With the club football taking a break this weekend, the whole concentration is on the Arsenal stars doing their national duty. Theo Walcott enjoyed a productive outing for England against San Marino. After a noteworthy game, the Gunners star was gushing on the prospects of the ‘Three Lions’.
Walcott was introduced as a second half substitute against the minnows by Roy Hodgson. That didn’t stop the mercurial forward to score twice and make his mark. The win helped England become the first nation to qualify for the next year’s Euro finals.
With the qualification settled, Walcott sees no reason why England cannot challenge for the European Championship crown. The Three Lions were miserable at last year’s World Cup in Brazil but have responded positively in the Euro qualification.
Although the critics will pounce on the fact that this is one of the easiest groups in the qualification, England caught the eye at times during the whole campaign. Walcott is of the firm belief that next summer could be the time to erase years of hurt and pain.
‘It’ll definitely be a big achievement if we can go far.” Walcott said. “I am sure that we can. The manager has got that in our system that he believes in us. The belief is there, the confidence is there, so why not?’
On a personal note, this is a much improved performance from the Gunners’ star. He was long touted to shine on international stage but hasn’t grabbed his opportunities really well. After this performance, Walcott hopes that Hodgson will start him in the coming matches.
Interestingly, he can give competition to Wayne Rooney too to play as a central striker. With the Manchester United striker struggling for goals, Hodgson may be pushed to look around for goal scoring options.
In the wake of injury setback to Welbeck and the surprise decision of not signing a striker, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is ready to push Walcott into a central role. He sees his ability to stretch defence as a vital component of being a striker.
The more Walcott plays for Arsenal, especially in his favourite centre-forward role, the better it would be for him to start challenging for a starting role with England. Now that he has set his sights on next year Euros, Walcott can get doors opened with stable performances for Arsenal.
But first of all, he needs to start scoring regularly for the Gunners….
Sridhar
Theo is consistent in that he picks up goals and assists. Throughout his career he has done this when not injured. Whether he can do this upfront is currently unknown. I disagree with some critics of Theo though, and my simple reasoning is movement.
Theo MOVES like a striker. At this point he is not a natural striker because he doesn’t tend to poach goals. If he plays more as a striker, this could well come, ala his first touch for England on Saturday. I don’t think he’ll ever be a natural striker due to his ability to be bullied physically, but he can certainly be a good option to use, especially in a 2 up top systm. I will stick by the fact Theo is a WF though and will never really be at his best as a CF. I just think he CAN play there at a push thanks to his excellent movement making up for his lack of physical presence.
If is getting bullied he
should toughen up.
Do weights, Karate
boxing training.
Do basic military training full kit.
Well he better, the Donkey Giroud was booed by his countrymen after missing a few sitters, odd enough is why the French Coach started with OG instead of Benzema………..Le Frog should start looking for strikers somewhere else, ,maybe South America??????
He has been with us for how many seasons now?? If he has the ability to become a great striker, he should have done so for ages.
Premier league teams are not San Marino. Wenger either has no ambition to win the league and ECL or he has no insight and did not bring any world class striker this summer.
WENGER OUT!!
Theo’s position is not at the tip of the spearhead. His position is not on the wing. His position is playing of the shoulder of the striker.
To play this way , you need 2 DM , one of whom must be able to fill 2 role (DM/CM ) like Viera.
I like TW. He puts in a good effort in all of the games he plays in. But, I think the odds are against him becoming a great CF at this point. Theo is 26 and it will be a long difficult slough to convert to CF at his age. If the intent was to convert him to a CF this should have started 5 years ago and by now he may have been a good CF. At this point in my opinion, he should be played at the RW position, and I think the OX should start most games in the RW position which means that Theo should be a sub.