What else do you want him to do? all this talk of him beating the man and getting the ball in, so he does it! It's not his fault nobody either can keep up with him to get into the box, or just don't bother (hence him pulling it back alot instead of crossing) and you try pick out 1 man in the middle of 5 or 6 others + the keeper Then try doing that at like 340987 mph that theo runs! you can't expect anyone to get the ball perfect onto someones head 10 times outta 10! and hes a striker, so its his job to score the goals hes just playing out of position!
Walcott - when he has to show guile, nous and outskill his oppoents he is sadly lacking. He has so many opportunities in games to make something happen but he invariably makes the wrong decision. The first half against Spurs was littered with examples of the worst aspects of his play, and how it really, really hurts the team. He seems to be at his most effective when through on goal with a defender bearing donw on him, as the the presence of the defender and teh threat of the tackle helps him make his mind up a to when to strike. When he is clean though on goal, or slight off the optimal angle he seems to fall to pieces. Times when we have a semi-break, like when Rosicky had teh ball on the right in 2nd half and had Walcott to his right and one defender ahead, Rosicky needed Theo to burst forward so he could play it into the space but Walcott held back and held back and nothing came of it. It's thoses kinds of moments that give me concern about his play. I like the lad, and think maybe a 4-4-2 would suit him better, but even with this, his deficiencies would still be exposed.I don't know if there is any more room for improvement. Shooting, crossing, taking corners are all aspects of his games that he could improve with extra practice. Even learning to shiled the ball, and hold it up waiting for support would improve his game. I'm not sure what could be done though to improve his general game craft and nous. Wenger obviously thinks he can improve. We shall see.
Pretty much this. I just think a proper winger would benefit the team a hell of a lot more. One good second half performance doesn't make up for all the ****e ones.
We all know he is not a winger so why does Wenger persist with him in that role ? It wouldn't take much to play him as a forward - on the right ! Walcott coming deep is pointless because he is useless when he does, he needs to be on the shoulder of the last man and then bearing in on goal for the REAL Walcott to be seen. You can't cross the ball if nobody is there to receive it, whats the point of doing that ? Simply double back on yourself and wait for support to arrive. His crosses don't even go close to the lone striker so it really is pointless him crossing balls - they never reach an Arsenal player. There is absolutely no point having half a player and that is what Walcott is when he plays as a winger. Wenger should play him as a striker or don't play him at all. He did the same with Eboue and ruined his career .. after making him thrive.
As I've said in other posts. You can't rate Walcott solely on what he does with the ball. And despite fans wanting him to convert more of his chances, he still manages to assist and score a lot. It really depends on what standard you judge him against and you have to ask, is he better than Torres? Is he better than Drogba this year? Is he better than Suarez? Because he has a far, far, better record than those guys even if you don't take into account the intangibles. Or are you just looking at every single mistake he makes and judging him against perfection. Would you prefer if he didn't run at 90 miles an hour and get open, and make it difficult to control the ball, but concentrate on being safe and playing it sideways every time?
Toledo we can't afford to have so many inconsistent players playing. He should be doing much better than he is considering the positions he gets himself in. Nobody can justify 1 good game then 5 bad games, the stats tell a lie.
It has nothing to do with comparing him to others. Why do we play him? Is he a winger, or is he a forward? What strengths does he have? What point is there in trying to answer ' is he better than Torres, Drogba- Messi !!!' Decide what role we want and choose a player that can do it. Playing someone out of position because we paid a lot of money and he doesn't fit is daft.
I hear you. But you are taking a positive, "...the positions he gets himself in", and turning it into a negative. The effect of him getting into theose good positions, is to pull the full back deeper and wider and to create space for everyone. Even though he misses the chance, it is still is a positive. Even though you say he is inconsistent, he is consistently a threat and he has to be respected. I wonder how much of the inconsistency you see is due to how closely teams mark him. For example, against Liverpool, after his performance against Spurs, we saw little of Enrique going forward, and when Enrique got it wrong and tracked Walcott too closely inside, Sagna was left in acres of space to cross for the first goal.
From reading this and various other walcott threads i have to say that.. Half the problem is that most of the posters on this board dont understand our system at all. WE DONT PLAY A 442 - Theo plays a COMPLETELY different role to what Ljungeberg/pires used to at Arsenal. He's not a winger in the traditional sense. He is a FORWARD.
then get him to realise when he runs along the touchline, and if lucky manages to kick the ball in an intended cross, to try to get it near one of our players.
I'm not sure what point you are trying to make here. Are you saying that you expect him to score more goals because he is labelled on the team sheet as a FORWARD? The main difference is that he has to provide far more of the width than Pires and Ljugeberg, because Henry/Bergkamp pulled wide more than RVP can and more than our attacking midfielder can. He is probably going to score less because of that, rather than more just because he is labelled as a forward. In a 4-4-2 one of the strikers usually pulls wide to give width going forward.
First goal he definitely got lucky after a very poor first touch - great finish tho! The competition for places on the wing will be fantastic next season with Gervinho, Theo, Oxo, & Ryo all looking for a starting place. Hopefully it'll mean everyone trains super hard to make sure they're in the team Great to have a bit of strength in depth for once.
My point is that in this role his main job is to get forward, run at goal and interchange with the other forwards. Its got nothing to do with labelling its that his role is completely different to that of a 'winger' in a 4-4-2 and therefore much of the critisicm thrown at him is often just bull****. The press (and to some extent the fans) are still stuck in the past in this country. Tactics have changed as have formations and roles within them. He gets critised for not firing in crosses?? and not hugging the touchline enough?.. the people who say those things have NO IDEA what they are talking about. In Spain people dont say the same for pedro/sanchez at Barcelona.
I really don't see what the argument is here. On one hand some people are saying he is not a winger, ok, so why does he play like a winger, dropping deep readying himself to beat the full back ? But on the other hand sometimes he plays like an inside forward ... to devastating effect. So ,what is it ? Is he being told to play like a winger then instructed later in the game to play like a forward ? Or is he picking and choosing how he plays ? The criticism of Walcott will continue until he plays in his best position because he will continue to frustrate. The biggest difference I see between inside forwards and wingers is .. wingers are expected to get back and defend, inside forwards aren't. What would you guys say the following were: Waddle, Figo, Adam Johnson, SWP, Ginola, Merson and Overmars ?
That isn't really it. Defensively, even when you play 4-2-3-1 you can play the zonal 2 banks of 4 coming back. People don't usually because your nippy little attacking wingers aren't that good in the front row, so to speak, and they can also have one heck of a time getting back to set up the zone. Man Utd tried to do this against Spurs and it was a struggle. The 4-2-3-1 started on the continent where they press the ball towards the middle more than we do in England. The idea was to defensively push the ball into the bottleneck between the 2 defensive midfielders. If you watch Milan they do this excellently. In the first game, we constantly ran the ball ino the bottleneck down the middle, and had to back out. I think we try to do the same, (with a few variations - sometimes you see a CB stepping up to be the second DM), which is why we always look stretched if the ball gets wide against us. It isn't meant to make it out there. So the full backs and the wingers should man mark the opposition FB and winger to make sure that they can't get the ball, as opposed to the 2 banks of 4 where they are setting up a zone. Unfortunately, this system means that sometimes our wingers get a man to man assignment against a full-back that murders them. Evra seems to do a number on Walcott every bloody year. I say, "I think" this is what we are trying to do, because sometimes (it seems to me) our defence gets a bit disorganized, and they may also be playing more complex systems, that I am not familiar with, or don't recognize. I'm just trying to put the "simple" version down, because you asked. This is the basic theory, usually in the 4-2-3-1 its more of a man to man defence (to put it in US terms).
'sometimes (it seems to me) our defence gets a bit disorganized, ' You are one smart cookie noticing that.
