Arsenal’s young international Theo Walcott saw his rating take a beating after a less-than-convincing performance with England against Germany (1:1) in the European U-21 Championship in Sweden: he spend less than half an hour on the pitch, having come in as a substitute, and was unable to score. He lost 11 rating points and has surrendered his second spot in the FTBL rating of English forwards.
With 100.99 points over all, Walcott now ranks third behind leader Wayne Rooney of Manchester United (192.58 points) and Tottenham Hotspur’s Jermain Defoe (105.63 points).
But Walcott is sure to face stiff competition for the 3rd spot from Portsmouth’s Peter Crouch, who trails by a single point, and Aston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor, who is 2 rating points behind but has been sidelined by injury.
Walcott might benefit from the fact that the FTBL upgrades the European U-21 Championship at its playoff stage to Category 3 as compared to the group stage, which we rank Category 2. Walcott’s plank to beat in the next game will amount to 11.10 rating points.
© FTBL