Wayne Rooney has definitely improved his attitude, and the last outburst I can remember him having was in that dire 1-0 defeat against Northern Ireland in September, but telling Beckham and Ferdinand to "smurf off." (especially from the way they were playing that night) is only a good thing in my eyes.

Oh, and Michael Owen is a bigger twat than Rooney is, for the way he smurfed us around with his contract and the transfer deadline day thing, forcing us to take a reduced fee of just £8m for him (We paid more for Stan "dogging" Collymore back in 1995) It's not that he left, because it'd be stupid to expect him to stay forever, but the way in which he left that grates. Supposedly he wanted success at Real, but instead he found himself warming the substitutes bench (with 0 medals) watching on as we won the Champions League. And now he's at Newcastle, (when he made it very clear he wanted to join Liverpool after we won the big prize) a team that haven't won a trophy for 40 or so years, and don't look like winning one any time soon. Ha ha ha. Twat.

Still, both he and Rooney are essential England players, and I hope they aren't out of the World Cup. Owen is simple enough to replace, I suppose, with Jermain Defoe, but what about Rooney? I suggest Joe Cole, as he is our most similar player to him, although of course, there is nobody quite like Wayne Rooney. That does open up the left side of midfield, but there are so many options for that. You could put Gerrard there and bring in Carrick, you could put SWP on the left, or alternatively put Beckham on the left and SWP on the right, or you could even put Stewart Downing in. Not too keen with starting with Crouch, as he is more of a Plan B, and I think Darren Bent is more of a Premiership player than an international player. I'd like to see Robbie Fowler called up in replacement, but obviously I am biased. Dean Ashton or Marlon Harewood would be acceptable alternatives though.

Still, the good thing about Rooney being injured is that hopefully United will be demoralised and uninspired, and lose their remaining games (to a buoyant Middlesbrough who beat them 4-1 earlier in the season, and Charlton who will want to win their last game under manager of 15 years, Alan Curbishley) and we will take second. Eh, I can dream.

Finally, a word on relegation. Boy, the Midlands sure do suck. Aston Villa are now the only team left (and they'll probably go down next season if they keep this up) when the top flight used to be filled with Midlands teams like Leicester, Coventry, Derby, Nottingham Forest, Wolves, and of course, WBA and Birmingham City. Heck, 3 of England's 10 European Cup/Champions League wins have come from these teams (Villa got one, Notts Forest two) and now look at them.