Big Sam Stands Firm On Owen!

Last updated : 07 October 2007 By Footy Mad - Editor

Sam Allardyce: "I think he will be available for Sunday, so I do not think that will be a problem.

"Based on today, as long as he does not get any reaction, he will be available for the squad.

"He will come in tomorrow and train again and he will be okay, so I think he will be available for selection.

"It is nothing to do with Steve McClaren and England what I do with Michael Owen.

"It is what I think is the best for the football club and the team on Sunday, and Michael Owen all combined.

"I have never been one to ask somebody to play and risk being injured again.

"I take my medical staff's information, the highly-qualified staff I have got, and I take their recommendation.

"Unless I am really, really desperate - and I mean really desperate - I would not ask a player to go out there who I do not think is going to complete the game, or is going to make his condition worse than it already is.

"If he is fit, he is fit. If he plays on Sunday, then obviously he is fit to play for England then.

"But I have to look at my position first and make sure if I am going to select him, he is 100% able to do what I want him to do.

"We have to bear in mind his previous, and his recent previous has not been too good when he has tried to complete a number of games.

"He has had two sets of surgery, even though they were only minor and an adductor, and I am always very protective for the future.

"I won't be over-protective, but protective enough not to put myself into trouble in the future by risking Michael Owen too early.

"That is a big decision to make. Every player when he thinks he is fit from his injury, thinks he it fit to play, and sometimes as a manager, you have got to look a bit longer and deeper than that."