SO much for the calm before the storm, eh! England's preparations for Saturday's game against Turkey have been thrown into chaos by the events of the last few days.

But although the players have been widely criticised in the Press for the way they have handled the whole Rio affair, I can understand why they feel so disappointed.

The whole situation is a strange one, isn't it?

Rio Ferdinand hasn't actually been charged with anything as yet but he's still going to miss England's biggest match since the World Cup.

I can see how it's happened. Sometimes when you finish training a million and one things are going through your mind and it's easy to forget to give a sample.

I've been tested a couple of times and I've never had a problem.

But I've got a memory like a sieve so they've got to tell me two minutes before the event otherwise I'd probably forget as well.

As for whether I would back a strike or not, that's a difficult one to answer because unless you are in the squad at the time, it's impossible to say how you would react.

I know a lot of critics are saying the whole episode will affect how we prepare for the game but the lads are professional enough to put everything to one side and focus on the match itself when it finally comes around.

Turkey is a tough place to go to at the best of times.

It's a hostile place and on occasions like these you really need your senior players.

With Michael Owen now a definite non-starter, much will hinge on the other usual suspects, David Beckham and Stevie Gerrard.

I would have loved to have been involved in the squad myself because these are the games you really want to play in.

The bigger the game is, the more excited you tend to feel.

I don't think the lads will be nervous on the day. Of course you always worry about making a mistake. But the overriding emotion will be excitement.

Turkey are a good side, packed with some great individual players.

We know all about Tugay, of course, and Hakan Sukur seems to be banging the goals in again.

Injuries meant we didn't see the best of him at Blackburn but he showed what he was capable of when he scored those two goals against Fulham so we'll have to keep a close eye on him.

But if the lads apply themselves, we can come away with the result we need then everyone will wonder what all the fuss was about.

As for us, last week's result against Leeds was disappointing to say the least.

All the lads were gutted after the game but we can't afford to start feeling sorry for ourselves.

We've got to pick ourselves up quickly and a win in the UEFA Cup next week could be just the spark we need to get our season back on track.