Theo Selection Is A Masterstroke
What a fantastic few days for Arsenal fans - a great send off from Highbury, beating Sp*rs to fourth place and now yesterday it turns out that Theo Walcott is not just on stand-by for England but he’s in the 23-man provisional squad!
And with Owen and Rooney both doubtful it looks pretty certain that Theo is going to make history and go to Germany.
Which is unbelievable!
Sven is generally pretty, well quite frankly boring, in his England team selection.
We know Beckham and Owen are always in the team - regardless of form or full fitness, and it was a shock to everyone that Arsenal forward Theo is in the squad, despite not having any Premiership experience!
But unlike everyone else, I’m glad Theo has been selected.
Yes, it’s a gamble - but why not?
Let’s not be naive about this - Sven hasn’t just picked a random 17 year old from the street and put him in the England squad! He’s seen him first hand, Theo trains alongside world-class players and Arsene himself has apparently recommended him.
Darren Bent in my opinion has had a chance and been picked for a few England squads in the past, and obviously is not selected in the current squad because Sven has not been impressed with what he has seen when training with him.
Yes, he’s scored 18 goals in the Premiership but does that mean your International quality? Diego Forlan was the top scorer in Spain last season for f*cks sake - but would you have him ahead of Eto, Ronaldinho or Robinho? Hell no!
Jermaine Defoe is on stand-by, not because he hasn’t played that much but because Sven doesn’t think he’s good enough to be in the first 23.
People will point to the fact that Theo hasn’t appeared, nevermind started for Arsenal but people forget that Arsene Wenger has been preparing the young lad and this season is just too short for him. By the time the World Cup and the start of next season start he will be ready.
When Arsenal first signed Thierry Henry from Juventus Wenger had to prepare the Frenchman for several months before he was good enough to have an impact on the first team.
Like Henry, Theo would be constantly be flagged offside because linesmen could not gauge their phenomenal pace. So Arsenal have been working on Theo curving and arcing his runs to perfection.
All these young talents just need that chance to make their mark. Look what happened to Michael Owen in the 1998 World Cup and Wayne Rooney in Euro 2004.
And in all honesty, it’s not really that much of a gamble - generally from the 22-man squad that goes to these tournaments, only 15 to 16 of them will see any action on the pitch.
So is it really that much of a deal?
Let’s give this lad a chance!
May 9th, 2006 at 10:52 am
and let’s not forget what happened when Alf Ramsey left out Jimmy Greaves in favour of Geoff Hurst…
sven’s secret weapon & the opposition won’t know how to deal with him - looking forward to seeing him at Ashburton Grove next season
May 9th, 2006 at 10:59 am
Good shout.
It is like a new loan deal arrangement for Arsenal for our English players.
AW has asked Sven to take Theo to Germany to get some experience and then he can try and make it at Arsenal.
May 9th, 2006 at 11:25 am
I think it’s a gamble on Sven’s part. But I also think it’s a great move.
We don’t have an abundance of world class forwards/ strikers and I personally don’t rate Bent or Defoe.
Seeing Theo is just gonna add a bit more excitment to England matches out in Germany.
Do feel sorry for Wright-Phillips tho. But thats what happens when you sign for Chlski. I wouldn’t be suprised if he came to us in the next couple of seasons.
DB10 is a god and I’m gonna miss watching him
May 9th, 2006 at 11:28 am
Awesome news! I for one was excited by this. Sven should have picked Gilbert aswell at right back, he is way better than G.Neville could ever hope to be.
Go Theo! Light up Germany and lets see the rest of the prem crap themselves when they see an attack consisting of Henry ( he will sign), Van Persie, Adebayor and Walcott!
May 9th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
Good luck to Theo!
I have not seen Theo play except for the highlight clips shown. However I have this feeling in my gut that this is a gem, just waiting for the moment to be unearth. I eagerly await his debut for Arsenal next season.
I believe in Arsene Wenger ability to unearth real gems with natural talent and his skill at continually rubbing, polishing and nurturing these gems until they become Thierys, Vieiras, Frabregases, Petites and now THEO!
Sven realises, other managers only buy readi-made
stars, so when Arsene talks Sven listens!
May 9th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
SWP should have chosen Arsenal over the riches of Chelsea. He and his dad chose their own destiny so they should not be gutted but instead support England all the way.
I hope Arsene Wenger will NEVER EVER buy SWP. If he did not want to come to Arsenal in the first place, why should we buy a Chelsea discard. Arsenal are a much bigger club than Chelsea because we do not buy success. It took Arsene Wenger 10 years to build the club so we need players who are committed to the club and not committed to money.
Ashley Cole can leave for all I care but hopefully Henry will stay.
May 9th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
Arsene wanted SWP for around £12 million but once Chelski got word Arsenal wanted him they blew them out of the water and bid £21 million!
SWP was a Peter Kenyon buy - Mourinho didn’t even want him! Mourinho told Kenyon that if he bought SWP he wouldn’t play him! And looks what’s happened.
The problem with Chelsea it’s not just Mourinho who buys the players, but the other people like Kenyon. Therefore you’re going to get very expensive bench-warmers like SWP!
Thank God Theo chose the Arsenal!
May 9th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
hahaha hey immortal you are a bigger twat than i originally thought. so now you have inside info. on how mourinho and kenyon operate. ha ha ha. i hate them too but you are so stupid to write like you know what is going on there. what a numptin you are.
May 9th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
This is an Arsenal site for Arsenal fans. Get a life and concentrate on your own team. You pathetic loser.
May 9th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
Sir Alex - so has SWP just turned sh*te overnight? Get real.
Why else wouldn’t Mourinho play him? It’s blatantly obvious Jose didn’t want him in the first place and Chelski just got him so Arsenal didn’t! Even Kezman got more games than SWP did - because he was a Mourinho buy.
It’s public knowledge that Real Madrid and Chelski go after Arsenal targets because of our supperior scounting system - they even tried to hijack the Theo Walcott and Abou Diaby transfers.
Luckily for them and their careers they chose Arsenal!
May 9th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
I’ve read the same thing as Immortal on a number of occasions, so it must be true haha.
Problem is I’m sure SWP would rather have joined us than Chelski, but we were priced way out by their Underhand Russian Oil Stealing Wonder Pimp’s trillions.
And as for Old Red nose 26 trophies, What are you doing on here? You trying to recapture the atmosphere of a team in the CL final???
By the way everyone, Where the hell have all the dirty Spurts supporters gone??? I’ve been looking forward to ranting at them and they all disappeared!!!
Doh!
May 9th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
haha i am here to laugh at you lot. despite our so call poor season we still finish 16 points ahead of you. so you are in the champions final wow it took you 100 years to get there and lets see if you win it. just remember you only just about finish ahead of spurs thats how sad you lot are. i cant even remember the last time you beaten us apart from a penalty shoot out. hahahahahah
May 9th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
back to england squad and sven does not rate Defoe or Bent as good enough to win England the world cup and I dont blame him. Whilst he cannot be sure that walcott can win us the world cup, there is just that chance that he may do. he is an unknown, a gamble, but it may bring home the trophy. I’d rather have a 10% chance of winning it with a gamble than a 0% chance of winning it with experience players who we KNOW are not up to it.
As for SWP I think he would have been in squad if it weren’t for Beckham being in front of him as captain. Beckham will play every minute of every game at right wing. so there’s no point taking a player who wont play. He has taken Lennon as back up in case of injury and I also agree with that.
May 9th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
Red Nose 26 trophies,
Yeah it’s true we haven’t had the best domestic season this year. And I’m not even going to make any excuses about that (tho I could). But at least we didn’t finish bottom of our CL table, therefore not even QUALIFYING for the UEFA cup.
Have you thought that maybe that’s one of the reasons why you’ve done better than us in the Premiership?
And remember that winning isn’t everything, but losing is nothing. At least we have the chance at the moment of winning something. What do you have??? (except a rift with your top scorer and a manager with the DTs, or maybe his hands are shaking coz he doesn’t know if he’ll be in a job in 3 months time haha)
May 9th, 2006 at 3:20 pm
The game against West Ham was their 40th of the entire season! Most other ‘Top 5′ teams have played closer to 60/70!
United put in a good run in the league, but that was because it was the only competition left to play in! Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal had European games which sometimes added up to 3 games in a week.
16 points ahead is not much considering you had the last few months to concentrate on the Premiership - especially when you consider this year was a disastrous for us.
No-one has really talked about it but we have had terrible injuries this season - Flamini was playing at left-back for God’s sake!
Sol, Cashley, Henry, Freddie, Van Persie, Diaby, Lauren, Senderos, Gilberto, Pires, Hleb, Bergkamp and even Jens Lehmann have missed a lot of games this season.
You tell me if United could cope with those casualties!
The only real player you’ve lost this season is Roy Keane! And he’s well passed it anyway!
May 9th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
The first paragraph above was directed towards Sp*rs not United!
May 9th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
waaaaaa! i’m going to get uncle alex to tell on you ruud for saying things about my daddy!!
you big meanie! now i’m off to cry like a little biatch..
May 9th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
the reason we did better than you in the league is because we are better than you. your manager said last year the table never lies and in reference to liverpool being in the champions final he compare it to like something and i quote ‘’milwall being in the F.A. cup final'’ so all od a sudden is great when you are involve. yes we finish bottom of our group but i still take our record in the champions league over the last 10 years over yours .anyhow i suppose you will carry on throwing personal insults at sir alex . what else to be expected from brain less morons like you.
May 9th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
Morons???
I think you’ll find i was the only moron to insult the big old scottish drunken red faced manic shaky handed imbecile.
And I think you’re right, the table doesn’t lie. But as we’ve mentioned on numerous occasions on this blog, at one point we had so many players injured that we almost had to play “the one and only Pascale Cygan” for more than his statutary half a game a season haha.
Now don’t be bitter if we do win. I actually cheered your lot on all those years ago when you won. Can you remember that far back???
May 9th, 2006 at 5:23 pm
oh yes and we never had any injuries. ok so you want to throw insults . at least we dont have a french pervert in charge .as for me remembering winning the champions final how could i forget . we won the treble that year something you never managed and how could i forget that semi final at villa park when we took the piss out of you lot. hahahaha
May 9th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Anyway, back to the England squad - and I hear Sp*rs fans complaining that Defoe or Bent should get the nod ahead of Theo.
The reason why Bent and Defoe aren’t in the World Cup squad is because they have had their chance and obviously Sven thinks they are not good enough.
With Owen and Rooney doubtful, the biggest asset you will miss is their electric pace - only Theo Walcott and compete with that. Defoe and Bent are quick but Theo is on another level!
Technique-wise, Gerrard and Joe Cole would do a good enough job, and you have your target man (Heskey MkII) in Crouch, so Walcott makes sense. If Peter Crouch can make the squad then Walcott certainly can!
And apparently Sp*rs have asked the Premier League for the West Ham game to be replayed!
While we’re asking for games to by replayed how about the Champions League final if we don’t win?
We will say beforehand that we’ve got ‘food poisoning’ and if the result is not how we like we can just play again!
May 9th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
hey immortal you really are the biggest twat around here. get a grip on yourself and stop wanking over walcott a player who will get swallow by defenders in the world cup and eventhat french pervert manager of yours did not fell was good enough to give him any games in the premier.
May 9th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
oh yes and i see how you all ignoring the is like MILWALL IN YHE FA CUP FINAL jibe ha ha ha ha
May 9th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
Slur Alex… you need to do a Lille bit better in Europe, 4th in an awful group is appalling… lets ask Roy to play the pundit on your season, shall we? Loved winning the FA Cup last season… revenge is a dish best served Scholes, as they say… I think 2nd Glazer’s over your season… Fortune, Ruud, Bellion, Howard are already out the door since your season ended, the fire sale continues… Ronaldo lifting his skirt towards Real Madrid must be embarrassing for you… oh, you’re £600 in debt and your crap group features lots of people dressed like red seats… £600m in debt! My Sunday team’s got more money than your lot… and I havent paid my subs yet!
Carling Cup… well done. You do the beer, we’ll do the Champions League… ta
May 9th, 2006 at 8:55 pm
like Keano… your shirt sponsor skipped town… to be replaced by one of your debt holders… hmmmm
I love United supporters… anyone who hates Gary Neville is ok by me…
May 9th, 2006 at 9:04 pm
… Forlan… Djema Djemba… Bellion… Vidic… Miller… I cant decide… what do you reckon Slur Alex?
May 10th, 2006 at 9:38 am
cygan, jeffers , and a few other donkeys i cant even be bother to mention.
as i say the table dont lie 16 points in front of you and talking about debts well look at yours first before you talk about ours. oh yes and you are all still ignoring MILWALL IN THE FINAL jibe ha ha ha ha WONDER WHY
May 10th, 2006 at 11:17 am
Jeffers… mate, he was in the England squad, if only briefly… that you dont dispute my list is telling
May 10th, 2006 at 11:26 am
ah.. our debts… Im guessing from your use of the English language that you’re not an educated man, but you should know that there is some difference between the financing of the building of Emerites and the overstated (in the newspapers you read) associated debt and the Glazer’s buying a perfectly profitable club and putting it £600m in debt…
what tickles me most, is that the legacy of this debt will be worn across your shirt next season… hehe… and you’ll PAY for the right to advertise it….
May 10th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
Thank God the Premiership saw sense and didn’t allow Spurs to replay against West Ham! I was worried, especially when it comes down to the footballing authorities decisions! They let anything go these days…
Not Spurs just look like a load of pathetic losers - first they wanted to sue, then they wanted the game to be replayed - f*cking hell, they’re just a big bunch of cry babies!
See you in the Champions League!