Theo Walcott is finding it very hard to get his place back in the Arsenal First XI after returning from a year out injured, and the England winger believes that this is the best squad that Arsene Wenger has assembled since the Invincibles, and the competition for places is very fierce right now.
Theo has been at Arsenal for 10 years now, so he remembers one of greatest teams ever. “I’ve grown from being a little babyface to a man.” he said on the Official Arsenal website. “From when I joined the club to now, it’s completely changed. The likes of Freddie Ljungberg, Robert Pires, Thierry Henry, Sol Campbell and so on were there and had won the league before, going undefeated. Coming into that squad was a big achievement.”
Now he faces trying to get back into another super squad, and he believes they could claim the title next season. “There’s a lot of competition for places so everyone seems to lift a gear and play extremely well. It makes it a bit more difficult for people to get into the team. I think, especially this season, not many people thought we’d be second and challenging for the Premier League.
“In this calendar year, we’ve been the best team in Europe. It’s the strongest the squad has been and everyone is staying fit as well. There aren’t many injuries in the squad, which is important. If we had an injury-free season, I think we could lift the title.”
The only problem with Arsenal having an injury-free season is that Walcott will find t even harder to get a starting spot, especially if Wenger brings in yet another striking superstar in the summer transfer window. Is it even worth him signing a new contract?
Theo I bet you if you had already sign your contract you would be playing more.
Talking about competition,it s more about stupidity from Wenger.Playing a midfielder when you have pacey wingers available is typical to him.
Watch out next year if he goes back in playing the guys out of position,we are doomed.
For Wenger, it is more about having players who will defend in all positions. That is why Podolski did not get favoured, that is why Walcott is behind Oxlade-Chamberlain in the starting XI and may eventually be sold.
But indeed, playing a midfielder on the wing is pure bullshit. Our right flank is as dangerous as a fly when Ramsey drifts inwards, leaving the lateral side to the RB, who cant leave his primary area exposed by covering the open room.
I think wenger should have played Walcott/Welbeck from the start on the RW. Might be more exposed in defence, but sure as hell gives more when attacking. 1-1 better than 0-0.
This is something Wenger has leanred this season, playing players that will also defend for you. Overall I think he made the right decisions from the start of the season with the following changes
Ospina for Scszesny
Monreal for Gibbs
Bellerin for Chambers and no for Debuchy as well
Coquelin for Flamini/Arteta.
He was out injured for over a year. He looked reasonably fit when he first came back but when you’ve been out for that long unable to run for a large portion of that time, it takes time to completely get fit. If you’ve ever trained for anything if your not that fit you quickly become exhausted and have to have periods of rest in between pushing yourself. Stamina takes time to build back training with the fist team every day he’s not going to get there straight away. It better long term that we’ve had plenty of attacking options bringing him back slowly will hopefully work out better in the long run and he won’t get any more injuries. I still think he’s a quality player some people seem to be writing him off but he’s very dangerous in front of goal and offers something non of our other players do. People also call him lazy but his work rate had improved massively before his injury.
I forgot to mention hiM also becoming a father for the first time and I know they had problems with the baby so you don’t know How it affected him mentally. His injury will have affected him mentally also. So it’s not just about recovering physically.
jesus christ man
1 comment
I find it ‘interesting’ that these comments from Theo have come out today, when allegedly contract talks are taking place.
I had been thinking that Theo was going to go, but these comments seem to sound a more positive note
I like most other Arsenal supporters would love Theo to come back as the player he was the year before his awful injury at Spurs. But will he?
Will he even get a chance to show if he can do it?
I really like Theo the game always seems more exciting when he is on the field. He keeps defenders busy which in itself helps the team. I hope he does resign
I think we already made one mistake this year ( letting Benik Afobe go). I fear we may make another if we let him go to Liverpool say.
we have a buyback clause with afobe player too is open to rejoining us in future
@leo
YESSSS!!!!
Come on guys – Benik is doing fine but lets not go overboard. He has scored 23 league goals (Championship and League 1) in 42 games. If we are getting our heads turned by this and see him as the answer then we also need to be looking at Daryl Murphy, Troy Deeney, Odion Ighalo, Callum Wilson, Joe Garner and Ian Henderson – all have scored for fun in these 2 leagues. If Leo says below we have a buyback clause then no harm done and no mistake made.
I’ve always loved Theo, he can be frustrating at times but who can’t?
But if we were to sign a player like Pedro in the summer, how much playing time would Theo really get?
Theo is frustrating, but so too is Sanchez and Ozil
Bastian Schweinsteiger wants a move to the Premier League in 2016 & his favorite team in the Premier League is Arsenal (Source: Sport Bild) replacement for rosciky/arteta ??????????
that’s natural … this the home of injury prone players
If he left this summer he’d be great for us turns 31 in the summer so 3 year contract would be great for Ramsey and Jack to learn from. Still top quality. But by 2016 he’ll be 32 and if someone new comes in this summer then there won’t really be much room for him.
welbeck and ox are ahead theo is like ozil last season when tracking back he doesnt
that is why ramsey is playing there he gives bellerin more protection
Number of injuries has dropped by 28% [from 1st half of the season] resulting in an 18% upturn in average points per game
injuries number dropping has little to do with our current form … Wilshere injured = no need to make a room for him even with him having a poor performance (relatively) … Ozil injured = a better AMF stepped in (Cazorla) … Arteta and Flamini injured = the emergence of coq (that’s just luck and has nothing to do with Wenger being genius)
Actually it is the other way around, our injuries this time were a bless (except for Ox and Giroud)
I just think it’s only me and a few Gooners that still value Walcott. People have for some reason come up with some mythical thing about him being a liability defensively. They have assured themselves about it and forced themselves to believe it..
With Walcott out we are missing 10 assist and 10 goals on average from the RW. Instead they prefer Welbeck who has zero fear factor to the opposing defence. The opposing defence and goal keeper never look at him as a threat due to his poor striker instinct, intelligence etc..
Why would you put Welbeck ahead of Walcott when Walcott gives you more goals and assists, and makes the other team nervous throughout the whole game. It’s not like he stands there stationary and not defend or track back all game. The only thing I can say about him is that he can be so quiet as he hardly comes infield to get involved, he needs to get more involved.
my take on Walcott:
1. Inconsistency
2. His style can’t work against teams who play with deep defense line (Chelsea for example)
That being said, I think having a home-grown RW who can score and assist (even with limited qualities) is a good acquisition, aiming for more (Reus, Sterling, Lacazette, Dybala ..etc)
Watch how Leicester beat Chelsea today, then we will be ruing not beating Chelsea.
OT:
If you had to choose between Isco and De Bruyne, which one you would go for?
(forget about our needs, just hypothetically)
Walcott has no football brain and Wenger likes players who are intiligent in their game. Ramsey is a bad winger but still better then Walcott bec he knows hot to keep the ball, releas it, passing is good, shooting is good, speed is shet but stil no biggy, tracks back when needed, dribbling is okay, and so one.
Walcott, shooting decent, speed good, lacks brain, lacks dribbling, lacks passing, lacks defending abilities.
Dont make shet up to justify his failuare. Him being benched means that Arsenal is slowly turning into a big team.
@Ks-Gunner
Must admit dude. You do have your moments…
i dont accept the bullshit which is AW needs to play more players who defends a lot..if we stick with that, we’re becoming mourinho slowly..get the right players and play them well..don’t expect a striker to turn defender just to keep the balance..how the hell can u bench wallcot and play Ramsey on the wings?? what are you smoking?? yea you guys can thumb me down but the truth is always bitter..if we had a balance team and everyone doing their jobs well i don’t think we’ll be expecting all our players turning partly defenders..
get the right players and we’ll be champions.. I go with Henry and Mourinho on this we need 4 classy players just to complete the equation.. yea yea thumb me down but i admit this time mourinho is spot on this season, he knows he wants trophies so he compiled a great team, i am not sure Wenger even thought we could be title contenders until half of the season
Ribery and Robben didn’t used to defence. When Hyjneckes took over he made them defence. Those players themselves then said they became better players, and were rewarded with a UCL winners medeal shortly afterwards. Don’t you see how Bayern and Barcelona just press opposition, pressing is also part of defending.
dude just cus walcott doesnt track back means he’s wack and have nothing to offer?? you seen Messi,Neymar,Suarez defending?? or Bale? or Harry Kane?? we fans just are too obsessed with this current squad to the extent we condemn our other players just cus they dont get to be in the starting line up
@Eddie Hoyte
Suarez, Messi and Kane all track back. Bale and Neymar couldn’t be arsed…
Leichester 1 – 0 Chelsea half time. What a high tempo’d 1st by Leichester. How I wish it could end like this