Honestly, he was given enough chances. The fact that he's blown it so many times, especially before one of our most important games in years, is enough reason to not include him. I would rather have 100 Stracqs, players who are dedicated, show up early to training, and give 100% effort, and play for the shirt, than players like Drenthe in the team.
The Red ****e can have him. He fits in perfectly with the rest of them anyways.
As for whether he could have made a difference on Saturday, I don't think anybody could 100% say that he would have. Has he pulled out some miraculous goals for team and created chances out of nothing? Yes. But what about all those games where he went missing, or was just ineffectual for the majority of the match. What about those games where he made rash tackling decisions, and gave away cheap free kicks in crucial areas? If I can recall, he gave away a goal because of a stupid challenge like that against QPR.
Either way, he's done, the semi-final is done. Let's move on.