WALCOTT - which position is best etc?

[franksav63]

Be ridiculous to sell Theo. The boys has still got bags of potential, he's what? 22/23? For a lad that age he's doing well. People are overly harsh on him, he's pretty much a carbon copy of Ashley Young, who everyone raves on about.

Seriously rigsby ?? Ashley young is a two footed winger who can beat a player with skill and is a good crosser of the ball but like walnut he can be quite inconsistant. Feo has pace, pace and more pace but lets be honest here, his other "skills" aint at premier league level

Got to agree with Augie here, he only got his season going once the crowd got on his back after his absymal 1st half against the Spuds, that was probably the worse performance I've ever seen from an Arsenal player and he rightfully got both barrells from the crowd, I admit, he did come back well after the abuse he rightfully took, but if I had my way I'd sell him and buy someone who can actually control and cross a ball from the wing in the first instance, instead of having a fast headless chicken who chips in with a goal or 2 occassionally.

[brazilianGOONER]

Oh yeah i forgot you invented the game or was that us?

yeah, you're right about that.

a shame you didn't hire someone competent to actually teach you how to play the bloody thing!!

We'll play as we want,
we'll play as we wa,aa,aant,
We invented football,
So we'll play as we want!!

quality hlebby

[augie]

I think people are just a little blinkered when it comes to Walcott.

The massive thing with him was he came with a price tag and bags of expectation, the "new TH14" etc, the savior of english football, went to a world cup.

The reality was he was a very raw, very young footballer with potential.

Trouble with that was, he was always going to take a few seasons to find his feet. But people's expectations were so high that within three or four seasons they're expecting him to be a world beater.

For me, he brings us another dimension to our play - the ability to push defences back to create space for the midfield to play, and also to get in behind on the counter attack.

Without Walcott in our side, the opposition would just squeeze up and suffocate the midfield because we don't have many other players (with the exception of maybe Ox now) who are going to offer that kind of threat.

Walcott has improved season on season. This season has been his best for Arsenal so far IMO and I think criticism is harsh.

He's definitely not world class, but many of his finishes this season have been world class. As have his assists.

Sure, he's missed a couple, but then I remember RVP missing a couple this season (AC Milan anyone?) and we don't berate him.

Ok how about we forget about his prodigy tag and high transfer fee for a minute and look at bare facts.....has he got top quality skill ? Is he a great crosser of the ball ? Is he a clinical finisher ? Does he have the intelligence and composure to be a top quality player ? I think if we are honest we know the answer to all those questions is no and I feel that people use the unfair expectations issue to deflect attention away from the most crucial fact in this issue....he just aint good enough

[brazilianGOONER]

my opinion of walcott is that he is indeed a one trick pony who only works on the shoulder of the last defender receiving through balls, but the truth is that he is so fast and so good at those low passes to rvp on the byline that if we have a different alternative on the other wing (a player who can cut inside, have more quality, like pires) and a tactic that allows him to be always receiving the ball on the run, instead of having two banks of four (or even one) in front of him, he can be a deadly weapon and score and provide loads per season.

he's not the complete footballer, far from that, but can be very useful if we play to his strenghts. if he manages to improve his technique a bit i don't see why he can't be as deadly as overmars was.

if he doesn't renew his contract i won't be dropping any tears though.

[augie]

my opinion of walcott is that he is indeed a one trick pony who only works on the shoulder of the last defender receiving through balls, but the truth is that he is so fast and so good at those low passes to rvp on the byline that if we have a different alternative on the other wing (a player who can cut inside, have more quality, like pires) and a tactic that allows him to be always receiving the ball on the run, instead of having two banks of four (or even one) in front of him, he can be a deadly weapon and score and provide loads per season.

he's not the complete footballer, far from that, but can be very useful if we play to his strenghts. if he manages to improve his technique a bit i don't see why he can't be as deadly as overmars was.

if he doesn't renew his contract i won't be dropping any tears though.

Isnt that the point though......any half intelligent manager would tell his backline to sit deep and not allow him the space in behind knowing that by doing so you are largely rendering him ineffective

[QuartzGooner]

my opinion of walcott is that he is indeed a one trick pony who only works on the shoulder of the last defender receiving through balls, but the truth is that he is so fast and so good at those low passes to rvp on the byline that if we have a different alternative on the other wing (a player who can cut inside, have more quality, like pires) and a tactic that allows him to be always receiving the ball on the run, instead of having two banks of four (or even one) in front of him, he can be a deadly weapon and score and provide loads per season.

he's not the complete footballer, far from that, but can be very useful if we play to his strenghts. if he manages to improve his technique a bit i don't see why he can't be as deadly as overmars was.

if he doesn't renew his contract i won't be dropping any tears though.

Isnt that the point though......any half intelligent manager would tell his backline to sit deep and not allow him the space in behind knowing that by doing so you are largely rendering him ineffective

He can be largely neutralised from getting behind the full back by those tactics.
But what team plays those tactics a whole 90 minutes?
And his run against Blackburn to set up the Ox showed he is very capable of cutting inside and unsettling central defenders.
Plus if he has space to run into he can get in an early low cross for RvP or Rosicky to run onto.

With Walcott being a regular supplier of assists for RvP, and until Gervinho and (Miayichi/Campbell/Botelho?) have proved any kind of consistency, and with Oxlade-Chamberlain at an age where we definitely have to ration his appearances to avoid the kind of "overplaying" injuries that plagued Wilshere and Cesc, we should not even be thinking of selling Walcott.

[the moog]

I think people are just a little blinkered when it comes to Walcott.

The massive thing with him was he came with a price tag and bags of expectation, the "new TH14" etc, the savior of english football, went to a world cup.

The reality was he was a very raw, very young footballer with potential.

Trouble with that was, he was always going to take a few seasons to find his feet. But people's expectations were so high that within three or four seasons they're expecting him to be a world beater.

For me, he brings us another dimension to our play - the ability to push defences back to create space for the midfield to play, and also to get in behind on the counter attack.

Without Walcott in our side, the opposition would just squeeze up and suffocate the midfield because we don't have many other players (with the exception of maybe Ox now) who are going to offer that kind of threat.

Walcott has improved season on season. This season has been his best for Arsenal so far IMO and I think criticism is harsh.

He's definitely not world class, but many of his finishes this season have been world class. As have his assists.

Sure, he's missed a couple, but then I remember RVP missing a couple this season (AC Milan anyone?) and we don't berate him.

he's been shocking this season up until the **** match in which he was crap and got two goals which got him out of jail.

[1989]

No one berates RVP because he's virtually carried us on his back all season, Worthing mate.

You can't compare RVP to Walnut. That's like saying we shouldn't have bashed Wiltord for missing chances because Henry missed them too!

[1989]

Not world class, but has the potential to win us games due to his pace. I still maintain that had we had Walcott fit for the second leg against barca we would have gone through. His pace is a real asset to us and one that we should hold on to, despite his inconsistency in his touch, crossing and dribblinf.

I heard Ryo is even faster than Walnut plus he can cross, dribble and run with the ball at full pace unlike Feo. We've got a hell of a player on loan at Bolton who will make Walnut history soon.

[augie]

Would anybody pick walnut over clint dempsey ? Or even piennar ? I certainly wouldnt

[Red Member]

1989

Ryo has still got to prove it though.
Walcott already has at Premier League, Champions League and International level.

augie

yes Dempsey is not bad but Piennar? How can you seriously compare him with Walcott!! Wum alert

[SWLGooner]

I really rate Theo, he's been good this season, yeah inconsistent, but he provides a threat that none of our other attacking players do (for the purposes of this, I'm not including Miyaichi) and on his day he is totally unplayable.

Although his demeanour is incredibly frustrating, and when he plays poorly he is a total passenger.

[the moog]

1989

Ryo has still got to prove it though.
Walcott already has at Premier League, Champions League and International level.

augie

yes Dempsey is not bad but Piennar? How can you seriously compare him with Walcott!! Wum alert

sorry but to say he has proved it at international level is frankly just plain wrong. he has been abysmal and can only hark back to the croatia hat-trick.

this season he has been poor in the PL and in the CL even worse. and the sooner we get £25million the better.

you can try and big him up all you want but his lac of football technique or nous is plain for everyone to see.

[the moog]

I really rate Theo, he's been good this season, yeah inconsistent, but he provides a threat that none of our other attacking players do (for the purposes of this, I'm not including Miyaichi) and on his day he is totally unplayable.Although his demeanour is incredibly frustrating, and when he plays poorly he is a total passenger.

sorry thats just not true. when exactly has he been unplayable?

[Red Member]

1989

Ryo has still got to prove it though.
Walcott already has at Premier League, Champions League and International level.

augie

yes Dempsey is not bad but Piennar? How can you seriously compare him with Walcott!! Wum alert

sorry but to say he has proved it at international level is frankly just plain wrong. he has been abysmal and can only hark back to the croatia hat-trick.

this season he has been poor in the PL and in the CL even worse. and the sooner we get £25million the better.

you can try and big him up all you want but his lac of football technique or nous is plain for everyone to see.

there really are some unbelievable posters on here.
name a more effective midfield player in the Premier League in the past couple of months. You will be struggling.