Why Wenger is not starting Walcott for Arsenal?

That is now the first two home Premier League games that Arsenal have failed to score a goal, although the world and his wife knows that the referee robbed Aaron Ramsey with the awful offside decision against Liverpool. Still, for the whole of the first game and a large portion of the second we did not look like our usual creative selves.

It is not as if Olivier Giroud has been wasting a lot of chances, or anyone else for that matter, even though some of the shooting has not been up to scratch. So many fans will no doubt be wondering why the boss has not chosen to add the goal threat of Theo Walcott from the start.

I certainly thought that the congested middle of the pitch against Liverpool would have meant that the England forward was an ideal man to bring in, but then again he has not exactly changed the games when coming on as a sub so far.

I have a theory on this. Wenger must rate Walcott highly or he would not have signed him up to a bumper new long term contract this summer, but I think he sees him as something special, offering something different to what Arsenal usually have to offer.

What I think is that Wenger is waiting for the Gunners to get our usual slick passing and fluency going, before he starts to tinker and bring in the likes of Walcott and even the Ox. That is why he is playing Ramsey on the wing, as the Welshman works hard and creates patterns with the likes of Ozil and Cazorla and even with the hold up play of Giroud.

Once Arsenal have settled and are back to normal, I can see Walcott and Chamberlain getting more starts, to add their different and direct styles to a well oiled unit. Do you think this could be why Theo is still stuck on the bench?

Tags Chamberlain ox Ramsey

84 Comments

  1. Walcott is NOT a striker!
    He wanted to be a striker and since he’s not good enough he has to sit on the bench and let other players take his role on rw.
    Selber schuld Bruder.

    1. Anxiously awaiting Cavani’s Tweet…………. Glad to hear from Benzema and Krychowiak……… Haha!… Arsenal have become the Joke of the transfer window………… Imagine Kokorin in an Arsenal shirt!…… A striker with 39goals in 7yrs…… Just so Laughable…..

        1. I’m thinking that Wenger has instructed Theo to watch the forwards very closely and imagine what should have been done if he were to play, on the training ground he is practicing finding space to make small two/five yard runs, shooting etc ect. Im sure the lad must have been told to eat sleep and breathe this position otherwise he will not make a difference. There should be someone he is working very closely with and a player picked out to model his game from.

  2. I’ve been reading these articles for quite some time on this website, and decided I’d finally make an account. Just wanted to tell you optimists that this club is going no where, we are until the grasps of a stubborn old man, the sooner you realise that, the better. Additionally, there was an article stating how this season could be ours and all the other bs, now when it goes pear shaped an article comes out saying how we “knew” this would happen… yeah ofc you did. I’ve been on the Wenger out bandwagon for years, expect nothing from Arsenal FC until Wenger is gone.

  3. That’s his own cup of tea for forcing himself to be played as a Striker. Giroud is not good enough for Arsenal but he’s still better that theo.

    1. @chinaka1………A cup of cold macchiato just what u might need …..to keep ur senses in check!

  4. When a team has hundreds of millions in its bank account & refuse to invest into its squad, it makes me wonder what kind of business they’re running. Teams like real madrid, bayern, barca, man-united, man-city & chelsea have continued investing into their teams & thats the reason they’ve been constantly progressing & making more profits. When Arsenal fc were in debt & were financially constrained, it was understandable, but penny pinching when you’ve got enough money to improve your team’s weaknesses is just plain stupid. You can’t reap success without investment & that’s the plain fact. Goodluck to AFC. This current team is capable of challenging for the epl tittle but not capable of winning it. But funny enough, we won’t even be able to challenge for it because mr beans would prefer to play his favorite boys at the expense of the team.

    1. Not that this current team can’t give us a better result but just as you rightly said, but “….because mr beans would prefer to play his favorite boys at the expense of the team”

      You have said it all

  5. keep settling down while other teams take the trophy, still add world class signings to their teams and stay consistent. for 11 years we’ve been settling down, so cool huh? barca,madrid, bayern all A+ clubs but still sign amazing players, are we better than them that we don’t need signings??
    rubbish!! keep giving excuses everytime, keep settling down also, our ass is so big that it’ll take us a century to settle down huh?? quit the excuses, almost everyone is bashing wenger, for Henry to say wenger has blind faith in his current squad don’t you think something is really wrong?? he’s not backing the rubbish wenger is doing, thats how you show love, if something is wrong,try to make it right but wenger will never..rubbish..
    oh and fam keep deceiving yourself with we’re settling down

  6. He’s not a striker but will definitely produce more goals & threaten defences more than Giroud does if played in that position.

  7. Walcott has brilliant stats playing as a right winger. He has a great scoring ratio from that position and has a good assist rate too. The question isn’t wether he is good enough to play striker but rather why he isn’t starting games on the wing where he has played all his best football for the club. If he’s not starting and the Ox is not starting we are obviously player the 3rd best right winger we have. It’s seems to be a disease that this club has succumbed to in the past few years, square pegs in round holes. Why can’t we play our 11 best players for each position? For a lot of games last season, we were playing with 3 or 4 players out of position just to accomodate certain players. It should be horses for courses, should Cazorla be played as a deep lying midfielder? is it his best position, Is ramsey a winger or a natural box to box central midfielder? etc etc.

    1. Spot on ?

      Only the deluded old fool knows the answer to why he isn’t starting with our best 11.

    2. Agree and the kunts Wenger and Wenger fans say he is the best manager. Wenger fans go
      sock wenger’s crock.

    3. Thanks for the analysis

      (1) Ramsey on the wings

      (2) Carzola deep lying playmaker

      (3) chambers at Right back (before eyes were open)

      (4) Wilshere as DM (wenger’s initial deluded idea)

      But the only one ppl saw deem fit to criticize was

      (5) Walcott as ST ……

      Look in the mirror (it never Lies)… Many of us needs to be zapped back to reality!….. Honestly

      1. T Henry was a winger, RVP was a winger, G Bale was a left back, C Ronaldo was a right winger, Messi was a central midfielder. But fans talking after the fact always know more than professional mangers ..right ..was right, now playing wrong.

      1. I guess I could add
        (7) Selling RVP to the main rival
        (8) Refuse to buy back Fabregas for a penny (Even though I agree that CAM is a bit too populated position.

    4. Agree almost 100% but for the Carzola part. Santi is an extremely technical player and can either play behind the striker or as a deep lying playmaker. Even Santi says he enjoys the new role more because he is exposed to more touches on the ball playing there. He also said his confidence increases with the more touches he gets on the ball. Look up the interview on arsenal.com. Until Santi’s age starts letting him down or Ramsey or wilshere suddenly explosively fulfill their potential in that position, Santi owns the spot. What is really alarming to most is Ramsey on the flanks despite Walcott and the Ox being fully fit and ready to fly. I can maybe (somehow) understand Walcott being saved for the striker role, but the Ox….I still can’t wrap my fingers round the whole game plan. ( if there’s on at all). Wenger needs some hours on a shrink’s couch.

  8. Transfer window will close in a week and we havent been linked with any player apart from
    Benzema and Krychowiak who both said they wont leave. No top team will sell their best players at this stage so, I can guarentee you no big name is coming. Wenger will probably sign a average player like Welbeck on deadline day that too only if someone gets injured.

    1. Wenger has mentioned how we may have to take a gamble, this to suggests that we cannot cut one of the big boys loose so he is going to get someone in for time being. Unless for gamble Wenger meant the huge money needed as for him that would constitute a gamble more so than it would any us. But he would not have said take a gamble in the market unless he had someone in mind.

  9. We cant even score a goal at home against average West Ham and Liverpool team. If we continue to drop points next few games we wont even finish in top 4 because we still have plenty of difficult fixtures home and away.

  10. In January we signed kim kardarshian. Now its the time to sign cockroach. Panic buys dont always work out. We should have signed quality players earlier than now.

      1. Really. I think his stubborness & trying to prove everyone else wrong has made him lose touch with reality.

  11. The annoying thing about this is that every year the same crap repeats itself, the same mistakes made over and over again and the status quo continues.
    Failure to invest – poor start to the season – panic purchasing of players – playing catch up to competitors – mathematically impossible – start playing football – finish 4th/3rd
    When will Arsenal fans finally wake up and see what is blatantly obvious?
    Wenger is leading Arsenal to nowhere.
    When the team is the 4 best team in the league and a long way ahead of the fifth place team then finishing four is no achievement.
    Wenger HAS to go – surely another season of league failure shows us that

      1. well I am not dumb nor an AKB, but thats a perfectly valid question.
        I for one dont want just anubody coming to be the coach, it has to be a step up.
        Who..?

        1. Pep/Klopp or someone.

          Obviously everything needs to align at the right time but he isn’t going to be sacked so telephone calls should be made…

          Businesses plan ahead for future success…

          1. As an addendum:)

            Perhaps even our board will need to reassess the situation once Wengers contract is nearing expiration and will look at what has/hasn’t been achieved.

            Unless they are completely devoid of having any ambition to succeed in the pitch, even they, MAY decide that it is his time to move out, up or sideways.

  12. It’s quite frustrating last season to have seen:
    Ozil play on the left.
    Ramsey on the right
    Cazorla on the left
    Monreal playing CB
    Now that Walcott AND Oxlade are both fit and healthy why should Ramsey play on the right. Just doesn’t make sense. Granted I’m not a Manager but I just can’t figure it out.

    Good thing this season is that Ozil and Cazorla are playing in the correct positions more often except for first match where Alexis was out.

    Which leads me to next point about Alexis not having a Top dedicated backup. On the Right we have Walcott AND Oxlade but on the left when Alexis is not playing we play Ozil or Cazorla.

    One great thing I read is that Ozil said he is focused on scoring more goals to put less pressure on the forwards. If he can do that, it would make him the best CAM in the League

  13. Their doesn’t defend well so is a liability on the wings upfront he is still learning his trade like welbeck so that leaves us with only Giroud as a St .

    Who’s left on the market
    These are the top 5. Most valuable St available;

    Higuin 27y old very good player borderline world class in his prime would thrive of our creativity can create his own goals Outside /inside the box. Holds up the ball does layoff. He would be perfect for our style. Worth 30m-38m

    Cavani 28yo a complete striker can score assist,hold up, good on the counter dominant in the air. (Equally as good as Higuin n benzema) worth 30m-42m

    Lacazette 24yo can shoot from anywhere, quick,versatile, through balls, great dribbler and draws the foul.(offers something very different to Giroud ) worth 21m-28m

    Lukakku 22yo likes to dribble,powerful,counter att threat has 2goals,1assist,1mom already this season. Worth 20m-35m

    Zlatan 33yo monster of a player up there with Suarez and aguero as the best strikers in football. At his age he could offer us a quality couple of years without blocking the emergence of up and coming strikers Walcott,welbeck akpom ect. (Like Czech we will be adding another xp world class winner to lead the team Worth 10.5m-13m

  14. We need to protest against Wenger. Boycott the games, stop buying merchandise, tweet Wenger out all over twitter and internet, send threats to Wenger, tell media guys to ask Wenger he lacks ambition. Do whatever it takes to throw Wenger the french fool out of our club.

  15. LOL! WHAT’S UP BOYZ?
    Guess somethings just never change. This team needs balance. Something we needed for past nine years. Ramsey still gets played till he can hit form and then get injured while others rot on the bench unless forced to play…… Transfers ? The less I say the better. As for the league , kiss it goodbye. Champions league? Don’t even mention it.
    FA cup? I don’t think this season . If being realistic is being negative I guess that is just what I am. Two more years of this bull. Oh wait he said the thought of retiring makes him panic. OH NO! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!!!

  16. Thanks for the analysis

    (1) Ramsey on the wings

    (2) Carzola deep lying playmaker

    (3) chambers at Right back (before eyes were open)

    (4) Wilshere as DM (wenger’s initial deluded idea)

    But the only one ppl saw deem fit to criticize was

    (5) Walcott as ST ……

    Look in the mirror (it never Lies)… Many of us needs to be zapped back to reality!….. Honestly

  17. Wenger is living in 1960’s. Every manager is spending money to improve the team but this
    deluded kunt has no ambition to win trophies always happy with mediocore squad.

  18. I really can’t understand why Walcott hasn’t been starting,
    He finished last season in fine form.
    I don’t think it has anything to do with wenger waiting for the rest of the team to start clicking together before introducing Walcott into the starting 11, It’s not as if we just signed him or anyone else for that matter ? wtf is wrong with wenger?

    The only thing that comes to mind is,
    Wenger is a penny pinching c##t!
    So that makes me wonder if Walcott’s new bumper contract has a clause depending on games played or started?
    Because nothing else makes sense to why he is not starting him since Walcott signed a new contract.
    ?

  19. I know the answer: it’s because AW is f**king useless, another season starts and he’s holding AFC back. Every year he becomes more stubborn. We’ve been around for 129 years, players, managers and fans come and go – it’s time Wenger does the same. He achieved some amazing things at our club but he’s since killed that legacy. Time to go, enough is enough. He makes the club money which is why he still has a job. Fact!

  20. Same old same old WENGER. The money is there and he will not spend it.
    Every transfer window Wenger does the same thing he moans how it is hard to buy Quality Players. But Man City, Chelsea, and Man Utd. have no such problem. The truth is Wenger hates to spend, it must have killed him when he bought Ozil and Alexis all that lovely money.
    He had all summer to sort out a top quality Striker but he sat on his cheque book.
    Wenger will never change as long as he is in charge Arsenal will only be an also ran team.
    The odd Cup and 3rd or 4th place. I said it before and I say it again Wenger must go if
    Arsenal are to become the Club they should be.

  21. Best player for each position will be something like:

    __________Giroud
    ___Welbeck Cazorla Sanchez
    _______Coquelin Ramsey
    Monreal Koscielny Mertesacker Bellerin
    __________Cech

    With this lineup, there are no square pegs in round holes.

    – Welbeck over Sanchez on the LW, he’s more two-footed, works as hard and more natural on LW

    – Sanchez over Walcott/OX on the RW, more goals and more work-rate (potentially less assists though)

    – Giroud over Walcott, mainly because of physical attributes
    – Cazorla over Ozil, because he gets more goals and does more defensively
    – Mertesacker over Gabriel, because Gabriel hasn’t played enough games for us to judge him

    The only problem is that Ramsey and Coquelin don’t work well together as neither player keeps the ball really well. I’d be curious to see how a midfield of Cazorla – Arteta – Coquelin would fare, with Arteta covering up for Coquelin’s passing lapses. Wilshere over Ramsey for the B2B role is another possibility: he’s the best at the club for driving the ball from midfield to attack, however, his defensive attributes are not particularly strong.

    PS: Monreal is one of our most intelligent and adaptable players, I wonder how he’ll do in midfield, hmmmm

  22. Offer £60m for Lewandowski. If that fails, offer £40m for Cavani. That will likely fail too, but you’ve got to try at least…

      1. I didn’t say they would sell. I said we should at least try. Who knows.. For a player they signed on a free transfer just last year, an instant £60m profit may look like very good business to them. Likely? Not a chance, but what do we have to lose?

      2. Because Guardiola has done that before, with Eto, Ibra, and latest edition Mandzukic … he prefers more versatile players than your typical center forward, hence why douglas costa was purchased … don’t hold your breath waiting for arsenal to wrap up the deal, I am just saying wouldn’t surprise me if guardiola wouldn’t want him

  23. When Wenger says he is willing to take a gamble in the market, it is not the same gamble you and I are thinking off which is £40m+ on a top top striker. Rather he means he is willing to spend less than £20m on a striker no one has either heard of is not known now.

    There will be a flurry of activity on the last day, Expect the window of few seasons ago where we got Santos, Arteta, Mertesacker on the last day or thereabouts, to try and save his own skin.

  24. Wenger is there to the day he decides to leave or simply drops dead.
    Its Arsenal’s way of saying thank you for making their directors so much richer by selling its best players and qualifying (and failing pathetically) for the champions league.
    Another season over already…

    1. I would’ve thought calling the longest serving manager in the Premier League a “kunt” might’ve got some attention.

      I hate when people are abusive online because I believe it is the hallmark of a spineless individual. You could never get away with this kind of talk before social media because you would have your face slapped back into line. Now the weakest of us have found their sacless, squeaky voices..

  25. It so blatantly obvious that wenger didn’t plan to sign anyone else apart from cech.
    But as per usual he will start his panic buying on the last day an hour before midnight ?

    I would have preferred it if he kept all our young players with potential at the club instead of buying last minute injured OAP’s or other teams useless bench warmers!

  26. The trouble is that Wenger is diminishing his legacy day by day. I don’t think any of us want him to leave under a cloud, but the storm clouds are gathering at the Emirates.

    In hindsight, he should’ve left after he won the FA cup a couple of years ago, gone out on a high, or at least gone up to be a director.

    Maybe we’ll be toe to toe for Guardiola when he decides to move on…..

  27. I think we need to be far more arrogant at home. Not the players, the manager. The players are arrogant enough already.

    By that I don’t mean more of this ‘we’ll definitely score some time so we don’t really need to try’ arrogance that the players seem to have in so many of our games where we end up not doing anything until the 80th minute and then coming away with a loss or draw.

    What I mean is being bold. Play two strikers at home. We’re Arsenal. Teams fear playing us at the Emirates. I think we’re showing too much respect to other teams. We don’t go in for the kill from the first whistle because we’re scared that they might counterattack us. Well now we have Coquelin to deal with that. We wait until the 80th minute when we have to score and there’s no point sitting back because if we don’t we’re only playing for a point anyways. We need to be braver and attack more. From the first minute until the game is won.

    Walcott can’t hold the ball up but is lethal running in behind. Giroud is great at holding the ball up but can’t outrun a tortoise. Anyone good at adding things together?

    Playing a 4-4-2 is what Man City do. Aguero isn’t good at holding the ball, that’s why he’s had the likes of Dzeko and Bony playing alongside him.

    Yep that means we’ll have to leave out a creative player too. So? What’s the point of having all these creative players on the pitch and no one to actually create chances for?

    1. One thing i dont understand what you say sir. When a player is eable to beat players with ease, and hit the ball the way he wants to, so in ends up in the goal, whats point in this hold up play in first place then?

      Aguero plays also alone up front and doesnt need a second striker besides him. And also. Giroud is not good in holding the ball for others. He tends to lose all his duels during the match. The Liverpool game was a good example. We played with 10 men. The opposite of Giroud was Benteke. This is what you call Hold up play. Power football. Beating players with might and runs. Understand the diff.

  28. Right now Wenger should be making a £50m (€68.2M) take it or leave it offer to Napoli for Higuain. That guy has a career statistic of 1 goal every 2 games, had better goal ratio at Madrid than Benzema.

  29. Walcott hasnt really worked out well as CF, he has worked out exremely well at his position.
    I agree with Mick above, why not the two together?
    A small gamble (fashion Word today) leaving out Coq alone frontin the back Four and Santi as CAM

  30. Reports saying that Man CIty are yet again buying a player. De Bruyne is close to signing now. They are now strengthening depth of squad, where as we still need to strengthen our first team lineup.

    1. They obviously want to win things and have identified what is needed to help them do so.

      #ArseOverShity?

  31. Malaise…t’is a good word but a bad situation to know we are under a perpetual one…

    hTeeTeeP://www.espnfc.com/blog/espn-fc-united/68/post/2580813/arsenal-malaise-under-arsene-wenger-run-deep

  32. So admin, what happened to the rules about being abusive and the use of abusive language. Just because the C word is spelt with a K, it’s still the C word. Some of the stuff being said on this thread about the manager and certain fans is disgusting. Shame on you!

  33. Can’t see TW putting up with this. He is far far better then OG and that was right fa cup yeah. He should start in all games simple. I would rest A S and put ox on in place of Rambo. I think he is over rated my self

  34. What a mad world we are living at. Crazy money being wasted in something like football. This is not normal anymore. The diff between Giroud and Walcott talentwise is not big. What one player lacks, the other owns it. If it was for me. I would have sold Walcott and never give him 140k. That simple criminal for a bench player. Same goes with Giroud. 130k i heard he earns and this is sheer bs.

    Wenger is a clown for doing this. Fack you all. Thank you.

  35. I don’t hate Wenger but wish l cud just convince him to join Monaco…… again… Guy is stubborn like a donkey……

  36. Why is it every team in the EPL championship div 1 so in have made there teams better 9 out of 10 teams around the world have but we don’t??? AW is arrogant and out dated simple. So what he won the FA cup again so what shit Wigan won it? He needs to sort this team out big time. DM CB AM CF new manager. So much of that team could go we don’t even have a club captain that plays ffs we are a laughing stock

  37. Wenger doesnt start Walcott because he sucks. He is a one dimensional player, and he isnt even that fast anymor. What worries me is that mighty Ox doesnt play as much as he deserves. I think we should play him on right flank, and Ramsey and Ozil in the middle, with Casorla on bench. That means that Ozil will have more ball in the feet, while Rambo will play more deep, and I think we would be stronger in defence. That also leaves us with an option to sub Mesut for Santi if Mesut has one of his bad games.

  38. I personally feel that Giroud should be benched and Theo given a good chance to prove himself for more than a single game, Giroud has failed to win us the game and I think he was a weak link in the team against l’pool.

    Giroud wasn’t charging players down, when he does, he makes a difference. When he doesn’t then he becomes a lazy git who can’t hit a barn door. Giroud didn’t press the opposition, when Theo came on he was moving constantly and that is what we need.

    Until Giroud rediscovers his desire to chase down balls he should be benched, what is the point of having Theo if you don’t use him when Giroud is in poor form? Lets see Theos hunger!

  39. When wenger contract expires I think it is time he steps down and gives someone else a chance to succeed. It’s is not for me to decide which manager takes over that is the job of the owners. Unfortunately I can not see any major managers taking the job at Arsenal as no one who wants to fully reinvest on the team will be appointed for the job. So I will expect a grass root Yes sir no sir manager who will try to work with what he has but at least try tinker with tactics and formation which would be a step in the right direction. Wenger has been great in the earlier days of his career but he cannot take us any further. You can be AKB or Aob the truth is in the pudding Wenger can not win the prem or Cl. Thank you wenger but when the time come I will be first in line to campaign for you to step away. I am counting down every season remaining

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