Has Sven Lost The Plot?

The big news today was that Theo Walcott was selected in the England squad ahead of Jermaine Defoe, Darren Bent and Andy Johnson. Which personally I feel is insane. He admitted it is a huge gamble, and he himself has never seen Walcott play in flesh. While only listening to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger's words that he has electric pace and raw talent. If he is good enough to be brought into the World Cup, how come he is not good enough to play for Arsenal - not even as a substitute appearance.

You tell me Wright-Philips is not good enough to play for Chelsea, it is a fair comment and hence should not be brought into the World Cup. But you tell me that Walcott is not good enough to play for Arsenal, yet good enough to play for England? And mind it, it is not last resort stuff, they like the likes of Defoe, Johnson and Bent!

I've always been an admirer of Jermaine Defoe. However, the Tottenham striker has found himself on the bench most of the season behind a partnerhsip of Robbie Keane and Mido. The pair work well together to justify the absence of Defoe, but some one who comes off the bench to score quality goals is better than someone who cannot come off the bench isn't it?

Andy Johnson might be playing in the Coca-cola championship, but at least he is playing first team football. He was top scorer and top assist in for his club with 17 goals and 6 assist. And it is not just a one-off high-scoring season, he has been scoring well over the past few seasons, in fact this is the first one in 2 seasons he failed to score more than 20 goals. He scored 21 goals in the season he was in the Premiership. These stats of consistancy don't lie. He is a true marksman. And he is selected behind Walcott?

I really feel for Darren Bent as well. He's previous season's totals from 2002-2003 season were 18, 17, 20, 22. He scored 22 goals this season and for a Charlton side who can hardly create anything. The biggest stat to show that he is a true marksman in a club who cannot score is that the next top-scorer in his club is Danny Murphy with 4 goals! This shows he is a quality player in a somewaht lower club. But he delivers the goods. I don't think he would stay in Charlton much longer since it is becoming more and more evident that only players in big clubs get a call to the international team - even though Bent has started 36 more times and scored 18 more goals in the Premiership alone ahead of Walcott's zero all.

Imagine that Eriksson takes this 23-man squad to Germany. The strikers would be Rooney, Owen, Crouch and Walcott. With Rooney still ruled out for the first few games of the tournament at best, then we have Crouch, who is a useful player but not a prolific goalscorer and Michael Owen who spent most of the season on the treatment table. Though he betrayed Liverpool, I still admit he is one of the best natural finishers in the game. But given a season lacking match fitness and sharpness, he doesn't look like he is going to be half the player he is. So short of match fitness, he would maybe last 60 minutes of a match effectively. Then, we would have Crouch and Walcott to lead the lines for England. Right. Having a back-up pair of Crouch and Bent, or Crouch and Defoe, or Crouch and Johnson would sound like more of a pairing that would score a goal.

Now that Rooney is injured and the odds of England to win the world cup have dropped from 6 to 7.8 (1-6 to 1-7.8), I don't even think that is good enough for people to bet on England to win because of Sven's insanity of not choosing the best players. I'll rather bet on Ivory Coast at 75-1. They stand a better chance.