England not picking Walcott was a travesty by Sam P
I have got a sneaking suspicion that Roy Hodgson was busy, on holiday or simply could not be bothered to watch the last few games played by Arsenal as we finished the season with a bang. Why else would the England boss have chosen to pick the out of form Raheem Sterling and the struggling spud Andros Townsend ahead of the red hot Gunner Theo Walcott today?
Answers on a postcard please, because I am struggling to understand and my carefully chosen words when I saw the team sheet are not to be repeated on a family website. He spoke about loyalty to players, but what the hell has Theo ever done to be snubbed ahead of the other two?
The fitness thing won´t wash because Townsend had not started a game for two months, and Sterling might as well not have done. Walcott on the other hand, has played, started, scored and looks as good as he ever has. What is more, he is fit, fresh and desperate to play.
Taking my Arsenal hat off for a moment, I wonder whether England should be very concerned with Hodgson´s choice as well. It would not have done the Three Lions and their two wide men much good to flop for the second game in a row either and you cannot possibly be optimistic about the Euro 2016 tournament after that.
Thankfully another Arsenal man Jack Wilshere scored a couple of stunners and Walcott finally got on to play a key role in Rooney´s winner, but he must be left wondering what he has to do to actually start for England. I know I am.
WILSHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!
This man is brilliant.. It was absolutely shocking to hear how some of the fans wanted him sold.
Glad he’s proving the haters wrong and I hope he shoots more often for arsenal as well.
in other news daily star reporting that Le Coq wanna leave because PSG are on for him. they went on to say that he is wary of loosing his spot to Arteta next season. Lols. even a baby won’t replace Coq with Arteta in any team. Hilarious!
Anyone reading the Daily Star is suspect, anyone quoting the Daily Star is a couple brain cells short of full mental capacity.
Great goals from jack, he’s back to his best.he’s got a powerful shot on him, rockets from jack.
somehow, i’d Love to hear from all the “SELL JACK” crooners
hahaha, that made me laugh. But the absolute best Arsenal fan quote is still “some skinny winger from France , is Wenger crazy?”
Yep that Arsenal expert questioned Wenger bring Thierry to Arsenal.
He’s had a good game and scored a couple of goals. Let’s see if he holds up for 30 games next season then start shouting off.
his idol is Gerrard – great to see he’s scoring screamers like Gerrard did back in the day. Just stay out of injury boy!
i have always believed in giving managers space to do their work but here i think hodgson is wrong…Walcott is on form compared to sterlin and Townsend…i think this is personal…congrats to wilshere…two amazing goals
The question you should be asking is, “why isn’t Arsene giving Wilshere the freedom to do the same for us as he’s proved this evening for England?”
Its simple really. Hodgson is clueless. Why on earth you would ever start Sterling and/or Townsend over Walcott is something only a useless manager in charge of England would do
No English coach has won the BPL, maybe a non English coach is needed as they seem bang on average, like most English players.
Wengerits can defend Roy as Wenger over looks form for favourites, which inevitably costs the team.
Glad Jack doing well, disappointed for Theo.
Baines, Walcott, Clyne, Jagielka, Ox and Kane should have started.
I am not from England but I have to admit this Hodgson figure is not good enough for this team with lot of stars!!!!! I don’t understand who the hell has pointed him as a manager???!!!! This team is a best team that England has, Walcott is proven killer front of goal and this Roy figure yet put him on the bench and that useless Sterling burn the opportunities one after another, even Rooney was not sharp enough. Thanks to Wilshere for two outstanding goals to boost England’s hope.
Roy’s management is a boring as watching the grass grow on Jose Mourinho’s front lawn.
And can you imagine his team talks, hardly inspiring I’ll bet!
Av been reading comments on this site for a while now n thz do we need a
striker or is giroud good enough talk is driving me insane…
-do we need to invest heavily on a top quality forward??…YEEESS!!
-should we be desperate to do so in order to challenge for top honours??…yeess!!
-are our current set of strikers good enough to take us to not just
the next level but on par with bayern, barca etc???..NOOOO!!
here’s why…a few czons ago we had a certain dutchman b4 that we had king henry..if u can
rmba well, in hz last czon the dutch scored against 17teams in epl n 75% of hz goals were
crucial goals..a hat-trick v chelsea, a stunner at anfield, a supervolley vs everton, an
equalizer vs utd n my favourite the beauty against spurs jst to mention a few. nobody wanted
him to leave cz he bailed us out with a not so good mid n a shambolic defence.
My point is that we should not jst look at the number of goals our strikers have scored but how crucial those goals are. does he score in big games frequently?, does he bail us out when we need the most?, does he waste alot infront of goal etc n of cos if u score 30goals in a czon, certainly ul have atleast 20game crucial goals which shud be enaf for a trophy adding cntrbtion from others
NB. if a player or manager causes a division among fans(nt mgmnt), then he has to really reflect on himself cz hez not satisfying them hence nt good enaf n so needs to improve. ul neva here a division on top top quality people eg ibra,iniesta, ferguson pep etc
Is this supposed to be English?
Have to say other than wilshere and sterling England were pretty mediocre … And between sterling Walcott and ox there is no question who is the better player…. Then again man utd lpool and spurs let alone villa are hardly the basis for success… But Gibbs was average as well and his hapless defending of their second goal just confirms my point that we needs quality left sided defender asap
Who is better player?
that guy in the middle in the second half was the other Liverpool guy, lallana. I think you have mistaken him for sterling. sterling was just average.
Gibbs is always average he hardly ever passes forward always short and back to the player that passed to him.Monreal gives more aggressive play down the left and passes well also great with crosses.Gibbs will never be a first choice. CB
Jackkkkk Wilshireeee!!fantastic! !!! Both goals were world class specially second one. Hope he remains injury free. Also why the hell Walcott didn’t start. Roy is out of his mind.
Dnt rate Hodgson but he’s right, walcotts one dimensional teams who sit bk he can’t do anything, sterling n townshend both committed players are much better dribblers of the ball. Oh and I think walcott along with gibbs were to blame for the 2nd goal sounds about right and good on wenger for not going for loyalty with the above 2 and playing them the last couple of months.
Jack finally scores bet he’s world class now it’s against slovenia???? He’s play ok let’s not get carried away when he can do it to the likes of Germany etc etc then maybe we can rave abt him.
Your a total moron. Go live under a bridge
Somewhere in Totenham HAHA
Unles Mo1 stands for Morhinio 1 then it’s chelsea bridge for you
Second goal has nothing to do with Slovenia. It was great shot and even Nuer wouldn’t have stopped it. You should give credit when it is due. If Jack has not scored today then you would have questioned his ability and form. I am not saying he has become world’s best midfielder but definitely Wenger will have selection problem as we have Cazorla, Rambo, Wilshire, Coq, Ozil
Dude townshend is not first choice in Spurs forget about national team. Walcott is not good defensively but can penetrate any defense. Rooney and sterling were struggling and with Walcott it would have been different case
we have 4 trolls on here. Mo1 and three others who thumbed him up. too may trolls on this site.
How can you blame Walcott for that goal he is a forward not a full back.Gibbs is the culprit CB
Oooooossssssppppppiiiiiiiinnnnnaaaaa ! Point blank save !
Hart
Clyne Cahill Jagielka Bertrand
Delph(Lallana) Wilshere Henderson (workhorse)
Walcott Rooney Sterling
Not much of a bench to choose from after this. Maybe Austin and Lallana can make a difference but the others are decent at best.
Henderson LOL .. Only in EPL could such an average player be lauded as quality …. Workhorses are best left for farming not football
Rooney should have scored at least another. Sterling was very good but Jack stole the show.
Jack Wilshere Man Of The Match in 6 of his last 7 England appearances (the other MOTM was Welbeck).. In other news @england is red
And well deserved, he was immense today by taking the ball back and driving forward, both goals were superbly taken. Ramsey will have a lot of competition next season!
Can’t agree more. We have best midfield in PL. If Wenger add WC striker then we can definitely win PL next season.
England should play this team
Hart
Jenkison Chambers Hayden Gibbs
Zelalem
Walcott Wilshere Oxlade
Akpom Welbeck
zelalem is not an english player, right?
His applied for political asylum
he is playing for us under 20 national team
LOL Thanks for pointing that out
Why did I put him in there LOL
My mistake
While your at it you might as well call back David Seaman from retirement
@fred anyway, the thumb down wasn’t from me. i like the basic idea 🙂
It’s okay lol
JACK the RIPPER!
great stuff from him.
Dellana is a very un-English player (2 footed/skilful/creative player that tries to do more than the basics (which sometimes does/doesn’t come off)- but I like him and think he has a big future .
Theo did some nice stuff.
Sterling is talented but can’t score (we don’t need him)
Hodgson : boring football , but to be fair when you watch US English play it is clear why we haven’t won anything since 66 > very one dimensional, players are generally technically inept. Little has changed in our game.
No wonder players like sterling (k’ching), theo et al carry big price tags as they are the best of the bunch in a bloated, premier league boasting a plethora of 1 footed droids.
Off to make love now with a Zinidine Zidane blowup replic.
Enjoy Sunday.
Let all the Gooners agitating for a re-Walcott England start be patient and continue to be patient to see Walcott regain his lost starting place in the England starting XI. It took Walcott sometime to get back to productive start(s) at Arsenal after he recorved from the year long anterior cruciate ligament injury he sustained. I believe Roy Hudgson, the England manager should be open to criticism and should handle criticism well. Raheem Sterling and Andros Townsend had gotten ahead of Walcott in the England starting pecking order when Walcott was sidelined with that long injury. The England manager cannot for no compelling reason drop his regular starters to start Walcott ahead of them. Managers don’t work like that. I think Walcott should continue to patiently fight for his lost England striker starting position which he could regain as he continues to impress with his start(s) at Arsenal. Walcott should not bother, his England start(s) can come back to him.
Lol give ur opinion and if ppl dnt agree ur a troll, deluded fans well some on here nt all,
Walcott is 26/27 sterling is 20 he has shown more quality more progession in 2 years then walcott has in 10 that’s the reality. I’m not one of them if a arsenal players average I’m gna rave abt him nah not me.
Selection headache did some say??? Class is perm form temp, Ozil Santi sanchez all fall under world class’s bracket
Walcott Wilshere Bang average only in england are they pumped up their ten a penny in spain , France Germany etc and those who watch footy know this.
Oh yh how abt this coincidence Wilshere n walcott injured for majority of the past 2 seasons n guess Wat Arsenal break their trophy drought!!
Speak the truth dnt be blind followers !!!!!
If you’re going to speak the truth, at least do it in English, not this pigeon English, gibberish you type.
I am and arsenal fan, also a coach, i did no see anything wrong in the england coach starting Townsend, what i had a problem with was clyne not being used, in all honesty we know that Walcott have not done enough in the defensive side of his game and this was evident from the second goal for the opposition. Walcott mostly thrives on a high line when opposition leaves a large space to run into, in this case that was not offered until later in the game,
I have been watching a lot more English games due to the fact that i am an arsenal fan and the team has a bout 5-6 players in the squad, this may be one of the best scrap of english players for a long time (over hyped), but have some talent. I really do not see England having a problem getting to the EURO, but needs to think about a defensive midfielder, from what have been observed so far England do not have a defensive Midfielder. the box to box midfielders which they tend to use will come under serious pressure when faced with a more technical team.
Well les see what happens as we go along
I think it is pretty obvious that Hodgson doesn’t like Walcott. His last start was at the tip of a diamond…wtf?!?! I appreciate that he can be a bit lax defensively and that Hodgson is trying to show faith in some of the young’uns but he could have at least gotten a start in the friendly. I think its a bit disrespectful.
Reasons Walcott did not start:
1. We were playing a diamond – a formation that does not play to ANY of Walcott’s strengths and highlights his weaknesses.
2. Walcott has been absent from England for a very long period with his 1 performance classed as a complete failure (wrongly so as it was the formation and other players who were bad, not Theo himself).
3. Townsend has consistently saved the butt of Hodgson with random goals in England games.
Result? Theo no start. Do I agree with the decision? No. Is Hodgson one of the worst managers I’ve ever witnessed? YES! Were there reasons to not play Theo? Also Yes. I think Hodgson’s total managerial ineptitude is more the reason then any of the reasons I just listed though.