You're winding me up! Seriously?!?...

I don't know whether Rooney's calf injury that's keeping him out of the squad for Wednesday's game is genuine or a ploy to keep him fit for United. :?

Gerrard can't be too seriously hurt if he's being included for England's next qualifier though.

I doubt Rooney is injured if I'm honest.

I really hate internationals!

Nah, Torres had a groin injury through the week, missed training but they still played him.

I think Gerrard is ok.

If an international team is already qualified for a major tournament, I don't see the need to risk it at all and it's the one and only area I would criticise Capello's management. He's done an astounding job with the England side since he's taken over but it's non-sensical to risk domestic teams' key players in matches that effectively mean nothing. It was made worse by the fact that the Ukraine actually did have something to play for and would have been giving it everything, increasing the likelihood of injuries even further.

Does he really think England's first team performed at 100% on Saturday? They would have been backing out of 50/50 tackles and hardly chasing the ball down as keenly as if they were actually playing for something. Despite Capello's warnings that any hint of this would result in players being dropped, everybody knows that there's no way he would dare take an England side to a World Cup without the likes of Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard, Terry or Ferdinand.

Totally agree. Surely it was an opportunity to play some of the "fringe" players? If we lose Gerrard or the Caveman, then we need to know the players replacing them have actual competitive game time under their belts.

Great news regarding Jagielka. He's been cleared to resume training. That was a serious injury he had, hope they ease him back in slowly.

All we need now is Arteta back and suddenly our squad is looking pretty strong! :)

No offence but this is the attitude of most fans of the top 4 clubs. Why should the top players be rested, someones gotta play and they are just as important to thier own teams as Ronney, Lampard, Gerrard etc. The team needs to playing together reguarly before next summer to give us (sorry I know ur scotish and prob dont give a shit about England ;)) a chance next summer.

Steve Bruce is a tit giving the Man of the match award to Beckham last week. Of course the crowd were lifted when Beckham came on the pitch thats because most of your regular England fans know nothing about football and are just there to see "celebrities" like Becks. I do actually think he should be in the squad next year but he is overated. Of course he can put a few crosses in against Belarus, he wont get the time or space to do that against decent teams next summer. He should be used as a sub maybe for the last 20 mins if were a couple of goals up in the early stages. Beckham hasnt had one outstanding Tourament for England yet alot of Englad fans treat him like hes some messiah.

Firstly, I am and English support the "Three Lions" through and through.

Addressing your point though, I can fully understand that the entire squad of players is just as important to each of their own respective clubs (they should be otherwise why are they in the international team) but you have to be sure that they can play together with the same calmness and composure as the core of the team. An injury or four later on this season and England would be bricking it going to South Africa without any of the players I mentioned unless they give the so-called "fringe players" adequate competitive game time to prepare just in case.

Of course I'd rather not see Rooney or Ferdinand risking injury in non-essential games but there's more to my reasoning than just plain selfishness. In fact, looking at the big picture, surely it actually makes a lot of sense to rest them.

Sorry I take that the first point back.

It just really annoys me when players are withdrawn from international duty on a Wednesday and then make a miraculous recovery on the Saturday. Well he experimented a bit on Wednesday with the fringe players and all I can say is I really do hope none of our big guns get injured before next summer or were screwed.

To be honest iv been an England Fan for 20 years now and Id just like to see us having some success for a change. Its not good enough to keep going out at the quarters on penalites with someone getting sent off. Id really like him to play our first team against Brazil (albeit a friendly) just to see how we manage. The goalkeeper worries me the most though, really not a clue who will be our number 1.

Anyway roll on next summer, 44 years of hurt never stopped me dreaming!