Theo Walcott has no doubt had his fair share of criticism thrown at him this season. Sometimes a little too much in my view. He’s frustrating to watch at times it must be said, and he also has a tendency of drifting away in some games, becoming almost non-existent, not to mention his decision-making is still poor despite some improvement. But when he’s up and about and playing at his best you’ll know he’s there.
I have to say I’m a fan of Walcott, and after reading what Stewart Robson recently said about the young Englishman I just had to jump to his defence, though I have said a few bad things about him myself. But Robson took it to a whole new level.
Speaking on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast show on talkSPORT earlier in the week, Robson said:
‘Theo Walcott is a ‘liability’ and should be sold by Arsenal this summer if he is asking for a wage increase.’
I disagree. Walcott isn’t a liability.
His contract expires this summer and I for one want him to stay.
But Robson insists it would be no great loss if Theo were to leave Arsenal.
The former Gunner went on to say:
‘It wouldn’t worry me if Theo Walcott were to leave tomorrow.
‘Theo Walcott, for me, is not a good footballer. He is an athlete who puts on a pair of football boots.
‘He is quick, he is fast, but when he was younger he should have been taught how to be better technically, how to find space, how to find awareness.
‘He has never done that and he is a liability when he is defending.
‘For Theo Walcott to want more money, I would let him go.’
I have to admit there is some truth to Robson’s claims. He may not have learned all he needed to when he was younger but he’s learning now. To be honest, he is improving and we can see it after every passing season.
I don’t know if I’m the only one who sees it but I think Walcott does track back well to cover when the opposition counters – on his good day of course.
I’m not sure how much more he wants for him to continue playing for us. I’m sure it’s not a ludicrous amount that isn’t reasonable for a player of his stature.
He has bags of potential in my opinion, and I’m sure we can all agree that if he wasn’t so inconsistent he could ask for whatever salary he wanted.
He may be ‘an athlete wearing football boots’, but if I’m not mistaken, isn’t the pace of a striker or winger the one thing opposition defenders hate the most? No one likes to come up against something they can’t catch.
I say give the lad a bit more time. He will be simply unstoppable once he gets his act together. He already has great pace, and with a bit more composure in front of goal, better decision-making and if he focuses more on his attacking side of his game, rather than the defensive, I bet Robson will be eating a large slice of humble pie in the future.
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HERE IS WALCOTT V NASRI
WALCOTT (AGE 23) APPEARANCES 243 , GOALS 47 , ASSISTS 42
SAMIR NASRI (AGE 24) APPEARANCES 336 , GOALS 45 , ASSISTS 52.
THERE YOU HAVE IT THEO IS JUST AS EFFECTIVE IF NOT MORE THAN SAMIR NASRI!!!!
KEN YOU ARE AN IDIOT! IF YOU CAN HONESTLY SAY WALCOT IS BETTER THAN NASRI THERE IS NOT MUCH MORE TO BE SAID.
KEN – SAMIR NASRI(30 GAMES) MADE 1566 PASSES IN THE PREMIERSHIP LAST SEASON WITH ONLY 256 INCOMPLETE PASSES, THAT IS AN 84% PASS COMPLETION RATE.
WALLY WALCOTT (35 GAMES) MADE 705 PASSES(LESS THAN HALF OF NASRI)WITH 282 INCOMPLETE PASSES, THAT IS 60% PASS COMPLETION RATE. NASRI SCORED 5 GOALS TO WALCOTTS 8 AND 7 ASSIST, SAME AS WALCOTT. YOU NEED TO ASK YOURSELF WHY MR WALCOTT IS MAKING LESS THAN HALF THE AMOUNT OF PASSES NASRI AND VAN DER VAART MAKE WHILST PLAYING MORE GAMES
why the suck up to Nasri?
go support Man C then, u idiot!
He’s just saying the truth, you petty moron
I AM NOT SUCKING UP TO NASRI (ESPECIALLY AS I CANT STAND HIM) I AM TRYING TO SHOW YOU HOW POOR WALCOTT IS – PRATT!
Walcott is quality. Hes young fast has skill and is finally starting to become more consistant. MUST KEEP HIM!
Theo isn’t a machine. Sometimes he doesn’t have the best days, but he’s maturing and learning to push on even when it’s not easy. He’s also played a lot of games, even when he hasn’t been feeling well. It’s a disgrace that so many of our players have to play when they are sick or injured because there is no strength in depth, and after the fans get on their case we eventually find out that there was a problem. I love Theo because he has the ability to light up the game. His stats are good, he also made a lot of good passes that nobody connected to, and he got chopped down and we should have been given penalties. I agree that there are some things that he could improve, but I think a lot of the criticism directed at Theo is unreasonable, and I would hate to see him leave. Opposition teams have a lot of respect for Theo, and it’s a pity some of our own supporters are so negative about him.
I am still a fan of Theo.
Yes he can frustrate at times, but he seems to get a lot of stick when things don’t go his way. Not every player shines in every game, not even Messi (although that’s not too often).
Theo works as hard as anyone. If he is double marked or doesn’t receive passes into space, who’s to say he’s not giving his all? Sometimes I see him making decent runs but the midfield either don’t see them or don’t want to make the passes.
Theo is a different type of weapon. He cant do a lot of different tricks but he does what he can do really well.
Like anyone in the team he needs help to shine. We saw his form dominate when Sagna came back, similarly when Rosicky hit his stride.
All the more reason I think we need a new CAM.
Thats why Arsenal havnt won anything in 7 yrs…A ver large percentage of its fans actually believe mediocre players are quality based on their nationality…well sorry to diappoint you but both Theo and Ramsey are league 1 players…They will never become any better than they are at present…and PLEASE stop putting Henry and Theo in the same statement
THANK YOU!!!!
The problem with Theo is that when his pace isn’t doing it for us then what? when you find a left back that can match him stride for stride then what?
Many people want to compare him to Thierry simply because of his speed but speed only took Thierry so far and being French he had ball control to make up the rest. Remember the Invincible season when we were down at halftime to Liverpool and Henry scored a hat-trick to keep the unbeaten record alive? One of his goals is unforgettable. He literally danced between the entire Liverpool defense, and even had two of them running into each other. Can Theo really do that? Henry didn’t ue one ounce of speed in that, he dribbled through the backline at a brisk pace.
I mean there’s not exactly any Theo Walcott Joga Bonita Nike comercials. His ads are always about his speed, never his skill because being English he has none.
No offense to Brits but the grassroots programs are just terrible when it comes to teaching close control to their youth.
JUST TO CONFIRM – WALLY WALCOTT SCORED 8 GOALS IN THE PREMIERSHIP LAST SEASON, 2 MORE THAN VERMAELEN. I NOTICED NO ONE COMPARED HIS STATS AGAINST BALE OR VAN DER VAART. OF THE 705 PASSES WALCOTT MADE IN THE PREMIERSHIP 282 WERE INCOMPLETE, THAT IS 40%. OF THE 1304 PASSES BALE MADE IN THE PREMIERSHIP 390 WERE INCOMPLETE THAT IS 29%. OF THE 1460 PASSES VAN DER VAART MADE IN THE PREMIERSHIP 304 WERE INCOMPLETE THAT IS 20%. WALCOTT(705 PASSES) MADE LESS THAN HALF THE AMOUNT OF PASSES VAN DER VAART MADE(1460) AND STILL HAD 50% LESS PASS COMPLETION RATE. OH! BY THE WAY – WALCOTT ALSO PLAYED 2 MORE PREMIERSHIP GAMES THAN VAN DER VAART – VAN DER VART SCORED 11 PREMIERSHIP GOALS AGAINST WALCOTTS 8.
for one that wants TW14 out of Arsenal … you are doing a fine job marketing him.
an idiot is an idiot …
AND YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY LOOKING IN THE MIRROR!
Hahahaa clever
I actually believe that walcott has one good season in him and it most probably is this, if we sell him to chelsea we will regret it…I’m sure
the problem of waltcott he is very inconsistent ,one day destroying one defence on his own showing top class ability,the other look like he is elsewhere and missing the most basic thing in football.
we can say in the one hand he is young but for a young player he play alot of match already in his carreer and have more experience than most player at his age.
i really think wenger have been too nice to him until now.Ox is changing everything he is more talented than theo and its not really a surprise the club havent rush talk of a new contract with theo
All our problems seem to stem from our lack of silverware. We always want to find reasons for it. Had we been truly challenging/winning titles recently, we would all love Theo. Hes an exciting player.
I know hes inconsistent, but Id be really disappointed if we sold him. It may sound crazy, but I feel he seems to turn up in the big games. And he does seem to be improving, albeit slowly. We have far more important issues in the squad than Theo!
Robson could have made his point in a more professional manner too.
Lets try to get rid of some of the deadwood before we flog Walcott.
Walcott has had plenty of time to prove himself whist he draws his eighty thousand a week, only in the crazy world of football would this be acceptable, then he has the audacity to ask for more.