Euro 2012: Owen claims England missed Man Utd’s Scholes

Michael Owen believes England missed Paul Scholes at Euro 2012 following their exit from the tournament at the hands of Italy.

Hodgson’s side suffered a 4-2 defeat on penalties in the last eight following a goalless draw after the Three Lions had navigated their way out of the group stage unbeaten.

Scholes, 37, had been linked with a surprise return to the England set-up to help strengthen Hodgson’s midfield options for the European championship.

But the 65-year-old opted not to call on the Red Devils star, instead relying on his two senior midfielders Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker to become mainstays of his first-team at Poland and Ukraine.

“[Andrea] Pirlo was awesome but we have a player of a similar age and equally as good. Unfortunately he wasn’t there. #Scholes,” Owen wrote on Twitter after Sunday’s game.

“Easy for people to say ‘until we keep possession better we will never win anything’. We are not as good as others at doing that. We played to our strengths but are just not quite good enough.

“We were hoping to ‘do a Chelsea’. If you are not the best team then you have to find an alternative way to win.

“The other option is to forget results for a while and start from scratch playing a different style. Doubt we have the type of players to do that though.

“Answer has to be to start coaching our youngsters a different brand of football.”

Open a bet365 account with £10 or more and you'll get a free bet of up to £200 on us. Click here for more information.

Like The Sport Review on Facebook:

Read more on: England, Euro 2012, italy, Manchester United, michael owen, paul scholes.