England international Theo Walcott has pleaded with Arsene Wenger to start him in more games this season, as the 21-year-old forward fears he is turning into an impact super-sub for the club.
The Arsenal winger had been a regular starter in the early stages of the season and was in fine form, but unfortunately due to an ankle injury sustained in September, has found himself amongst the substitutes.
Walcott came off the bench against Partizan Belgrade on Wednesday and within six minutes made a huge impact on the game by scoring Arsenal’s second. Without a doubt his introduction changed the game, and as a result, the Gunners booked their place in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Remarkably, the game on Wednesday marked Theo Walcott’s 150th appearance for the North London outfit after joining from lower league side Southampton five years ago. Of course the figure should have been a lot higher after five years with Arsenal, but a plague of injuries have certainly hindered this.
Out of his 150 appearances for Arsenal, Walcott has started just 68 of them (12 being in the Carling Cup). It now appears that the Englishman is ready to cement a place in the starting XI as it seems he has spent enough time on the bench now. He told Sky Sports today:
‘As a substitute you want to come off the bench and make an impact, but I want to play now. I want to be starting games, being 21. It is always frustrating being on the bench. It comes to the point when you do not want to dwell on it all the time.’
The winger is hopeful of starting against Manchester United this following Monday after his cameo appearance at the Emirates on Wednesday, and believes Wenger will have a tough time selecting his starting XI because of his performance:
‘I wanted to show the boss what I could do and he probably has a headache now for Monday’s game against Manchester United. So fingers crossed, I look forward to it.’
So far this season Walcott has managed to score four goals in his three Premier League starts, whilst in five substitute appearances, he has failed to find the back of the net. Statistics show that in terms of goal-scoring for Arsenal, Walcott produces his best work when starting as appose to coming off the bench.
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I don’t think anybody will brand him a super sub. If you lookat his record he scores more when he starts so I don’t think he has to worry.
For me, Theo must start producing more often, he is a great player with great ability and speed but he must start showing more of it, what he did in the chaampions league was great but he need to show more of it. Once he does this I sure he’ll break into the first team and become a real asset for the club.