Massive impact by little ‘uns

9:01am Tuesday 22nd April 2008

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HAVING scored a few headers myself down the years, I was a big admirer of the Carlos Tevez and Michael Owen goals at the weekend.

Both players showed there is an art to heading the ball and you don't always have to be the biggest player on the field.

Tevez and Owen are 5ft 8ins tall but one got a header that might just clinch the Premier League title for Manchester United and the other scored one to help Newcastle beat Sunderland in the Tyne-Wear derby.

If you look at Owen's career, he has always scored headers and I think that's down to his intelligence. He puts himself in the right positions in the penalty box.

He's never been a clean striker of the ball and often beats the 'keeper with scuffed shots but it's his ability to find space in the penalty box that makes him successful with his head as well.

Tevez also showed that if you are a good athlete and have good reactions, you can get your fair share of headed goals from corners.

It was excellent the way he twisted his body to direct the ball into the top corner.

The goal reminded me of my times at Coventry where we used to have a string of six-footers, including Brian Kilcline, Cyrille Regis and myself, but all our set-plays were aimed at giving David Speedie a free header in the penalty box. He was 5ft 6ins but had a really athletic spring and scored a lot of headers for us.

Following their last-gasp 1-1 draw at Blackburn, Tevez and his team-mates will now switch their attentions to Barcelona and the Champions League semi-final first leg tomorrow night and I cannot see the Spaniards beating Manchester United over two matches.

I think the Red Devils' only danger is complacency, which can sometimes creep into the back four as it did with the goal they conceded against Blackburn on Saturday.

You would have been unhappy seeing that go in at KitKat Crescent or at Hartlepool, but I imagine they will be switched on against Barcelona and the second leg being at Old Trafford will be a massive advantage.

Tonight's semi-final is another Battle of Britain between Liverpool and Chelsea and it's certainly an important tie for Avram Grant.

I think he has probably suffered from replacing a huge personality like Jose Mourinho because, with the best will in the world, he is very boring by comparison.

He didn't help himself either by acting like a belligerent ten-year-old kid in his dealings with the media last week, giving only one-word answers.

He's got the same players as Mourinho but, if anything, the football is more boring.

They scramble 1-0 wins and, despite being three points behind Manchester United in the league, Grant has become unpopular because their style of playing is nowhere near as breathtaking.

Having said that, he is either three games away from lifting the European Cup and achieving the biggest thing ever at Chelsea, or two games away from probably losing his job and I've got a sneaky feeling Chelsea might get to the final this time.

Rafa Benitez has built his reputation in the Champions League but Arsenal were unlucky not to beat them in the quarter-finals.

They seem to get a lot of breaks in Europe but the law of averages might favour Chelsea this time around, with the second leg being at Stamford Bridge a key factor.