Why Theo Walcott thinks England can challenge for Euros

It is difficult to get excited about a 6-0 win over the European minnows San Marino, who have a population of just 31,000 and occupates just 23 square miles of territory inside Italy. But this victory means that England have now won all seven of their qualifying games and have every chance of reaching the Euro Finals in France next summer with a 100% record.

Switzerland have been their toughest opponents but you can only beat the team put in front of you and do it efficiently. Theo Walcott really believes that the Three Lions have the confidence and the ability to go far in the competition. “I think this team is getting better and better, and that’s what we want to do going into the tournament next year,” he said.

“We’ve gone a long way towards that, so I am sure things are going to improve. “There are big tests for us, but I believe in that dressing room and just the way we are playing as well.

“We are playing in the best league in the world, we’re improving every day, the players are playing at the top of their game.

“It’ll definitely be a big achievement if we can go far. I am sure that we can. The manager has got that in our system, that he believes in us. “The belief is there, the confidence is there, so why not?”

To be fair, they probably have as much chance as any of the big teams but there is no real reason to be confident. There will still be some smaller teams in the Finals, like Iceland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Austria, so maybe England can progress early on.

The big problem England always have is that the Premier League season is so long and hard that most players are knackered by the summer!

Tags England Walcott

33 Comments

    1. i don’t think anyone knows the first eleven of English team, but saying that we have had a lot of injuries in the England camp and mostly its all Arsenal players surprise surprise

      i believe England’s last game against San Marino was difficult to asses because of the poor pitch condition

      i think we can do a lot better if our media can back us a bit more in games that are lost or poor performance, i think the players are feeling the stress of bad criticism

      1. Weather you want to hear it or not he has apoint… most english sides like England whenever they enter major european competitions have an air of arrogance and a sense of entitlement, underestimate teams and assume competitions are going to be a walk through because they assume players who don’t play in the BPL… are somehow inferior… and we as fans are also guilty of this.. just because we can pay ridiculous sums for players doesnt make us the better league.. And for those who think we are… between the 20 teams in the league.. and the ridiculous money spent on ‘home grown talent’, we haven’t been able to produce a squad of 23 players to compete with the likes of Germany, Spain on an international level in years.

  1. I think Wales is the only British country to have a World Class player, unless you consider Rooney to be WC (I don’t).

    But England are just pathetic at major competitions. I am English and always disappointed.

    Listen. If our “Golden Generation” (Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Shearer, Terry, Carragher, Owen, etc.) couldn’t do it, I don’t see us doing it.

    Although, nobody thought Greece could do it, so Maybe anything is possible lol

    1. Is it just me, or does Rooney seem a lot lazier these days??
      LVG’s boring ass brand of football probably doesn’t help…. The amount of players we commit to attacking positions actually looks suicidal in comparison with United.

  2. England doesn’t really have a chance of winning the Euro Cup..but atleast the coach is using all resources in his disposal to get the best…unlike Arsenal where the manager is the one doing his best to see the team trophyless 🙁 🙁 🙁

      1. If Wenger were England coach England would so far have drawn a number of games, lost a few and won some by own goals 🙁 🙁 🙁

  3. i am not surprised hearing this from Walcott, because he has the Arsenal player mentality.Arsenal players always say stuff like this, if they win 3 games straight, all the players like walcott, Ramsey, Girould,Wilshere come out and say we will win the league. so this did not surprise me at all and i expect this kind of statement from them this season as well.

    England played against teams like, Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania, San Marino and Switzerland.No offense to others country but in this team only Switzerland is at least that can challenge England.They score 6 past San Marino even the reserve team can beat San Marino, they are 193 in FIFA ranking, and suddenly Walcott come out and said we will win Euro 2016.Not surprised at all.

    Its good that they qualified but it does not show the quality of the team in anyway.There teams like France, Germany, Belgium, Wales, Italy, Spain, in Euro and I don’t think England win against them, maybe Spain.

    1. Haha. Ok, so tell me a response from Walcott you would have been happy with?
      Let’s pretend. I’ll be the interviewer.
      ‘So Theo, you scored a couple of goals today. Can’t complain with that! How do you rate England’s chances for these coming Euro’s?’

    1. A 4-4-2 with Sterling, Welbeck, Sturridge and Walcott. That pace would be killer on the counterattack.

  4. Damn! You guys don’t have anything positive to say about anything…Your home lives must be the bricks…

    1. @NY…….yo if u got some good stuffs to say…….y dn’t u say it?……. Every one of these fans pop on ere to drop a comment or two……keeps the site a bit active (neglect the rantings)….. JustArsenal is a Lucky forum site……u should check out a site like “Goonersden”….its calm and quiet with no comments at all…..would suit ur kinda man ! LoooL

  5. and if we somehow grab 4th or secure a champions league spot at the season’s end, many (mostly AKBs) will be like “Wenger have done his best despite the fact that he had lil at his disposal” and will remain satisfied with his mediocre effort……then they will all fail to look back at this day and recall how Wenger’s complacency turned the tides against our favour!

    1. No. We won’t. I’m a supporter of Wenger, but he’s still accountable for results.
      His inactivity in the transfer market implies that this is a squad he truly believes has the capabilities to bring the title. So the minimum requirement is a title challenge. If we finish fourth with him choosing not to strengthen, I agree, he should go.
      But people like you are crucifying him four games into the season… Will you man up and admit you were wrong if he does bring the title. Maybe admit…. That he knew best?

      1. it just wouldn’t matter………………. I still want him gone at the end of the season……..Title or no Title…….. Had enough!

        1. hahahaha!!! so you’d still think he’s not the man for the job even if he does that job to perfection in the league this coming season?? wow, now I know i’m dealing with lunacy. Is it because you wanted a new toy to play with on FIFA 16 out of curiosity?

          1. i’m crucifying him for 10 years of failure…… not four games….
            for me, he must go to the end of the season.

      2. Lunacy – extreme folly or eccentricity
        It wasn’t a personal attack, it’s just a statement about how I feel about a certain opinion. And due to you voicing your opinion on the AKB mindset on a daily basis……. Should I also list the definition of hypocrisy for you??

  6. We won’t win the Euros. But in 2018/2020 I think we’ll have a very good team. Not the best in the world, but a good team nonetheless.

    We have some fantastic young players at the moment who will hopefully grow into some top talents.

    Hart will still be around, he’s top quality already.

    Clyne is a very good RB, still young. Shaw is an even better LB and even younger. Jenko and Gibbs could fight for those spots too.

    Stones is a quality CB, and for all we like to mock Chris Smalling, he’s actually become a very good player over the past 2 years. Hopefully Chambers will come good and work his way in too.

    In the CM, we have Wilshere with the passing, Barkley with the power and Henderson with the energy. Jonjo Shelvey has looked very good recently in the Prem too. Ward-Prowse looks like he’ll be a very good player as well. Though we could use a defensive midfielder…

    Wingers/Attacking midfielders we have some quality. Oxlade Chamberlain, Walcott, Sterling and Lallana. Zaha is a good young winger too. I feel like I’m forgetting someone here but that’s all I can think of right now.

    Up front, Sturridge is quality when fit, Harry Kane will probably be a very good striker too. Plus there’s Charlie Austin who I think will work his way in. Danny Ings as well maybe, who knows. Rooney may still be around too.

    So I’m quite hopeful for the future, but right now we’re rubbish.

  7. When asked the question what’s Theo supposed to say? “No, we’ve got no chance, I’m not an idiot”

    Haha I think every England player and Woy would say the same, but not a single one would believe it I think!!!

  8. No, we have very little chance at the Euros.

    Roy is an awful manager who likes to play a hugely defensive style of football. His football is ugly, negative and easy to play against. Top teams won’t struggle against our midfield because there is no meat to it, but conversely, our midfield is not playing the expansive football to penetrate good defenses.

    Our attack is currently stunted by very average forwards. Rooney has totally lost his edge and needs to play from deeper to be effective but Kane looks like nothing special to me – Theo is unproven at CF, Sturridge is a goal scorer but offers limited other aspects. Our best form of attack comes from our wings, which is a shame because Roy likes to peg our wingers and fullbacks back as far as he can to allow the CFs to dictate the play. He’s built his team around Rooney…which is a shame cos Rooney has consistently let England down.

    England’s best hope under Hodgson lies in Jack because he’s the only player who can do anything from deep…but as this is TOTALLY not his game I hope Hodgson stops using that blind tactic. We need to play with a 4-2-3-1 to accomodate our best players and we HAVE to be more aggressive in all aspects of the game. At the moment England’s best team is probably:

    Hart
    Clyne Cahill Smalling Shaw
    Wilshere Henderson
    Ox/Theo Rooney Sterling
    Kane/Sturridge

    That team cannot compete with Europe’s elite. They are far off from France, Germany and Spain. Really we need Kane to develop into an all around great player to have any hope…but watching him I expect less and less of his development. Behind that we’ve got ready made replacements for most of our squad – Cahill will be replaced by Stones, Rooney by Barkley and there are plenty of new talents coming through to challenge all over the pitch. Our weakest position is “DM” because we have NONE and to truly make the most of the wing forwards we have, we need a DM to sit in.

    Our team will win NOTHING under Roy though. He is a second tier manager who couldn’t see glaring issues in his team 2 foot in front of himself. He has no history of winning except in the swedish league despite being manager at some big European clubs. He has consistently lost in big matches including several cup finals and has managed to flop in the one major competition he took his England side to where he managed to even get out of the group stages. He is tactically poor, historically poor and his advocated style is boring and outdated to watch. Simply put – we have good players who could achieve semi or final status but we have a manager who will keep us fighting to get out of group stages if we come up against a team who are even half decent.

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