Walcott started the campaign very well, providing Giroud with stiff competition for the sole striker role, but following an injury, has struggled to continue his early form. Our club’s overall form has also dropped in recent months, which has enhanced the pressure on him, but he is not the only player to come under it of late.
Other than the returning Danny Welbeck, the majority of Arsenal’s reliable goalscorers have been lacklustre, resulting in a series of unsatisfactory results, but Arsene Wenger makes it cleat that Theo is still one of his Fluffy Favourites, along with Ramsey, the Ox and others, and is remaining positive about Walcott’s input within the team, for now and in the future.
Le Prof said on Arsenal.com: “I like that we live in a society where people always want new faces and new names.
“But we forget sometimes the loyalty, cohesion and the long-term phase that is needed in a player to be successful at the club. You need players through the generations and I’m very pleased with him.
“He’s been here for 10 years, that shows as well that he loves Arsenal and I’m convinced he will give us much more in the next five years than the last five.
“Because he is a player who is always moving forward and trying to do better. He has a very positive attitude.”
The Frenchman added: “Theo’s movement off the ball is great, so he depends a lot on the service he gets.
“He has improved his team attitude and tactical discipline a lot. After that it depends a lot on if we dominate the game and the quality of the balls we get. He is very important in the way he goes behind the defenders.
“That is a quality you don’t find often anymore. It gives us something that is very important in our offensive game.
“This season I feel he has been very important to us and shown he has developed well. He is very intelligent and very motivated as well.”
I am one of the few remaining fans of Theo, and of Giroud for that fact, and I’m more than aware of the fact that form is only temporary, so I for one am happy with Wenger’s recent statement.
How many of you Arsenal fans are eager to see the back of Walcott? Or even Giroud and Walcott for that fact?
The goalscoring feats of Giroud and Walcott this season has cost us the league. Anyone saying different needs certifying. As far as I know the majority of fans wanted a class striker added to our squad last year.You can cover a shaky defence by banging them in the other end hence the successful season Leicester are having.
He says we “forge the loyalty that gives players success” We’ve been loyal to him for 10 freaking years !! How much time does he need to achieve his full potential ?? He should already be entering his prime but he currently plays like he’s still 21 smh
Sorry but OG has scored and provided what a target man should. Theo and Sanchez have not been scoring or providing assists for that matter. If they both had OG ‘s talley then we would have been further up the table no doubt and probably still in the FA cup.
“But we forget sometimes the… cohesion…” there it is fellow gooners, that scary ‘c-word’ from AW! i have learnt not to listen to anything he says thereafter!!
He has just signed a new deal.
Anyone who was thinking he would leave this summer is retarded
There’s nothing much to say!……….
Theo is need new brain, and pair of stronger legs. Sounds little rude but that’s what he need to be a better striker.
Walcott will probably come good if he has world class players around him
@MjSayeed
i hear you, mate. but how about Theo strive to become world-class himself? just a thought!
Will his lousy finishing improve by having other players around?
Jeesh, I don’t know where to start. He reckons that “players who go in behind defences are a quality you don’t find anymore”. Now I’m not one of those fans who will have a pop at Arsene everytime I’m frustrated or hurt by what Ive seen. But if he believes that players who can run in behind defences are hard to find, well then what sport has he been watching. You see this quality all the time. Does he think we are idiots, how is this a great quality, anybody with reasonable pace could do it. Theo hasn’t mastered it at all, on the wing he was decent going in behind but wasteful. He was never great at it, this is a stupid reason to keep someone around for more than ten years, esp when all the evidence is saying that he is not good enough. The worst part I think, how he actually tries to blame the service for Theos running into no-mans land. If his running in behind is so great and Ozil is in the form of his life well this should be 2 + 2, but no. It must be Ozils fault or it must be that Theos running is on another level and they cant keep up, because one thing’s for sure my boy Theo sure can run …run Theo run.
“This season I feel he has been very important to us and he has developed well”. Again, what bloody sport is he watching. Theo had a small stint in the beginning of the season when he looked dangerous. So do we just forget about the other 90% of the season because of one moment that he looked to be doing fine. Arsene ffs, if he was only here two or three years well then you could ignore the best part of a season, for a few promising signs. But, we are well past the stage for promising signs.
I get that Theo is a likable person. He has a boyish charm, and is a very respectable young man. But its not fair on supporters who want and deserve better but won’t get it because the boss likes to surround himself with a certain character type. If you gave Theos pace to someone of more determined character, then you may well a winner, but Theo hides much too often for my liking ..anymore.
This article is the least amount of sense I have ever understood coming from Wenger. He is one of those people that even if he didn’t have a leg to stand on he would still find a way to make his hand look strong. Not here I’m afraid, none of it makes sense. I know Arsene would love to prove everyone wrong by Theo all of a sudden becoming clinical, but what about all the seasons when he was a failure, do we right off seven seasons for one or two great one’s. Top clubs would not put up with that, so why should we have to. I just wish our boss could give ultimatums.
I said the same thing on here yesterday.
Though I hope Wenger is just saying this to motivate the player through the rest of the season, my head keeps telling me that He in fact plans to do as he says -keep Theo for as long as it takes. We know Arsene Wenger’s ego is huge. He will never allow anybody to tell him what to do.
Say Walcott has been a flop this season. Say he doesn’t merit his 140k wage. Urge Wenger to sell Walcot, and the most likely reaction you will get from Arsene is that he will keep the player instead just so he can prove a point.
Jeesh, I don’t know where to start.
You claim that if Theo can run in behind as well as Wenger claims then why doesn’t Ozil assist him more often? It should be a case of 2+2 right?…
Wrong.
When Ozil was at Real then he was training and playing regularly with players who had pace and could get in behind, it became the norm to make those passes. Since coming to Arsenal he has had to deal with a lumbering tree upfront, no pace.
Ramsey on the right… no pace. Alexis on the left has a good burst of pace but he isn’t that fast over a distance.
What pace has Ozil had to exploit?
Now look back to when Ozil 1st joined us, he done really well until we lost the pace in the team and then his form massively slumped. He had to adapt to playing with a MUCH slower attack and that required him to have more physical strength to hold of players in the more physical league. This was the reason why Wenger went all out for Alexis, he even said that the team needs more pace upfront.
It took Ozil time to adapt.
He adapted.
I am not saying Ozil isn’t good because he takes time to adapt, he is an amazing player, he isn’t a god though. Some players can’t adapt to the EPL yet Ozil not only adapted but is on course for breaking the assist record, in no way am I slating Ozil. If you expect him to turn on the assists as soon as some pace is ahead of him after so long playing behind a slow oaf then you are living in a dream world, Ozil is great but he has to adapt to the style. It is his playstyle, it isn’t a grab the game by the scruff of the neck and drag the team forward, it is more of a passive style which rely on his teammates.
I’ve seen Ozil play the ball to Theos feet but Theo had started the run, Theo doesn’t like balls into his feet as he is a runner… yet at Real he played balls in behind more often due to having a consistency of pace to work with and get use to.
Oh and yes, Theo hasn’t done that bad for us this season, he has played on a side he has never done before so we all knew he wouldn’t be as good on that side as he was on the right, any idiot could of told you that… no need to be a rocket scientist…
What bloody sport have you been watching because it wasn’t Arsenal playing football. I have watched EVERY game this season, I watched EVERY game last season and the season previous. I know Theo isn’t the next Henry which we all had hoped when he was so young but he has his qualities which need to be used by the TEAM and if the TEAM doesn’t use his qualities then he goes missing. It isn’t his fault that Wenger has favored a lumbering tree called Giroud for so long that the team are so use to playing with the breaks on.
TL:DR?
Theo is better than you gave him credit for yet I do recognize Theo isn’t the next TH14 which he was claimed to be, there are reasons why he performed at a lower level this season… most players do when they are played out of position.