Think your being extremely harsh there. He had more to him than his pace, lot's of players had similar pace and weren't anywhere near as good as Owen. I always thought his touch was excellent, often controlled a ball and buried it in the corner in no time. We'll definitely have to disagree about his movement because I always found that top notch definitely.

Chucky the tree

Owen did rely hugely on his pace, once that was gone he was done. He wasn't just pace though, he had a good touch and was excellent when one vs one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr21lk8ujbA

iregk

Corholio wrote: »

Think your being extremely harsh there. He had more to him than his pace, lot's of players had similar pace and weren't anywhere near as good as Owen. I always thought his touch was excellent, often controlled a ball and buried it in the corner in no time. We'll definitely have to disagree about his movement because I always found that top notch definitely.

I'm not saying all he had was pace. I'm saying his link up play with other players and coming back to get involved in the build up play was completely absent. He did have game intelligence and as you say many other players had pace but didn't do as well as he did. Take Darren Huckerbe as an example. Bags of pace but no brain = bad player.

The thing about Owen is that his movement wasn't great, it was seriously limited. He learned for years to play on the shoulder and move into space. This worked for years but to the detriment of the rest of his game. Like I said when he lost his pace he lost his game, why because he didn't have the constant movement, the link in play, the awareness of how a game is moving. Take Pipo Inzaghi for example. Lost since lost his pace but continued to score goals why because he was exceptional at reading games, the situation and where his team-mates were. Owen lost his pace and it was good night Vienna.

Actually got sent this today, good article here by Marcotti kinda on the line of what I'm saying:

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/4338?cc=5739