Barry Bannan In Scotland Squad, Gabriel Agbonlahor Pulls Out Of England

Oh, Gabs. Gabriel Agbonlahor is never going to get that fourth cap if he keeps doing silly things like pulling out of the England squad for "personal reasons." Barry Bannan, meanwhile, will not miss Scotland's Carling Nations Cup match against Northern Ireland for any reason. After all, when else is he going to get to play?

Scotland may be playing in a "real" match (I'm sure the Carling Nations Cup is a thriller) but the friendlies are seeing players dropping right and left. Steven Gerrard claimed injury after the Chelsea match. Ben Foster clearly does not want to be mocked on the national stage, which just means Rob Green is pulled in to cover, so I'm not sure how that makes England less laughable.

In fact, Fabio Capello has already stated that he will play Darren Bent up front with Wayne Rooney. While this is great for the new Aston Villa striker, playing a 4-4-2 again is not going to get critics off England's back. Capello also thinks Jack Wilshere works as a holding midfielder, so...well, really, it's hard to find it a surprise that players like Gabby invent "personal" reasons rather than be stuck in an antiquated side.

Banna, by the way, is not hurt. It's been said that Gerard Houllier prefers Robert Pires. If this is anything but a sly remark to fire up Bazza, we need to start a collection to get Houllier some strong glasses. More on this story later.