Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Theo Made His Bed, Now He Must Lie In It.

by Rachid

Hi there. I'll start with a quote from Arsene Wenger from last November:
For me, the big season is with Arsenal, not at the World Cup. We do not pay players to go to the World Cup, we pay the players to do well for Arsenal. The first pride of a man is to do well for the guy who pays you in life, not to go to the World Cup.
This was obviously because Theo Walcott was constantly talking to the press about his chances of making Fabio Capello's England squad for the 2010 World Cup. If you read my post season review of the players a couple weeks ago you would've seen where I commented that Walcott spent too much time talking to the press this season about his World Cup chances and it affected his performance negatively.

Well surprise surprise. Capello cut his list from 30 down to 23 and guess who didn't make it. That's right. Theo Walcott missed out and I can't say I'm surprised either. I rated him at 6/10 for his performance this season and it was due to how inconsistent he was. I'm sure that must've been Capello's reason for not including him in his squad and he had no one to blame but himself.

Of his omission from the England squad, Walcott had this to say:
I am very disappointed not to be included in the squad going out to South Africa, but completely respect Mr Capello's decision. I would like to wish the team the best of luck and hope they have a really successful tournament.
Clearly Arsene Wenger was right with what he said last November. Theo had spent all of the Arsenal season worrying about whether he'd be going to the World Cup and as a result his performance suffered because he didn't go into the games he played with the required concentration level. It goes to show how that players in the team still lack a certain level of maturity. What I mean is, had he been mature enough to focus on the matter he had in front of him - helping Arsenal in the title chase, his performances would've been better and him making the final 23 in the England squad would've been axiomatic.

There are positives to take from this though. It's no secret Walcott suffers from injuries. At least him not going off to South Africa means he won't run the risk of getting injured over the summer in an international game. It means he can have a proper rest and focus on making better showings for Arsenal next season. He can take some time out and think about this and use it as a learning curve. He can use it to motivate him to push harder to be a mainstay in the England squad. This would be by putting his focus on his club, the people who give him his pay cheque. As I said above, top notch performances for Arsenal equate to international selection. It's that simple.

Of the 6 wingers in the club, Walcott joins a list of 4 who won't be making travel arrangements for South Africa. The others being Samir Nasri who, like Walcott, wasn't selected, Tomas Rosicky and Andrey Arshavin. Their respective teams the Czech Republic and Russia failed to qualify for the World Cup.

I'll leave you with a video to enjoy before you comment on this post and go click "follow" over to the right of the page.



Until next time, dust!

1 comment:

  1. I think this is the best thing for Arsenal and for walcott, but it's not the best thing for England.

    england will be missing him when they are sturggling and need somebody that is dynamic and different to change the game.

    As for Theoo, this is just what he needs. A summer of resting/not injuring himself and some good solid training, so he can come back and show his critics how wrong they have been (hopefully) next season.

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