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The only two options Arsenal have of playing this man as a striker

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Theo Walcott is arguably one of the most infuriating players to watch on our team.

In the space of two games he can go from creating nothing, missing easy chances and putting his crosses into horribly useless places, to terrorising full-backs with his blistering pace, slotting shots calmly past the keeper and terrorising the oppositions defence with crosses that are just begging to be put in.

To sum Walcott up in one game is easy – the 5-2 win over Spurs a few weeks back. In the first half, he was abysmal, and the fans let him know it. But in the second half he was a rejuvenated player and managed to score two.

Since then, The England international has put himself into quite a rich vein of form and has been playing consistently well. He is to become annoyed at, but he is the player I have printed on the back of my 2011/12 shirt.

As you can tell I have a soft spot for Walcott, and think some of the abuse that he is given is just ridiculous. The boy is barely 23 and has already made over 200 appearances for us, which speaks volumes. However, for the vast majority of those appearances, Theo has played as a winger, which you would think plays to his main strengths – his electric speed and pace. Curiously though, Theo sees himself as a striker, a thought which has been echoed by Arsene Wenger on many occasions, which leaves the question – will he ever make the switch? You feel the only way he will make this happen is if; A) Robin van Persie leaves, which would allow the winger to slot into his role as our lone striker, or B) we switch back to our old formation of one striker playing off the other.

In this article I will examine which of these would best play to Theo’s strengths, so let’s begin.

Scenario A – Robin leaves Arsenal

Obviously nobody wants this, but it would give Theo a chance to test himself centrally (unless the rumours of Lukas Podolski are true). Theo obviously would play to his strengths and would try to play on the shoulder of the centre-backs in a sort of Thierry Henry style of play, and would use his breakneck speed to get in behind the defence. He would definitely benefit from Alex Song’s through balls. However, this has several flaws. Firstly when Robin plays, the Dutchman frequently drops back into midfield to use his superb vision and passing to create chances for other players such as Gervinho and Walcott himself. Put simply, Walcott does not have Van Persie’s vision or passing ability, which would restrict our attacking chances greatly. Also, if Walcott were to adopt Henry’s playing style, it would perhaps not fit as well as it used to and we have somewhat changed our formation from what it used to be, meaning Walcott would have no other striker to play off. For me, the main problem with this though is Walcott himself. He is simply not a lone striker. He is not strong enough, not good enough in the air, and does not have the vision. This is no insult to Theo himself, as even the great Henry was not a lone striker, which makes the next option much more realistic in my opinion.

Scenario B – Theo partners Robin upfront

This for me would superb. Robin’s vision and Theo’s pace would be absolutely lethal in my view. It would mean we go back to our old formation, with Robin slotting into Dennis Bergkamp’s position and Theo adopting Thierry’s, playing just off Robin. This would also give us greater stability in midfield, as Robin could drop back to help pack the midfield in tight games, acting more as an attacking midfielder than a second striker. If the Podolski rumours are true, then this also gives us greater flexibility here. As I’m told the German can play in either of these positions. This formation would play to Robin’s and Theo’s strengths and would reduce the impact of their weaknesses (Theo’s vision and strength and Robin’s speed.) It also allows Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain more time to progress as he could take up Theo’s place on the right side. However, with the addition of a striker, AOC would more than likely be playing in a deeper position than Theo does, probably more of a right midfielder than a winger.

At the end of the day it all comes down to whether Robin signs a new contract. As in a very strange twist of fate, Theo’s main competition for the striker role is also his best chance of succeeding there.

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3 comments

  • Steve says:

    Definitely think they’d rip asses if we switched to a 442 but I also think that Theo is becoming more and more understanding that as a winger in our system he’s more of a right forward than anything else.

    I think we’d be just fine sticking with a 442. If we can get Theo, Gervinho, Chambo, and hopefully Podolski comfortable attacking from the wings when RVP drops deep the 433 actually turns into a 442 naturally and either winger can play off each other along with RVP and the midfielders.

    David Villa doesn’t mind playing along the wing for Barca even though he’s the best striker the Spanish NT has because he plays as a left forward.

  • Thiago says:

    Stop bieng stupid,442 is a dead formation.it leaves your midfield exposed and there would be a lack of creativity.Look around you,everyone is moving forward and youre still trying to cling onto past succeses.We have different players now and we cant play a style that suited other players.Your insistence on us playing 442 shows that you do not evaluate every factor before you speak.

  • Dean Roberts says:

    Keep the responses coming! Love hearing what other people have to say about the articles, there’s a very good chance you’ve got ideas that I hadn’t even considered! I like Steve’s point about Villa, but in barca, to be truthful nobody really has fixed positions. They swap and change constantly and its not unusual to see villa playing in midfield, so I think the comparison isn’t ideal, but I definitely see what you mean! Sort of like podolkski in the sense that he’s comfortable in either position and isn’t a natural winger. Also agree with Thiago in some sense, but our old 442 wasn’t an orthadox 442, it tended to swap between 4411, 433, and 451 depending on how deep Pires, Ljungberg and Bergkamp dropped.

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