Walcott’s Chance To Impress On A Suitable Stage
Add comment February 5th, 2008
Despite his nervous performances in an Arsenal shirt, Theo Walcott tends to excel in the white of the England U-21s. Tonight, in a game I believe is being televised on Sky Sports, Walcott will take to the field against the Republic of Ireland, with a chance to impress not only Stuart Pearce and Arsene Wenger, but also Fabio Capello.
Pearce has moved to back Arsene’s decision not to send Walcott out on loan. He says:
“There’s one man who will know what’s best for Theo and that’s Arsene. On top of that he’s started quite a few games for Arsenal, so I think it’s all part of his development. I know full well if you take Theo out of Arsenal and put him in a lesser side somewhere he’ll start every week. But he’s playing for one of the top sides in the world, so he’s not going to start every week.”
When you watch Walcott with the U-21s, you realise that whilst he might not be up to regular Premier League football yet, he’s still way ahead of most of his age group. With our Carling Cuprun over, and Emmanuel Eboue soon to return from the African Nations Cup, it’s going to get harder and harder for Theo to get games – his performances with England could be his best chance to show he deserves inclusion in the Arsenal first-team.
After Saturday’s game against Man City, a few neurotic fans accused Emmanuel Adebayor of not celebrating with his usual enthusiasm. Well, here is the explanation.
Arsene’s talent-spotting ability extends beyond Arsenal – Steve Bruce has admitted he took Wilson Palacios to Birmingham and then Wigan on Arsene’s recommendation. As revealed by Gunnerblog this Summer, Palacios had an impressive trial with us before Arsene decided to go with Emmanuel Eboue as his new right-winger.
AC Milan’s impressive striker Alexandre Pato could be out of the first leg of our Champions League Second Round tie. Even if he is fit, we shouldn’t panic: you can guarantee they’ll be worrying about Adebayor even more.
Till tomorrow.