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Why LFC Should Forget His Lack of Loyalty & Re-Sign Michael Owen

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TRANSFER deadline day was a frustrating day for Liverpool fans, myself included. After Andy Carroll was loaned out to West Ham on Thursday, Liverpool were expected to sign a replacement on Friday before the transfer window closed. Instead, the club and its fans waited… and waited… and waited. When it was revealed that Tottenham were closing in on signing Clint Dempsey for £6m – and Liverpool were either unwilling or unable to offer Fulham more than £4m for the American – it became brutally apparent to Reds fans just how little money the club had left in the bank.

Brendan Rodgers made no attempt to hide his frustration with Liverpool’s deadline day activity, or lack thereof, in the press conference that followed the team’s 2-0 defeat at home to Arsenal. When asked if he would have let Carroll go to West Ham if he had known he would not be able to sign a replacement, Rodgers said “no“. When asked how confident he was that he would be able to sign a replacement for Carroll before the transfer window closed, Rodgers said “very“. Then, perhaps most intriguingly, Rodgers was asked if he would consider signing Michael Owen, who as a free agent can be signed outside of the transfer window. He responded: “Any player that I believe can improve the squad I will look at. We have got a very, very small squad with some very young players in it. So I can’t say no”.

In other words, Rodgers refused to rule out a move for Owen, and of course the media picked up on this. But given that Owen spent the last three seasons playing for our bitter rivals Manchester United, how would Liverpool fans respond to a second coming for the striker who was once their favourite son? Personally, I’m able to look past the three years Owen spent at Old Trafford and I hope other Reds fans can do the same. The 32-year-old proved at Man Utd that he is a useful squad player and given our shortage of striking options, I feel Owen can still offer something to Liverpool. Despite his age and fitness problems, one thing Owen hasn’t lost is something the club desperately needs – the ability to put the ball in the back of the net.
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A lot of Liverpool fans haven’t forgiven Owen for leaving Liverpool back in 2004. In the final year of his contract and having expressed a desire to leave, Owen was sold to Real Madrid for £8m plus Antonio Nunez. Getting so little money for a player who had been our top scorer for six seasons running was a bitter pill to swallow, and the fact that Nunez was a complete flop didn’t help the ill feeling towards Owen. Nor was the departure a happy one for Owen, who struggled to make an impact in Spain and was sold to Newcastle after just one season at Real. An injury stricken four years followed in the North East, with Owen scoring 30 goals for the Magpies before leaving the club at the end of his contract.

In three years at Man Utd, Owen has managed 17 goals in 52 appearances. It is hardly a prolific scoring ratio, but with just two senior strikers at Liverpool, Owen would be a worthy backup for Luis Suarez and Fabio Borini. He would be a more reliable option than unproven youngsters such as Adam Morgan, Dani Pacheco and 18-year-old Samed Yesil, signed from Leverkusen for £1m. Owen would be a short-term fix and would only be worth signing on a 12-month, pay-as-you-play deal… but Owen would surely jump at the chance to play for Liverpool again, even if it was just for one season.

A poll on Goal.com suggested that Liverpool fans would be open to an Owen return – when asked if Brendan Rodgers should sign the striker, 77% voted yes. However, whether or not Owen gets to follow in the footsteps of Robbie Fowler by returning to Liverpool for a second spell remains to be seen.

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35 comments

  • bob says:

    no no no no no

    lets have no traitors back at anfield , he burnt his bridges when he signed for man ure , and should never even be let back in for a coffee .

    might as well resign el hadji diouf if standards are going that low . better giving morgan a bit of a go , because the season is already over – thanks to the tight yanks

    • baz says:

      Season over? Three games in and you’ve given up already?

      And you have the gall to call Owen a traitor? We can do without him and we can definately do without fans like you so why don’t you just sod off to stamford bridge

      • bob says:

        this season is about damage limitation now because of the players ( or lack of ) we have . anyone who thinks we will be in the top 4 at the end of season is delusional .

        you are probably like a lot of other fans who , when pool play well and win a few , you jump up and down and tell everyone we will win the league . get a better knowledge of football or a dose of reality

    • Chan says:

      First of all BR had to share part of the blame as he paid 10.5 mill for a certain Borini. He had played all our games so far but apart from some nice moves, all he is able to prove is that maybe Reina or Skrtel could also play the role of a striker. I do not think this Borini chap is any better than our 35 mill man whom BR let go on loan.

      Frankly i hope we do not sign Owen even if we don’t score another goal this season. Let’s see he forced a move when we desperately needs a striker, we were force to accept a miniscule 8 mill, he played for the Manc, injury prone and all he cares about is himself. Don’t believe me? Would he accept “a pay as you play deal”? Yes, i don’t think so too.

      If he is any good, why would AF let him go?

      Agreed with Bob. Better give young Morgan a chance.

      • Jimmy Areabi (Editor) says:

        Spot on, Chan. Though I’m willing to give Rodgers the benefit of the doubt over Borini…for now, although it could/should be argued that if he knew there was a very limited budget, why ‘gamble’ £10m on a relatively untried youngster when this area (forward line) needed essential work.

  • DING DONG says:

    if lfc re-sign owen they will be throwing more money down the drain he isnt the player he used to be he is just looking for the last payday before he hangs up his boots i say give one of the kids a chance rather than an other rated has been.

  • DING DONG says:

    just another thought lfc already have an overpaid player on the books that could be used if need be and thats joe cole might aswell play him up front as we have nothing to lose and you never know he may produce the goods.

  • smith says:

    Owen made his bed when he joined United, I would have taken him back until then. He knew what he was doing signing for United but that’s Owen all over always only really cared about playing for England and his own personal agenda. Anyway i dont think Owen is that stupid to go back to Liverpool, he must know that he will not be wanted by many fans and dont think it would be nice getting booed by your own fans week in and week out.

  • shanks says:

    lets get real, signing Owen is a no brainer, proven goal scorer, will score if he stays fit, won’t cost much. The fans need to get off their high horse, Owen contributed to allot of success when he was at anfield. He hadn’t much choice when he left newcastle, Benitez hadn’t the balls to sign him when he left St james park, Fergie did. Case closed.

  • DING DONG says:

    shanks Says:
    September 3rd, 2012 at 4:39 pm
    lets get real, signing Owen is a no brainer, proven goal scorer, will score if he stays fit, won’t cost much. LOL the guy hasnt played a full game almost all of last season he isnt bothered about football anymore he has no passion except for his horses.he may well have been a proven goal scorer but much of that was done to his pace and as he know longer has the legs he isnt going to get many more that 5-10 goals if that a season if he stayed fit.

  • shanks says:

    5-10 goals is a much as all the current strikers has scored last season, he is a far superior finisher than Suarez. Swallow your pride mate, what the current choices, your dreaming if you think we can get Drogba.

    • baz says:

      Let’s get this straight Suarez was never signed as a goal scorer, he was signed as a goal provider who could also score a few.

      He who shall not be named threatened to leave LFC unless KD brought in someone who could supply him upm front so in came Suarez.

      It was only when he who shall not be named went back on his word and left anyway that we had to turn to LS to get us goals and that is why he is played out of position in the middle of the attack

  • RedRoy says:

    Rodgers is already skating on thin ice with the fans, with poor displays in the league and the Andy Carroll fiasco, so bringing in Owen might not be a good idea right now.

    • Jack The Lad says:

      Rodgers will be there for a long time regardless of this seasons finish. Get used to him and support him!

      • baz says:

        well said Jack far to many fair weather fans on here

      • Chan says:

        Yes, when we are playing Championship football, BR would still be there because FSG is too skint to sack him.

        BR, rookie manager, one season in the PL, no titles (even much malighed AVB and RH has a few). No wonder we made the worse start in 50 years. At this rate, Championship football is a real possibility. Better start to get to know our future lower league rivals.

        Well Done FSG

  • shanks says:

    Rodgers needs to be given a fair chance, how long was Benitez in the Job, Carroll was got rid of on the pretense that we were going to bring in a striker, it wasn’t Rodger fault that the club didn’t want to pay the money.. how much money did he waste? Rodgers is forward thinking, moving away from the long ball football that Kenny has brought in.

    • Chan says:

      Err, Rafa won the CL in his FIRST season, got us to another final, won the FA Cup, finished 2nd in the league and played in every CL competition except one.

      And he did this all with the inteference of those 2 yanks.

      Hmm, not bad compared to what we have for the last season and now.

  • DING DONG says:

    shanks Says:
    September 3rd, 2012 at 4:55 pm
    5-10 goals is a much as all the current strikers has scored last season, he is a far superior finisher than Suarez. Swallow your pride mate, what the current choices, your dreaming if you think we can get Drogba.did i mention drogba? i think not all i am saying is owen is a waste nothing to do with pride i wouldnt care less if he played for manure or not if he was upto scratch then i would say yes get him but the simple facts are he hasnt had the playing time he has just sat around. as for saying 5-10 is more than our current strikers scored last season i dont think you have been watching the right team 🙂 and i agree with you that rogers needs to be given a fair chance im sure that not getting anyone in before the deadline was not his doing but the board he has us playing some superb football but we do need some one up front who can take the pressure of the others.

  • YOUNGR3D!!! says:

    NO NO NO NO NO!!! I’d rather see heskey return. Owen is a scumbag and I will never forgive him. We are already having a sh*t season, I don’t want us to “swollow our pride”. We are liverpool for god sakes, rodgers should think outside the box and look at free agents from around the world rather than go for joe coles cousins.

  • alfie says:

    I do not want Owen because he is a traitor and because
    he is a pale shadow of his former self. Yes to Lucas Barrios.
    I do agree that we should back Rogers but I do not enjoy Barcelona style 7 dwarfs playing in midfield.
    I rather suspect that our only way back to the top without a billionaire benefactor is ultimately to get Benitez back.

  • Jack The Lad says:

    If that rotten CU*T rejoins, I won’t be able to handle it!!! Really, I won’t!! Ohhhh Noooooo.

  • Red$4eva says:

    LFC need to look no further than the training ground. Its not a case of who will get the goals but how the TEAM will get goals. After having played 3 games 2 goals scored BOTH from set peices.
    The system has so far produced spells of possession albeit largely in our own half. Passing to Reina has had an effect of increased strain in defence not rely alleviated any pressure.
    The midfield must work for each other. Take note of Abu Diaby who was a powerhouse winning the ball keeping it moving forward moving his team forward. Allen can do this yet needs ready runners. More effective movement of the ball.

    The centre of the park is a big concern. There is no true threat from 16 yards box to box midfielder. Gerrard is drifting to the wings too much although the plan was that he plays as a foil to the forwards more centrally.

    Stevie G just hasn’t found that all important edge. His tackling has been good and perhaps Rodgers must hand him the Lucas role in defensive mid. Gerrard is a long ball, hollywood shot type, tiki taka isn’t cutting it for him. So as a change of tac drop him back, get him to marshall the defensive line going forward.

    Play out and out wingers so for heavens sake G. Johnson might defend and only contribute to forward play as a last resort- not simply abandon defensive duty and go into wing commander mode.

    Sterling is sound on the left. On the right try Hendo or Assaidi and just stick with it rigidly cuz frankly both goals came from a gaping hole left at the back by neglectful defending from Johnson.

    Practice some break out drills cuz the speed is there, the potential to finish is there so just find something that works in training and use it.

    As for the goal scoring threat from mid field we may have to play an experimental set up at times to give us that obviously absent dimension. Use Borini, Morgan, Pacheco as the centre forward Suarez just behind cuz let’s face the music only Suarez has any fizz in his shots to speak of. Shelvey is not accurate enough.

    Need some open play moves that restore some faith in the faithfull. Swift move or two that bags a goal. The packed defence as Arsenal played is dificult to break down so dont be afraid to go route one BR, that all important change of tac, stylistic variation, the switch round. It is plain stupid to think that we will get tiki taka to work in such little time. Use it indeed, yet the final third requires carefully rehearsed drills designed to undo defences. Many drills so that if one doesnt work then another does. Too predictable so far. It was a job and a half breaking Hearts down its no surprize Arsenal were beyond us.

    Barca, Spain even Italy average thousands of passes completed per game. Liverpool are a long long long long way from that kind of competence. So in the meantime there is a screaming need for fluid moves that produce clear cut goals or goal chances. The truth of the matter is the final third appears to be alien territory for the current LFC team in open play. Either a snatched shot or final ball too speculative or the forward (usually Suarez) looks for a pen. Doesn’t inspire confidence instead adds to dejection.

    Going forward LOOK. Pass the killer pass. Or if shooting get it closer to the stick than the keeper. Lol it’s that simple.

    As for Owen, not going to do much good, might be better off retiring. If he does turn up then the training ground can use his experience though on the field of play he’s definately past it.

  • no way says:

    no way!!

  • Belly says:

    If we are thinking about bring back Owen lets bring back Robbin fowler as well

  • Belly says:

    I agree with the person who said we should not be looking for short term fixes but give Morgan and the two Spanish lads Pacheco and suso a chance but my bet is Pacheco will not even be in 25 man squad list today as BR tried to sell him last min of deadline day even after he knew we had no chance of bringing anybody in”…..BR wants to play like barca and here are two players who have been bought up in bar as youth teams and in pachecos case who played along with There superstars of today, he has also played for Spain at all Levels to U21….rated by barca, Spanish, Norwich and Liverpool fans but despite being our best player per season won’t be given a chance by Rodgers….same situation as AQUALANI here

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