Theo Walcott – the Second Coming
Walc this way
Two years on from Sven-Goran Eriksson’s quick gamble on Theo Walcott, and the flutter has finally paid off for England. The then 17-year-old’s selection for the 2006 World Cup was a surprise at the time and a mistake in retrospect. Eriksson found the youngster was not quite the player he expected and felt unable to entrust him with a role in the team.
But at the grand old age of 19, Walcott has shaken off that stigma of failure following his stunning hat-trick in England’s 1-4 away win in Croatia last night.
The youngster has taken his fair share of criticism and scrutiny in the 27 months since he didn’t play in the World Cup. Even the normally overprotective Arsene Wenger has taken the occasional pop at his young protégé, including suggesting that the ex-Southampton player was not progressing at the rate he had expected.
If Walcott looked like being the latest next-big-thing to fall by the wayside, he now seems to be firmly back on track. His early season form for Arsenal has been very impressive and had clearly caught the eye of Fabio Capello. Unlike Eriksson, Capello has found a mature young man who is growing in confidence and increasingly aware of how to maximise his threat on the football pitch. Perhaps Wenger is so psychologically astute as to recognise a young player in need of a kick up the arse via the media. Or maybe the Arsenal boss is equally as pleasantly surprised at Walcott’s sudden rise to prominence as the rest of us.
Walcott’s emergence onto the international scene is not exactly a bolt from the blue. It has been a slow rise to success for one with such pace. Thanks to his now infamous presence in the World Cup squad, he seems like he should be ready to collect his pension – one of those players who seems to have been around for ages. Throughout last season he showed glimpses of excellence, and it was evident that a touch more consistency would make him quite a player. Ironically, it was often his finishing and final ball which came in for criticism. And yet his display last night earned him praise for these aspects of his game from the opposition coach. Slaven Bilic said: “He is lightening quick and a great finisher. He scored two goals from not so easy positions, he just hit the corner. It is hard to mark him. That is why he is an England international and why he is at Arsenal.”
And that is why he will no doubt remain at Arsenal. So many of Wenger’s youngsters do not quite make the grade in his eyes and are moved on to pastures new, but you suspect this will not be the case with Walcott. He always had outstanding potential, but now he is beginning to reach that potential. Do not be surprised to see a return to wayward shooting and poor crossing as Walcott continues to develop at club and international level, but he has earned some breathing space for himself.
Is Walcott the real deal? Or was his hat-trick against 10-man Croatia a flash in the pan?
Sorry to pee on your cornflakes here but hang on a minute. He has played well in 1 England international, and for 15 minutes against Andorra the other week. He isnt consistently shining for Arsenal, in terms of goals and/or assists, so I think this article may have jumped the gun a little.
Granted, he has fantastic potential and talent but lets not judge him after one great performance against an under par 10 man Croatia team. Lets wait until the end of the season at the very least….
let’s not
He plays for Arsenal, he got lucky in one game.
Blackburn will show him how real English football is played on Saturday.
Rooney was the real star of the show and even at his already young age is better than Theo will ever be.
Seeing as he has only played two competative games that not really that bad is it. Plus he has obviously been shining since a yougster to get snapped up by Arsenal so early. He consistently scores for the u 21s and if you have seen arsenals recent games he looks a different player. Hes a nice guy too and all he needs is confidence to carry on performing like that. Rather then be a pessimist chegs and try and knock the 19 year old back ,why not give him a good crack and see what he can do. Nice article, good to read positive press for once!
I would say we need to protect the kid more. Having seen what’s happened to Owen and Rooney, Walcott needs to be wrapped in cotton-wool and kept away from the intense tabloid attention.
ye blackburn are world class arnt they. Rooney is an idiot, dont understand why he spends half the game in his own half fouling their players on the edge of our box. He was good last night cos he wasnt a selfish shrek and passed the ball to someone who can finish and has scored more goals for england in one game then rooney for two years. Walcott is potentially undefendable like the lieks of Ronaldo and Henry. Rooney isnt. Bad comment gary, stop hating on Arsenal u jelous man!
It was not a matter of luck.Theo played a great game last nite and he was superb.Theo will be far better than Rooney,let’s all realise is still 19 and people are already mounting lots of pressure on him which shouldn’t be.And I know he’s capable of scoring 20 goals dis season.
Vindication once again of Sven’s judgement? I wonder if the outcome would have been different if Walcott had been playing in the 06 quarter final when Rooney lost his head and possibly England’s world cup?
Thank god none of you are the England Manager, Capello obviously saw some thing that alot of people including some arsenal fans had not seen in his performances for the Gunners and took a gamble with him and it paid off BIG TIME, after failing to quailify for the Euros after a number of uninspired peformances he has given England a massive lift with his speed, accuracy and composure all i can say is hes young and this will give him the needed confidence to grow as a player in the Pemiership and on the International Stage and finally i would like to say is THREEEEOOOO !!!! Wonder Wal is here to STAY !!
Wait a second.
‘Gary’ are you saying that Rooney is better now than Walcott will ever be.
Rooney is the most overhyped player by you Manc’s, just like that hothead Anderson. Rooney has been playing for yonks in that England team and has done very little to earn his place. Not to mention the fact that he has played in a dominant Manchester United team and still failed to get 20 goals in a season. Rooney does make a lot of assists, but he does not score enough goals and is also (despite his weight) a diver. Walcott has been given limited time to progress and has already scored one more international hat trick than Rooney.
I’m not saying that Rooney isn’t a good player, because he showed against Croatia he has loads of potential, but you cannot write off Theo as a ‘fluke’ at such a young age and then applaud Rooney, who is also still to fulfil his potential
Its unfair for Walcott to be hyped and raise expectations. Remember that he is just starting and this one game should’nt be used to judge his abilities the same way none should have called him crap if he had’nt played well.
He has a habit of running into deadends sometimes but we are all hoping the kid will be more consistent. If he could be more selfish and score 15 goals for Arsenal then I would really start to use all those superlatives lavished on him today in the media.
He is however, a kid with fine upbringing and intelligent to get carried away. Come on, you beauty!!
The reason Walcott had a good run, is because coratia are not ready for him, he is a new face.
Look what happened to joe cole after 2 goals, the opponents will be ready next time.
if he is as good as yesterday in the repeat fixture against coratia, then we can say he is good..now people are getting carried away..next time opponent will be ready..
When they are ready, how much he causes trouble is the real measuring stick..
No wonder media is manipulating fans so easily… we are never realistic…and they love it.. poor players get the stick because of us..
“Walcott is potentially undefendable like the lieks of Ronaldo and Henry.”
In that case maybe Wenger should start to play him regularly, having left hin virtually in the wilderness for the past 2 years.
For Anonymous: Rooney scored 18 last season while missing 10 weeks of the season in 3 separate injury spells.
The previous season he was joint top scorer with 23 goals.
He’s a stick on 20+ goals a season player. Whoever you support there’s a Rooney goal coming your way sometime soon!
I’m loving how people are talking about consistency after Theo’s 2nd competitive International. The kid’s better than most of the english pre-madonna’s we have in the starting XI. I love also how people will slate him over and over again, but it’s fans like that who will destroy his future, and you wan’t England to play well?
No matter how well individual players perform, or the way that England coaches improve our FIFA world ranking, it appears that elements within the media have a constant “death wish” for our international soccer prospects until and unless a trophy is brought home?
Eriksson produced an unmatched run of consistantly and look how he was “rewarded”?
Walcott (and every other player) is only as good as they are on the day, and lets see if Capello can consistantly turn things around the way S-G E did 2001-2006?
Any one still believing the media hype, just check out the record breaking statistics of the “Sven/Becks” years when England lost ONLY 5 competitive matches, but were vilified by may in the press and apparently “underachieved” by not having the “luck” (or the unbiased match officials in 2004?) to win a tournament.
Maybe time to show some real patriotism and drop the constant carping and nit picking as the path to the 2010 WC reveals it’s trials and (hopefully) triumphs?
The scene could have been very different if England had lost. The English performance was really average throughout the game. Both Rooney(who finally shed his ‘defensive duties’) and Walcott messed up in the beginning, but fortunately it swung England’s way. The Croats thought they could bully the english which didnt happen. Praise Ferdinand as much as you want, he was really pathetic(can he do anything without Vidic?). Terry was good in the first half but seemed to have lost his head in the second. Rooney, Walcott, Heskey, J Cole, those were the players for England. The rest were utter trash. Fabio please arrange the defense. We saw it crumble yet again in the dying minutes(time for Lescott?). A hard fought and slightly fortunate victory but the English media thinks they’ve won the Falklands. As for Walcott and Rooney, they did combine well with each other and with Heskey and Cole. Anyway we’ll see in the next match…………..
I think we all need to hold back on the Theo Walcott thing for a bit. He played superbly the other night without a doubt but he has been a bit hit and miss at Arsenal up until now. If we all give him time to really establish himself and find his true game then it will be better for all of us.
No doubt Theo was the big positive the other night, alongside Wayne Rooney, however I think there were also a few negatives. John Terry’s lack of pace and bravery being a big concern for me.
Actually, let’s just bask in the glory of a fine result and the face we can all have pride in our national team for the first time in a long time.