Fowler told to answer critics with goals

Robbie Fowler has been told to forget about the critics again taking a swipe at the Manchester City striker and hit back with a flood of goals.

Not for the first time in a recently chequered career, Fowler has been in the firing line, but manager Kevin Keegan’s faith in the 28-year-old will not be shaken.

Keegan’s belief stems from the fact Fowler will head into the new campaign with a full pre-season under his belt and should be fit following a lengthy battle against a number of niggling injuries.

Fowler finally hit the pre-season net in the 6-0 rout of Oldham on Saturday, which is in contrast to strike partner Nicolas Anelka who has scored six in six matches.

Keegan, though, feels there is plenty more to come from Fowler.

He said: “I have talked to Robbie and he and I know these kinds of criticisms happen.

“But he has all the answers at his disposal on the pitch. He can always answer his critics with his feet and I always feel that is the best way.

“I hear what people are saying and some of it is ridiculous and some of it makes sense. As a player he just has to get on with it. The minute he starts scoring goals and we start winning matches it will stop.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Keegan added: “This is the most important pre-season that Robbie has ever had because he has missed so much and the one thing he has done is work very, very hard and maybe it will still take him a week to peak.

“Robbie’s fitness levels are coming on in leaps and bounds he just needs goals now. He has loads of desire. Anyone who knows him knows that.”

Trevor Sinclair, meanwhile, is looking forward to the prospect of playing at the “awesome” City of Manchester Stadium.

The doors open at City’s new 48,000 capacity home on Sunday when Barcelona visit on Sunday.

Sinclair, a £2.5million buy from West Ham, said: “The stadium is awesome and I am so glad I am going to be playing there.

“It’s going to be very special on Sunday, especially as we are playing a glamour club like Barcelona.

“It will be a tough test for us but we’ll be looking to put up a good performance. It will help our fitness as we prepare for the opening league game against Charlton.”

In between the Barcelona and Charlton matches City play TNS in the UEFA Cup after securing a place in the competition through the Fair Play League.

With Celtic reaching the final last season there will be expectations for British clubs to repeat such a performance or even better it next season.

Sinclair added: “It’s a little bit premature to talk about how well we will do in the tournament, but there is no reason why we can’t progress.

“You look at the players we’ve got in the squad and there are definitely exciting times ahead.”