National coach is cracking down on absentees big time

In the build up to tonight’s friendly in Germany, Fabio Capello has gone to great lengths to combat suspicious player withdrawals, something no other England boss ever successfully managed.

Even though The Sun have taken tremendous liberties paraphrasing the Italian this morning (claiming he said, “You don’t mess with me” and “You do as I say,” yet he said nothing of the sort), it is clear Fabio doesn’t intend to be pushed around by the Premier League’s top managers:

“If a player doesn’t play on the Saturday or Sunday, he won’t be in my squad.

“The two players that were injured on Saturday - Lampard and Gerrard - we checked and they are injured. This will be the rule in future games. The doctor will check the physical condition of the players.

“We respect the club doctors but the rules will be to check the condition of the players ourselves.

“I spoke privately with Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez and others. I don’t expect this to happen again.”

Is he right to take such a hard stance on the likes of Stevie G for the sake of a friendly, when the Premier League’s top stars and managers clearly have more pressing issues at hand? Let us know with a vote and comment below…