is robbie fowler the most naturally gifted finisher england have ever produced?

Question

robbie fowler is known as god to the liverpool faithful, surley the darling of the anfield ground is the finest finisher in englands history.

Answer 1

Yes and Robert Bernard Fowler aka The Messiah aka The Chosen One is indeed God. In my opinion, Robbie Fowler is the greatest striker to ever walk the face of the Earth. He made his debut in 1993 and scored 120 goals for Liverpool in an eight year period despite a raft of injuries and a crap manager called Houllier who wouldn't pick him. He subsequently played for Leeds United and Manchester City F.C., before returning to the worlds greatest and most successful club - Liverpool FC - in January 2006. As of May 2006, Fowler was the fourth highest goalscorer in Premier League history, behind Thierry Henry, Andy Cole and Alan Shearer. He has also been capped for England twenty-six times, scoring seven goals with the most recent of those appearances in the 2002 World Cup - he should have been picked for this years world cup, certainly above Theo Walcott. Fowler made a scoring first-team debut in Liverpool's 3–1 win in a first round Coca Cola Cup tie at Fulham on 22 September 1993. Fowler scored all five goals in the second leg at Anfield two weeks later making him only the fourth player in Liverpool's history to score five in a senior fixture. He scored his first league hat-trick against Southampton in only his fifth league game. His first thirteen games for the club yielded twelve goals., He was rewarded with an England Under-21 debut against San Marino in November 1993, in which he scored England's opening goal in the third minute. Fowler finished his first season as a rookie breaking into to the team as the club's leading scorer with eighteen goals in all competitions. In the 1994-95 season, Fowler was an ever-present for Liverpool, playing in all of their 57 matches, including the victory in the 1995 League Cup final, and a match against Arsenal in which he scored a hat-trick in four minutes and thirty-three seconds, a Premiership record to this day (roll on Arsenal tonight, Robbies gonna get ya). Fowler was voted the PFA Young Player of the Year in two consecutive years (in 1995 and 1996), a feat equalled only by Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney. In 1996, he scored four against Middlesbrough F.C., reaching a century of goals one game quicker than his mentor, Ian Rush. Throughout the mid and late 1990s, Fowler was widely considered to be the most natural finisher playing in England as your question assumed. Fowler sealed this reputation as he scored more than thirty goals for three consecutive seasons, up to 1997. Even the England team used to stop to watch Robbie in training as he was just THAT good. Fowler's downturn in fortunes began in 1998 after a knee ligament injury kept him out of action for half the season and caused him to miss a chance to go to the 1998 World Cup. This also coincided with the rise of Michael Owen whose debut came in 1997, Owen firmly established himself in Fowler's absence but in my opinion wasn't fit to clean Robbies boots - and still isn't.
When the team came under review by new coach / huge tosser Gerard Houllier, Fowler refocussed himself and won the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup with the Reds in 2001, he captained the side in the league cup final scoring the first goal and a penalty in the shootout; he scored Liverpool's fourth in the 5–4 UEFA Cup win. In October 2001, he scored his first league hat-trick for three years, helping Liverpool beat Leicester City 4–1, but was dropped for the following game by an erratic Houllier. His last appearance in his first period at Liverpool was against Sunderland when he was substituted at half-time. Fowler maintains Houllier forced him out of Liverpool, this is all well covered in his excellent autobiography. He made his Leeds debut in an away game against Fulham, the same venue as his Liverpool debut. Fowler scored 12 goals in the remainder of the season, helping Leeds to a UEFA Cup qualifying place. Fowler was included in the England squad for the 2002 World Cup, but only made one appearance, coming on as substitute in a second round win over Denmark. Fowler suffered an aggravation of a pre-existing hip injury in the 2002-03 pre-season, and did not recover until December. Struggling to gain fitness, and seeing team-mates sold off due to a financial crisis, Fowler's form dimished. However, in total he scored 15 goals in 31 appearances for Leeds; a goal every two games. In the 2002-03 season, Fowler was transferred to Manchester City following a protracted transfer saga. Fowler made his Manchester City debut against West Bromwich Albion on 1 February 2003, but made a poor start to his Manchester City career, scoring just two goals in the remainder of the season. Fowler continued to struggle with fitness problems in the 2003-04 season, completing the full 90 minutes only nine times. He then showed a marked improvement in the second half of the 2004–2005 season, scoring his 150th Premiership goal in the 3–2 win over Norwich on 28 February 2005. Fowler ended the season as the club's joint top goal scorer, and gained the approval of the fans, finishing in the top three in the fans' Player of the Year poll, described by Fowler as "one of the proudest achievements of my career". Fowler had injury problems at the start of the 2005-06 season, and rarely featured when fit, making just two substitute appearances in the first four months of the season. His first start of the season came against Scunthorpe in the FA Cup on 7 January 2006, in which he scored a hat-trick. The following week he scored Manchester City's third goal in their 3–1 win against local rivals Manchester United F.C. after coming on as substitute. On 27 January 2006, Fowler / God rejoined Liverpool from Manchester City, signing a contract until the end of that season. Fowler remained a Liverpool fan after he initially left the club; he was in the Istanbul crowd when Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005 and had never wanted to leave. Fowler's return against Birmingham City F.C. in February 2006 was labelled by the press as the stuff of fairytales, and he almost claimed a shock goal to his name in that very match only for the referee to (unfairly) disallow the goal for offside. Since his return, he had three goals ruled out for offside, but finally scored on 15 March 2006 in a home game against Fulham, the same opponent club he scored his first ever goal against while on his Liverpool debut 13 years earlier. Fowler's next Liverpool goal, against West Bromwich Albion, meant he overtook Kenny Dalglish in the club's all time top scorers, while he marked his 31st birthday with a goal against Bolton Wanderers. He made it four goals in five games when he scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers on April 16, 2006. In May 2006 he was offered a new one year contract with the club and celebrated by scoring the first goal in Liverpool's last league game of the season in a 3-1 away win at Portsmouth. It was his final game of the 2005-6 season, as he was unable to take part in the club's later FA Cup Final success due to being cup-tied. On 5 December 2006, Robbie Fowler scored his first ever UEFA Champions League goal which came against Galatasaray. Fowler then scored his second of the night in the 90th minute as Liverpool lost 3-2.

God has scored 100's of goals to date. He is kind to small children and will live forever. You'll never walk alone Robbie.

Answer 2

If it goes by goals to games then you cant do much better than Jimmy Greaves or Nat Lofthouse 30 in 33 Fowler was good but not the best that has pulled the 3 lions shirt in my humble opinion hes hasnt scored nearly enough

# Player Career Goals (Caps) Goals per game
1 Bobby Charlton 1958 - 1970 49 (106) 0.4622
2 Gary Lineker 1984 - 1992 48 (80) 0.6
3 Jimmy Greaves 1959 - 1967 44 (57) 0.7719
4 Michael Owen [7] 1998 - present 36 (80) 0.45
5 Tom Finney 1946 - 1958 30 (76) 0.3947
= Nat Lofthouse 1950 - 1958 30 (33) 0.9091
= Alan Shearer 1992 - 2000 30 (63) 0.4762
8 Viv Woodward 1903 - 1911 29 (23) 1.2609
9 Steve Bloomer 1895 - 1907 28 (23) 1.2174
10 David Platt 1989 - 1996 27 (62) 0.4355
11 Bryan Robson 1979 - 1991 26 (90) 0.2889
12 Geoff Hurst 1966 - 1972 24 (49) 0.4898
13 Stan Mortensen 1947 - 1953 23 (25) 0.92
14 Tommy Lawton 1938 - 1948 22 (23) 0.9565
15 Mick Channon 1972 - 1977 21 (46) 0.4565
= Kevin Keegan 1972 - 1982 21 (63) 0.3333
17 Martin Peters 1966 - 1974 20 (67) 0.2985
18 George Camsell 1929 - 1936 18 (9) 2
= Dixie Dean 1927 - 1932 18 (16) 1.125
= Johnny Haynes 1954 - 1962 18 (56) 0.3124
= Roger Hunt 1962 - 1969 18 (34) 0.5294

Answer 3

Fowler is an exceptional finisher and should have got more England opportunities than he did. his goal record is fantastic, bearing in mind that he has no pace and isnt the best header of the ball. he is also equally good with left or right foot. i couldnt tell which foot he preferred until he took a penalty with his left!
If he had Crouch's height, Drogba's strength and Walcott's pace then he would be a master!

Answer 4

Robbie was set to break all records until he got injured. Unfortunately he has never fully recovered from that injury and as a consequence can’t reach the level of fitness needed at the top level. He will always get goals coming on as sub, his lack of pace sometimes makes me cringe though. It’s a shame, not only was he a phenomenal goal scorer he could play a bit as well. It pains me to say it but I can’t see him being at Anfield next season…..

Answer 5

Sir Alan Shearer

Answer 6

Looking at the international record you have to say no. As Fowler never really performed for England. He was unlucky to be around when we did have a lot of good strikers.

Back to the record England goalscorers, you have to say Jimmy Greaves has to be up there as one of the best. Even though I never saw him play his record of 44 goals in 57 games is pretty impressive.

Answer 7

There are dozens ahead of him. Robbie Fowlers biggest mistake was leaving Liverpool in the first place.

Answer 8

Shearer

Answer 9

no, no chance mate, close second to alan shearer, unsure of exact stats but shearer is the most prolific goal scorer of his era. his playing career was more or less the same time as fowler, so you have to say as shearer scored more, then your accolade must go to him......i am biased tho! i notice the list above my post also misses out jackie milburn

Answer 10

Maybe if he didnt break his leg he would have gone on to be the best but since he hasnt actually managed to reproduce anything like the form before he got injured, its a wild claim to say he is the best this country has ever seen.

Me thinks you forget Lineker, Shearer, Owen, Greaves, etc etc.

Answer 11

Adam Morgan