Why Walcott couldn’t go

Thursday, 03/06/2010

There’s been plenty of hysteria, disappointment and in some sections, outrage, at Theo Walcott’s omission from England’s World Cup 23 this week. The flying Arsenal winger has missed out due to The Three Lions’ abundance of right-side talent and an inconsistent season for club and country.

 

Replaced by the equally frustrating Shaun Wright-Phillips and Aaron Lennon, who both have the capacity to turn from lightning-quick world beater to frustrating clogger in the space of seconds, Walcott can consider himself unlucky not to have made the cut.

 

But, he simply didn’t do enough to ensure his presence at the greatest show on earth in recent months as he struggled at the highest level, in both the Champions League for Arsenal and in international fixtures for England. 

 

Capello has said he’d pick his team on form and he’s been true to his word, well perhaps with the notable exception of Emile Heskey and his allergy to goalscoring! Having said that, the powerful Aston Villa striker could be a key man in South Africa. Wayne Rooney scores goals when Heskey plays and Wazza has been visibly frustrated by Walcott's lack of end product in the recent friendlies. 

 

Many have said that Theo would’ve been the perfect impact sub, with his pace, direct dribbling and unpredictable nature and that’s a credible argument. But Joe Cole, Wright-Phillips, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe are all decent options on the bench to come on and change a game.  

  
We should continue to trust in Capello, he seems to have the knack of achieving results even when they are accompanied by below-par performances. England’s record in qualification was as impressive of any of their rivals for the World Cup and he’s even managed to solve the problem of playing Lampard and Gerrard in the same side.

 

Fabio moulds a team to win and isn't concerned with the best eleven individuals -like Sven Goran Eriksson - and this goes a long way to explaining the exclusion of Walcott and the inclusion of Heskey.  
 
France won the World Cup in 1998 with Stephane Guivarch up front. Similarly to Heskey, he had terrible goalscoring record, but his physical presence allowed the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Youri Djorkaeff to play their natural attacking games.

 

Let’s hope that Emile will allow Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard to play theirs in a similar way. If those three can get forward and feed off the big man, then we won’t need Heskey to score his fair share.

 

Theo Walcott’s best game in an England shirt came in that famous 4-1 qualifying win away to Croatia, and who played up front that night in Zagreb? Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey.

 

We’ll miss the energy of excitement Theo has shown in glimpses, but the consistency and teamplay that Heskey offers will be there in bucket loads and could be the difference between quarter-final heartbreak and an extra couple of glorious games.  

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