Arsenal striker Theo Walcott played the final 21 minutes for England this evening, as they brushed aside Trinidad & Tobago 3-0 in Port of Spain.
The match was England’s first game in Trinidad at senior level, to commemorate the centenary of the Trinidad & Tobago F.A. However there was not space for sentiment, and The Three Lions set about their opponents right from the first minute.
Fabio Capello had previously said he would give the impressive Walcott a run out after his fantastic finish to the season with Arsenal, and named the youngster on the bench. Trinidad were poor right from the outset, the space and time England had on the ball was telling, and the first goal was imminent.
Stuart Downing played a neat 1-2 with Wayne Bridge, before the Chelsea man chipped the ball across the box for Gareth Barry to volley home. 3 minutes later Jermain Defoe was in on the act, and he raced clear before slipping the ball beyond the keeper.
The half finished with determination from the hosts, but with little end product their was never any danger for Capello’s men. Half time brought a flood of changes and Trinidad & Tobago played much better, they moved the ball a little more productively but again had nothing to show for it.
England punished their hosts yet again on the 49th minute, as David Bentley’s cross was headed back across the goal by Dennis Lawrence, only for that man Defoe to slot beyond Ince for his second of the game.
Yet more substitutions dogged the fixture, and the hot weather seemed to get to both sides and the overall quality disappeared quickly. But on the 69th minute mark Theo Walcott was called across, and after being given instructions was introduced in place of two goal striker Defoe.
Theo’s movement and pace was soon showing, as he jinked inside and looked to run at the back line. He twice linked up well with Peter Crouch, playing a tidy 1-2 before the Liverpool man saw his shot saved. Then he used his blistering pace again, as he chased what seemed a lost cause before seeing the defender slip, sending Walcott clear on goal.
As Trinidad & Tobago threw bodies back Theo was caught in two minds, should he pass to Crouch? or shoot? he hesitated, and in the end shot low and tame at the keeper. His impact was similar to that of Samir Nasri yesterday for France. The future looks very bright for Arsenal and England.
Article By – J.Sanderson
i thought theo looked a bit poor to be honest!
Really?????????
I thought he was great when he came on, England were quite slack at the time, and yes he did need to work on his finishing, he was abit of Fresh air for the team
meh wasent exactly a rumping 3-0 against an island less than 1/60th the size of england is poor(the commentors got the popultaion wrong). Khaleem Highland was by far the best young player on the pitch only 18 and outplayed gerrard.we invited him and lad called Lester Peltier last year on trial so who knows.
haha u r funny or very patriotic.
Terrible match, boring, very boring, extremely boring. I can see why England aren’t in the Euros. Theo didn’t play that well he hardly saw the ball.
I thought he looked ok, cant believe the news from wenger about waiting till after the euro’s to sign Nasri, feel like he’s slipped through our grasp!!!
I have to agree I didn’t think Theo looked great but had he started and got into the game more I think it would have been a different story!!! He looked better when he played out wide!
i agree with jam but yeah i didn’t think theo was all that aswell he seemed like he was lost
“Khaleem Highland was by far the best young player on the pitch only 18”
Jesus i didnt know hes 18, yea he impressed alot.
England were scrappy at times but its the players last game of this season so they need to be given a break, i wasnt particually impressed with Capellos selection as we know what Ferdinand and Beckham can do, if hes made Ferdinand captain then i could see the point in his case, just to better see how he leads England, but Beckham is the same captain he ever has been, not the same player in my opinion and i would have loved Bentley to get a full game, hes better than Beckham now and he can only get better in the future, were as Beckham should and probably does have very little future left in top level football. Still has a great cross and set piece technique, but thats not going to be enough against sides like Germany, Italy, France or Brazil (to name a small few). Nice to see Barry and Young get a run out as well, i was dissapointed he didnt give Ashton more than 45 mins though.
Walcott was good, but he didnt blow me away, i dont think its his time yet for England but he diserved his time on the pitch and if he keeps improving like he has been and at the rate he has been then its probably only a matter of next season before he can really step up to the challenge in the England side, and probably become one of the most formidable componants of the side.
i see your point JS that he made some good runs, but it is like the MOTD guys said his finishing is his down fall.
Boring england
Anybody feel like weve missed out on Nasri?
I think people have got excited with Le Grove saying he was gonna be announced and stuff, that now these latest comments from Wenger have come out, we have gone from a massive high to a massive low.
I would still expect him to sign for us, just seems like it is going to drag on. Im bored of it now tbh, even When/IF he does sign i dont really care.
I would have felt more comfortable had he signed already, the quotes didn’t sound very optimistic though
Love this site…. But this article is miles off. Theo looked poor to me, always struggling with his decision making. The moment he burst through he had a simple ball to Crouch who would’ve been clean through, but he wanted to score, then got scared, and the shot was terrible. Doubt Capello would’ve been impressed. As a manager who has a high quota of 1-0 victories, he won’t appreciate players that get the crucial decisions wrong. I also happen to think that Walcott is better suited on the wing.
You have to remember, Wenger never gives anything away. I would not read too much into it.
The prices thing, Wenger was talking in general so again i would not read too much. Websites reporting he was gonna come tomorrow, and now this. Feels like a kick in the bollocks.
Would love if it was all a smoke screen and he signed tomorrow, hopefully its already done
I also think Theo is better suited to the wing
Spoke to my mate who is an accountant for Arsenal’s books and he said that the problem is that we are seen as a big club, so Nasri’s agent expects big club wages. My source inside the club says we’re offering fair wages, which is still more than Marseille’s offers or any other on the table, but still not what Nasri’s agent wants from “a rich English club”.
Problem is this works on players like Sagna, who accepted our offer, then we’re re-negotiating his contract a year later to “top Premier League wages” now, because we know he is a top Premier League player. If we offer Nasri this straight away, then we risk paying big money to a potential eventual flop, a la Chelsea Bogarde.
This is now down to the Euros in the board’s eyes. If Nasri shines, one club in the world will pay the fee, and pay the wages (as Flamini’s deal showed). If he gets injured early or flops, Wenger will still want him and his agent will have to accept our offer as it will probably be the best on the table.
Personally I think he will shine, and we’ll lose out, but it’s a gamble we take with Wenger as manager.
Is it a good reliable source duke?
Seems like wishful thinking to me mate.
We will have to wait and see Duke. Im bored of this Nasri stuff now.
I know mate the last 3 weeks all the fuss could be for nothing.
I got completely caught up in the hype, what it does show though is a complete lack of ambition, again!!!
As long as Nasri’s deal isn’t confirmed Hleb sale is less likely.
Maybe if Wenger agree to play Vela on the wing and effectively add Gibbs to he first team we can compete without this farce.
Traore and Wilsher can have the odd chance to play.
I’ll settle with that and wont ask why we didn’t get this player or that as it is futile, but thats only in case Wenger doesn’t use Eboue on the wing anymore.
RW: Walcot, Vela, Wilshere
LW: Rosciky, Gibbs, Traore
Although young, but great potential and definitely all talented with great pace and fire power.
I don’t know where that will leave us, but I hope Wenger concentrate all of his available money on buying a great center back and being able to cover his wages.
By the way if Wenger wont pull Eboue to RB next season he should buy a decent cover for Sagna or we will suffer again.
Like I was saying on Gooner Talk earlier today,I think something is going on that we don’t know about,I believe Wenger is up to something because the way that commentator was speaking yesterday he was saying it was official and for 17 million Euros. Now I’ve done some reading with the rules about transfers and commentators can get into big problems if they speak about a signing claiming it’s official if it’s not true,I’ve spoken to a FIFA licensed ref. that I know and he’s told me the same thing,so either that guy was blowing hot air and got in trouble or he knows something we don’t because his ass would be grass. I am still optimistic we will get him,nobody knows what’s going on,it has become a lil boring and annoying but I do believe he will still be an Arsenal player this season…..Oh and Walcott yea lol. I thought he did a decent job tonight,didn’t see the ball much but that quick burst he could’ve done better with the shot but he didn’t look bad.
Theo did more than, Young and Ashton…in that short space of time.
Does that mean the signing LeBoss ‘PROMISED’ to get in the two/three week period at end of our season was Francis Coquelin?Talk about false hope……AGAIN.
Arsene is one of the best managers but when it come to completing transfer his so damn stubborn.1st he said if we sign nasri it will be before euro2008 or not at all .no suddenly is might happen after euro2008.he is really starting to piss me off
For a signing to take place you need three parties to agre, the player, the selling club and the buying club.
From the sounds that are being made, the player wants to join us, but I guess the other parties have not agreed the rest of the deal.
Again I feel the lack of a media-savvy management at Arsenal. Firstly letting the cat-out-of-the-bag then failing to manage the situation. The would have been better off saying the weren’t interested in Nasri until the player was signed.
I wonder given that they could have put Carlos Vela and Francis Coquelin in arsenal shirts means they are waiting to complete the Nasri transfer this week before they do the photo shoot of all three?
Thought he played ok last night. Nothing really impressive but his pace.
Theo was ok but he didn’t shine.
The game was over after the second goal and the team went into autodrive.
Well one has to wonder if Dein was still at Arsenal would we still be in this mess.
Wenger usually identify the targets and Dein get on with it, taking the blame if it fails from the manager.
So before we hope to sign any player Arsenal should sign a replacement for Dein.
Thats why its taking forever to sign players. Please sign Dein back!
Dein? That Usmanov’s bitch? I wouldn’t like him at the club again. I agree that he did a great job for the club but now he is not welcome. We need to find a replacement for him though, I think the board room is lacking something.
Do you think wenger would bring in a really experienced player in the mold of ronaldinho or anybody that has won it all to give the youngs guns masive boost and motivation.because we hear how robin van persie said he learnt alot from beckham when he came over. I really do not think a nasri is the answer we need at this moment because he doesnt have the experience to carry the guns on his back when things are down
I think we have experiance now, i meen if you look at players liek Gilberto, Rosicky and Toure you can hardly call them un experianced, experiance is about how much you’ve experianced, not your age, so id even go as far to argue that Adebayor, Fabregas and Van Persie can now all be called experianced players, or atleast approching that mark. Anyway, id welcome an experianced defender, like Thuram who’s been linked to us (on this site and others). Ive always felt experiance is most valuable at the back and if your looking for a player whos still got the playign quality, and is really experianced, it doesnt get much better than Thuram.
CUMMON THEO!!!
Coming back on DYCE’s comment to be fair Gerrard had played a whole 90mins against USA and was proberly feeling the effects. Another point is, why was Walcott not used in any other friendlies, instead he just sits on the beanch. Why doesn’t he give Theo 45mins or maybe even 90, but instead he plays a blonde haired prat who is soooo injury prown its nt even funny! (ashton)
Also though Joe Hart looked a little frightened. Gareth Barry should always play instead of Lampard! Barry for captain