Fuming

When I saw Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard score the winning goal against Villa last Saturday from a dodgy (i.e. bollocks) free kick in the dying minutes I was a bit peeved.

When I heard the same Steven Gerrard had hurt his toe in a Champions League qualifier and would miss the impending England friendly as a result (but magically not the Chelsea game on Sunday) I was slightly annoyed.

When I heard Steven Gerrard whinging about the penalty that cost his side two points against Chelsea I got angry.

When I read that the referee in question had been publicly dressed down by his boss and dropped from this weekends fixtures I was absolutely fuming.

Liverpool FC are a bunch of fucking hypocrites. They're gifted 2 points by a refereeing blunder 1 week and gloss over it in the interviews and then kick up a huge fuss when they lose 2 points by a similar blunder... You reap what you sew you twats!

How can Steven Gerrard be fit enough to play a competitive match on the Sunday but then be unfit for a non-competitive game on the following Wednesday when the injury was dealt beforehand?

If Gerrard doesn't want to play for England then that's fine he can just hand in his retirement like his clubmate did over the summer - not that I wish to drag Jamie Carragher into this rant.

I think 'senior' England players and 'big' premier league clubs have had it too good for too long. I propose the following:

Books - If you want to release a book then you are effectively announcing your retirement from international football. The England team has 1 manager (Not too keen on the one it's got personally)

'Injury' - If you're not fit enough for a friendly, you can't play for the next competitive game. Ryan Giggs was notorious for being conveniently injured for Wales friendlies knowing that he'd always get picked for the qualifiers.

Form - If you're playing shit you get dropped, past performances mean nothing. You might have played well in the last World Cup or European Championship but they're 4 years apart. A lot can happen in 4 years.

Selection - Not even the captain is a shoe-in for the next squad. If you aren't good enough you don't get in. This is quite possibly why Jamie Carragher decided to retire. It didn't matter how crap Neville, Ferdinand & Terry were playing, they'd always seem to get picked ahead of him. Along with other muppets like Wes 'Where did that attacker go?' Brown. In order to make a major success of 'Brand England', England have to actually win stuff.

Club vs. Country - If you don't like your international players going away on international duty then simply raise the matter. All players registered for your club will then be barred from playing for England again - ever. This may lead to a slight dip in morale or a minor exodus of players from your squad but at least you won't have to worry about international fixtures anymore.

Future purchases - When signing players on the back of their performance in a major international tournament, try to bear in mind that there is a possibility they may go on international duty again in the future.

I suppose the thing I'm most disappointed in is that in the last couple of weeks it has become clear to me that Steven Gerrard is a work-shy whinger... He is a scouser after all so I should have seen it coming!

As for Keith Hackett, I think he's a fucking disgrace for publically criticising one of his referees like that. Yes it was a bad mistake but by pandering to Liverpool he's set a very bad precedent very early on in the season. It won't end here. Referees make mistakes, they're human. I'm not sure whether Hackett is though, twat.