We asked a top celebrity, actress Kelly Greenwood, whether Michael Owen should be England’s first-choice striker for Germany 2006.*

Kelly answered: “Yes”

Owen has to be included in the England team this summer. Football is about scoring goals, so dropping your top goalscorer is not a sensible proposition. Owen’s pace and presence can also stretch opposition defences and put them on the back foot, so he’s not just a one-dimensional goalscorer either. He’s certainly the only out-and-out forward we’ve got whose name may induce some fear into top teams like Argentina.

This is not to say that picking all of your ‘big name’ players and shoehorning them into a misshapen team is appropriate. It is vital to reconcile the functioning of the overall team with the propensities and talents of the available personnel. England have faltered before trying to work Scholes, Beckham, Lampard and Gerrard into one midfield. In this instance people end up being played out of position, or certain areas such as defensive midfield become an ancillary concern. This doesn’t work and inhibits those players trying to compensate for the system’s inadequacies - but the situation with Owen is different. We’re talking about playing our best striker in his regular position; not experimenting with him on the wing, or retaining him despite better talents emerging.

England is a 4-4-2 nation and we must play to our strengths. Attempting to ‘continentalise’ our football just neutralises Anglo-Saxon impact. We need to force other teams to change their approach in the struggle to counter us, not the other way around. So never mind formation tinkering: the only thing that ought to prompt us to consider dropping Owen should be the option of utilising a more prolific attacker - but there is no other option! Owen is England’s best striker and it is up to the rest of the team to accommodate him and provide him with high quality service. Gerrard and Lampard patrol the midfield, Rooney makes his runs from deep, Owen scores the goals – it’s a perfect division of labour.

It will be a sad day indeed when we decide that there is no place in the England team for the player who scores the most goals! Let us therefore please go to the World Cup with our best forward in the starting line-up.

* Completely untrue: Kelly has not been approached by World Cup Hippo and she does not necessarily endorse the views stated in the above article.

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