Newcastle United Football Club News

• Nickname:Magpies
• Founded:1881
• Manager:Alan Pardew

• Ground:St James' Park
• Capacity:52,193

Sam calls for Owen patience

19 Aug 2007 - 10:25:25

Click To Enlarge

Newcastle United boss Sam Allardyce has warned supporters not to expect too much too soon from injury-plagued striker Michael Owen.

The England striker made his first appearance of the season as a 63rd minute substitute during the Magpies' goalless draw with Aston Villa on Saturday evening.

Owen failed to end Newcastle's dismal record of 560 minutes without a home goal, but Allardyce has called for fans to be patient with the former Liverpool and Real Madrid marksman as he continues his comeback from serious knee ligament damage.

The 27-year-old's last goal for the club came back in December 2005.

"Michael was not there today but he is not really back yet," said Allardyce. "It could be five or six games before you see the sharp end of Michael Owen.

"If (England coach) Steve McClaren gives him some part of the Germany match this week that will be a great help and obviously we hope there will be no injuries from that."

Referring to the performance in his first home game in charge, Allardyce added: "It was frustrating in the end that we failed to break down a very solid defence.

"All we needed was to pull something out of the bag to win the game 1-0 and we haven't quite managed that, but it was very important to keep a clean sheet and that makes me very happy.

"We always kept ourselves positive and tried to win the game. We have still got a lot of good players to come back.

"We have got four points from our first two games but we still have a way to go."