Taking the Michael?

Richardson: backed Owen

Michael Owen has scored one in every two games for Newcastle. I know he's been injured a lot but when he's on the field he scores goals, simple as that.

John Richardson
Quotes of the week

John Richardson argued the case for Michael Owen to be brought back into the England squad - but he was unable to convince Patrick Barclay and Martin Samuel.

Fabio Capello has opted to leave the Newcastle striker out of the squad for the upcoming friendly with Germany and has instead named Gabriel Agbonlahor, Darren Bent, Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Theo Walcott as his attacking options.

But Sunday Express writer Richardson says Owen's natural goalscoring ability and goals-to-game ratio should have earned him a place in the squad.

"I would have expected him to get in the squad because Michael Owen is a natural goalscorer," Richardson told The Sunday Supplement.

"Obviously Capello feels he hasn't played enough games and he's not the right man. He doesn't really fancy him because there's been a number of times when he could have brought him in and hasn't.

"Michael Owen has scored one in every two games for Newcastle. I know he's been injured a lot but when he's on the field he scores goals, simple as that.

"I'd have him in the squad."

Variety

However, Patrick Barclay of the Sunday Telegraph said there is no point in having Owen in the squad because he isn't fit enough and Capello would be wiser to experiment with other options.

"I wouldn't have him in the squad for a variety of reasons," Barclay said.

"You can never be sure about his fitness and apart from anything else you have nothing to learn.

"As Capello has said, we know what Michael Owen can do - whether it's enough or not we don't know. There's no point if you're experimenting in bringing in Michael Owen.

"We don't need points and I just don't think there's an argument for bringing in Michael Owen.

"You see we've lost Rooney, we've lost Heskey - the front two - and yet there's still loads of people to look at.

"I personally would like Gabriel Agbonlahor to start, although I think Darren Bent has probably got more chance.

"I would love to see Agbonlahor play for England. He's one of those players that has pace - and he's going to have that for another four or five years, maybe more. And he's getting better and better and better as a footballer. He's s got a real chance.

"I haven't even mentioned Crouch, I haven't even mentioned Defoe, there are loads of options. We don't need to worry about Michael Owen.

"There are natural goalscorers on playgrounds - the fact that he's a natural goalscorer doesn't matter.

"Speaking not as a Scotsman but as a football enthusiast, the trouble with the English is they are striker-centric. They see the finish.

"The most important thing is the football. If the football's right someone will score. That's why Heskey will be in the team, but Michael Owen not so."

Evolves

Martin Samuel of The Times agreed that there is no need to include Owen because the team is functioning so well without him.

He said: "I used to be of the same opinion as John, that the hard part was putting the ball in the net and I've always believed that.

"But a team evolves and this team has evolved in a direction in which you would have to change the whole structure of the way this team is playing to accommodate Michael Owen.

"We don't need to do that at the moment, we're not a failing team. We are actually a successful team, an improving team and we are moving in a direction that in the same way as we don't need to find a way of accommodating David Beckham, you don't need to try to find a way of accommodating Michael Owen at the moment.

"If this team wasn't working, we weren't scoring goals and we weren't getting the best out of Wayne Rooney then you'd look at it and ask what Plan B was."

However, Barclay accepted that there could be a role for Owen at the World Cup as a 'Plan B'.

He concluded: "If by some miracle Michael Owen was to become fit between now and the World Cup then to take him there as an impact substitute would just put the icing on the cake.

"But he won't - you know that and I know that."