KIERON DYER was facing the England axe last night as Sven-Goran Eriksson's Stadium of Light masterplan was in danger of being blown apart by a Turkish spy.

While Dyer looked set to be replaced by Nicky Butt as Eriksson decided to deploy a diamond midfield in tomorrow's crunch Euro 2004 qualifier, it emerged that a Turkish FA official had filmed England's entire training session at Slaley Hall.

The media and most of the public were only allowed to watch the first half-an-hour of England's workout before Eriksson worked on tactics with his players.

But a senior figure at the Turkish FA, who befriended a group of charity workers permitted to attend the full session, was given an amazing preview of the England coach's plans for the game at Sunderland.

Eriksson has chosen to overcome the dearth of quality left-sided players by ditching his rigid 4-4-2 formation and playing a narrower midfield against Turkey.

And after 24-year-old Dyer delivered another anaemic England display in Liechtenstein on Saturday, he is likely to make way for Butt.

Butt, who had a superb World Cup and who came off the bench for the final 24 minutes at the weekend, is expected to occupy a holding role in front of the defence.

The diamond formation would give Paul Scholes a more attacking brief behind Michael Owen and Emile Heskey, who proved his fitness yesterday after suffering a knee injury in Liechtenstein.

David Beckham is an automatic starter on the right, while Steven Gerrard is expected to be favoured ahead of Dyer and line up on the left side of midfield.

Dyer and Beckham missed the start of training yesterday, with sore shins and blistered feet respectively, and in that part of the session Danny Murphy operated on the left.

The Newcastle United man then played alongside Beckham and Gerrard as Eriksson tried a more adventurous 4-3-3 system, which the Swede would turn to if the game wasn't going England's way.

But Gerrard's superior international CV - he has never been on the losing side in 14 appearances for England - should give him the edge over Dyer as Eriksson tinkers with his starting line-up.

If Dyer does miss out it would be the latest setback to his stop-start England career. He has rarely reproduced his club form when on international duty, and after an encouraging display against Australia he was below his best again at the weekend.

Turkey's squad were due to watch the video of England's training session yesterday as they prepared to defend their 100 per cent start to Group Seven.

But the Football Association will be furious at this blatant espionage and could make an official complaint to UEFA, with the spy storm likely to crank up the tension ahead of a tinderbox encounter.

Meanwhile, Eriksson is expected to ignore the growing public clamour for Wayne Rooney to make his first international start by keeping faith with Heskey, who has scored just four goals in 32 England games.

But fellow striker Owen said of his teammate at club and international level: "I think Emile compliments me in a lot of ways and I enjoy playing up front with him.

"I have sympathy for him. Criticism of him has built up over time, and unless he does something unbelievable every time he goes on the pitch you're waiting for him to be criticised.

"If that hadn't been the case, I don't think anyone would have criticised him after Saturday because he had a big hand in both goals."

Rooney has started just ten senior games for Everton, yet he is suddenly being viewed as England's third-choice striker with Alan Shearer in international retirement and Alan Smith not named in this squad.

Owen, however, remembers how he was protected from burnout when he forced his way into the Liverpool first team in 1997, and then made his England debut a year later. He said: "You don't want to sit in the bench or the stand, and that's the right attitude to have.

"You think you can play in every game because you've been playing in about five games a week since you were seven years old.

"But I didn't play in every game when I was Wayne's age, and now I'm older and wiser I think to myself that was the right way to do it.

Sol Campbell also warned of the risk that Rooney, who sprung to prominence in October with a magnificent goal that ended Arsenal's 30-game unbeaten run, could suffer exhaustion.

He said: "Wayne is a fantastic prospect but you have to make sure you don't kill him. He's learning all the time, but don't ruin him; when someone like him comes along, don't destroy him."