Emile Heskey has explained why his partnership with a former Liverpool and England teammate worked so well.
Modern centre forwards are usually expected to play a certain way, with goalscoring viewed as an essential requirement of being a striker.
It is for this reason that Emile Heskey might not be as appreciated in today’s game as he was during his playing career.
Heskey was not the biggest goal threat, but he utilised his strength as a target man who was most effective playing as a second striker.
The former Liverpool player developed a great on-pitch relationship with Michael Owen when he moved to Anfield and the pair also lined up together for England.
Explaining why their partnership worked so well, Heskey told Beast Mode Podcast: “For me, I formed a real good bond with Michael [Owen], because certain things that I could do, especially with holding up the ball, it wasn’t Michael’s game.
“So getting the ball, turning and running with it and then playing one-twos and laying people in. Even when balls would come in and usually you’re flicking it on. Can I nod it back to him?
“And he’s screaming ‘yeah, nod it’, can I nod it back to him? Can he play me in? Can I play him in? So it just worked real well.”
Heskey and Owen’s connection was strong from the very start, with Liverpool winning a treble during the Leicester-born forward’s first season at the club.
The Reds won the League Cup, UEFA Cup and FA Cup in 2001 and would go on to win the Super Cup later that year. They won the League Cup again two seasons later, in what went on to be the last piece of silverware both Heskey and Owen lifted for Liverpool.
Heskey’s selflessness was so important to the team as a whole and he previously commented about how he was more of a creator than a finisher.
“Our chemistry just clicked because I was a guy who was more of a feeder, I’d feed people. And when you’ve got someone who can finish like Michael, it makes for a good partnership,” Heskey told Liverpool FC.
Playing for Liverpool turned out to be the pinnacle of both players’ careers, with Heskey departing for Birmingham City in 2004. Owen left the same summer for the far more glamorous destination of Real Madrid, but he lasted just one year in Spain before returning to the Premier League.
