I'm always having to defend Walcott when I get into discussions with other fans. A lot of England followers would prefer Lennon or A Johnson. Theo is always getting stick for 'having no footballing brain' and 'relying on pace' so I'm so happy to see him put in a peach of a cross for the opening goal last night! I'm glad that Capello see's his effectiveness, particularly away from home where defences can be stretched, but people still moan about him. I think it's really unfair because although he can be hot and cold, stats PROVE that he has more of an end product than Lennon, A Johnson and Milner who is occassionally thrown onto the wing. Him and Ashley Young seem to have a good partnership for England, so if people got behind him more then this team could do well. Anyone else feel that he is grossly under-appreciated for England? The 3rd goal against Bulgaria is an example of this: running from the half way spot, dribbling past 3 defenders and assisting Young. But people only focused on the Young/Rooney combination...
Walcott is quality, he's not had the easiest time with injuries over the last few seasons, but I think he is really starting to demonstrate his talent now and he is still only 22 !
Just like Young. He always was that good (as was shown with his performances for england) and was the star player for villa. But as soon as he signs he becomes "amazing"
Walcott is a good player but no more . Slightly better than Lennon , but with the same characteristics, all pace , average skill and marginal more end product than Lennon. Both at best are the perfect impact player. Johnson is hard to judge as he as sold his soul to the devil and does not play that much. I think Walcott would have struggled to hold a first team place in the great Arsenal sides of yesteryear. My eyes are maybe tinted but Bale is a far superior player than all three but alas not English.
i disagree with the argument that bale is amazing. he had a few good games in the CL, but apart from that, he has only been above average. against switzerland he was the best player, but he only seemed to use pace to beat players and very little skill. plus he has no right foot AT ALL.
Lennon is well behind Walcott as far as I'm concerned. I'm not saying he's not a good player, but he offers what Walcott does averagely, a little less effectively. Whereas Walcott can do what Lennon does better and offer more in a striking capacity.
Nearly every team would take Bale over Walcott . I also think most Arsenal fans if they were being honest with themselves would have Bale over Walcott. To be fair to balance the topic I would love to have RVP than Defoe upfront for Spurs.
I wouldnt have him. He can cross better but Theo is better at finishing. Everything else is about the same. Although crossing doesnt really suit us but theo's cutting in does. If were were talking about a team that loves crosses into the box Bale would probably be preferred.
I didn't realise that, that would ever be a choice, since Walcott is deployed primarily on the right, and Bale on the left....
I said PRIMARILY, and why would you have Bale on the right, when he is far superior on the left. Pointless going further than that, they play in different positions, don't know why they are being compared, since you can play them both in the same team.
I am not trying to be a clever dick , but Bale can play both wings and is considered to be far better player by the majority of the football cosmos. This is why most teams would want Bale over Walcott.
By who? BBC pundits who because of a couple of champions league performances think he is a god of a player? Bale is a good player, but to insinuate that the majority of people would prefer Bale over Walcott is absurd. Combined with the fact that they are most effective on OPPOSITE sides of the pitch, leads me to believe you don't actually understand how a team works. No one is going to buy Bale as a right sided player, as he is a FAR FAR superior player on the left hand side.. As much as no one is going to buy Walcott to play on the left hand side, the fact that he "can" play there is irrelevent. This makes this whole Bale vs Walcott, you keep banging on about, completely irrelevent. The discussion was about how Walcott has developed and the OP praising Capello for recognising that in the face of bias journalism. Not about how some left sided Spuds player is somehow comparable to a Right sided Arsenal player.
I did not realize that I was dealing with such a tatical genius. With your gift of a higher intellect everything will seem an irrelevance. Overcomplicating matters to justify a simple point is a grasp of brilliance. An inspiration to us all. The Enstein of the Arsenal Forum.
