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It's like a round box that massages your backside, so I've been lying on my front for half an hour at a time with this thing on my backside, and you can imagine the stick I have taken from the lads who've been walking into the medical room!

It's not really a biscuit tin, obviously. It's some sort of device that sends short wave pulses through you and moves your ligaments around. That's what I'm told but it seems to me that it's one of those machines invented to give the physio a few moments to himself.

Medical rooms have changed quite a bit in 70 years

So Paul Smith, our physio, has been putting this biscuit tin on me for half an hour so he can sneak off for a cup of tea and a rest - how stupid must I look?! I'm sure this thing is working but when you've been lying underneath it for 30 minutes you just can't wait to get away from it.

I've also been using an ultrasound machine - the physio squirts gel on you as if you're a pregnant woman having her unborn baby scanned. I'm sure this works in a different way, clearly I'm not a medical expert, but it certainly seems to be helping my injury get better.

It's been a tough week and I've also been in the gym with one of the other physios, Mark Palmer. We have a dips and pull-ups challenge where you have to max out as many tricep dips as you can. We do this three times and total them up at the end, so we've now got a list up in the gym for everyone to come and beat.

I beat Mark at the dips then he beat me at the . I got 80 dips in three goes and he got 64. In the pull-ups I got 23 and Mark got 28 and I've had to listen to him bragging about it all week. I'll have to make sure I do a bit extra in the gym now to beat him next time.

There are no days off when you're injured, it's the treatment room every day. As soon as you can get your boots and start running, the physios start to work you even harder than you normally would when you're training every day with the lads. This is to make sure you are as ready as can be when you're called upon to jump into the first team, so don't think I've been having a relaxing time of it being unable to play.

While I've been doing my rehab it's given me plenty of time to think about the best players I've played against. After giving you the best 11 players I've played with a few weeks ago, a few people have asked me about the best players I've played against - so here is the first half of my team (you'll have to come back for the rest next week)...

Goalkeeper - Peter Schmeichel

and arguably the best keeper in the world when he was at Manchester United. The amount of points he must have saved Man Utd and the number of games he must have won them is staggering.

Peter Schmeichel enjoys plenty of success with Manchester United

They were fighting to win the first title for a number of years and I think he took them to next level as soon as he came through the door. When Man Utd won the Treble he saved a penalty from Dennis Bergkamp in the FA Cup semi-final.
He made some great saves in the big games but he also seemed to be doing it every week. He was so commanding of his area and he was just an amazing goalkeeper all-round.
so that's something I am very proud of. We beat them 2-1 at Roker Park - I scored with a little right foot tap-in underneath his body to open the scoring and John Mullin scored the winner.

Right-back - Gary Neville

Mr Consistent over the years. and he is so hard to play against. Defending, he is really tough to get past, and at the other end he offered a lot going forward.

His final delivery was first-class. You don't stay at Man Utd as many years as he has unless you're a top, top player. He's been a model professional from the day he made his debut until the present day.

I played against Gary a few times, either on the left wing or as an attacking left-back, and you knew when you were up against him that you were never in for an easy game.
He's fully committed to winning every game he plays in. He's a leader and you could tell that even when he was 20 years of age.

Nothing has changed in that respect. He's adapted to the foreigners coming into our game and my friends at Man Utd tell me that he is always first out onto the training ground and he's usually one of the last back into the dressing rooms, so that tells you about his dedication.

Centre-back - John Terry

and one of the best centre-halves we've seen in the Premier League. He's a really nice guy - although you wouldn't think so when you see him on the pitch because he would run through brick walls.

He is a nice-natured guy though and you can see why he is the England captain. As soon as you say his name people think 'leader' and you want someone like that in charge of your country. A couple of weeks ago we saw how disappointed he was at conceding two set-piece goals and it shows you how much it means to him and that he hates conceding.

Most of my memories of playing against John Terry will probably be bad memories because every time you played against him you knew you were in for a tough game. That's why goals against teams like Chelsea with players like John Terry in the side are priceless.

Centre-back - Tony Adams

A key part of that famous back four at Arsenal with David Seaman behind him. I was captain at Sunderland the first couple of times we played against him and when the referee blew his whistle for you to go into the centre circle to shake hands and flip a coin you just felt he had this presence about him.

When you play a top team it's as if they have one up on you already with someone like Tony Adams leading them.

I was involved in one or two England squads with Tony - he was a fantastic man, an amazing player and a great leader.

Being on the same training pitch as and he trained just as he played in matches; with a massive desire to win. He was totally commanding of his back four and you could hear his voice for the whole 90 minutes of a match - not only directing his back four but the whole team.

Left-back - Ashley Cole

I played more against him when he was at Arsenal but I thought that was when he was at his best. but back then he had this freedom to get forward at any occasion.

When you were playing a team like Arsenal the last thing you wanted was another attacker coming for you because they had more than enough forwards in their strikeforce anyway.

His energy levels are incredible and he's so quick that you just couldn't stop him marauding forward from that left-back position.

Left-backs have come and gone over the years but Ashley hasn't looked back since he got into the England team and I expect him to be in the 100 Club in the next couple of years because he is still one of the best left-backs in the world and already has loads of caps.

Well, that's the defence sorted, I'll bring you the midfield and strikers next week, hopefully after three points for the Owls against QPR this weekend!