Soccer

» SimonMelville - Interesting squad to say the least - a little light on strikers.

You know, the more I think about this Walcott business, the more I like it. Why? Well:

1) "Walcott" said quickly sounds a bit like "World Cup" -- if The Sun headline wasn't: IT'S THEO WORLD CUP!!! it should have been.

2) It's brave, it's mad, it's loony, it's out of character, it's maverick. It's so KER-AZY it reminds me of me. That's what I would do if I was managing England in Football Manager 2006. I also would have cheated by using the FM Scout application to check his hidden attributes, but that's by the by.

3) Defoe has been off-colour all season and has never set the world alight playing for England -- not had many opportunities granted, but a fact nonetheless. England managers in the past have been criticised for their conservatism -- at least with Walcott you really have something to surprise teams with from off the bench. Having said that, Defoe is an established Premiership striker while Walcott hasn't even played for Arsenal yet -- surely a unique situation for any squad at the World Cup? But would Defoe really do the buiness as a sub? Is it really better the devil you know?

4) It would be quite funny if Walcott was REALLY bad in the pre-World Cup friendlies. Like Norman Wisdom, prat-falling over the ball, bumping into things, inexplicably shouting "Mr Grimsdale!" Then Sven might have to back-track embarrassingly and drop him from the squad. Or he broke a metatarsal -- OH THE IRONY. Or something.

-- posted by SimonMelville