I really hoped that both of the Arsenal forwards snubbed by Gareth Southgate when the England manager announced his latest squad would react in the right way. Theo Walcott had been in fine form anyway of late and I thought that he and Danny Welbeck would be determined to show Southgate that he made a mistake by not selecting them for the three lions matches against Germany and Lithuania.
Instead they proved the England boss was right to leave them out with performances away to West Brom that would struggle to get them a game for San Marino. While I believe that some of the blame for this must go to Arsene Wenger, who seems to have lost any ability to actually motivate the Arsenal players, I think the two forwards must take a long hard look at themselves.
To allow your confidence to be hit by an international snub suggests a weakness of character and belief in your own ability. But that is certainly what seemed to happen to the Arsenal duo. Surely players with the ability and experience that these two Gunners have should be able to motivate themselves but now they may have blown their chances of a late call up from Southgate if the Sky Sports report about West Ham’s Antonio withdrawing through injury are true.
How much blame for this do you assign the players and their club manager?