What makes the difference between Emile Heskey of 2001 and Emile Heskey of 2003? The answer is Michael Owen of 2001 and Michael Owen of 2003.
Back in the treble season Owen was a striker, but he was everything else. He dragged defenders, he drifted wide, he took men on... He was an awesome display of speed and skill.
That was Emile Heskey's best partner. He got the service, he interacted, he did all the things he knew and learned from youth and he scored goals. That was a good partnership because each striker did more to help his partner and shared the burden of deeper roles.
However, Michael Owen has changed since then. You don't see him leading attacks, burning grass like he once did. You only get flashes of it. His all around abilities haven't developed, and (the fear of) injuries paid their toll.
That hurt Emile Heskey, because now they are no longer two strikers interacting, it's now the big guy playing as a "defensive striker"
and trying to feed the little guy who is now more often isolated near the box trying to latch into a through ball instead of trying to take the game in his hands and make some of the plays.
Since Michael Owen changed the way he plays and has abandoned the deeper aspects of being a forward, turning into a "fox in the box" type of player, Emile Heskey has also changed his role, from a balanced striker capable of supplying AND finishing, into a suspect "burden slave" who is a non-threat, a non-striker and a non-factor in the game.
I don't know what has caused this balanced partnership to turn into a form of dependance, but it has damaged our attacking capabilites. That partnership isn't healthy anymore to any striker. It freezes the development of Owen's all around abilities and hurts Heskey's footballing abilities (If he has any left). They are not the same players anymore, it's either Owen OR Heskey for me at the moment.
So what do we do? Try to turn them back? Tell Owen to drop deep more and lead the attack, We've talked about this before and most of you have said we can't tell our 'star' what to do.
Well the other option is give Owen a partner who isn't exactly a striker, but specializes in providing. A player who is comfortable playing behind the front man and capable of creating threats near the box using his brains rather than his 'raw power'.
I think that it's time we give
Jari Litmanen Vladimir Smicer a RUN (That means more than two games in a row ffs!) in the position he made his name in.
That's the only way that he can become consistent, by giving him a consistent run!
He's got the attitude, he's got the self criticism and he's got the talent. It's time we give him the chance.