Arsenal’s Walcott: ‘Scruffy’ performance but win is a win

Arsenal’s Theo Walcott has hailed the all-important three points, despite a less than impressive performance in earning them.

The Gunners looked to be having an easy time of it in the early exchanges of the game, but after the England international put us 2-0 up with a brace, Swansea suddenly came to life.

Sigurdsson managed to pull a goal back shortly after the Gunners took a 2-0 lead, and kept the game alive going into the half-time interval.

The Welsh side then came out in the second-half with similar confidence, and gave poor Nacho Monreal a terribly tough time down the wing. Ozil managed to put the side 3-1 up on his birthday just before the sixty-minute mark, but the two-goal advantage was once again cut-down within 10 minutes.

Shortly after it became 3-2, Granit Xhaka got himself sent off, and the visitors continued to attack for the remainder of the match, and we can count ourselves lucky that they were not so clinical in front of goal.

Despite all the madness, Theo had a rather good game, and could have had four goals, but insists the win was key.

“It was a crazy game,” said Walcott.

“On a personal note, I would have liked to have had the hat-trick but the three points is all that matters. I think I could have scored three or four today but the win is all that matters.

“That is a tough Swansea side – people definitely underestimate them. They caused us problems out there today.

“It’s always hard after the international break for everyone to get back into rhythm but I would rather have had a scruffy game and win so that’s all that matters.

“The belief has always been there in the dressing room. We have got players who have come in and have settled in well and we need to build on it.

“We are grinding out results when called upon and that was definitely a grind today.”

Today’s win put us joint-top of the table, so the points cannot be underestimated, but does the match highlight our weaknesses, or more-so highlight our strength in character?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Swansea Walcott

12 Comments

  1. hmmm, two excellent goals trumps two missed sitters everyday, obviously he was in the right place the whole match, i will take it,

    1. Theo also stated he should’ve scored a hat trick today. Good thing he’s ‘kind of’ taking the blame for missing and acknowledges it!

  2. a gud win for us, i personally think cech culd have done better for their goals, ill take the win any day though really terrible ref thank God his errors didn’t spoil the win for us

  3. What positions were Walcott & Sanchez playing today? On paper it is Walcott RW and Sanchez CF, but that wasn’t largely how the game was played. Sanchez plays like Benzema – the unselfish centre forward who does all the hard work and Walcott like Ronaldo the wide forward who grabs all the goals! I think Walcott also showed how dangerous he could be when played as a CF, when Alexis was subbed.

    1. You noticed. The key to Walcott succeeding as a center forward is to never assign him the CF slot on the team sheet. Maybe it takes the pressure off – I don’t know. But it seems to work.

  4. Walcott could have got a hattrick or even 4 goals but he did well to at least get the brace.

    Xhaka’s only fault was trying to dribble in defense which made Sigurdsson score ; I dnt blame him for the redcard, cos it is never a red card offense.. Terry,Vidic do it all the time and get praised for taking a yellowcard for the team in a counterattacking situation.
    and I’m not pleased with Wenger saying “it won’t be appealed”.

    Alexis n Iwobi need to be a bit more selfish.

    1. I agree – that was never a red card for Xhaka.

      But if you saw the W.Ham game… Cresswell’s sending off today was even worse. First they give him a yellow for simulation when he was fouled in the box. Seconds later they gave him another yellow for a very minor foul – never a yellow. 2 undeserved yellows in less than a minute. It was ridiculous.

  5. lol guys dont be so biased.. i am from swiss and like xhaka pretty much but lets be honest football fans.. that was red any day any time.. no chance for the ball too late cynical AND from BEHIND the person.. obvios red card..
    this is what i hate about fans.. if a swansea player would have got the red for the same foul you would have praised the ref and said that is was an obvious red and if he didnt get red you would have been blamed the ref of being biased..

    1. no 1 is biased here…. pls do well to go through the rules and watch more games from all over Europe a foul in a counterattacking situation on an opponent who is miles away from goal (in this case not even past the half-line) with one or more players still left to beat is a Yellow Card offense, Never a red card.

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