hopefully we except the young England and the ­ hero of the year quick recovery. as the club ­ really needs him. [ arsenal ].

Playing in actual international competitive games­ should be supported, but friendlies should be totally­ optional to both club and player, with the club getting­ a veto. Maybe limit the veto to when the friendlies are­ more than a month ahead of any real game.
This week­ has been ridiculous, and now Arsenal loses Walcott for­ half the remaining season - for what? - to amuse­ Capello and the rabid tabloid press. I just hope all my­ Liverpool players get back in one piece.

So jef9309 I hope u are not thinking that international­ friendly is played only by England....clubs like Man­ Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea have more than 1­ player playing for their beloved country...if those­ club have only one player playing for the­ international, do u think the manager will be­ complaining...."DUHH"...
Why do they need to­ have unfriendly international friendly at this time­ anyway...u not gonna have any international game­ soon...for what then...to have some get together­ natianol player event or party before xmas.....

when you have 3 or 4 players in the england squad, i­ think it may affect your team @ the next league game.­ but the question is, arsenal, liverpool, etc, how many­ of your players in the english intl squad? 1?
so­ complaining the intl friendly caused your player­ (english player) injured & affect your league­ status, loss some points is nonsense since your team­ have 20-30 players to select from, if losing a player­ will cause your team into big problem, then i think­ it's the problem of your team's management by­ only having a single good player (no other players can­ stand-in for that role?).
so better be played in the­ championship or lower league coz normally, the national­ coach wont select your player if you are in the lower­ league,agree?

That's too bad...even though I'm not an Arsenal­ fan, it's always a shame to see an exciting young­ lad get injured. With his talent and blazing speed, he­ is sure to have a great future.

Sad stuff for Walcott, I expect Wenger to give Witshere­ and Randall a run on that flank, let them gain the­ experience they seem to need. Its sad when a player­ gets injured bt it happens and the next step is trying­ to balance things out, maybe Vela might find some space­ on the left and Nasri switches to the right? Neways­ best of luck to Theo and catch yu next year! Merry Xmas

friendlys are still playin for ur country if u said u­ would love to play for club and countrys friendlys have­ to be counted cause most of the time all friendlys add­ up to 50 60% of international games for 1 year

If iwas a Gerrard or a Lampard etc.. my personal aim­ would be to win all i can with club and country. If i­ got injured because i played a meaningless friendly­ that prevented me from fufilling my personal ambition­ i'd be gutted. Its about the players themselves and­ what they think is important and a friendly­ international is NOT important. Fact.

slowly wenger looses whatever is in his arsenal

amazing how english supporters are so quick to play­ down friendlies when they have some of the best names­ in football in their starting 11, yet these same­ players wander around a pitch like they dont even know­ each other or want to play together,practise makes­ perfect and although walcotts injury was a freak­ accident i think england should be putting out their­ strongest side every game and making the team­ better.Arsene seems to suffer from amnesia too adams­ and keown kicked lumps out of other teams for years and­ only because of his stupid buys he has now ended up­ with a team of women who cant take a tackle!!! shut up­ whinging and get on with the season everyone else is!!!

I imagine that the answer to your question Jason B (60)­ is that both of Liverpool's and Chelsea's­ players (Gerrard and Terry) managed practically whole­ matches between them on the Saturday (Gerrard even­ scoring in the final minutes) before suddenly being­ declared to be injured! Meanwhile Man Utd's players­ Rooney and Ferdinand weren't even named on the subs­ bench for Saturday's game, which suggests definite­ injuries. Whilst I'm in no way suggesting that­ Gerrard and Terry aren't injured, I can understand­ Capello's wish to have his medical team check them­ out for himself.

I feel sorry for the lad and dare i say it Arsenal­ followers...this kid is one of the best young domestic­ players I have seen in recent years and I hope this­ injury mends fully and does not become a long term­ ongoing problem. Brian Robson was plaqued with his and­ more recent young Steve Taylor another fantastic young­ prospect at Newcastle struggled for months resulting in­ ops and a long lay off

I'm a Liverpool supporter but I totally agree with­ Wenger's worries, and his point about this week of­ internationals being totally meaningless, with no help­ at all for Country games four months away, and only­ downside risk for Club league hopes. Capello the FA and­ their band of fools try to play the patriotism card to­ manipulate us, but it is just total sh**.

i'm an arsenal supporter and i'm really pissed­ off about this, not what we need at this point with all­ our struggles... but my question is this, why did­ injured liverpool and chelsea players have to report­ for their fitness to be examined when man utd's­ didn't??? what is the agenda there? "we­ don't believe you rafa or big phil, but you always­ tell the truth alex"! @#$%! the english fa needs­ to start treating everyone equal and that includes­ their own hq at old trafford!!!

Well said Davidman! Can we also remember most injurys­ happen in training anyway whether it's for club or­ country!!!

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but didn't a Stoke­ player get injured recently by tripping over his dog? I­ didn't see Tony Pulis going mental and banning all­ domestic pets plus general walking around in the home.­ And forfksake, everyone complains that England quite­ often play as if they have never played together, but­ then these same people complain about freindlies - make­ your minds up!!

this is just too mbad for Arsenal. They are losing too­ many players to injuries along with a poor run of form.­ The FA should do something to save the gunners.

I can't believe all of these sad comments,by those­ relishing the fact that he has been injured.Not long­ ago you were exstatic about his demolition of­ Croatia.You are all very sad people,get a life!! And­ this is from a Scottish football supporter.