Should Arsenal fans worry about shredding of Walcott?

I am not going to suggest that the in form Arsenal forward Theo Walcott did well over the last week or so in the two international games he started for England, because the pacy 27-year old certainly did not have anything like the same impact for his country as we have seen him produce for Arsenal this season.

The fact that Theo was the first player to get the hook from the interim England boss Gareth Southgate in both of their games against Malta and Slovenia tells it’s own story and it must have been frustrating for our forward to struggle to influence the game as he has been doing at club level.

Having said that I have to question the fairness of Chris Sutton’s shredding of our star in a Daily Mail report. Not only does the former Chelsea, Blackburn Rovers and Celtic striker rip into Walcott and list four big failings in his game for England, Sutton also questions the praise that has been aimed his way at club level recently.

He said, “All the fuss about Theo Walcott this season — I don’t get it.

“People are saying he is a changed player. He is neither clever nor creative and he was completely ineffective once again for England.

“The Arsenal man has no guile and didn’t link up at all or put any decent crosses in all night. His pass appreciation is desperately poor and his defensive clearance just after half-time summed his night up. Everyone has credited Gareth Southgate for having the courage to drop Wayne Rooney, but he needs to learn fast and leave Walcott out.”

A bit harsh don’t you think? It is not as if the other attacking England players did much good either, with Jesse Lingard, Sturridge and Alli all having a bad day at the office. And has he even been watching Walcott’s performances for the Gunners this season? Perhaps we should be looking at the reason why England do not get the best out of him as well as vice versa.

I can understand why some Arsenal fans might be worried about Theo’s England form but we should remember that it was being left out of Euro 2016 and the criticism he had been getting that seems to have inspired him to greater things this year. So can we expect Walcott to come back and take up where he left off against Swansea this weekend?

Bob.

Tags England sutton

7 Comments

  1. “I’ll go to England and watch Arsenal, where two of our players are playing now. ” Joachim Low

    Should we detain him till next Summer when he visits?

  2. He’s wrong in my opinion. Except for one part, Theo should be putting in crosses. But to hate on Theo for everything he just said, would be similar to hating on Ozil for not scoring in a run of games. Theo is someone you want on the end of a move, that’s what he’s been doing good. He has helped with defending and team shape. So long as he keeps doing those things at a high standard I couldn’t be arsed about him not attempting through balls or trying to be clever.

  3. To single out Theo from that poor performance is a bit misguided in my opinion. In my opinion England as a footballing nation have no idea what their identity is, so how can any one player ever truly play well?
    All the players on the team are spread out all around the league, with each of those teams playing a completely different style. Not only that, most of the players, again in my opinion, are role players on their teams.
    England needs stability from the manager, stability in the team selection, and then a style that fits them and gives each player the platform to be successful.

    Theo knows what Arsenal is asking him to do, so he knows how to be successful here. England aren’t going to be any good anyway, so that’s all that matters.

  4. Don’t worry good Arsenal folk.

    As fans we’re all behind our players, especially those despite that idiot Sutton’s claim that do show guile.

    Me personally, I think Theo Walcott has shown an immense amount of guile and a noticeable improvement to his game in the last three seasons or so. I like many had a few worrying words to say about some of his performances for Arsenal and was frustrated by the way he went about his business on the field.

    Okay, he doesn’t have the craft of Santi Carzola, the endeavour of Coquelin, the defensive guile of Koscielny but…….I’ve seen him make untold brilliant runs, scores some peaches of goals, track back and be demonic in that cause to help us out of some poo. But Theo’s game whilst he hasn’t carried the flag for Arsenal and England has definitely shown some marginal improvement and it’s paying dividends for him and Arsenal.

    You have to remember and so does he, Chris Sutton himself was never the complete player. A big target man who could get a few goals whilst having his purple patch at Blackburn but most of his gains were down to the likes of Stuart Ripley, Mark Atkins and Jason Wilcox et al. Sutton couldn’t beat a man from a standing position, wasn’t particularly speedy and can’t say that he had a trick in his bag either. He’s the last person to be lauding it over other players considering he was a one trick pony himself. And on top of that, some bloody idiot has convinced him his now a credible football pundit. He knows less about the game now than he did way back then !

    Theo Walcott and every Arsenal fan should not be concerned with the words from the likes of Chris Sutton….he’s a has been with limited knowledge in general, let alone of the modern game.

    Theo might be making slow progress but as long as that progress yields him and Arsenal some glory and improves him as a player……..I’m happy for that !

    1. @luthnan
      What a brilliant article on this issue. Your article was well researched and your opinion wonderfully articulated. We have a proverb in my town that says “If you are envious of a person’s achievement you do all within your power to bring such person down even when you have no obvious reason for it”. The fight becomes an endless fight!!.
      Henceforth, Sotton should be IGNORED because he doesn’t deserve our comments. He should apply to manage England if he feels he has the capacity and right judgement to do so. He should stop being jealous and envious of Walcott’s achievement.
      As long as Walcott performs for our club on a consistent level as he does now, Sotton could go to hell with his bias opinion, Arsenal fans should care less!!!

  5. England are not Arsenal and do not play the same way, we should have no fear about Walcott’s form for us untill his performances do drop. At the moment he’s scoring goals which may or may not dry up but then he may start creating chances instead and as long as his contribution to the team is positive then there’s absolutely no reason to change.

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