Owen targets title success

November 23, 2009

Michael Owen: Title ambition

Michael Owen has his own personal reasons for wanting United to win the Barclays Premier League crown for a record fourth successive season.

The 29-year-old striker is determined to get his hands on a title-winners' medal for the first time in his career.

"It is something I think about a lot," he said.

Owen is going some way to getting his wish and made his 17th appearance of the season in the victory against Everton.

That vital win kept United five points adrift of Chelsea, who had thrashed Wolves earlier in the day.

The closest Owen has come to getting the medal he craves came in 2002 when he was with Liverpool who finished runners-up to Arsenal.

A surprise acquisition in the summer after his contract at Newcastle expired, Owen told the club's website, www.manutd.com, he now hopes he can fulfil that ambition during his time at Old Trafford.

He said: "When I was first asked to sign for Manchester United I went to bed thinking about what it would feel like to join a new club and meet new staff and new players.

"Playing under Sir Alex Ferguson was also a big attraction and I thought about how good it would feel to run out every week at Old Trafford and play in front of so many people.

"But the big thing for me was the chance to win honours. Manchester United are such a great club and I would love to be part of a league-winning team."

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stevi, france (23/11/2009 at 13:15)

Owen seems to be steering clear of injuries and his moment & position play has been really good I'd like to see him start knocking a few goals in now.....

Alias Smith, over the moon (23/11/2009 at 13:22)

Chances are, he will get his wish this season. I think Owen is still finding his feet and sharpness at United, which is not being helped by the fact it's hard for him to get a run of games which is natural in a squad as strong as ours, but he's clearly enjoying himself and I think will prove himself a shrewd acquisition over the course of the season.

Allen & Knott's Lovechild (23/11/2009 at 14:56)

Never has and never will.

Ed from Davyhulme, Manchester (23/11/2009 at 15:01)

Owen has excellent movement which, in truth, is often a bit too intelligent for the other United players to appeciate. Unfortunately, his goal tally is poor given the number of chances he has been given. He, also, contributes very little to the build-up play and so is a bit of a 'passenger'. All this could be forgiven if he was tucking in more goals. He undoubtedly will get plenty of starts this season and I think SAF is trying to give him the confidence to score goals consistently by giving him a run of games and I guess this is why he is getting the nod ahead of Macheda and Wellbeck. Unless there is improvement soon, however, there will be an increasing clamour for the two youngsters (and Joshu King) to be pushed forward. The jury is still out on Michael Owen........

Roger, Ontario, Ontario (23/11/2009 at 15:23)

Movement shmovement. Goals are what we want from him. He ain't no Jermain Defoe.
Now, he would be so electric on our team.

Gilly, Belgium (23/11/2009 at 15:46)

Yeah me too !
come on Owen score us some goals !

mark jones (23/11/2009 at 16:14)

yeah right youve more chance of platting fog

david allen (23/11/2009 at 16:15)

To be honest I'd much rather see Macheda or Wellbeck given more of a run in the team than Owen. They are young, hungry and ambitious, wheras Owen is more interested in his horses and the England team.

j tatez, manchester (23/11/2009 at 17:46)

what is it with all this defoe talk! he scores five goals against a poor wigan team and all of a sudden he should be at old trafford? dont get me wrong he is a good player and so far is having a great season, put in previous years before has been hit and miss! give owen a chance, other players are just starting to walk out his movement, but when they do im sure hell score more.

Rob Lawrence (23/11/2009 at 18:00)

Why are people getting so carried away with Defoe after one performance? Now, if you were raving about Bent, that's different, but then I don't know what it is, even though Bent is banging them in regularly, he is missing that something-star-quality that puts him above what we have got up front.

Is It Me? (23/11/2009 at 18:06)

I would love to see Owen,Rooney and Berb,playing together,with Rooney playing the deep role.Valencia and Gigga on the wings!

KingCantona7, Ashton (23/11/2009 at 19:31)

Lets hope he gets one by sitting on the bench, not up to it.

Steve in Brussels (23/11/2009 at 20:12)

He has not had a great deal of time on the pitch. His movement was good and if he carries on doing that he will score more. If he plays enough he is well capable of scoring in the region of 20 and if you need to nick a goal then he is not a bad option to have on the bench. Defoe did well yesterday so can expect a lot of overblown gushing but the fact is he scored 5 against a team that had capitulated past the point of return in a few minutes and a hat trick against someone like Wolves or Burnley and that is where most of the goals have been so far. If he had been banging them in against the top teams then fair enough but don't go overboard.

Drago 34 (23/11/2009 at 20:22)

In my eyes this signing was always a win win situation. If he scores lots of goals then its a shrewed signing and if he doesnt then we didnt pay a bean for him.He's doing ok so far as hes got 3 goals and 1 assist (for me hes already proved his worth by scoring that winner against you no who in the 96th minute).Yes he should have had more by now with the chances hes had but his movement around the box is exceptional and its because of his movement that hes there to miss the chances.I still think he'll end up getting us 10+ goals for us this season and somemore very important ones at that.So if he scores say 12 goals this season and get another 2-3 assists then it would have been a successful gamble on Fergie's part considering he cost nothing.

Jimmy D, Manchester (24/11/2009 at 06:23)

Everyone keeps talking about Defoe, yes he's a good player, but to me he always seems to have an attitude problem and this could be why SAF has steered clear. SAF could have put a reasonable offer in when a Portsmouth, but now he's at Spurs we'd need to add a 0 to the end of any decent valuation (look at thr price of Carrick and Berbatov). Owen was ruined by Liverpool, who played and relied on him too much as a developing player.

Gerry, Glastonbury (24/11/2009 at 07:39)

Everyone keeps on about Owen’s movement and how he gets in good goal scoring positions – that much is true. He is to all intents and purposes an old fashioned goal hanger – not dissimilar to Van Nistleroy. So he should get on the end of things – that’s his job ain’t it!
However his conversion rate is dreadful.
He had three (all very difficult) half chances on Saturday. A top striker, or even an old Owen would have bagged one of those. He failed to even hit the target?
I am totally under whelmed with his finishing prowess thus far.
He was definitely a risk worth taking but he really could and should have at least six or seven goals already for United. Rooney & Scholes both try to thread passes through the eye of a needle for him to get on the score sheet. He’s had every chance to succeed. Time to deliver Michael?

Alias Smith, over the moon (24/11/2009 at 10:20)

Gerry, good comments. It's the old adage about strikers - the worrying thing would be if they were not getting into the positions and not getting the chances. So far, I see steady improvement from Owen - he has to adjust to playing in by far the best team he has ever been part of and we have to adjust to having a natural goalscorer - I am confident that as the season progresses, he will bag some important goals for us. In the meantime, the rest of the time are naturally stepping up to the goal to fill the gap left by Ronaldo. We're not in our stride yet but it's looking pretty good IMO.

Alias Smith, over the moon (24/11/2009 at 10:25)

Jimmy D, the moaning from United fans that we didn't sign Defoe makes me smile. Not one fan that I know of called for us to make a bid for him either when he moved to Portsmouth or when he moved back to Spurs. But he goes on a hot streak and now there are letters to local MPs demanding to know why we didn't sign him!

bobbydazzler (24/11/2009 at 10:59)

gerry glastonbury your post is just about spot on mate if anything you are being kind to owen the old michael owen could have had 10 goals by now. he does keep getting into good positions but he is MISSING TOO MANY.

Roger, Ontario, Ontario (24/11/2009 at 14:30)

Defoe is hardly one performance, Rob lawrence. He's fantastic.

and yes, "Is it me?", Owen,Rooney and Berb,playing together, is only you.

Duncan, London (24/11/2009 at 15:11)

Alias I never heard anyone clamouring for Owen either. Were we given the choice then Defoe was always the obvious one out the two for a number of reasons - however there was only one winner when comparing the transfer fee!

Also I find it a little disingenuous that some of you are disregarding the feat of scoring 5 goals in a match. The other two players who managed it were Cole and Shearer - both two great strikers. I'm not saying it makes him the next coming but it certainly indicates he is the best English marksman. Anyone who seriously thinks Owen is better has not been watching him or Defoe this season!

Alias Smith, over the moon (24/11/2009 at 15:40)

Duncan, yeah I agree on your first Owen point. I wasn't talking about Defoe in relation to Owen but just generally. I like to think that one of the main reasons SAF signed Owen rather than spend big money on a striker is that he believes that the youngsters we have coming through will be ready in the short to medium term.

And I think it's a little harsh to compare the performances of Owen and Defoe when one is first choice for his team and the other has been getting few starts and odd cameos.

Duncan, London (24/11/2009 at 16:22)

Alias point taken about Owen's age and the youngsters - I agree it fitted with our longer term aims and he has been a good signing in that sense (not to mention his goal against the bitters). However, I actually have watched Defoe this season and last and he has looked a better player. Its hard to judge Owen as he's been through a period of injury and he hasn't had that many appearances but I can't see him at Defoe's standard. However, they are similar types of player so the comparison is inevitable.

That said, I felt we should have held onto Saha and that we should have gone for Anelka when he became available the season before last. Or even gone for Drogba in the days of big Phil. So Defoe or Owen would not have been my ideal choice in any case. Just wondering why some are hammering Defoe:)

Jimmy D, Manchester (25/11/2009 at 05:26)

I'm not knocking Defoe's footballing pedigree, it's his personal attitude that always comes badly in my eyes and I believe SAF would have noticed it too. I think he may have brought disruption to the dressing room.

Alias Smith, over the moon (25/11/2009 at 09:45)

Duncan, like you I thought Saha was a cracking player but I doubt he would have been as fit for us as he has been for Everton, if that makes any kind of sense at all.

I was unsure about Anelka but, with hindsight, I agree that he probably would have been a good signing.

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