Short Of Form: Worries For Newcastle's Michael Owen

Although one may find it hard to believe nowadays, there was a time when Michael Owen was on top of the footballing world.

Shooting onto the international scene as in Glenn Hoddle's 1998 World Cup squad for England, Owen reached unprecedented levels of fame and fortune at the young age of eighteen.

After bursting past veteran defender Roberto Ayala, Owen scored historic goal for England against arch rivals Argentina in France. In spite of the fact that England did go on to lose the match in a penalty shootout, the wondergoal itself made the footballing world stand up and take notice of the emerging English superstar.

After all, it was the wondergoal itself that propelled Owen towards his illustrious career with Liverpool. With Owen's predatory instincts up front, the team won three trophies in 2001—winning the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup.

Along with his club success, Owen received numerous individual awards including two Premier League Top Scorer titles  (1998, 1999) and a Ballon d'Or (2001). Suffice to say, the boy from Chester had officially emerged as one of the world's top footballers.

Following in the footsteps of the departed Gerard Houllier, Owen joined up with his international teammate David Beckham at Real Madrid with hopes of establishing himself in a foreign league.

Despite only playing in La Liga for one season, Owen still managed to score sixteen goals in fourty three appearances—quite impressive considering that most of his appearances were off the bench.

Ten years later, the glory years in Michael Owen's career seem to be nothing more than a distant memory. Since signing for Newcastle back in 2005, Owen has yet to prove himself worthy of his lucrative contract and hefty club record fee. 

After suffering through countless matches with heavy defensive pressure, one could make the case that the constant knocks have taken a toll on the twenty-eight-year old striker. Struggling with a run of unfortunate injuries, critics are now claiming that Owen no longer possesses the blistering pace that once terrified opposition defenders.

While this assessment may be true, Owen is not entirely to blame for the failures at St. James Park this season. The defensive play of the back four has been atrocious under both managers Sam Allardyce and Kevin Keegan.

New £6 million signing Jose Enrique has proven to be a major disappointment after putting in some abysmal performances whenever given an opportunity in the first team. Fellow Englishman Joey Barton has only created more problems off the pitch after yet another run in with the law.

Despite being handed the skipper's armband under new boss Kevin Keegan, it seems as if Owen's confidence has reached an all time low after blowing several chances to win the game against Blackburn. The recent poor performances have the Toon Army crying out for Obafemi Martins to be put in to replace the England striker.

While being put up alone in a 4-5-1 formation under newly appointed Magpie boss Kevin Keegan, Owen often looks isolated and playing as a link-up man instead of running in behind defenders—one of Owen's greatest strengths.

Simply put, Owen is in need of another striker in order to deal with persistent pressure from defenders—with Obafemi Martins and Alan Smith being viable options.

The shattered confidence and poor run of form comes at a time when Owen could see himself axed from the England squad.

"When you are down it is hard to be listened to," he told BBC Radio Five Live.

"Results are not going well and, when you are not playing well as a team and individually, then individuals will not get picked for the national team."

That's not mentioning the possibly contract conflicts that he could be dealing with at season's end. With Owen's £100,000 a week contract set to expire, there have been rumors circulating around within the media that Owen will be asking for a pay raise.

However, when taking into consideration of Newcastle's recent battle against relegation and a possible England squad cut—signing a new contract could be the least of Owen's worries right at the moment.