I dont like to compare wages with players from other clubs because how they waste their money is their business. But within Arsenal, the issue with his wages is that he is almost on the same amount as Ozil and Alexis (correct me if I am wrong here). If we had another player at their level instead of Walcott this season, how much further would Arsenal have gone. I like Walcott and would love for him to prove everyone wrong, but I dont see it happening.
I guess Theo will continue to polarise opinions amongst the Arsenal Faithful. As you would have guessed, I am not convinced he is as bad as some of the posters on here reckon he is. On last season's showing, he did not cover himself with glory. However, I seem to recall the clamour for him to sign a new contract a few seasons ago. Most Arsenal fans were all clamouring for him to sign an extension, and all of a sudden, he has become an average player? I agree Rooney has better return for United in the past 10 years, however just disagree Theo has been shocking, last season yes. You really cannot compare Theo and Giroud. Like I said, Wenger seems to favour Giroud and he will cut him some slack no matter how bad he plays. Furthermore, the way we play is suited to Giroud than Walcott.
I don't believe neither of those players played to their potentials last season. I know the stats may show Ozil provided so many assists, however, rarely does he dictate or control games. He goes missing in big games as well. Alexis looked really busy in games and was sometimes guilty of trying too hard. I just hope Walcott does not become a scape goat for our Malaise. We can all agree is not a striker, however, I feel he needs to concentrate on what he does best, and if we got a more mobile striker, who knows?
Fair enough, everyone is entitled to their opinion and of course one thing that unites all Arsenal fans is their ability to have opposing views on practically everything with each other! ;p I remember the whole 'Sign Da Thing' campaign with Theo, we were hoping that he'd kick on and go from strength to strength after that, instead he's been injured, come back, signed a new contract, gotten injured, come back and been bang average since. His form and development have stagnated. At the same time, from being one of our most important players, and us not wanting to lose yet another big player after RVP, Sagna, Nasri et al, we have since signed Sanchez, Cech and Ozil and Walcott's importance to the team has diminished to such an extent that he couldn't even get on the bench for some games at the end of last season. It's not so much Arsenal fans have suddenly forgotten what a great player he is, it's more his form has been so average for so long that he can't be talked about as a great player, at least not unless he actually shows it, consistently, on the pitch. I can understand why Wenger prefers Giroud, he scores more, he creates more, he's more consistent, he has a much higher work rate, is better defensively and fits with our game plan better. He's also got a better goals to game ratio. And that's without Giroud being anywhere near world class!
Where is he going to play? He plays in an area where we are already congested, unless of course he can play upfront.
I disagree. The intention was to figure out why Theo did not make the cut. I thought he had that much about him to make the 23 man squad. Obviously judging from the postings, many on here feel he does not merit a place in the Arsenal squad let alone the England set up. Whether, these opinion is reflective of the majority, we will see in due course. I may not have gotten the response I was after, (not surprised, our fans unlike yours are a bunch of miserable gits ), the glass is always half empty with our lot!
I'm pretty sure I read that Ozil created more chances last season than any player in any single premier league season ever. Most definitely created more chances and got more assists than any other player and set the record for assists in consecutive games. I think any thought that Ozil didn't perform is a bit far fetched. Had others performed to the level he did we would of won the league. Sanchez I agree was below par for sections of the season. But Ozil showed he has the ability to tear up the premier league. I believe he also has the best games to assists ratio since joining Arsenal of any player in premier league history. He is there to create and he does it better than any other player. There are probably some other random stats out there that I haven't seen as well lol As for him going missing in big games; against the top five teams in the league (top four teams other than us) he got 9 goals or assists in 7 games, registering 2 assists against Leicester, 2 assists against City (in the one game against them he played) 1 assist against Spurs and 2 goals and 2 assists against Utd. He also scored against Bayern in the Champions League.
I think he should have gone with England, we don't have many proper wing or wing forward options in the England team and Walcotts pace and runs in behind can be an asset to any team on the counter. With several better teams than us in the competition I feel we would have had good opportunities to utilise Walcotts best attributes. I also think Walcott tends to play well for England. For Arsenal I think he had a disappointing season but has in the past proven himself a very useful player for us, I'm happy to have him in the squad as one of our Home Grown quota but with the quality we are bringing in he will only get opportunities when he is working hard in training and on form, which is how it should be.
Finally, a voice of reason! As I mentioned, club form is just that, club form. I reckon, he could have done a job for England.
Slightly arrogant to call it a voice of reason just because he shares your opinion. More just someone who shares your opinion? Regarding England squads and Walcott... Hodgson is entirely useless and his soundbites about squad selection are illogical and inane.
My voice of reason blab was tongue in cheek, my friend. I don't share your sentiments re:walcott, however do respect your opinion.
The thing for me about Walcott is consistency, or lack of it. On his day he can be unplayable, but how often have we seen that ? Too many times Walcott is just a passenger and doesn't do enough to force his way into games. I'd love him to come good and give us another 15/20+ goals season, but he's been with us for a decade now and too many seasons are just kind of about average, when we need him to be world class.
You've hit it on the head. There is no question that his pace and movement into channels can be quite destructive when he's on form. But this season was hugely disappointing because it was his best chance to prove himself, especially when we had a real chance in the league at one point. But he failed and it could be his last chance if Wenger gets in another wide player.
The fact that Walcott a player who should now be at the peak of his career, was dropped in favour of a kid like Iwobi tells you all you need to know about Wenger thinks about Walcott, and this is a guy that deserved a call up for England? Give me a ****ing break. The only reason he was even in wth a shout of making that England squad is because the talent in this country is utterly awful compared to other major international teams, when you see the type of players that are getting left out from other teams, it really is depressing that we are talking about Walcott missing out as if it's some major mistake. Also apart from scoring that hat trick against Croatia, what the hell has Walcott ever done in an England shirt? He has no history of performing for England and was utterly awful for Arsenal last season, hence he never got picked.
