It is one of the most familiar sights in football.
Michael Owen, smile beaming, rubbing his hands together in satisfaction after scoring.
Now, however, those same hands are seen far more often holding the 22-year-old's head with his misses in front of goal soaking up his confidence like a sponge.
Of course he won't hide. Of course he will keep hurling himself into those positions to make the most of his team-mates' silver service.
But as Owen missed his second penalty of the season on Saturday, the question has to be asked.
Is Michael Owen paying the price for exploding on to the scene too soon?
Following a runaway record of success as a teenager, Owen has gone on to make himself indispensable to club and country.
As a 17-year-old he transferred his blistering form to the Premiership with his first goal for Liverpool in a 2-1 defeat at Wimbledon in May 1997.
The very next season 23 goals would follow and a place in Glenn Hoddle's 1998 World Cup squad.
THAT goal against Argentina made him a world superstar and Owen steadily confirmed his promise with a goal spree that would eventually earn him the European Player of the Year award. But a combination of tiredness and those dodgy hamstrings have taken their toll, not to mention the rigours of playing in Europe's only major league without a winter break.
Let's be fair here. Form being temporary with class permanent and all that. Owen retains enough goal threat for Real Madrid to threaten to sell Spanish World Cup star Raul in order to acquire his services.
But Owen is currently a different striker s the one we are used to.
The misses are one thing but his body language is markedly different from the boy who burst onto the scene in an explosion of goals five years ago.
The brow is more furrowed, the head has gone down and his gait has a demeanour that only goals will correct.
The problems cannot have come from off the field as Owen's lifestyle remains a shining example to most other players, let alone the millions of youngsters who idolise him.
But the uncertainty over Owen's best strike partner looks also to have been a contributory factor in his goal drought.
Although Sven Goran Eriksson was at West Ham on Saturday, he will know that one of the biggest tasks facing both him and Gerard Houllier will be to restore the confidence of England's most natural goalscorer.