Shearer: Owen can help us into Champions League
Newcastle skipper Alan Shearer is backing Michael Owen to fire his side back into the Champions League.
Owen claimed his first hat-trick in a black and white shirt at West Ham with Shearer, who helped set up two of them, claiming the other goal in a 4-2 Barclays Premiership victory.
That cemented the Magpies’ place in the top half of the table and perhaps more significantly, left them just three points adrift of Wigan in sixth and six behind fourth-placed Tottenham.
Shearer’s goal was his 199th for his hometown club and took him to within one of equalling Jackie Milburn’s record of 200, but it was Owen’s contribution which so excited him.
“I honestly believe that if Michael stays fit, then we are still in with a shout of qualifying for the Champions League again,” he said.
“As far I am concerned, I am really enjoying playing alongside him and we all know that we are much better team when he is in it.
“Obviously, what is a big help is that we have not been exactly thrown together in the Newcastle team because we played together for England.
“And of course, we are not just team-mates on the pitch, but good pals off it.”
It was Shearer, of course, who nursed the teenage Owen through the 1998 World Cup finals in France at which he announced his arrival as an international star.
Now 26, the former Liverpool hitman has since gone on to eclipse the older man’s record of 30 goals in 63 appearances for his country, although the bond they forged wearing the three lions remain as strong as ever.
Commenting on Owen’s “perfect” hat-trick – left foot, right foot, header - Shearer said: “I have never scored one like Michael did on Saturday – left foot, right foot and one off my ear!
But he added: “It’s because Michael gets into such great positions, like he did from Nobby Solano’s free-kick, that the ball ends up in the net no matter what part of him it comes off.”
Owen has now scored seven times in eight starts for the club he joined for £17m (€25m) from Real Madrid back in August, and his partnership with Shearer is already proving hugely productive.
In the eight games in which they have played together to date, they have managed 10 goals between them, with Owen leading the way on seven, and that has rekindled memories of the partnership the former England captain enjoyed with Les Ferdinand during his first season on Tyneside, a link-up which brought them a staggering 49 goals.
“My partnership with Michael is still in its early stages, mainly because he has missed a couple of games because of injuries, and really it is a different kind of partnership than I had with Les,” he said.
“That was about power and me and him battling and scrapping for everything. Don’t get me wrong, Michael is not easily pushed off the ball, but now it is also about his pace and his ability to turn half-chances into goals.”
England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson was in the crowd and must have been delighted with Owen’s form with next summer’s World Cup finals fast approaching.
He and Wayne Rooney will provide the bulk of their country’s goal threat in Germany, a responsibility Shearer shouldered for so long in the past.
However, even if the Swede was impressed by his enduring potency, he will be leaving it to the next generation this time around.
“Yes, I will be going to Germany with England for the World Cup – but only as a commentator for the BBC,” Shearer said.
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