Michael Owen
Michael Owen
Michael James Owenis a former English footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. He is a regular pundit and co-commentator on BT Sport football coverage, and sometimes appears on BBC's Match of the Day as a pundit. Since retiring from football, he has become a successful racehorse breeder and owner...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionSoccer Player
Date of Birth14 December 1979
CityChester, England
I think England are probably not as streetwise as plenty of other teams. The other top teams know how to keep a victory or do certain things to hang on to leads or get back in games. They're a lot more streetwise than us. I think as a nation we are very honest, we try to win the right way.
The better the opposition that's put in front of you, the better your team plays,
I'm confident in my position in the team and my value to the team from recent and past performances,
Often the biggest test is when the chips are down and you've got to stick together as a team.
While the World Cup is great every four years, I think people struggle to get themselves excited about qualifiers against the smaller nations. It will take some good performances from the national team to get the feel-good factor back, as far as the England team goes at least.
The better the opposition put in front of you, the better your team plays.
[Wayne Rooney] has to be viewed as a great England striker if he breaks Sir Bobby Charlton's record. Scoring goals at international level is much more difficult than it was a few years back because even the lesser teams are well organised and don't concede too many goals these days.
When you put better teams in front of you, that's when the big players rise to that occasion.
I wanted to get back to the Premiership,
At 18 to 20, I was probably one of the quickest things around, at the peak of my powers.
There's not a whole lot of difference to what we normally play,
I would like to think that if I stop playing in three, four, five years time, whatever it may be, that I would still be involved in football and still have that as my profession. It is my passion and what I know.
I will try to read a couple of papers!
I'm here and I've signed a four-year contract. The one thing I will guarantee is goals.