Though Wenger has repeatedly stated that Walcott will become a striker by the time he is 23-24 years old, none of us have really seen him play upfront and so doubts remain whether in fact he will be a successful in this position in the future. One thing is for certain, we all know he has tremendous speed.
This season, the England international has shown several times that if he beats the offside trap, no one can catch him. He has also shown that he can hold up play – something extremely important for a striker to possess. But above all, he has improved his finishing which is great to see.
On the flip side, Walcott still needs to learn to use his pace carefully so that he is not predictable with his movement, that and also improve his decision making so that he is more effective. He needs to improve his movement off the ball because a good striker is someone who is always in the right place at the right time.
In my opinion, his pace is wasted on the flanks, purely for the fact that there is not a lot of space to run into. With his crossing sub-par, I can’t see his future on the wing.
With Walcott offering to play as a striker, it will be wise for Wenger to seize this opportunity, as there is no reason why he can’t be successful upfront alongside Robin van Persie.
Walcott finished off by talking about silverware, and how he wants to be remembered for being successful like Scholes and Giggs, and not just someone who acquires speed.
‘I don’t want to be one of these players who is just quick. I want to be remembered for winning things.’
‘Ryan Giggs has won so many things, you look at Scholes – it’s sad to see him retire. You want to be in those history books.’
‘We haven’t won anything for six years, yes. But I’m lucky; I’m only 22 so I’ve got a lot of time hopefully. But you need to be winning things at big clubs. We’ve got so much potential in that team, we play great football, and it’s just that the silverware is not there.’
So, should Wenger utilize Walcott upfront next season?
Give us your thoughts
Like what you read? Then follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/gunnerviv
Visit and Join our Facebook page, click HERE to do so.
Gunnersphere is currently looking for new writers to join the squad. Contact via twitter or at Gunnersphere@snack-media.com for further details.
I think he should play up front instead of on the flank but with RVP, Chamak perhaps a new striker i dont think he will get to many chances
He is not fully ready yet as his first touch is poor and cannot take defenders straight on his own and his positional awareness is not very good yet.
However, he can be allowed to start featuring in that role in Carling cup games and some smaller league games. Hopefully he would learn but he has shown himself to be a slow learner.
Good luck Walcott, i know if you can master these bits you would be fantastic.
NO WAY!!!!!!!! he can’t head the ball. Which is the type of striker we need, as we use the wings, and struggle against teams who sit back.
If we play 4-4-2 we’ll need to drop fabregas or wilshere or song. Since we’d need another winger, but we cannot afford to drop our holding midfielders since our defence is fragile enough
If wenger succeeded in doing this with henry,i think he is in better position to tell if walcott is ready to play as a striker. So chill out theo!
He was signed as striker, Henry was signed as a Winger, completely different.
theo puede ser delantero pero debe entrar mas en juego no debe cojer el balon y salir corriendo siempre debe tener mas capacidad de convinacion asi si claro theo seria unagran delantero
I would love to see him up front. he like a owen type player just more faster.. he makes way more runs now. i would play a 4 4 2. two holding players. van persie as a second striker.. song and maybe whilsere nasri and young on the wings. should be a killer squad.. i feel walcott is our only weapon we have pace wise. and van persie is just a complete striker. but van persie might not be fully fit so plan b and plan c has to be walcott.. i like him centre for counter attacks. just love how he plays now..
I’ve been saying for months to play him up front with RVP….come on wenger do it 🙂
walcott is a fantastic player and i think that with his pace he can take arsenal far.he should be given the chance
TW is delusional – someone tell him fast. David Villa and Eto’o are strikers who’re versatile enough to play either flank….if Walcott wants a system where you stand on the shoulder of the centrl defender then Arsenal isn’t his club….our game’s about movement and intelligence