Theo Walcott to focus on Arsenal before England
Arsenal forward Theo Walcott has said that he is determined to become an England regular under Fabio Capello but adds that his full focus will first be playing well for the Emirates side.
Arsenal have had a dismal start to their campaign picking up just seven points from seven games and Walcott feels that he must concentrate on Arsenal before focusing on England’s European Championship campaign next summer. The 22 year old also adds that he will not be getting ahead of himself with regards to a starting line up for the England set up having lost out on a place in the 2010 World Cup.
“I think firstly you’ve got to play well for your club and the manager will pick players on form. That is evident, as well as ensuring you are not injured as well. As a result I’m not going to look too far ahead after what happened to me a couple of years ago.”
The Arsenal forward continued:
“Getting the balance right between youth and experience is so difficult in this modern game and the manager has managed to do that. Like I said, he plays players in form and you always get a chance to play and show what you can do and hopefully we can take that into the tournament when it comes to it.”
“It is a good carrot to keep your form going knowing what is coming at the end of the season. But firstly I’m going to be concentrating on Arsenal after the poor start we’ve had.”
Whilst Walcott’s performances for Arsenal have been ok, it would appear that his inclusion for the recent game was not the result of excellent form, but perhaps experience against the lesser equipped international sides. Walcott though is just happy that England have qualified for the tournament.
“There are mixed emotions in the dressing room afterwards because they scored their late equaliser. Montenegro going through as well is great for them. But we are happy. We just needed to get a draw. We didn’t go out to get a draw. We wanted to win the game but maybe there was a lapse of concentration in the first half.”
The Arsenal youngster added:
“If you go in 2-0 up 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 bit. But we got the point for automatic qualification and that is the most important thing.”
