Not a single blog for three months, and now two in as many days! Just like London buses! This day, my ire is directed towards young Michael Owen, former Liverpool / Newcastle striker, now plying his 'trade' with Man Ure. On Sunday afternoon, Man Utd played a tense thriller against arch-rivals Man City, which finished 4-3 in United's favour. Three times United took the lead, and three times City equalised. That is, until six minutes into stoppage time when United scored their fourth. the goalscorer being - you guessed it - Michael Owen. That's his sixth for this season, very nearly as many, in two short months, as he managed in four seasons at Newcastle. How, as my title suggests, is this possible? Has his move to a super-rich world-class club on a free transfer coincided with a miraculous return to full fitness?
I don't doubt Owen's credentials as a world-class striker. But there must be more to this story than meets the eye. My verdict is that he is a time waster. He has wasted over half his career getting over injuries very slowly indeed in order to get out of a contract he is unhappy with. He did it at Liverpool, at Real Madrid and Newcastle. I'm not saying he hasn't had genuine injuries. Anyone who saw him hit the deck a few minutes into an England game in the 2006 World Cup would have winced, as I did, knowing that that was going to hurt. In the end, he was out for pretty much the whole of the following season. And who's to say that, as soon as he has his first tiff with Sir Alex Ferguson, he won't do the same at Manchester United? I'd get as much mileage out of him as I can now, Sir Alex.
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