FABIO Capello has stressed the need for new England hero Theo Walcott to "keep his feet on the ground" after his stunning hat-trick against Croatia in the crucial World Cup qualifier on Wednesday night.
Walcott has always been regarded as one of the nation's brightest young talents ever since he was controversially named in Sven-Göran Eriksson's squad for the 2006 World Cup at the tender age of 17.
But the hullabaloo that surrounded the former So
uthampton player just over two years ago will be nothing compared to the present media circus around the Arsenal player after his treble in Zagreb during England's 4-1 win.
Walcott will now be catapulted into the limelight after becoming the first player to score a hat-trick for England in a competitive match since Michael Owen in the 5-1 triumph over Germany in Munich seven years ago.
It would be easy for any teenager who is less than level-headed to be carried away with events as Walcott's treble put England in prime position already to qualify for the 2010 finals in South Africa.
But Capello will be grateful Walcott will be returning to club manager Arsene Wenger, who the Italian is sure will keep him focused solely on improving his game. Capello said: "I know Walcott will get a lot of publicity. I know that. It will be a problem for Arsenal, not for me. Theo is young with a big future but you have to help him.
"At this moment all the newspapers and the TV programmes will speak about Theo. He has to stay with his feet on the ground. This is very important."
Capello paid Walcott a glowing testament in comparing him with Spanish star Raul – another youngster he worked with who displayed immense promise from a young age.
But that was at club level during his first spell in charge of Real Madrid and he accepts it is a different scenario when the player makes such an impact so early in his career at club level.
He said: "When you decide to put one such player in the national team, it is sometimes a risk for the player, not for the manager. This time it was a good end product.
"I decided to put Theo into the first XI because I saw the game against Andorra at the weekend and how well he did – and also in training during the past nine or ten days.
"It is very dangerous for defenders against Walcott when he is playing like that but, as I have said before, he will not play the same level in all of the games.
"Walcott is very young. When he plays like he performed in Croatia, it is fantastic. But it is very important when he does not play at the same level that we support him."
Walcott's excellent display means David Beckham is unlikely to make many more starts for his country after Capello's faith in the youngster was amply justified.
Beckham will remain a valuable member of the squad but it was as if the baton was being passed from one era to the next when the two embraced after the Los Angeles Galaxy star came on as a late substitute for Walcott.
The inevitable over-reaction to a good England performance will suggest a place at the 2010 finals is all but guaranteed, but Capello knows it would be foolish to fall into such traps.
He said: "I just said to the players, 'It is the second game in the group. It is a long way to South Africa'. We basically have to play every game like we performed in Croatia – with confidence, being strong, compact, performing like a team.
"On Wednesday I saw one team all pulling for each other. You can lose, you can win but we had one team out there. This is very important, the spirit of the team.
"Yes, the result was better than I expected, but I did have a lot of confidence in the players because we worked very well in the ten days we were together."
Meanwhile, former England winger John Barnes believes Walcott's performance in Zagreb shows it is time for Capello to call time on the Beckham era.
And with Shaun Wright-Phillips showing early promise following his return to Manchester City and David Bentley a rising star with Tottenham, Barnes believes it is time for England to dispense with the former Manchester United player once and for all.
"If you look at what David Bentley's done, and Shaun Wright-Phillips is coming back into form, the right-hand side looks very good," said Barnes.
"David (Beckham], from the point of view of a dead-ball specialist, is fine, but if you look at the last ten years, that hasn't worked, so why's it going to work now? It was a brave move (selecting Walcott], but we do have to look for other things. It gives us an extra dimension because we've got lots of pace, and defenders hate pace, so it's fantastic. Shaun Wright-Phillips is someone who can do that as well. So the future looks good."
Barnes has also called for calm in the handling of Walcott. After first hitting the headlines when he was selected by Eriksson for the World Cup in Germany – a tournament in which he did not feature – the teenager has made slow progress. Barnes attributes this to too much pressure being heaped on him too early in his burgeoning career.
"He's a great player, but let's not get carried away and put too much pressure on him," Barnes said. "The last time we did this, when he got selected for the World Cup, his career halted for 18 months to two years. Let's allow him to develop, he's developing nicely and is a good player, but let's not get carried away and do what we did after the World Cup."
The full article contains 1002 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
