KEVIN Keegan has labelled his Newcastle United skipper Michael Owen as "bulletproof".

For, with the Magpies having struggled on the field so far this season, the club record signing has once again found himself the focus of intense media scrutiny, be it talk of a lack of fitness or loss of form.

But, as has always been the case with a player who has scored 185 times from 319 career club starts, he has responded in the only way he knows how - goals.

Indeed, Owen is enjoying his longest run of consecutive games - 15 - since joining the Geordies nearly three years ago and has found the target four times in his last seven outings.

But it is his captain's ability to remain unfazed by the aforementioned media glare which Keegan feels makes him the ideal candidate to lead United through what he admits has been a difficult time for the club.

"It does not matter who Michael Owen is playing for he will always score goals," he told Newcastle World TV.

"It amazes me how people want to keep trying to knock him.

"Look at his goal record, at Liverpool it was unbelievable, at Real Madrid it was unbelievable, with England it's unbelievable, and here again - it's unbelievable.

"Yet people still knock him.

"But Michael is not the sort to feel sorry for himself and he just keeps going.

"That is why I think he is a great captain for this club because you need someone who is bulletproof, and Michael Owen certainly is bulletproof."