Walcott backs England - but not his place in the team
Published 22:28 09/10/11 By John Cross
Theo Walcott believes England have found the right formula for Euro 2012 – but is refusing to take his own place for granted.
Walcott admits last year’s heartbreak of missing out on the World Cup shows he still has a major fight on his hands to get into the squad.
The Arsenal winger, however, says Fabio Capello’s men now have a better mix of youth, experience and pace in the squad to make England a force to be reckoned with next summer.
Walcott, 22, said: “Getting the balance right between young and experience is so difficult in this modern game and the manager has managed to do that.
“He plays players in form and you always get a chance to play and show what you can do. Hopefully we can take that into the tournament when it comes to it.
“We’ve got pace in the squad and we’ve had good results away from home. A lot of teams have to come at us so it gives so much more space for the likes of me, Ashley (Young) and Stewy (Downing).
“It makes our job so much easier but with the pace and the young, experienced players we have now, it’s a good balance.”
England’s best performances have come away from home recently and, even though they blew a two-goal lead and only drew in Montenegro, their pace on the counter attack was their main threat.
Walcott has proved his worth in that set-up and appears to have established himself on the right while the left flank is less certain, with Young and Downing both having played there recently.
But after being a mainstay in the build-up to the 2010 World Cup and missing the final cut, Walcott is refusing to get carried away.
In fact, he says his first priority is to improve his form for Arsenal after their poor start to the Premier League campaign.
Walcott said: “I think firstly you have to play well for your club and the manager will pick players on form and not injured, so I’m not going to look too far ahead after what happened to me a couple of years ago.
“The Euros gives you a good incentive. But firstly, I’m going to be concentrating on Arsenal after the poor start we’ve had. When it comes to it, I’ll focus on that but my first priority now is Arsenal.”
England secured qualification in Montenegro and play World champions Spain and runners-up Holland in friendlies before the Euros. Those fixtures may provide evidence of how England compare on the world stage.
Both have the ability to put England’s chances into context. But perhaps throwing away a two-goal lead in Montenegro has already done that.
Walcott was happy to have qualified in Podgorica on Friday night but the whole squad know they must learn from mistakes.
“There were mixed emotions in the dressing room because they scored that late goal,” said Walcott.
“But we’re happy. We just needed a draw.
“We didn’t go out to get a draw, we wanted a win, but there was maybe a lapse of concentration in the first half.
“When you go in 2-0 at half-time it’s a great result but the last 10 minutes of the first half we were quite sloppy and maybe took that into the second half a little. But we got the draw and that’s the most important thing.
“It’s great to have qualified and our fans were great even when we went to 2-2. It shows what it means to them.
“The friendlies are always good to try players out and playing against these top opponents, who were in the World Cup final, is going to test us.
“In friendlies the result doesn’t matter but we want to go and win. It doesn’t matter who we play against but the manager will get bits out of players he hasn’t seen before and it’s nice for the players on the fringe to show what they can do.
“You don’t know if the starting line-up against Montenegro will play against Spain and Holland. Injuries might happen, we may us different players. So you have to keep going and be at your best.”
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