Michael Owen vs Jamie Vardy

NasirTimothy

New Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2021
Messages
2,388
Supports
Enyimba F.C.
clarkydaz said:
He had what most england players lack in that he was fearless who he played against. Similar to young Rooney
Click to expand...
Absolutely true, he came into the league and international football with a lot of confidence
 

Luke1995

Full Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
3,460
As a teenager was Owen more highly rated than Rooney ?

And Rooney was obviously very highly rated. But was Owen the real deal at 15/16/17 ?
 

NasirTimothy

New Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2021
Messages
2,388
Supports
Enyimba F.C.
Luke1995 said:
As a teenager was Owen more highly rated than Rooney ?

And Rooney was obviously very highly rated. But was Owen the real deal at 15/16/17 ?
Click to expand...
No he wasn’t. Owen was always just a finisher and he started scoring goals as soon as he came into the Liverpool and England sides (from about age 17/18 IIRC). Rooney clearly had a much more varied attacking game as a teenager and he was England’s bright young hope to a much greater degree than Owen was
 

foxedup

Full Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2015
Messages
164
Supports
Leicester
Owen is an absolute muppet. He slagged Vardy off years ago, since then he's been ripping up the league. Owen has waited for him to get to 34, and to have a bit of a dip in form (that coincided with an ongoing injury) to pop up and repeat his claims. Vardy has been one of the most ruthless finishers out there in recent years, with consistently one of the best conversion rates in Europe.
 

roonster09

Hercule Poirot of the scouting world
Scout
Joined
May 10, 2009
Messages
36,722
Young Owen was brilliant player but his career faded away so early. It's exact opposite of Vardy.
 

Interval

Level
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
11,334
Location
Mostly harmless
Owen had a lot more talent but Vardy has done better justice to his.

Vardy was the most important piece in a title winning side and has impressed me every single year since. We would've done well to sign him the year Arsene was sniffing around
 

freeurmind

weak willed
Joined
Mar 10, 2017
Messages
5,883
I'm all for threads to wind up the Liverpool fans but Owen was clearly better at his peak than Vardy could ever hope to be.
 

Gehrman

Phallic connoisseur, unlike shamans
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
11,150
Owen in his prime was world class. No disrespect to Vardy.
 

Gringo

Full Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2019
Messages
3,402
Supports
Portugal
But is it worth much when the peak was so short. I think I'd rather have Vardys career
 

Hughes35

Full Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2014
Messages
2,593
Owen was a truly brilliant player, before the injuries wrecked him.

Better player, better striker and better finisher than Vardy....... And I rate Vary as a very good player!

Owen is an absolute clown of a human though.
 

Gio

★★★★★★★★
Joined
Jan 25, 2001
Messages
20,334
Location
Bonnie Scotland
Supports
Rangers
Owen.

Vardy and Owen are fairly comparable when isolating their Premier League records, but beyond that Owen has a couple of extra layers to his portfolio that Vardy cannot match. As clinical a finisher as Owen was, he wasn't just about goals. While Vardy's threat is mostly confined to the shoulder of the last man, Owen presented more danger further away from goal. He could pick up the ball in the middle third and if you gave him any space you were in serious trouble. And his razor-sharp reactions and instincts in the penalty box ensured he buried the closer-range opportunities irrespective of stage. Club and international defences just couldn't live with him for the majority of that 1998-2003 period.

Luke1995 said:
As a teenager was Owen more highly rated than Rooney ?

And Rooney was obviously very highly rated. But was Owen the real deal at 15/16/17 ?
Click to expand...
Generally yes, but not always. Up to 18/19 I think Owen would have been slightly higher rated. He burst into the English game and quickly became a heavy goalscorer, scoring 23 goals in his first season in the team at 17/18, whereas Rooney's first two campaigns only yielded single figures. Then they had those great tournaments, although again Owen would have been slightly ahead based on the wow factor he showed against Colombia and Argentina. But then at 19/20 Owen dropped off a couple of levels and looked quite one-dimensional for a few months - heavily one-footed, struggled against deeper defences, got his first hamstring injury and briefly lost some confidence in front of goal. At this point Rooney was now at United and was looking like hell of an all-round package. Then Owen bounced back, improved his left foot hugely, broadened his game, and I'd say he was more of a threat than Rooney up till the age of 23 or so when injuries finally overtook him.
 

Zlatattack

New Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2017
Messages
7,374
Champagne Football said:
Owen was clearly a level above in his prime. But the hamstring injuries wrecked his career.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Owen was a crock for a lot of his career. I don't blame him for trying to play, who wouldn't in that situation? Pre-injury Owen was an excellent striker.

Vardy is a very good striker too, but i don't think you can really compare Owen to anyone, because he didn't really do much once he was constantly injured.
 

duffer

Sensible and not a complete jerk like most oppo's
Scout
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
50,367
Location
Chelsea (the saviours of football) fan.
Gringo said:
But is it worth much when the peak was so short. I think I'd rather have Vardys career
Click to expand...
Really? Played at world cups, for Man United, Liverpool & Real Madrid. Balon d'or winner.

Vardy has has a long career but he's only been banging them in at the top level for about 6/7 years.

Their career trajectories are the complete opposite but I do think Owen's highs are considerably higher.
 

Luke1995

Full Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
3,460
Gio said:
Owen.

Vardy and Owen are fairly comparable when isolating their Premier League records, but beyond that Owen has a couple of extra layers to his portfolio that Vardy cannot match. As clinical a finisher as Owen was, he wasn't just about goals. While Vardy's threat is mostly confined to the shoulder of the last man, Owen presented more danger further away from goal. He could pick up the ball in the middle third and if you gave him any space you were in serious trouble. And his razor-sharp reactions and instincts in the penalty box ensured he buried the closer-range opportunities irrespective of stage. Club and international defences just couldn't live with him for the majority of that 1998-2003 period.


Generally yes, but not always. Up to 18/19 I think Owen would have been slightly higher rated. He burst into the English game and quickly became a heavy goalscorer, scoring 23 goals in his first season in the team at 17/18, whereas Rooney's first two campaigns only yielded single figures. Then they had those great tournaments, although again Owen would have been slightly ahead based on the wow factor he showed against Colombia and Argentina. But then at 19/20 Owen dropped off a couple of levels and looked quite one-dimensional for a few months - heavily one-footed, struggled against deeper defences, got his first hamstring injury and briefly lost some confidence in front of goal. At this point Rooney was now at United and was looking like hell of an all-round package. Then Owen bounced back, improved his left foot hugely, broadened his game, and I'd say he was more of a threat than Rooney up till the age of 23 or so when injuries finally overtook him.
Click to expand...
I feel like Rooney was our main man in 2004-05 and 2005-06 but from 2006-07 till 08-09 Ronaldo became better than him out of nowhere and Rooney was somewhat in his shadow. Then Ronaldo left and Rooney had a fantastic goalscoring season. I wonder what Rooney's career would look like if he had not played with Ronaldo and kept being the main man.

I think later on Owen's career, the Newcastle move was a really bad decision. Ronaldo started declining at Madrid in the season that Owen left. Maybe owen would have became the main starter then.
 

NasirTimothy

New Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2021
Messages
2,388
Supports
Enyimba F.C.
Gringo said:
But is it worth much when the peak was so short. I think I'd rather have Vardys career
Click to expand...
I won’t say that Jamie Vardy is a better player than Michael Owen, I don’t think that can be reasonably argued. However, it’s worth noting that Vardy currently has a better goal to game ratio in the premier league (0.50 to 0.46).
 

Zen

Full Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2008
Messages
14,519
NasirTimothy said:
I won’t say that Jamie Vardy is a better player than Michael Owen, I don’t think that can be reasonably argued. However, it’s worth noting that Vardy currently has a better goal to game ratio in the premier league (0.50 to 0.46).
Click to expand...
Vardy's also taken and more, importantly ... scored twice as many pens in the PL. I wouldn't say he was a better taker either, just didn't have to share the duties so much - McCallister, Fowler, Redknapp, Murphy...
 

Stacks

Full Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2015
Messages
10,905
Location
Between a rock and Gibraltar
Owen was far more dangerous on the ball and could dribble much better and weave in and out of defenders. He was England number 1 striker where as Vardy was forced to retire from England duty. Like suggesting Dario Hubner is better than Del Piero or Inzaghi because he had a similar goal record for a few years. You just need to have watched them both play to see. Owen would score curlers, skip past defenders, little dinks over the goal keeper etc. come on now
 

ZolaWasMagic

Full Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2018
Messages
2,714
Supports
Chelsea
Without injuries Michael Owen was much better. Should have never left Liverpool IMO
 

KwokSF

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Oct 14, 2020
Messages
76
Was Owen ever instrumental in his team's pursuit of silverware like Vardy been for Leicester city? I honestly can't remember.
 

NasirTimothy

New Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2021
Messages
2,388
Supports
Enyimba F.C.
Stacks said:
Owen was far more dangerous on the ball and could dribble much better and weave in and out of defenders. He was England number 1 striker where as Vardy was forced to retire from England duty. Like suggesting Dario Hubner is better than Del Piero or Inzaghi because he had a similar goal record for a few years. You just need to have watched them both play to see. Owen would score curlers, skip past defenders, little dinks over the goal keeper etc. come on now
Click to expand...
Being England’s number one striker has a lot to do with politics and the kind of people that the deeply conservative English FA wants to have as the face of the team. It’s getting better in that regard but it’s still there to a small degree.

It’s one of the reasons why England never win anything. So many good strikers never really got a shot with England cos they were too scally (Fowler) or too black (numerous) or played for unfancied club sides (again, numerous)
 

NinjaFletch

Full Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2009
Messages
19,818
duffer said:
Really? Played at world cups, for Man United, Liverpool & Real Madrid. Balon d'or winner.

Vardy has has a long career but he's only been banging them in at the top level for about 6/7 years.

Their career trajectories are the complete opposite but I do think Owen's highs are considerably higher.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but Owen did have to play for Liverpool, so I think it's pretty clear cut that Vardy's had the preferable career.
 

Stacks

Full Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2015
Messages
10,905
Location
Between a rock and Gibraltar
NasirTimothy said:
Being England’s number one striker has a lot to do with politics and the kind of people that the deeply conservative English FA wants to have as the face of the team. It’s getting better in that regard but it’s still there to a small degree.

It’s one of the reasons why England never win anything. So many good strikers never really got a shot with England cos they were too scally (Fowler) or too black (numerous) or played for unfancied club sides (again, numerous)
Click to expand...
I don't know about that. Which scally or black striker would of won us silverware but were blocked because of these reasons? We played guys like Pearce and Adams who all had issues and were not squeaky clean. Competition was insane in the 90s. Cole, Ferdinand, Sheringham, Fowler, Wrighty, Owen, Shearer, Le Tissier (didn't even get games). Shearer was one of the best forwards in the world. Owen was a child prodigy and leading the line for one of the biggest sides as a teenager. Then Rooney was another child prodigy. I am sure if we produced a Thierry Henry then he would of played.
 

Sleigh

Full Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2019
Messages
365
Supports
Leicester City
Whilst I think Vardy is brilliant, this isn’t even comparable in my opinion.

Michael Owen was phenomenal as a player before he basically fell to bits.

40 goals in 89 games for England.
150 goals in 326 games in the Premier League.
He average 1 goal in 3 games for Read Madrid.

He still had a lot to offer when he joined Newcastle, despite picking up niggling injuries. With today’s medical advice and some of the sports science knowledge we have now, maybe he would have recovered better. Vardy has a cryotherapy chamber at his house for recovery. This technology wasn’t around 10 years ago. The injury he picked up at Newcastle finished him as a world class player.

He still managed to collect a Ballon Dor, 1 x Premier League, 1 x FA Cup, 3 x League Cups, 1 x Super Cup and 1 x UEFA Cup. This was during a period that was largely dominated by Manchester United and Arsenal. Liverpool were always the Bridesmaid and never the bridge during his time there. He should have achieved more. Ultimately though, he’s still won more than the 1 x Premier League that Vardy has.
 

NasirTimothy

New Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2021
Messages
2,388
Supports
Enyimba F.C.
Stacks said:
I don't know about that. Which scally or black striker would of won us silverware but were blocked because of these reasons? We played guys like Pearce and Adams who all had issues and were not squeaky clean. Competition was insane in the 90s. Cole, Ferdinand, Sheringham, Fowler, Wrighty, Owen, Shearer, Le Tissier (didn't even get games). Shearer was one of the best forwards in the world. Owen was a child prodigy and leading the line for one of the biggest sides as a teenager. Then Rooney was another child prodigy. I am sure if we produced a Thierry Henry then he would of played.
Click to expand...
In the lead up to Euro 96, Shearer went 10 or so games without scoring and he didn’t lose his place. That wouldn’t have happened to Wright, Cole, Ferdinand etc or even Fowler. Those guys got one or two games and if they didn’t score, they were dropped.

Shearer’s face and bearing fit the mould of what they wanted the face of the team to be. Remember there’s a difference between who can make the team (most anyone who’s good enough) and the people they want to be the ‘faces’ of the team (the best player, the captain, the number one striker etc). These are the people that are at the forefront of the advertising etc. They want them to be a certain way. It’s not as bad now but it used to be a big thing. The FA has spent years being backwards and is only in the last few years emerging out of the fog of ignorance.
 

mariachi-19

Full Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
18,616
Location
I may be the devil, but i'm not a monster
NasirTimothy said:
I actually agree. He was just very very fast as a kid. That’s what frightened defenders at the time. You take away his pace (which the injuries essentially did) and there wasn’t much else there. His goal record was solid rather than spectacular.
Click to expand...
Bull shit. He's one of the best finishers to ever play the game and his positioning is world class. His goal record is solid because he played for Liverpool at that time. If he played for United from the start, he'd be our record goal scorer because there is no way Fergie relies on him like Liverpool did.

We'd have also never signed Ruud.
 

NasirTimothy

New Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2021
Messages
2,388
Supports
Enyimba F.C.
mariachi-19 said:
Bull shit. He's one of the best finishers to ever play the game and his positioning is world class. His goal record is solid because he played for Liverpool at that time. If he played for United from the start, he'd be our record goal scorer because there is no way Fergie relies on him like Liverpool did.

We'd have also never signed Ruud.
Click to expand...
One of the best finishers to ever play the game?! Haha, come on. There’s been several better in the Premier League years alone, let alone the rest of English football history and the whole rest of the world. 0.46 goals a game doesn’t make you one of the best finishers to ever play the game, not even close.
 

mariachi-19

Full Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
18,616
Location
I may be the devil, but i'm not a monster
NasirTimothy said:
One of the best finishers to ever play the game?! Haha, come on. There’s been several better in the Premier League years alone, let alone the rest of English football history and the whole rest of the world. 0.46 goals a game doesn’t make you one of the best finishers to ever play the game, not even close.
Click to expand...
Be my guest and suggest many better finishers than Michael Owen? Also dont embarass yourself using a goals to game ratio because it justifies 3/5 of feck all.
 

Interval

Level
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
11,334
Location
Mostly harmless
mariachi-19 said:
Be my guest and suggest many better finishers than Michael Owen? Also dont embarass yourself using a goals to game ratio because it justifies 3/5 of feck all.
Click to expand...
He's a great player but one of the best finishers? Doubt it.

Van Nistelrooy, Cristiano, Henry, Shearer, Torres just in the PL. Many more outside of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.