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Football: Owen needs time to master learning curve

Ken Jones
Wednesday 19 August 1998 23:02 BST
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SO MUCH has happened so quickly for Michael Owen that too much may now be expected of England's youngest-ever international footballer.

Barely four months after doubts were expressed about Owen's readiness at 18 years old for the World Cup finals he is known world-wide and a stellar figure in the Premiership.

Owen's demeanour suggests enough maturity to handle all the attention he has received since terrifying Argentina with his pace and scoring a marvellous goal against them, but some discretion should be shown in observation and assessment.

No English player in recent years has shown such potential. However, a fault of reporting across the airwaves and in newspapers is to encourage a response that ignores difficulties in development. If they are good enough they are old enough is a pretty sound maxim in any sport, but allowances have to be made for gaps in education.

From some of the things that have been said and written since Owen reappeared in Liverpool's colours, most recently in last Sunday's victory at Southampton that saw him provide the pass for one goal before scoring the winner, you would think he was the finished article.

The fact that Owen still has things to learn, especially in link-up play and knowing how to get the most from exceptional pace and awareness, makes his future all the more exciting.

Trouble is that people are inclined to think Owen man of the match simply from watching him in the warm-up. Liverpool's joint-manager Roy Evans made this point after Owen-mania broke out during a pre-season friendly against Internazionale at Anfield. Coming up against sensible marking and covering, Owen did nothing exceptional in that match, but exceptional performances are now automatically imagined for him.

Once Owen showed the temperament for international football he was foolishly compared with the greatest player of all time, Pele, who was a year younger when his genius was revealed in Sweden at the 1958 World Cup finals.

George Best and Diego Maradona came close, but nobody to my mind has matched the Brazilian's range of virtuosity.

Without wishing to detract from the progress Owen has made, one of the reasons he stood out in France was the absence of a truly outstanding attacker, by which I mean one whose natural gifts were accompanied by consistent determination.

I recently discussed this with some former international players who can look back on their own World Cup experiences. They all agreed that Owen was a revelation, lighting up the tournament with his acceleration and directness. "The kid stood out and should have a terrific career," one of them said, "but there is still a lot for him to learn."

Jimmy Greaves was a similar age when launched by Chelsea in the late 50s. Within five years he was established beyond all reasonable doubt as one the greatest goalscorers the game has ever seen.

Not long after Greaves began to make a big name for himself Manchester United selected two teenage wingers for an FA Cup tie at Southampton. "Look out for this kid George Best," I remember Maurice Setters saying. "He's going to be exceptional."

The thing to remember about young people in sport is they are as vulnerable to ups and downs as young people in any other profession. The difference is public scrutiny and today's quite ridiculous hyperbole.

Just about everything worth saying about Jim Murray, of the Los Angeles Times, has been penned in the United States this week following his death at 78 in California.

Obituaries identified Murray correctly as the raciest of American sports columnists, a man of piercing insight and fearless opinion. We encountered Murray regularly at big fights, Olympic Games, golf championships, international sweat festivals of every kind. A Pulitzer prize winner in 1990 - "maybe it was for getting bad managers the sack," - Murray's column had run for almost 40 years.

Traditionally contemptuous of our heavyweights, Murray once wrote that it is perfectly in order over here for a fighter to quit on his stool. The next day on a golf course I reminded him respectfully that we didn't quit on the stool in 1940.

Murray, bless him, sent a note after hearing that I'd lost my lower right arm in an accident. "You've still got a better jab than Frank Bruno," he said.

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