Just WHAT is Walcott´s problem with Arsenal role?

The last time that the Arsenal hierarchy sat down with Theo Walcott and his representatives about the England international signing a new contract to stay with the club, or not, it seemed to take forever. Arsene Wenger has alluded to that in the run up to the next round of negotiations but I cannot really understand Walcott´s concern about his playing role at the club.

According to a report in The Mirror, the forward wants to make his role in the team a big part of the talks. Not just whether he will be a regular in the first team but which position he will be starting in, a he clearly enjoys the coveted centre forward role as well as his wide forward role that has been his usual position over the years.

But surely any guarantee that the manager gives Theo will not be written into the contract anyway so what is the point? Wenger is not daft and he will have seen how well his player has done in the last two games playing down the middle. The fact is that if Walcott is fit and in form he will surely play. If Giroud or any new striker signing is looking better, they will play.

All Theo needs to do to ensure he starts is to prove to the boss that it is the best thing for the team. Simples!

Tags Giroud Wenger

28 Comments

  1. Problem for Arsene Wenger there is weather or not he can remain fit for long enough, to be played as regularly as we wants to be played in his ‘favored’ position, See he needs time to devlop as a CF guaranteed he wouldn’t hit the ground running and by matching the likes of Aguero if he plays the entirety of next season up there, he is not used to it. See i’d like to see what he is capable off seeing as he has showed glimpses of what he may be capable of. The real question on Wenger’s mind is do i risk not signing another striker on the promise Walcott can go an entire season without a majorly significant injury period (over a month), Or do i sign another striker and ocassional rotate Walcott giving him more frequent opportunities up front like in cup matches.

  2. Walcott doesn’t want to play on the flanks, he wants the CF position. The issue is he’s very injury prone and that is worrisome to the manager as well as the club. I think the best solution is to sell him now for 25 million and go buy a true RW like Pedro and proceed with business as usual with additional players in CF/DM.

  3. Firstly, is it true that he is asking for assurances?

    I suspect not.

    But if true Theo should watch himself. He ain’t Messi after all – who is.

    I once asked a prospective employer during an interview if there was any potential for leaving 30 mins early (and starting 30 mins early) in order to pick my son up from school.

    I later found out from the recruitment agent that I lost the job because of this enquiry.
    Perhaps AW will be more accommodating!?

    1. Walcott has lost a lot of bargaining power since we bought Alexis. He’s in a much weaker position than he was, far less important to the team.

      If he wants to play as ST then fine, so long as he scores goals, but if he stops scoring then he can’t expect to start…

  4. theo want to force wenger to play him and play him as a striker regardless his form…am just afraid of how this will be sorted out more so incase we buy a striker..pals,i smell that Giroud is leaving..so one between wilshere,ramsey or cazola..

  5. Nowhere else he’s going to go, just trying to get the best deal he can. No other major club would give him a ST role, he’d have to go to a mid table side, which he wouldn’t do because he wouldn’t get paid as much and wouldn’t get CL football. He’ll sign, don’t worry…

  6. As I’ve personally said on several occasions, it is for Theo to show week in and week out that he is worth a starting place in his preferred position, not for him to demand it. We have a squad now (which will hopefully improve further in the summer) and with that, hopefully, we will have the capacity to rotate with quality cover. Theo needs to just get on board and sign without dragging this out. Even if you disregard the press speculation it does always seem to take an age to sort this with Theo. Seeking to up his wages I can understand (he’s no different from anyone else), but if the rumours have any truth ie that he is making other demands then he needs to get real or as someone else said earlier, or we need to seriously consider whether we offload.

  7. It’s just that he will be pushed aside easily by good strong defenders. Otherwise he would make a good striker i guess.

  8. #mick you absolutely right…no any other club apart from Liverpool is interested…he wants to remain in England..Liverpool are already looking for strikers hence even if they bought him he will not be assured of a starting law as CF.
    he will sign a contract..he’s just looking on to see what kind of attacker (whether a winger or WC striker)we buy so as he can weigh his chances.
    *********************************

  9. Not a bad few days

    FIFA officials are arrested
    Arsenal Win FA Cup
    Lovely Bus Parade
    Now Septic Bladder has resigned in disgrace

    Maybe we will here of official top signings soon

  10. Gerrard will be advising Sterling that he is too good for Arsenal and go to Barcelona. What happens next? Barca put Pedro on Emirates Airlines who land at the Emirates Stadium and Pedro goes ‘wow,
    this is where I want to be’! And Gerrard, true to his habit, slips up again. Arsenal must not forget Gerrard for Sanchez rendered in their vote of thanks.

  11. Chelsea scored 2 more
    goals than Arsenal.
    Say again 2 more goals
    than Arsenal.
    Giroud Wellbeck Sanogo
    Sanchez Walcott Ramsey
    Ox Cazorla Ozil
    9 goal scorers in all
    not even counting Podolski Campbel and Akpom.
    If our strikers are fit and firing Arsenal can score 100 EPL goals easy.
    Only injuries can stop Arsenal winning the EPL now.

    1. Good point but unfortunately people tend not to be interested in team stats. If you discount the own goals we actually scored 2 more than them, 107 to 105.

  12. I am not an authority on Arsenal team as I am not the Boss. But as many Gooners do, I could too figure out football matters for the Gunners that could be helpful to the Boss and the Gunners. I think Welbeck strikes for England as a CF. And he has crave to star for the Gunners as their CF, so too had been Walcott before now. And Ramsey has equally expressed his preference to operate from Arsenal’s midfield instead from the right wing. But Jack Wilshere has not complained to play at the right wing. The problem with those 3 demanding to play at a particular position is, it could undermined the Boss authority to play his players at the positions he considered most appropriate to play them at. Consequently, the Boss will not secummbed to any demands demanding a position on the field of play. However, the Boss should temporarily softpedal in the summer by starting those CF trio of Giroud, Walcott and Welbeck in their preferred positions of CF for at least in 5 games each in all competitions to see how they will fare. And from then he will know if to retain them at their preferred positions or not. If the Boss will efficiently rotates the trio at CF and it turned out to be successful, the Boss may not need to sign a striker anymore in the late summer. But he should sign a top quality right winger to compete with Wilshere for option at the right wing. And a top quality dm and a top quality left back that will play alongside Coquelin and gives stability to the left back position which was suspect last season are most desired.

  13. Wacott is a cf now , not a winger. I totally support d idea of Walcott as our main striker. I don’t understand wat he lacks dat ppl don’t like him. He’s a good finisher and and makes it easy for midfielders to provide thru balls , thanks to his movement and speed. Wid giroud its really hard to score goals on counter; easy wid Walcott though. Mayb he misses many chances but he creates chances for himself more often den any Oder player. Also d idea of worlds fastest player as d cf will instill fear against cb’s. And to those doubting his big match credentials, before Sanchez arrived he was most often d player scoring against big teams like manutd Chelsea Liverpool . He has earned d cf spot.

    1. Dat said, I wid welcome a quality striker at arsenal. But d priority is a gk and winger.

    2. Walcotts too 1 dimensional as a Cf atm,he can’t hold up the ball very well or play well with his back to goal.In those tough away matches it will be very difficult to retain possession with Theo upfront

  14. Ask Walcott what he will do when Ospina lofts a goal kick in the middle of the pitch. Does Theo just say naw not my job or does he go after the 10-15 a game and get cut in half. OG has had elbows to the face, knees to the back, not to mention the times he gets undercut and completely upended.
    Tell me Theo what will it be. I would hate to lose those 10-15 possessions each game that OG can provide.

    1. Now what about those 5 through balls that lead to goals.
      What is OG gonna do when Ozil plays that ball, wait that’s right we lose possession so Ozil no longer plays that ball.

      1. Wait he is going to stick his tongue out and try to lick his hair.

        You all know the face right

      2. Tell Ozil to forget the through balls. Tell him to lob the ball over the defenders head. Too bad he can’t come to grips with that bit of touch needed for that pass. If he did then he would have at least 10 more assists and OG would have another 10 goals or so.

  15. Data
    Data
    I got my data
    Tra la la la la

    Good to be back

    Kick Ass hope you ain’t been slated for speaking the truth.

    Hafiz, 1 comment please

    Davidnz stick to rugby

  16. all of this is pure speculation. wenger has an open door to discuss whatsoever is on Walcott’s mind. Walcott can play down the middle but he needs support. if giroud is playing he can’t play on the wing because of a lack of speed but if the likes of sanchez, oxlade or even ramsey play on the right/left then Walcott can make runs in behind while either side hold-up and get into supporting areas.

    with Walcott playing a giroud role he will get caught out too much. he can hold up play if needs must but that isn’t his game.

    truth is the game has changed. before you had either one striker or two. those days are long gone. teams play with three strikers. arsenal especially. when welbeck complained about united putting him on the wing he stipulated that he was part of a 4 man midfield. in other words 4-4-2.

    in a 4-4-3 on the right he would have been happy. I doubt Walcott is any different. sterling also mentioned his preference in the England 4-3-3 over the mess they have at Liverpool.

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