World Cup 2006: Owen Demands Better Service

Michael Owen is not the type to do public outbursts but there was something telling about the way he avoided Sven-Goran Eriksson's eye when taken off in the victory over Trinidad & Tobago, and there was a tone of righteous indignation last night as he hit back at some of the England head coach's thinly veiled criticisms. "What about the service?" was the message as he complained about being made a scapegoat and pointed out that he was still waiting for his first decent through-ball of the tournament. "Frustrating" was one of the words he used.

Owen is clearly aggrieved to have been substituted before the hour-mark in successive games and annoyed by the suggestion that the team are carrying him. "It's been difficult for everyone," he said. "We're just not firing on all cylinders and in my position I'm reliant on the team doing better. If I get chances I'll score goals. But if the team aren't playing well and I'm not getting chances I'll probably be the quietest man on the pitch."

An exasperated Owen appears to have taken some of Eriksson's comments earlier in the week as a personal affront. The Swede refrained from mentioning Owen by name but he left himself open to interpretation when he complained of players not showing enough movement to help the midfield quartet pick out a pass.

"One thing I'm not going to do is change my game," Owen responded. "I'm in the team to be in the box. If there's a ball in the box and I'm not on the end of it then you can blame me. If I'm not on the end of crosses then you can point the finger at me. But I'm not going to change. If it means bringing me off, that's the manager's decision."

This has been the third international tournament in succession in which Owen has had an inauspicious start and, with Wayne Rooney regaining fitness and the increasingly influential Peter Crouch scoring six goals in five games, it was put to the Newcastle United striker that he could no longer be regarded as an automatic fixture in the team. "What will be will be," he replied. "You always want to score and play all the time and I'm no different to anybody else. But if I don't play I don't play, as simple as that."

In truth, it is a hypothetical debate but it has still been disconcerting for Owen to find the manager's patience is beginning to run dry. "I'm not firing on all cylinders but I'm not giving the ball away," he said. "I'm making runs, I'm feeling sharp and I'm not worried about scoring goals because I've done that since the day I was born.

"I'm still a decent finisher and I won't lose that. I'm scoring in training, I'm doing fine, I feel as if I'm playing well. I had one chance in the [Trinidad & Tobago] game, with my head. I had one that rebounded off me but I wouldn't class that as a chance. So I had one chance and I'm kicking myself because I didn't score it."

Referring to the metatarsal fracture that restricted him to 29 minutes of competitive football for Newcastle since the turn of the year, he continued: "It's not easy coming back from so long out. It's been six weeks since Wayne had his injury. I was out three times as long so it will probably take me a little bit longer than him to regain sharpness." Asked if it would help if Eriksson kept him on for a full match, he replied: "Yes, obviously."

The friction has led to suggestions that Owen declined an offer from Eriksson to shake hands after being sacrificed after 58 minutes on Thursday, although all parties have insisted this was not the case. "We did shake hands," Eriksson insisted. "Of course he's not happy. He wants to play 90 minutes but if you're asking whether he showed a bad education because of that then, no, that's not Michael."