Journalist Alex Crook has faulted Southampton manager Ralph Hassenhuttl for leaving experienced winger Theo Walcott out of his starting XI for the FA Cup semi-final clash with Leicester City on Sunday night.
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Walcott came off the substitutes bench in the last 20 minutes of the FA Cup semi-final clash with the Foxes at Wembley Stadium but he could not prevent his team from losing 1-0 to the Europa League campaigners. The English international came on for Moussa Djenepo on 73 minutes. By the time of his entrance, the Saints had fallen behind to a strike from in-form Leicester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho.
Southampton missed out on a good opportunity to secure a place in the FA Cup final as they were unable to overcome the setback of conceding the aforementioned Iheanacho goal. To this effect, Leicester City booked their place in the FA Cup final with Chelsea at the Wembley Stadium on May 15. On their part, Chelsea sealed their place in the final by beating Manchester City 1-0 courtesy the strike from Hakim Ziyech on 55 minutes.
Theo Walcott is on loan at Southampton from Everton for the whole of this season and reports claimed that the Saints would make his move permanent in the summer. He came through the ranks at Southampton before playing for the first team. Walcott thereafter moved to Arsenal as a teenager in January 2006. He went on to play for Everton after spending over a decade in North London.
The Southampton winger spent 12 years at Arsenal before moving to Everton at the start of 2018. He had to leave Everton to return to Southampton on loan last summer. Walcott has scored two goals and provided three assists in 19 league games for Southampton this season.