The England U21 manager Stuart Pearce only gets interviewed in the run-up to the U21 matches, and he usually manages to upset a few people when he is given the chance.

He has had an ongoing battle with Arsene Wenger ever since he picked Theo Walcott for last summers U21 Championship, and he is still carping on about it. In fact he thinks it was actually GOOD for Walcott!

“I don’t agree with Arsene at all,” Pearce said. “He didn’t play for long periods of last season, but he was fully fit at the end so he came with me to the Championships. It was a great experience and his first participation in a major international tournament, but then he hasn’t featured a great deal this year.

“When he left me he was fully fit. I can’t be responsible for him picking up an injury at Arsenal. Most of the injuries Theo has picked up have come while playing for his club so I don’t really understand where Arsene is coming from. Theo has not been over-extended in playing too many games.

“Two years ago, when Theo played every match for the Under-21s, it built his confidence up when he wasn’t playing so well for Arsenal, they benefited and I didn’t hear Wenger complain then.”

Pearce then decided to give his view on the tackle by Ryan Shawcross on Aaron Ramsey, and he is certain that it was a just a freak accident, and Shawcross was not at fault in any way.

“You have to look at it and say how much intent was there to really go and injure the opposition and I don’t think there was any,” Pearce said.

“After the game Tony Pulis mentioned the knowing of the player and what he was like as an individual.

“Having worked with Ryan as well and having watched the incident again I am pretty sire there was no intent there to really go and do damage.

“Probably you would have seen the sole of his foot making contact with his shin or even higher on the opponent’s leg and I don’t think that was the case.”

When it was pointed out that Shawcross has a history of crunching tackles to his name, Pearce said that the same thing could be said about everyone who plays football.

“If you look on the back catalogue of any player – and I am talking about any player – you can find instances of poor tackles,” he said.

“What we don’t like to see if players coming out of tackles with the ferocity of injury that Aaron has had. But I have seen worse challenges than that this season that thankfully have got away with not even a booking.

“One that springs to mind is Kevin Nolan who made a challenge on an Everton player (Victor Anichebe) which wasn’t the best. It looked far worse probably than that challenge.

“You are in the lap of the gods on a football pitch that hopefully on occasions you don’t come away with the sight that we saw with Aaron Ramsey.”

“I think the main things I that everyone is sad to see any player get that form of injury. The main thing for myself is that we wish Aaron a speedy recovery. He is a very talented player and has had a fantastic season for Arsenal and is maturing greatly.”