Why Theo Walcott may not be in form but he still should be in South Africa:

The word potential is a word that often gets over-used too much in football, especially if you’re an Arsenal player. When Theo Walcott burst onto the football map at Southampton people expected him to be a world-beater, linking him to Thierry Henry and even taking his squad number at Arsenal after a £12 million pound move; and this may still be the case. There are no excuses for Theo Walcott not to for fill his potential and become a world-beater one day, but people need to remember he is only 21 years old.

He has a great manager in Arsene Wenger who is looking out for his best interests but there is protecting him in cotton wool in the Premiership so he is full fit and fresh and then there is protecting him from World Cup heartbreak. Sven Goran Eriksson made a huge mistake taking Theo Walcott to the World Cup but in a way it has benefited him making him stronger, given Theo the experience of a major tournament and this definitely showed in the Under 21’s tournament before losing out to Germany in the final. So if those two experiences have allowed Theo to learn things then missing out on the World Cup this time around will surely make him stand up learn from this season, become an Arsenal regular, complete 90 minutes more often than not and most importantly become a man.

Personally, I think he should be in South Africa, yes his final ball lacks quality at times and yes Rooney got very frustrated with him in the two warm-up games and personally I think that is a big factor is why Walcott is not chosen. Capello needs the best service to Rooney if England is going to win the World Cup. But what Theo can offer is lightening pace, he has shown against Croatia that he can deliver and in the two games against Barcelona for Arsenal in the Champions League he absolutely terrified the Barcelona back line scoring one goal and assisting Nicolas Bendtner with another. Personally I think Aaron Lennon can offer a little bit more than Theo Walcott from the start but if Aaron Lennon does have an off day we have the express pace to worry teams later in games and if there is one thing England club team’s can do well, is score late goals at important times.