London: England captain Rio Ferdinand said the dropping of Theo Walcott from the World Cup side shows that no player is safe with Fabio Capello around.
Ferdinand pointed out that the lack of a comfort zone will help drive the players as they try to win the World Cup in South Africa.
"No one's safe in this squad, as the manager has shown by leaving Theo out. The manager isn't scared to leave out people with big reputations if he feels they won't have a positive impact on the squad. He doesn't care about reputations. It wouldn't have been a surprise if anyone had been left out of the squad, other than Wayne Rooney," The Guardian quoted Ferdinand as saying.
"Reputations may have got in the way in the past, but it is difficult being the England manager. You have to be experienced and a strong character to deal with the pressure, and he (Capello) deals with everything in the right way.
"It's impossible to second-guess the manager, to know what he is thinking. There's no room for complacency, perhaps that's a better way of putting it. You can't say to yourself, 'If I have two or three bad games, I'm still going to play,' which was the attitude of some in the past."
Ferdinand also said that Walcott's omission reminded him of one of his lowest moments, when Kevin Keegan dropped him from England's Euro 2000 squad.
"It was the worst feeling in the world. But I looked at every aspect of myself and my career and I told myself I had to step up. I'm sure Theo will go away and work hard to hit the manager back between the eyes and make sure he's part of the next squad," he said.
Ferdinand feels that if the team plays to its potential then they will be a hard team to play against.
"We want teams not to want to draw us. If you can get that kind of level in your play, even before you go out on to the pitch, you're in a stronger position. At past tournaments, teams weren't too bothered about getting us but hopefully, when this tournament starts and we play a couple of games, teams will change that opinion," he said.
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