By Richard Arrowsmith
Michael Owen will have to wait for his return to the Stoke team, says manager Tony Pulis.
The former England international has struggled with a succession of niggling groin and hamstring injuries since arriving at the Britannia Stadium – restricting him to just four substitute appearances.
Despite declaring himself ‘raring to go’ ahead of his 33rd birthday tomorrow, it seems Owen will have to bide his time before making his first appearance for Stoke since October 27.
Pulis maintains that Owen still needs at least another week of fitness work and another reserve outing before he can be selected for the first team, according to the Press Association.
Pulis said: “Michael did smashing on Tuesday, came through 70 minutes, but he needs more work on the training ground, a bit more strength.
“He needs another couple of weeks of full training, another game or two first before we chuck him back in.
“That’s because every time we’ve tried to get him in there he has broken down, and maybe that’s because we’ve tried to push him a little bit.”
Pulis, meanwhile, has reacted with scepticism to the prospect of netting being erected at football grounds around the country in the wake of Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand being hit by a coin thrown from the crowd.
Pulis said: “There were 50-odd thousand people there and we had a mindless few who caused a problem.
“All the time it’s about finding a balance because I thought it was a fantastic game, soured by a couple of incidents off the pitch, which was disappointing.
“But netting? I’m not sure that’s the right way of doing it.
“With the cameras and monitoring we have at grounds today, these people will hopefully be found and then banned from football for the rest of their lives.
“If you do that, it’s a great deterrent to stop these people from doing it again.”
Meanwhile, Owen has echoed former manager Alex Ferguson’s opinion by blaming Liverpool for his injury ravaged career.
