Well said. In the 1st half he was causing so many problems for Bayern. Against teams who play a high line he is devastating. If it were not for a great save, Walcott would've been on the score sheet. Yes, at many times his finishing leaves a lot to be desired but he as well Giroud offer us two different dynamics to our game.
I'm not questioning Walcott as a player, I am questioning him as an out and out striker as his finishing is far too erratic. At times it's like he's genuinely got it into his head that he's Thierry Henry and he tries to do that sidefoot finish around the keeper that Henry was so good at. A couple of times last night it was more like a back pass! I'll remind you of this when he's gone through a barren spell and Arsenal87 has demanded that Walcott needs to be sold and Wenger sacked!
Thing is this is his first sustained run in that position. Couple of seasons ago when he didn't instantly break he had a fantastic spell and the finishing was top class. Walcott seems to take a while to get his funk on so I'm willing to give him said time and, whilst waiting, desperately hope he doesn't snap again.
His finishing has been great so far, so don't know what you're on about with 'erratic finishing', he would have scored but for a world class out of this world save by one of the best GK's in the world. 7 goals in 10 games is now what'd you would call erratic finishing. He may not have mastered Henry's technique of side foot finishes, but he is mastering the technique of scoring in his own way, and that's all that matters. Henry is Henry, Walcott is Walcott. In our last 2 big games Walcott has answered the Q of whether he can play as our striker, VS United and Munich, and indeed yes he can.
I think it's misplaced to call him a 'failed experiment' at striker when he has great stats of 7 goals in 10 games, and has made a very positive impact on the whole team from CF, linking well and creating space/chances for Sanchez, Ozil, Santi and Ramsey. I'd say a failed experiment would be someone like Balotelli, who barely scored and had a significantly negative impact on the rest of the team and style of play - only scoring 4 goals in a whole season - something Walcott has practically doubled in just 10 games! Surely the only negative you could possibly say about his current form is that he needs to keep it up for an extended period, but that would surely be an 'experiment that is showing lots of promising but needs more time' rather than a failed experiment. Unless, of course, you're trying to wum...
Was at the game last night and thought at half-time that Wenger should have brought Giroud on. Walcott still makes too many wrong decisions and his finishing last night was poor. We needed someone to hold the ball up and allow the tireless running and closing of Sanchez to get in support. But, hey what do I know, we won. My ratings: Cech - 9 Monreal - 9 Merts - 7 Kos - 9 Bellerin - 7 Coquelin - 7 Santi - 7 Özil - 8 Ramsey/AOC - 6/5 Alexis - 8 Theo - 6
Do you find it as funny as when Costa should have been sent off and moments later he gets one of your players sent off??
Here's a nice stat: 8 - No team has ever managed more shots on target vs. a Pep Guadiola side in the UCL than Arsenal mustered last night against Bayern.
Simple, we played with proper tactics, we were solid, disciplined, organised, and up for it. . As good as Bayern are, the best team in Europe, when you have calibre quality players like we do, you are always in with a shout of beating the very best if you play to the best of your abilities.
It'd be typical Arsenal to master the big games, and then suddenly become **** against the smaller teams. Most of our bad results this year have become against teams you'd expect us to do well against, Olympiakos, Zagreb, in the league you should never be losing to West Ham at home with all due respect, and then against a relegation side Chelsea. So there you go, it's against the smaller teams in which we're struggling.
Based on form (CL and Domestically) they are the best team in Europe this season. They had won all their games until playing us. Some people will claim the result an anomaly but it was better tactics and more desire. Wenger has never lost to Pep on home soil.
Not decrying the performance or result SDT, just pointing out that there are one or two other teams that would give them a game (maybe even expect to beat them). They are not the Bayern of 3/4 years ago. Edit, Didn't know that about Wengers record against Pep, very impressive
Just seen the highlights of the Zagreb vs Olympiakos match and zagreb hit the post twice before Olympiakos took the lead late on. Zagreb might get something in the next game which would be good for our chances of qualification.
