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THEO SET TO ANSWER WADDLE

Walcott - backed by Malley.

There is never a shortage of opinions when England play football.

But not many miss the mark quite as spectacularly as those of former England winger Chris Waddle who this week called for Theo Walcott, the hat-trick star against Croatia, to be dropped for England's World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan at Wembley on Saturday.

In Waddle's view England manager Fabio Capello should pick Manchester City's Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right instead.

Waddle's reasoning? "Despite his hat-trick, Walcott began the match very poorly in Croatia," said the former England winger. "He couldn't control the ball, he looked very edgy and nervous."

Despite his hat-trick? That is like watching Lewis Hamilton win a Grand Prix and then criticising him for a poor warm-up lap.

The truth is there are dozens of reasons why Walcott should be the first name on Capello's team sheet, but let's concentrate on three.

Number one is pace, the scourge of all defenders and something Walcott possesses in more abundance than perhaps any player who has ever pulled on the shirt with Three Lions.

Number two is the way in which Walcott's ability to make space and provide options in Zagreb helped Wayne Rooney to perform for the first time in four years like the international orchestrator all England hoped he could be.

Number three, and most importantly, is the fact that Walcott's performance against Croatia lifted the mood of the nation. It heralded a potential new era in which England fans could once again be proud of their national team.

It is why under the Wembley arch Walcott will be greeted as English football's talisman, a new flame to burn off the boos and the malevolence which have greeted too many England teams at the home of football in recent times.

If you are sceptical listen to the roar when his name is read out. Listen to the murmur of anticipation when the ball reaches his feet.

That is not meant to pile pressure on a 19-year-old who is still learning his trade at the highest level.

It is rather to recognise a talent who allows Capello to issue his command of 'play every game as if it is your last' and to send out a team in search of goals with the intent of exciting the fans.

No-one is saying Walcott is the finished article. His performances for Arsenal still carry the callow inconsistencies of youth, one game brilliant, the next no more than average.

His final ball still requires composure. Against Kazakhstan and probably Belarus on Wednesday too, England will come up against sides desperate to deny them space, whose ambition stretches no further than the halfway line.

The lack of creativity and imagination of recent England sides has been exposed in such circumstances.

It calls for cuteness and Waddle's observations were perhaps rooted in the fact Walcott is not a dribbler who can beat a marker with trickery as he could in his pomp.

But to discard the menace of Walcott would be to compromise Capello's entire message of 'No Fear.' It would rip up his template of fast, fluent, attacking football.

Of course, there are other examinations to be endured at Wembley.

All eyes will be on Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard to see if Capello can become the first international manager to coax the unfulfilled talent from the best English midfielders of their generation.

A question mark hangs over the form of goalkeeper David James and Rio Ferdinand assumes additional defensive responsibility in the absence of the injured John Terry.

Not that the defence should be troubled. If England really have rediscovered their confidence, as the Croatia victory suggested, this is a qualifier which should be routinely negotiated.

And one in which Walcott should prove Waddle was talking twaddle.