Is it Hleby ? I don't think so. I'm not asking Walcott to launch into a diatribe against Shawcross but to parrot the 'he's got a heart of gold and is something of a victim in all this' line, doesn't just let Shawcross of the hook. It endorses the Hanson, Parker, Macari, Collymore reaction which I find even more reprehensible than Shawcross's tackle.
Giving him the benefit of the doubt - he didn't intend it. The same cannot be said of the agenda offered by his apologists. Walcott - or any Arsenal player - should not line up alongside them.
Like Shawcross, Walcott has 'previous'.
He showed wanton disrespect to Wenger and the Club when he signed his multi million pound contract at the start of the season and then stated baldly, that his big ambition was next years World Cup. And this latest outburst is a step too far. At least for me and possibly Arseblogger too.
I fully admit, I don't like him as a player, I think he's overhyped and a waste of space. He costs us a fortune. He hardly ever plays and if that wasn't bad enough,
he shows little sign of being an Arsenal man.
So he's got an awful lot of ground to make up in my eyes if he's ever going to redeem himself. We are stuck with him because Wenger would have to eat a lot of humble pie to turf him out. But that's Wenger's fault and doesn't make it right for the Club in the meantime.