I’M surprised Steven Gerrard had to go all the way to Watford just be told what he already knew – that he was injured and wouldn’t be fit for England’s friendly with Germany tomorrow.

Surely if his club have ruled he will be out for a week, they have medical evidence they can send to England to prove this? It’s not like they’re just taking a wild guess.

The only possible explanation I can find is Fabio Capello just playing a bit of tit-for-tat with Liverpool after they booked Gerrard in for an operation during the England games in September.

Under regulations, he is allowed to call on Gerrard and assess him so he has used that power just because he can.

But we all know Gerrard wants to play for England when he can. He wants to be part of the World Cup in 2010 and isn’t going to start swing-ing the lead to jeo-pardise those hopes.

As it is, he has had to report for duty ahead of a game he was never going to play in to be told he isn’t going to be playing in it.

What a great five-hour round trip that turned out to be!