Expert Opinion
Michael Owen, the poacher clings on
Two much-maligned icons of goalscoring received new contracts this summer. There were raised eyebrows when 38-year-old Filippo Inzaghi was granted an extension at Milan following an injury-hit season. But this was nothing compared to the consternation when Sir Alex Ferguson handed a new deal to the artist formerly known as Michael Owen despite giving him just 228 minutes of Premier League action for Manchester United in the last campaign.
Much of the shock stems from the feeling that not only are both Inzaghi and Owen fading forces in the game but, more generally, the role of the poacher is now virtually redundant. Zonal Marking editor Michael Cox has said: “It’s simply not enough to be a goalscorer anymore. You have to contribute to the team’s overall game.” Jonathan Wilson, writing in 2009, saw a bleak outlook for the Man Utd striker in particular: “Is there any place for poachers in modern football? The bad news for Owen is that if there is, it is probably at somewhere like Newcastle.”
While Sir Alex helped Owen wake up from that particular nightmare with a move to Man Utd, the point remains a valid one – the game has moved on. And yet, when it comes to Inzaghi and Owen, the respective champions of Italy and England clearly still feel they have something to offer. The simplest answer may well be that they are damn good at it. The two men hold the joint-record of scoring more Champions League hat tricks – three – than anyone else and have a track record of deciding big games.
They’ve also crucially shown a willingness to accept a diminished role in their respective squads. Owen even articulated his acceptance of this situation, saying via Twitter: “[I] prefer playing less in a top team than every game in a poor one – been there, didn’t enjoy it.”
But there are still salient tactical reasons why the poacher is of use at the highest level. Teams like Milan and United often find themselves in the lead with opponents chasing the game and playing a high line late on. Here the poacher can expose the space behind – as Owen did against Blackpool on the final day of the 2010-11 season.
Indeed, far from being dead, there is renewed belief around Old Trafford that, in Javier Hernández, the champions have unearthed another poacher supreme – ‘the next Michael Owen’. In a nod to poachers everywhere, Ferguson abandoned any thoughts of stifling the Barcelona midfield in the 2011 Champions League Final and instead sought to stretch the game by playing Hernández off the shoulder of the last man. It was, he reasoned, their only chance.
Perhaps this hints at the key reason why the flame of the poacher is yet to be fully extinguished. Beyond any tactical assessment of their worth, there is the ethereal quality. The ability to pop up in the right place is not so much science but instead more of an unexplained art. The gift is viewed with mistrust and the result is that even the finest teams in the world will remain wary of dispensing with such a potent weapon.
Maybe it was this thought that nagged away at Ferguson. Maybe it was the memories of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s late interjection over a decade ago that told him he needed to include Owen on the bench against Barcelona at Wembley just in case. It certainly wasn’t common sense that prompted Massimiliano Allegri to claim Inzaghi “would still be scoring goals at 50″. That’s what the poacher does to you. He defies logic. And he simply refuses to go quietly into the night.
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