Theo Walcott has been one of the big performers for Arsenal this year, with the Englishman only being behind Alexis Sanchez for goals this season. The winger has found himself to be a consistent member of the starting eleven, but he was dropped from the squad on Boxing Day due to ‘injury’.
Many fans suggested that it only seemed coincidental that Walcott was missing from the squad not long after he had a very honest interview which only criticised the dressing room atmosphere and Arsene Wenger’s lack of motivational words for the team. There was no suggestion in the build up to the match that Walcott was injured, but Wenger then suggested just prior to the Boxing Day fixture that Walcott had a slight injury. He remained very quiet on the matter however.
Now however it seems that the Englishman does indeed have a injury concern to his calf, which could see him miss the next two matches whilst he recovers. It is being reported that the player’s injury is not as small as Wenger reported before the last game, with it initially being considered a precautionary measure to leave him out of the match against West Brom. Walcott will now reportedly not be in the match day squads for Crystal Palace and Bournemouth either, although he will hopefully return to first team training soon after New Years Day.
Walcott has been very important to the Gunners this season, having scored 11 goals in all competitions. He may have still caused frustrations with a lack of movement and forward drive on occasion, but overall he’s made much more of an impression on the team than his efforts last season. Walcott was limited to a bench role for much of the second half of last season due to a fall in form, but after working hard in a summer where he missed the European Championships with England, Walcott has proven his ability to become a regular in the starting eleven again.
Arsenal showed against West Brom that they could’ve done with a burst of Walcott’s pace on the wing, especially as the Baggies tired, and ultimately I think he will be a miss for the Gunners in these two upcoming games. Walcott may not be such a big a miss as the likes of Cazorla and Mustafi are in this current side, but his place on the team is still important and I’m not sure if Oxlade-Chamberlain or Iwobi are currently able to step up and replace him.
By AH
I am so sick and frustrated by our never ending injury list that it makes me want to break something. Every season it’s the same thing. Whether it happens in training or on the field of play the net result is the same – we are depleted. I am not sure who is to blame but one thing is for sure I have begun to question our mental fortitude. It’s like what Klopp said when referring to Sturridge’s injury situation and said “he needs to learn difference between ‘serious pain and what is only pain.’ Do we have a squad full of ‘jesses’ that don’t fancy the fight and every now and again feel that they deserve their annual paid leave? Don’t get me wrong, I know that there are many on the injury list that have serious legitimate injuries. I cannot understand however, why we have people out for weeks for strains and knocks etc. Rant over.
And yet is the same players again and again. To be fair, I am not touched a bit about these injuries this year simply because the said players weren’t exactly punching a hole in the sky. We come to an end of this era simply because a new contingent arrived in the team. The usual suspects are not regulars anymore. Two seasons ago we would have been devastated by these injuries, now we look at them as blessings.
You say that a few seasons ago we would have been ‘devastated by injuries.’ I put it to you that the injuries that we have incurred in seasons gone by have cost us dearly in the form of not winning the league and cups.
I think the injuries to Cazorla and Coquelin last season cost us the league if not only costing us lot more wins.
Losing Cazorla this season has cost us too.
Injuries have definitely cost us trophies
Wenger hasn’t changed our medical team for decades
actually he has you need to check your facts he added new staff 1 or 2 years ago he,s also going to change the surfaces of the training pitches!!
I have to agree, it is frustrating. Two main reasons I can think of in regards to Arsenal’s injury problems is: Wenger hanging onto players with chronic injuries, and Wenger not listening to his medical staff.
Certain footballers have chronic injuries, meaning they’ll constantly break down whatever happens, Reus, Gundogan, and Kompany are good examples from other clubs. At Arsenal we have, and have had, a lot of players likes this. Rosicky, Diaby, Wilshere for example. Wenger decided to keep players like these around forever, which means we have to get used to them missing large chunks of each season.
We also know that Wenger on occasion has ignored the advice of his medical staff. We lost Alexis for a couple of months last season, and we know it’s because Wenger played him, knowing he was in the “red zone”. Also, how many times have players come back from injury, to only break down again almost straight away. Is Wenger possibly rushing them back?
Another theory, is Wenger’s training methods. I’ve read many articles from coaches, and fitness coaches, saying how outdated Wenger’s training methods are, and they are responsible for some of the injuries. I don’t know whether this is the case, but Wenger is certainly a stubborn individual, who will not alter his philosophy, even if it clearly doesn’t work. Arsenal could also have a medical team that are clueless, but I find that hard to believe. Certain jobs in life you can get away with doing half arsed job, but I think you’d be found out very quickly in the medical profession. Lastly, we have to accept how demanding the Premier League is. It’s the toughest league in the world, with teams playing very high paced football. I would imagine that alone is a big reason for injuries.
Just to dispel the legend that Wenger have training methods: this is the physio team, not the manager. Maybe a coach like Steve Bould although I highly doubt Bould is a specialist in training methods. The manager/coach must attend the training simply to look who’s actually committed, who’s hungry. And your list is actually not really correct. Apart from Rosicky, Diaby and Wilshere were broken on the pitch playing. Like properly broken. Wilshere is playing with steel plates around his bones. How does he do it I have no clue but I doubt he will be Wilshere we knew when he was young. Diaby was never healed, is not like he had patches of games combined with sick breaks.
I agree with you about Diaby, and Wilshere being broken, but despite that, Wenger still kept them around. That’s my point! Why keep players around for such a long time, when they’re rarely available? The Diaby fiasco was an absolute joke! There are lots of other with injury problems as well: Ramsey, Ox, Walcott, and Welbeck can now be added to that list.
Ramsey is another fantastic example of Wenger’s inability to deal with a consistent problem. I said after the Euros we should definitely sell Ramsey because we could get a huge fee, after his fantastic performances in the European Championships. Ramsey has injury problems, and has never performed at Arsenal. I knew if Wenger kept him, Ramsey would get injured, and he would rarely play well…and that’s exactly what’s happened. Ramsey has missed most of the season through injury, and when he has played, he has been awful! Again, why keep a player around for so long, who consistently gets injured? It’s even worse in Ramsey’s case, because he never even plays well!
I cannot understand Wenger’s logic behind it.
we have some players that are always injured, but when fit they are lit then we have some that get injured often, when fit they are not still lit yet, they still need time to come back to their best for. some players dnt have injury but simply lose form n u’ll almost prefer if they were the injured ones.
then their are some players that are simply lackadaisical have an “i-dont-care” attitude and obviously don’t want to win the title.
It appears Wilshire has put his injury problems behind him, having played more this season than the last two combined. You wonder if this had been the case had he played and trained at Arsenal. Should he come back to us next season, we could get some inside should his injury problems return.
here we go again people making statements without checking the facts like, he made no changes to the medical staff but worse someone wrote that wenger doesn’t listen to the medical staff complete nonsense,why wouldn’t he listen to people he himself hired and trust?this is becoming ridiculous!!
Please don’t lie mate, makes you look silly. If you don’t believe myself or others about Wenger ignoring advice from his medical staff, feel free to watch Wenger interviews. It’s a FACT, he knew Alexis was in the “red zone”, he knew about Cazorla’s knee I think before the Norwich game last season. I remember even Cech missing a small amount of time last season, when Wenger knew he had a slight problem, but played him anyway. I’m not saying he does it all the time, but he does ignore advice on occasion. Also, isn’t it interesting how injury prone Wilshere seems fine now he’s away from Arsenal? More proof that something is wrong at Arsenal.
Please check facts before you comment in the future.