Tottenham legend Chris Waddle has launched an amazing attack on Arsenal winger Theo Walcott. Waddle, who played in a World Cup semifinal for England and a European Cup final with Olympique Marseille, says Walcott "doesn't understand the game".

"People keep saying he's young but Wayne Rooney understood the game at 16, 17," Waddle said. "I've never seen any difference in Theo Walcott since he was at Southampton and broke into the team at a very young age. I've never seen him develop. He just doesn't understand the game for me - where to be running, when to run inside a full-back, (when to) just play a one-two."

Waddle has serious concerns about Walcott's development, and the 49-year-old former England winger, who won 62 caps and helped Bobby Robson's team reach the 1990 World Cup semi-finals, criticised the young Gunner's knowledge of how to fill a wide role.

Speaking on BBC Radio Five Live, Waddle said: "It's all off the cuff.

"The ball comes to him and if he gets a good first touch he might be on his way if he shows pace. But he has a plan in his mind before the ball comes to him.

"He's not looking as if to think, 'This is where I want to be, this is where I want to go, and this is what I'm going to do'. It just seems to be all off the cuff.

"People keep saying to me, 'Oh he's young and he'll learn'.

"I keep thinking, 'Fabregas has learnt and he's young, Rooney has learnt... they all read the game so well'. I just don't think he's got a football brain and he's going to have problems."