Dont you find it a bit strange that Walcott doesnt get many chances? He doesnt have a long time left on his contract. Top goal scorer last year.
It's funny I was thinking of making a thread on Walcott.... I think his injury hasn't really helped him out, before he got injured, he was arguably our best player on form, but in a sense with the way we play currently, I think the train might have passed him by unless he can improve his game. Some might find that strange because his goal scoring form is quite good, but at the end of the day, as a winger-midfielder to our team, he needs to be offering more, because let's face it, when he's not scoring and making those blistering runs, he doesn't really offer much to games and is quite anonymous and barely touches the ball, and at the moment with the way we play and how we have to play, and where we want to go, you're going to need far more than what Walcott is offering. Sure against mid table teams sometimes it's not that a big of a problem to start him, but you can see Wenger's reluctant to start him in important games recently, and I think it has to do because he feels our midfield would be weaker if Walcott was in it. Sanchez is arguably better than Walcott so there's no debate there, but then you look at OXO, the only thing Walcott currently has over OXO is the finishing, but overall you've got to say OXO is the better all round player, he's a better dribbler, he's better at tracking back-defending, better being part of the overall play and movement of our team.....As I said, Walcott simply offers runs, and if he can't do that, what else does he offer? He's not renowned for his good ball retention of passing, you can say he's pretty one dimensional, but OXO on the other hand who may not have as good a finishing, offers more in the game, as I said you can usually see he's part of our teams passing-movement play. And that's why someone like Ozil who isn't even a winger will always be preferred to Walcott by Wenger, because Ozil while not being a classical winger, will offer other things to our game, he will come inside, make plays, keep ball retention, and again he's part of our overall team movement etc....Walcott doesn't offer that, even when he comes inside, he doesn't create or make things happen like an Ozil can, as I said Walcott for many games is simply anonymous other than maybe making 1 or 2 runs during a game, and he can grab the goals indeed, but you know you just need more than that. For a striker it's not really a problem to be anonymous for most of the game and get a few touches and then score, but when you're a winger and part of the midfield, I don't think you can cut it week in week out if that's all you offer, compared to other players who offer a more all round game.
Walcott has also not gotten over the injury from a mental point of view, he completey bottled a 50-50 against Monaco, and is clearly still a bit scared and not playing freely. You can argue that he simply just needs game time to get over it, but every fixture for us right now is huge and we can't risk playing a player who is still finding his way back after a serious injury, especially when you consider the options we have. Also as Arsenal87 pointed out, Walcott's entire play consists of him making a run from out to in, and that's all he does at the moment. It does feel like Walcott's time with us is coming to an end, but you never know, an injury to one of our main players could force Wenger to use Walcott more and that could see him find some form.
It is interesting that the Ox and Walcott had the same type of injury but when the Ox came back you saw no sign of fear or hesitation whilst with Walcott you can see it. Maybe a solution is to play Walcott in the middle - he wont offer the hold up play but does offer something Giroud cant.
He's spent an entire year out injured, so it's no surprise really that he is taking a long time to return to fitness and form. Which is fine, we have good squad depth at the moment and he can be given the time to recover properly. Prior to his injury he was one of the first names on the team sheet. Even since coming back into contention he has consistently scored. But he needs time, it wouldn't surprise me if we don't see his best again until next season. But he is a wing forward unlike any of our other options. He runs in behind and he times his runs incredibly, add his finishing and he will always get goals. He still has a part to play in this squad for sure. He might find it's less often he starts games as the competition for places hots up, but he's a quality player and let's not get on his back during his return from injury. Just give him the time he needs, we have the depth to cope.
Wengers latest comments RE Walcott suggest it is because of his contract negotiations that we haven't seen him as much. Looks like the club are letting him know he is an important part of a squad and that he will have to fight for his place, not have us bent over a barrel to get what his agent wants! But Wenger is obviously in the process of convincing him to sign. Hopefully they get it sorted and he signs a new contract, great asset to the club. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31881570
I would not get rid of Walcott and I'm glad Wenger is looking to extend his contract. Walcott provides a different dimension for us (especially away from home) and when fully fit he is a starter. I would sign him up to a contract solely to prevent a Liverpool or Spurs getting him.
I don't think he'd go to Spurs, but I'd be worried about him signing for Liverpool. Although he hasn't shown much this year, he would still be a big loss, especially if he signed for a rival.
Theo has turned into a natural goalscorer. We would be mad to let him go. Remember the last time he was negotiating his contract? it took agggges. Makes me think his agent is telling him to really push for as much money as he can.
He's on 100k a week now, how much more is he going to want? He hasn't earned a pay raise, so if they're pushing for more, they ain't getting it. And Liverpool aren't going to be paying him more than 100k either, if they'll even pay 100k to start with. Maybe Spurs since they're so desperate would, but then why would Theo ever want to go to that **** club?
Wenger hinted that Walcott (or his agent) had been talking about him being first choice on the team sheet, as Wenger had said that he would have to fight for his place at any top team. I think Wenger is right to play hard ball on this. He is the manager and he picks the team based on the players he thinks deserve to start. Walcott is in a difficult position at the moment, because he's been out injured and other players have pushed up the pecking order. I still think Walcott has a long Arsenal career ahead of him, but he needs to win his place back in the team and prove that he should keep it. He can't just demand an improved contract without demonstrating why he should have it. He needs to earn that next contract.
After watching the highlights of the West Ham game, I thought Walcott had a very good game. He should have had a penalty early on and he looked really sharp and full of energy. Also noticed that somebody picked up on him bottling a tackle against Monaco and saw today that he was fully committed down the right in several challenges against West Ham. Really good performance, only lacked a goal otherwise it would have been a brilliant game for him. I hope we sign him up again, but I think it's going to be a protracted issue.
Since his return from injury and especially based on his last few games, I respectfully disagree. If he wasn't English with pace, he would've been gone ages ago. Yes he had some decent seasons in the past but it's time for him to move on. So many times he was meant to "to step up" to the next level. It just won't happen.
Based on his last few games? Didn't he have 3 goals in 3 games since returning from injury prior to yesterday? The criticism of Walcott since he has come back from injury has been that all he does is score and doesn't contribute, so I've got no idea how you've come to the conclusion that goal scoring is his problem! Yesterday he had a good all round game, with just the finish missing. The opposite of his other games since return from injury, which was good to see, he is a goal scorer, anyone who has watched his career can see it's one of his main attributes and so I have no doubt he will start banging them in.
Walcott went missing completely in the second half yesterday, don't know if he even touched the ball more than 5 times in the second half.
I think it as actually worse than that....think he has one successful pass and one unsuccessful or something crazy like that!
Feel for Walcott being out injured and coming back with Sanchez playing in your usual position, you can't get worse than that! But he is a match winner on his own right. As Piskie pointed out, if would be a disaster if he went to Liverpool. He would literally kill it playing for them. His whole game suits to them to the ground. That's not to say he can't play for us, after a little tweaking. After all we still haven't had an Walcott and Ozil link up which realistically would bear a lot of fruit. Ultimately the decision lies with Wenger and he will have to do something to house Walcott one way or another. It might mean moving Sanchez to another position or Walcott playing on the left, there are ways to accommodate them both in my opinion. With OXO out he might get a more of a chance if he switches Sanchez to the left. Shame OXO is injured as he looked marvellous against manure.
Since we as a club have stepped up in terms of resources, players like Walcott also need to step up or they face a real possibility of being sold, as we have the money to buy better players. Walcott's game at the moment is far too basic, he does not even attempt to take on his man, he just looks to make that same run between the full back and centre back. The only reason he got game time yesterday was probably because the OX got injured.
