The fact we were in a group that was there for the taking, against sides who shouldn't be able to lace our boots, we made an arse of it ... not once ... but twice!
England will miss their first major tournament since 1994 next year after their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign ended in disappointment and Owen feels his team-mates were affected by fear.
Fans And Media To Blame For England Collapse!
Owen: "I keep returning to one factor when analysing what's gone wrong - fear. Or pressure. They amount to the same thing.
"We have a very demanding fans and a media who expect a great deal from the England team - and rightly so.
"How we as players cope with that is where the problems lies.
"I watched the game on Wednesday night and so often it broke down purely because of pressure.
"It came down to the pressure of making a mistake when it really mattered. If we'd won the games we should have, we wouldn't have ended up putting that kind of pressure on ourselves. It was our own fault.
"The best sportsman can deal with it, someone like Tiger Woods thrives on it.
"When you play at this high level, 99% of your performance level takes place in your head and that puts a big onus in coping mentally.
"When fear takes over, you start to do things wrong and take the easy option which in our case is lumping the ball forward to the front men.
"I'm not absolving myself from blame just because I was not playing. What must be addressed as much as anything is our psychological preparations."