Fowler: I was a better striker than Owen in every aspect

[VladimirIlyich]

1 hour ago, Peter Cormack said:

Owen’s dad was a pro footballer and he was brought up to follow in his dad’s footsteps. Robbie fowler is an ordinary lad from liverpool 8 with more to life than football. He was the best finisher in a red shirt I’ve seen,  It’s a shame that knee injury and playing when Roy Evans was manager, when discipline was apparently lax, affected his career. Souey would have turned him into a model pro in my opinion. The other difference with Owen is that he wasn’t brought up a dyed in the wool blue.

Souness would have turned him into a model pro? Sorry,I have to disagree. Souness was an awful Liverpool manager and not particularly great in general. The only modern manager who 'might' have affected him positively was probably Rafa,but he had him too late in his career. The Souness management era was a disaster other than a generous FA Cup run and triumph. Its important we separate player from manager when mentioning Souness as they were night and day.

[stringvest]

3 hours ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Souness would have turned him into a model pro? Sorry,I have to disagree. Souness was an awful Liverpool manager and not particularly great in general. The only modern manager who 'might' have affected him positively was probably Rafa,but he had him too late in his career. The Souness management era was a disaster other than a generous FA Cup run and triumph. Its important we separate player from manager when mentioning Souness as they were night and day.

 

Agreed.  though as a player, Souness would have sorted him out.  Took him to the right nightclubs, anyway.  

[El Rojo]

3 hours ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Souness would have turned him into a model pro? Sorry,I have to disagree. Souness was an awful Liverpool manager and not particularly great in general. The only modern manager who 'might' have affected him positively was probably Rafa,but he had him too late in his career. The Souness management era was a disaster other than a generous FA Cup run and triumph. Its important we separate player from manager when mentioning Souness as they were night and day.

Yeah, Houllier came too late for him.

 

Can you imagine him under Ferguson? Shudder. 

[Paul]

On 22/12/2023 at 08:54, Kevin D said:

He said he thinks he was better than Shearer.

 

Thoughts?

More talented. And just as clinical. So yes. But longevity was non-existent. 

[Chris]

Depends on your parameters I suppose. 

 

Fowler was Oasis. Owen was Coldplay. 

 

Interpret that however you want.

 

[stringvest]

22 minutes ago, Chris said:

Depends on your parameters I suppose. 

 

Fowler was Oasis. Owen was Coldplay. 

 

Interpret that however you want.

 

 

Owen was Coldplay alright, but Fowler was the Libertines.

[Chris]

21 minutes ago, stringvest said:

 

Owen was Coldplay alright, but Fowler was the Libertines.

 

Nah. Fowler was good. 

[Ron B]

7 hours ago, El Rojo said:

Yeah, Houllier came too late for him.

 

Can you imagine him under Ferguson? Shudder. 

He came too late for Houllier insofar as…

Houllier liked players who were “his”. If Fowler come through under him and Owen had been the older player, there’s a good chance it would have been Owen who got binned off (I only equivocate because Ged did love the option of just playing direct with no finesse, which never suited Robbie). 

[Baltar]

I agree with Robbie. He lacked Owen's discipline and hunger to be the best though. Fowler definitely more talented, he could have been better if not for the injuries. 

[Mathewbet1]

Although Fowler was technically better, I often thought owens techincal ability was underrated, especially the running at speed and keeping control of the ball, thats a difficult skill, just try it, not seen anyone as good as him at doing that, past or present, apart from Henry or proper ronaldo. 

[Jairzinho]

22 hours ago, Chris said:

Depends on your parameters I suppose. 

 

Fowler was Oasis. Owen was Coldplay. 

 

Interpret that however you want.

 

 

Both were fucking shit?

[Arniepie]

7 hours ago, Mathewbet1 said:

Although Fowler was technically better, I often thought owens techincal ability was underrated, especially the running at speed and keeping control of the ball, thats a difficult skill, just try it, not seen anyone as good as him at doing that, past or present, apart from Henry or proper ronaldo. 

Anyone who thinks all Owen had was pace,are chatting shite

 

[Arniepie]

23 hours ago, Ron B said:

He came too late for Houllier insofar as…

Houllier liked players who were “his”. If Fowler come through under him and Owen had been the older player, there’s a good chance it would have been Owen who got binned off (I only equivocate because Ged did love the option of just playing direct with no finesse, which never suited Robbie). 

I don't think it was that.

Even though Houllier was strict but he would defend his players to the hilt(remember he even stuck his neck our over the sniffing the line incident?

Maybe he thought he didnt pay him back over all that stuff with thompson?

Saying all that,Fowler was Never really the sane again,when we sold him

 

[Curly]

On 22/12/2023 at 10:14, dave u said:

Lack of self awareness from Robbie again. The fact he thinks the only thing Michael had over him is pace explains why he never had the career he should have.

 

How about professionalism, dedication, single mindedness to be the absolute best and to squeeze out every last drop of talent?

 

Fowler had much more talent than Owen (and pretty much anybody else I can think of for that matter, he was a genius), but only one of them won a Balon d'Or and shone on the world stage. 

 

If Robbie had the same professionalism and determination to be the absolute best that Michael had then there'd have been nobody to touch him, he'd have been the greatest. Unfortunately he chose to be out in town every weekend. Not that you'll ever hear him acknowledge that.

Spot on that mate. Absolute boyhood hero of mine, Robbie, but on top of the stuff you mention there, the more I hear him as I’ve got older the less I buzz off him.

 

Why even say that now anyway? Plus, Owen has a better goal to game ratio if you just base it on his first spell here and ignore the slow second stint later in his career.

[El Dangerous]

Fowler played during a time slow forwards were part and parcel of the game. His injury setbacks didn’t help but they’re not the reason he didn’t achieve greatness.

[Kevin D]

 

[beejay]

It's wrong to pick between them because we were privileged to have them both in their prime. It's also hard to stay objective as Robbie was always one of us while there was always this stigma about Owen favouring England. 

 

But if pushed I still think Fowler was the better player. What a striker of a ball, I was right behind him a few times witnessing an arrow straight missile into the corner and he was deadly in the air too. 

[Megadrive Man]

4 hours ago, Kevin D said:

 

 

Had this on VHS.

 

[Chris]

23 minutes ago, Megadrive Man said:

 

Had this on VHS.

 

 

Wasn't it on one of those 'Never Walk Alone' magazine-style videos they came out with. They were about £7 and came out every couple of months. There was some good stuff in those. And some right bollocks, like Jason McAteer showing-off his underwear drawer.

[manwiththestick]

43 minutes ago, Chris said:

 

Wasn't it on one of those 'Never Walk Alone' magazine-style videos they came out with. They were about £7 and came out every couple of months. There was some good stuff in those. And some right bollocks, like Jason McAteer showing-off his underwear drawer.

*puts on Sade, unzips.

[Megadrive Man]

1 hour ago, Chris said:

 

Wasn't it on one of those 'Never Walk Alone' magazine-style videos they came out with. They were about £7 and came out every couple of months. There was some good stuff in those. And some right bollocks, like Jason McAteer showing-off his underwear drawer.

 

It was!

 

I remember having to pester my mum in to buying me one from WH Smiths!

 

I think it also had Neil Ruddock becoming a referee in it.