Early news reports state that Theo Walcott has been omitted from England's World Cup squad.
On the face of it, it's not especially stirring news. You can only take so many five foot six right wingers who will struggle to make an impact against top defences due to their inability to deliver consistent product.
Yet Walcott is a bizarre curate's egg of a player; for all the criticism of his lack of footballing sense, and inability to cross a ball reliably, he has an unerring ability to come good on the big occasion. The biggest matches of Walcott's young career come along, and he delivers. 2007 League Cup Final: scores. 2009 FA Cup Semi Final: scores. 2008 Champions League Quarter Final at Liverpool: glorious assist. Starts in Zagreb: scores a hat-trick. In 1983: no one died.
Criticism of Walcott on the grounds that he doesn't deliver consistently seem profoundly misplaced. To be honest, I don't want a winger that might worry Nadir Belhadj but disappear when he faces anyone of note. You can afford to carry a couple of shit players against minnows: look at Brazil in 2006. Whilst heavily criticised at the time, in retrospect reaching the quarter finals with six vastly underperforming players was little short of genius. What you need is someone who will deliver his best against the best opponent. Theo would have given us that.
Sick as a parrot.
DJ's Football World
6 comments:
I agree wholeheartedly. Plus, Capello could play him in his actual role as a striker when Rooney inevitably gets sent off in the 3rd game and banned for the rest of the tournament.
I get the feeling that Walcott is gonna Do A Forlan when he leaves Arsenal, which is bound to be the end of next season.
What really pisses me off is the fact Walcott got injured playing the England Under-21's despite the fact he'd got a hat-trick in the senior team. He was on track to a starting place in the Arsenal team as well.
The team he's taking is way too conservative to win anything in my less than humble opinion.
You look at the other teams and they're all taking at least six forwards. France have eight I think, including Ribery.
Plus when did Chris fucking Waddle become the voice of all reason? Magic Chris, who couldn't score from 12 yards, and thought Leonardo shouldn't have been sent off for GBH. Magic Chris, who didn't want Beckham on the wing either. Magic Chris, who was England's World Cup hero despite never setting up or scoring a goal. Magic Fucking Chris.
Aside from that, I used to like Waddle.
As a young gun my main memory of Chris Waddle is his inclusion in that Chanel 9 Neus Fast Show sketch.
fffffffffff rumpy pumpy Chris Waddle
Ethethetheth
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