Theo Walcott

Hello Saints fans

Got much respect for your great club and I very much hope you get back into the top division where you belong.

Anyway Id like to ask about Theo Walcott - Do you feel he has progressed as you would have expected from when he was at Southampton?

 

no, he left a season or two too soon

 

Walcott looked amazing at Southampton, and was clearly too good for what was a very indifferent team. He didn't have a lot of options, I didn't think. Arsenal could have loaned him out to a strong Championship side to develop him. It is difficult to comment on how another club treats a player, but that he has never quite achieved his massive potential is self evident.

A 16/17 year old coming through the ranks now would be mad to go off to Arsenal and not stay and see out the adventure with Saints - sorry Alex, did you resemble that remark?!

 

Nope, he had massive potential and real promise - not lived up to it in the end.

He left too early, I didn't play enough in his first few seasons - I think Wenger realised that mistake which is why we are seeing more of Chamberlain than we did of Walcott .

 

Walcott played as a forward for us utilising his pace. He has never really had the crossing ability or vision to be a winger which is why we were all surprised he ended up playing there. Oxlade-Chamberlain does have the ability and vision to play wide or central midfield but whether Wenger considers him a first team player is uncertain after a great performance in the champions league he was omitted from the derby squad all together.

 

It's now the same with Chamberlain. He has left to early and will not get a proper look in in the starting 11 for a few years...

 

He's no better footballer now than when he left Saints, despite supposedly being with better players and coaches.

It's mostly about confidence, it must destroy Walcott to be constantly hauled off after 70 minutes, regardless of if he's playing great or poorly. He needs a full run of 90 minute outings in the same position to ever fully improve as a player and reach his potential.

It's true that he's not a natural footballer, he came into the game late as a kid and you can see the difference between him and Chamberlain in that regard. Alex already makes better runs and better decisions compared to Theo, probably because it's just in his blood.

I don't doubt that Chamberlain will also be mucked around by Wenger. He's not "protecting" him by slowly introducing him, I think he's holding these players back. Which is mad when he has thrown 17 year olds like the mush from Charlton into the starting line-up in a badly organised defence.

 

He could of been better if had played as a striker for arsenal like he did us

 

I must say Theo has tremendous pace but sadly his first touch, technique, vision, awareness and general know-how of playing the game is poor

 

The ONLY way to learn the game is to play it; you make mistakes and you learn from them. Sitting in the stands or on the bench doesn't teach you how to play. If it did, I'd be a footballing genius......

..... hang on a minute!

 

he hasnt progressed at all.

 

He's still Premiership quality, but I agree with those above who believe his progress has been hampered by the way he was phased in and out of the Arsenal team. I don't think his early England debacle helped him either. There is no doubt he isn't at the level Arsenal thought he would be at by this stage when they invested a fairly sizeable sum of money for him, and who is to blame for this I don't know. I like to see him do well for Arsenal when he is given the chance.

 

When Theo went to Arsenal he was to be the new Henry, but wasn't played often enough to blend in, Arsenal were too cautious in my opinion, they should have banked on his enthusiasm, but too many fruitless visits to the bench took the edge off him and then injury checked his progress, a good player doesn't go bad overnight and he will need to be nurtured back to his real form, maybe elsewhere on loan.

 

I always thought Bale and Chamberlain had better potential to them than Theo......and it seems to be being borne out now.

 

Talking of Arsenal; is anybody else finding it a little amusing that Arsenal are technically only 5 places ahead of the Saints in the English football league pyramid, because I am!

 

Good spot Greg !

 

I don't necessarily agree that he hasn't progressed at all, i mean he has scored in Finals and a hattrick against Croatia, so he can't have completely stagnated since he left us.

I do agree, however, that he hasn't progressed as much as he could have. Whether this is down to him never actually having a great deal of potential, or that he was messed about by Wenger, I do not know. For what it's worth, I think It's a mixture of the two. He lacks a good decision-making brain when on the ball, and his finishing is inconsistent at best. Not to mention his sometimes woeful crossing ability.

 

I wouldn't set much stall against his hat-trick against Croatia. It was slightly freakish, much the way in which Emile Heskey looked "the complete centre forward" when England beat Germany 5-1. I think Theo actually miss hit one of his goals, but luck was on his side that day.

 

Don't give a flying hootananny about Arsenal or their players. Get relegated for all I care. Cheers.

 

I agree with most of the above - I thought he was dreadful on Sunday against Spurs. He looked lost, didn't look for space, try runs in behind the defenders or anything. Not sure why Wenger keeps picking him - he has not come on under the care of Wenger, if anything he has gone backwards (apart from his bank balance)
Let hop AOC doesn't go the same way as he has more to offer than TW at his age but will he cope with a disintergrating team like it appears from the outside looking in
Agree with earlier comments that the big clubs take these kids away from the lower leagues far too young, they need game time and experience not sitting in the stands or on the bench