JAY-JAY Okocha moved quickly today to head off any suggestion of a rift with Sam Allardyce by admitting he deserved to be hauled off in Saturday's miserable 2-0 defeat at Birmingham.

The disconsolate Wanderers' skipper refused a seat in the dug-out and walked straight to the dressing room after just 63 minutes of a woeful performance at St Andrew's, stopping only to sign autographs for a couple of young boys.

He looked desperately disappointed with the manager's decision, prompting speculation that it could affect the delicate balance of his contract talks but, in an honest appraisal of his own form, Okocha confessed: "When I left the field I was very disappointed - not with anybody else but myself.

"I was disappointed with my performance. I deserved to be changed - there are other players that want to play as well as me.

"I expect to be criticised when I am not playing well and I know that I did not do well on Saturday. I didn't expect anybody to pat my back."

Okocha admitted he was struggling to find his form after a hectic programme of games over the winter period, including six for Nigeria in the African Nations Cup in Tunisia, and that both he and his team-mates had suffered a knock-on effect following the bitter disappointment of their Carling Cup Final defeat six days earlier. But he denied that his still unresolved contract issue had any bearing on his form.

"I personally had a very difficult week," he added, reflecting on his poor performance at the Millennium Stadium, "and the same goes for the rest of the players.

"But I'm not thinking about that (contracts). What is going to happen is going to happen. It's not disturbing me. I know I am contracted to the end of the season and it's my obligation to do my best, no matter what.

"I am still a Bolton player and I owe them. What is disappointing is that I didn't do that."

Allardyce, who had already lost Youri Djorkaeff with a hamstring injury that is expected to keep him out for up to three weeks, said he was "desperately disappointed" with Okocha's performance at St Andrew's, but echoed his captain's view that it was his involvement in the African Nations Cup rather than the continuing speculation over his contract that was to blame.

"Unfortunately the Tunisia thing has taken too much out of him," the manager said. "You can clearly see that now, from the time he's been back with us. We spared him in the Manchester City game and everybody wondered why but now they can see why because certainly in the final he didn't do what we know he can.

"Jay-Jay has paid a price for those six games or five or six weeks. Now we've got to encourage him and look at what we do with him over the next two weeks to make sure we get Jay-Jay back to what we know he can be."

Emerson Thome missed the Birmingham trip after withdrawing from the squad with an ankle injury, which Allardyce said he picked up in training.