Sven really has now lost the plot. I don't know what he's been taking but its pretty strong stuff, I can tell you.

First, if the reports are true, he is going to play Jamie Carragher in a holding midfield role. I think Carragher is a decent centre half, probably even a good one but he is not and never will be a quality holding midfield player. He doesn't have the pace, the mobility or enough quality with the ball to manage that role effectively at either club level or at international level. I realise Michael Carrick didn't have a great game for England "B" v Belarus last Thursday but he is still a far better bet than Carragher. Madness.

The second item is this quote from the man himself:

Eriksson said: 'When we decided to play Hungary and I phoned up Lothar Matthaus to ask if he wanted a game, maybe at Wembley, but that's gone.

'When he said yes, I told him he had to play like Sweden. He said that was okay, but now the manager has gone.'

You what?! He's finally gone bonkers. He asked Hungary to play like Sweden? How was the manager at that time, Lothar Mattheus, going to manage that? He might be able to play the same formation but how, exactly, will they play like Sweden what with the fact they're the Hungarian team and not the Swedish team? I would suggest if he wanted to test us out against a Scandinavian style team, that Denmark would have been a good idea rather than Hungary.

100% barking mad.

I haven’t posted much recently, especially about anything Cricket related. That is because, to be honest, I haven’t had anything nice to say about England. I watched, in parts, their performance versus Sri Lanka and although the batting was decent in the 1st Innings and there was some good(ish) bowling in the Sri Lankans 1st Innings, the rest of it was pants.

9 dropped catches in Sri Lankas 2nd Innings. There was poor body language from the team. Only 27 overs bowled by the spinner (Pasenar) in two innings. The tactics from Flintoff were unimaginative and the bowling, at times, was pedestrian and without guile, bite or venom.

The game should have been won but yet again we conspire to let a team off the hook. It is becoming a worrying trend.

We should have won the 1st Test in the winter versus Pakistan. If we had, I suspect we would have won the series. We should have won the test match versus India at Nagpur as well, had we been a little bit more adventurous. That would have also meant a series win. We should have won the Lords Test Match.

The difference between England and Australia is that when the Australians have a team on the rack is they don’t ease up; they apply the words “never give a sucker an even break”. The England side just doesn’t yet have that same mentality.

I realise England have a long injury list but its not getting any better. Simon Jones may make some of the Pakistan Test Matches. No one knows when or if Vaughan will be back. Giles may come back into the side during the Pakistan series. Harmison will hopefully be back for the 3rd Sri Lankan Test Match. So we need to make sure that the back-up plans for these guys is firmly in place now, ready for Australia in November.

Flintoff looked like he was trundling in to me throughout the Sri Lankan match. He certainly wasn’t the bowler of the winter or last summer. I think Strauss needs to take over the captaincy for now and Flintoff should concentrate on what he does best. Batting and bowling with all his heart and mind.

The World Cup is nearly upon us and millions of men around the world rejoice whilst millions of wives and girlfriends despair. This is the time of year when men become “incommunicado” with their female companions unless, of course, the female companion happens to like and understand football. Or they happen to be offering to get them a beer or food whilst a game in on.

I love the World Cup usually right up until the time England get knocked out at which point I then take a lesser interest in what then comes to pass. I like watching the Final and I always find Brazil entertaining but I had little interest in the semi-final between Germany and South Korea in 2002.

The England side this year has a genuine chance to win the tournament even if Rooney isn’t fit. In some ways I think Rooney not being fit might do us a favour. He is a fantastic player but if he is in the starting XI, then we always play 4-4-2, although the way Rooney drops off, it’s often a 4-4-1-1. The trouble is, the dozy Swede can’t seem to get Gerrard and Lampard to play well together and that leaves our back four exposed. If they can’t work out what to do between them then one of them has to give way to a defensive midfielder whilst the other pushes up but I can’t see Sven having the nads to do that.

Taking Theo Walcott was an odd decision. The lad doesn’t have any experience even at Premiership level and I would much rather have taken Darren Bent, who is used to playing in a 4-5-1 formation, in case Owen breaks down and Rooney isn’t fit. It just seems a huge, huge gamble to me. If you were going to take him, then at least have the prudence to name 5 strikers in your squad and include Bent in that 23.

If we had a manager such as Terry Venables, Arsene Wenger or Jose Mourinho I reckon we’d have a big, big chance to win. I just don’t think we have got a World Cup winning manager in Sven “Shagging” Eriksson.

Putting all that to one side though, it is now just 16 days to the World Cup and lots and lots and lots of beer drinking. Hurrah!

Sometimes I worry about the intellect of people in this country, I really do.

If you read this, you'll see what I mean.

Does he really think that watching your football team suffer a premature exit from the World Cup (in Englands case, not qualifying from the group or being knocked out in the second round by a lesser nation) could possibly trauma you in such a severe psychological way that the insurance company would ever pay out?

No Doctor on earth is going to put that down as the cause of severe psychological trauma. You'd have to be a basket case in the first place. I mean, I like supporting England and as with any fan, suffer the ecstasy of winning and the trauma of losing but not in any way is it going to do me lasting psychological damage!

In essence its an insurance company taking the piss out of people too stupid to actually live on this planet.

What a moron.

I don't understand why Eriksson is paid £5m a year. Apparently, according to his assistant Tord Grip, they have yet to formulate a "Plan B" without Rooney.

The BBC article is here

Right. Ok. So, you're an International football coach and your whole tactic of winning the World Cup involves Wayne Rooney being fit, ready and available the whole tournament?

Even though he got injured in Euro 2004 and we subsequently lost? They say you learn from your mistakes but apparently not if you're a dozy Swedish wanker that is more interested in shagging around than actually doing his job.

I've never liked Sven and I've never rated him tactically.

Now I just think he's a fuckwit.

The other story from the weekend that is now going to dominate from here until the start of the World Cup is Wayne Rooney and his fractured metatarsal. I was hoping that we were going to be spared the same fiasco that happened during the run-up to last World Cup when David Beckham fractured his foot but apparently not.

Obviously the debate about Rooney has be centred around “do you take him or don’t you”. For me, this is a simple question with a simple answer of “yes”.

He won’t be fit for the group games. That is fairly obvious. So we have to hope that he can come back either by the quarter final or by the semi final if we get that far. I think that the moral within the team will be better if Rooney is in the squad and I would suggest that he stays with Manchester United for training right up until such time as they are obliged to release him to the England squad.

What has been of concern to me are the reports that quoted Steven Gerrard saying we need Rooney available to win the World Cup. It sounds like the excuses are coming out already. England has players like Gerrard, Beckham, Lampard, Joe Cole, Michael Owen, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Ashley Cole and Gary Neville. These players are seasoned professionals that have all experienced the highest levels of European football for several years. Do people really think our chances at the World Cup are hinged on Wayne Rooney?

It seems many are, including the players and the manager. This is not the right attitude and for once I agree with Sir Alex Ferguson when he stated that the more senior England players such as Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Neville et al should be shouldering more of the responsibility.

Rooney is a precocious talent, of that there is no doubt, and England will be poorer without him but I actually think in many ways it could benefit them tactically. If Eriksson can figure out what to do, that is.

For my mind, without having Rooney available, we are forced into looking at playing one of two systems. The first would be a 4 – 4 – 1 – 1 system. This would involve playing Michael Carrick in a holding role to cover the back four and having Gerrard, Beckham and Lampard playing across midfield. Gerrard would be out on the left, Beckham on the right, and Lampard through the middle. Joe Cole would then play in behind Michael Owen and would provide the link to the midfield quartet.

The second way of playing would be to adopt a 3 – 5 – 2 system. England have a lot of high quality centre halves available to them, so I would play three across the back and then have Ashley Cole and David Beckham playing as wing backs. We would then have Lampard, Carrick and Gerrard playing across the centre, and then Joe Cole would then play up front with Owen.

You could argue that Beckham isn’t quick enough but he often goes on runs from deep for Real Madrid so I don’t think it will be a problem. I also believe the quality of his crosses and his ability from a dead ball situation is something that England will need during the tournament. It may be that Shaun Wright-Phillips can be used in the last twenty minutes in that wing back position to terrorise tiring defences.

I still think this bunch of England players constitutes a very good team. Maybe it doesn’t have the individual brilliance of, say, Brazil, but I think that if the players gel, then we still have a decent shot at having an impressive World Cup.

Plus, if we do get as far as the semi-finals, who is to stop Rooney coming on in the second half and then firing us into the final?

Stranger things have happened and that, for my money, is why you gamble and take him.

Chelsea Football Club are The Premiership champions once again after beating Manchester United 3 – 0 on Saturday. United themselves never really turned up and, Rooney apart, never looked like a threat. Christian Ronaldo yet again flattered to deceive and the Manchester United back four looked like a shadow of their former selves when confronted with Joe Cole and Didier Drogba.

Of course, there were two huge talking points after the match. One was the injury to Wayne Rooney after being tackled by Paulo Ferreira and the other was the behaviour and speech of the Chelsea manager, José Mourinho, of which I have a few opinions.

Mourinho put on a quite unbelievable display of narcissistic behaviour. Rather than focusing solely on his players achievements, he focused on himself as usual. José told the assembled media that he nearly quit Chelsea twice this season. He believed that they (the media) were unfairly portraying him and that it is very tough to get credit when you are the manager of Chelsea. Wow. Most managers would have stepped back when they won and let the players take the credit but apparently not Mourinho.

I’m sorry but I’m not going to shed a tear for you José. You have the richest team in the world and you are bankrolled by one of the richest men in the world. You can buy any player you so desire and, to a point, you can stop other players from being bought by your rivals, as we have seen with Shaun Wright-Phillips. This is not something that will be looked upon as anything but a huge advantage for a football manager.

Given all the funds available at his disposal, Mourinho has moulded a team that doesn’t play particularly attractive football. They play efficient, effective football. Chelsea haven’t covered themselves in glory with the behaviour of either the manager or the players this season. The Robben incident versus Liverpool, Drogba and his antics regarding diving and Mourinho himself in respect of saying that Lionel Messi of Barcelona was, in fact, a cheat and that this is the reason why Chelsea got knocked out of the Champions League. He also stated that “the better team lost”.

These are not the words of a gracious loser. They are also simply not true.

Del Horno was just as guilty in that incident and Barcelona were clearly a class above Chelsea over both legs. They are certainly a far more attractive team to watch. Their assembled line-up also cost considerably less than Chelsea’s.

This season José Mourinho has come across as petulant, arrogant and sulky. He is prone to throwing fits on the touchline and making strange tactical choices at times. He has often refused to speak to the press. In short, he has no one to blame but himself for the negative brand image that Chelsea now have, not only here in this country but also throughout Europe.

If José was so naïve to think that winning trophies with a football club that has more financial power than any other in the world would be given the same adulation that winning the Champions League with Porto, then he is surely not “The Special One” he claims to be.