When Arsenal signed Theo Walcott from Southampton all those years ago, the Gunners thought they were getting a striker who was going to light up the front line of the Premier League for the next generation. In reality however Walcott’s 10 years at Arsenal have been very much up and down and sadly it seems as if his Arsenal career may be coming ever closer to an end.
Many fans were calling for Walcott to leave the club this summer, however despite a small number of rumours, I don’t think Walcott’s future was ever in doubt. Arsene Wenger is a big fan of the player and even if many of the fans may believe he’s no longer good enough for the Gunners, it seems as if Wenger isn’t going to bother listening! Instead Le Prof has had Walcott in his line-up for every Premier League fixture so far this season and to much surprise, there have been some glimpses of his former self.
Now first off I’m not suggesting that after a few games everything is back to normal with Theo Walcott. He has had a terrible number of seasons since his year of his ‘Sign Da Ting’ glory and he needs to work hard this year to prove to Arsenal that his current £140k contract reflects his quality on the pitch. In my opinion however, based upon these opening games alone, Walcott has shown signs of promise that being positioned back out on the wing, rather than up front, has given him a level of confidence to build on. Of course he has made his usual frustrating errors, however he’s also chipped in with assists and a goal. Walcott has still missed numerous opportunities in rather classic Walcott fashion, but he’s also making the right runs that last season would’ve seen him flagged offside.
Walcott has been named in the past as being nothing but a speed merchant, a player that uses pace in his game and nothing else. There were even times last season where it seemed he didn’t even know how to use his speed to be effective on the pitch. But so far this campaign, he’s made a number of correct decisions when going forward and there seems to be a boost of confidence about his game. After a whole summer of practice, Walcott may have been able to rediscover some of the form that he has lost over the past few years.
Walcott is still very much an inconsistent player and I don’t want to get excited based upon the first few games of the season, but I do think we may see a return to form for Theo Walcott. There are no doubts that the Walcott of last season is still very much the Walcott of today, however I think we may be in for a surprise this season from the Englishman, with a campaign of performances that nobody would’ve been expecting!
By AH
I hope he does…In a good way.
all that time sat on the bench watching sanchez&co how to do it might pay off after all:)
hope the time he spent on the bench, omission from England squad of Euro2016 and finally focusing on the wing might help him rediscover his 2013 form.
i always had a soft spot for theo.. he’s one of my fav (arsenal) players, so i will always root for him 😀 a theo in form is even deadlier than sanchez (i dont mean his overall play, only goals + assists,) he is able to score and assist the highest amount from any winger in the PL because thats his style of play always waiting for delivering or getting the final play whereas sanchez often comes from a deeper position similar to ramsey who in form is deadlier considering goals+ assist than cazorla in the same position but overall caz brings more to the build-up
And I thought only wenger had lost radio contact with planet earth …
There was once he did well and we all were singing “sign da thing”.
Hoping that Wilshere”s loan will make Theo to understand that a player of his kind is not indispensable and the sit up.
A fit Walcott most part of the season operating from the right can give us up to 16 assists. Not counting his goals. He has a way of contributing in our high scoring games. And if he finds his form will give a different dimension in attack. Giroud would also benefit by easy tap-ins from his cross. I am very optimistic about this squad.
“Giroud would also benefit by easy tap-ins from his cross” the most important part
Biggest mistake Theo made was to asked to become a striker, Theo needs time to think on the ball and he knows this, as i have said before Theo serves best from right wing like he use to do and made RVP look good
Walcott and Rvp were deadly in 11/12 season. Most of Rvp’s goals in that season were from walcott tbh.
I wasn’t happy that Gnabry was allowed to leave until this morning when I saw clips of his more recent games…dude has a limited skill set these days but is disguised by his physicality little wonder Pulis left him on the bench…6 goals and 0 assists not good for a winger, I’ll be convinced that Wenger has indeed lost his last marble if he tried keeping him at the expense of developing Iwobi or even Adelaide further.
It will be interesting to see whether Wenger sticks with the same starting lineup that beat Watford, which is more than likely or whether he will add Mustafi and Lucas to it?
I wouldn’t be surprised if we see our new signings sitting on the bench against Southampton. Even Xhaka started from the bench against Liverpool after playing in all the pre season games.
There’s also the Champions league game away to PSG to deal with, 3 days after the Southampton game and with players coming back form international duties i wonder if Wenger will be tempted to rest key players (Sanchez) for the PSG game?
An inconsistent player on 140k a week. That beggars belief, it really does. It’s almost obscene, given his lack of being able to cement his place on the team sheet..
And I’m sure we have an article like this every year, saying it’s ‘Theo’s year’ or some such like..which is kind of the point…he’s been an ‘almost’ star player for years now.
It’s almost like we are keeping him so no-one else can have him, bit like Chelsea stockpiling players to take them off the market..
A shame, as he had potential, but not anymore. If he gets 10+ goals he’ll be doing well, by his standards..