Sign da ting Theo. Just hope he was not playing to be put in the shop window.
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Sign da ting Theo. Just hope he was not playing to be put in the shop window.
True, Reading weren't as solid but what I like with Theo is that he's quick enough to drop back to play a one two and then dart into the box so someone like Santi or Wilshere can play him in. Plus, because he's always on the move it makes it hard for him to be marked and if they get too close to him he'll drag them out of position. He'll link up well with Santi, JW, Pod and Ox better because he's not so static but he also doesn't lose focus on getting into goal scoring positions. But at least he's shown he can play up front. Played in some good passes, good touches and knew what to do when he had his back to goal. Didn't lose it with a loose touch or get bundled over.Quote:
Originally Posted by Synti Claus
even with a deep lying defence his pace can still stretch and keep them there which helps the midfield lot. promising start there tonight.
As Nevile said, even though he's small, back in his day he'd prefer to play against a big man like Giroud because he knows he won't run in behind him and you can get close to a more static striker. A guy that's always moving and so quick is a nightmare. But not to take anything away from Giorud because I think we'll need his style for certain games.
seriously, as i've said before, if we can pay so many average joes good wages, if money is the sticking point for theo, just pay the lad. he is becoming our most important player in terms of end product and if others before him have been paid in accordance with that status, he should get it.
either way, just sort it out gazidis/wenger/agents/theo. sick of these things lingering over the club. i think the english contingent being close to signing up again might help too.
Spot on.Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry Tuffnutz
Yep, we must do all we can to tie Theo down to a long term contract. The boy is developing into a fine player and make no mistake, we'll lose out big time if he moves to one of the top 3.Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry Tuffnutz
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...#ixzz2FQH33Pz1Quote:
THOMAS VERMAELEN has begged Arsenal to do whatever it takes to keep Theo Walcott.
England star Walcott, 23, could leave the Gunners as early as next month after contract talks broke down.
Chelsea and Liverpool both want to nab the ace, who has rejected an Ł80,000-a-week offer at the Emirates.
Ł15million-rated Walcott scored yesterday playing in his favoured central striker role as Arsenal beat Reading 5-2.
And skipper Vermaelen said: “Of course we want him to stay but that is something that is going on between the player and the club.
“I don’t know what is going on behind the scenes — we don’t talk about it.
"Of course, Theo has been invaluable for us when he played this year. He is dangerous for us and I hope he could stay.
“We don’t talk about it because that is going on in football all the time. It happened last time with Robin van Persie in the summer.
"It’s the job of the board and the club what they are going to do with it so we can’t do anything about it.
“We know his qualities — he is quick and goes in behind defenders all the time — and I think we could find him yesterday and it helped us score a few goals.”
Last night’s win at the Madejski was the Gunners’ first outing since their Capital One Cup humiliation against Bradford.
Vermaelen missed the deciding spot-kick at Valley Parade as Arsene Wenger’s men crashed out on penalties.
The defender added: “The team were disappointed because, of course, you want to win.
"But the thing is we were focused straight away again and we know in England we have so many games that we can make it up again immediately.
“You can’t stand still too long with a defeat like that — you just learn from it and move on.
“We had a lot to prove. A lot of people questioned us, and maybe that’s normal, but we wanted to perform yesterday and we think we did that.”
Quote:
Stewart Robson claims Theo Walcott is not a centre-forward and should revert to his normal right wing position.
The Gunners star has been desperate to play up front and got his wish during the 5-2 Premier League win against Reading, getting on the scoresheet in the process.
But former Highbury favourite Robson believes the former Southampton star isn’t technically strong enough to lead the line for the north London side.
“I don’t think that Theo Walcott is a centre-forward,” he told Hawksbee and Jacobs. “There was a myth going round about him playing there all the way through the youth game but, whenever I went to go and watch Southampton, he was a right winger and played a few games in their first team as a centre-forward.
“If you’re going to play as a centre-forward you have to be good with your back to goal. Theo Walcott is not very good with his back to goal, he gives it away around 80% of the time.”
Arsenal have been linked to both Newcastle’s Demba Ba and Schalke star Klaas Jan-Huntelaar but Robson went on to state that he would be shocked if Arsene Wenger landed either player.
“They’re both players who Arsene Wenger could go for but they don’t fit the normal style of pay that Arsenal usually go for, maybe he’s just beginning to change is philosophy,” he added.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20764729Quote:
Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal still hope to resolve their contract wrangle with Theo Walcott and persuade the England attacker to sign a new deal.
Walcott scored in Arsenal's 5-2 win at Reading and gave a fine display in his preferred position of central striker.
His contract expires next summer and Chelsea, Liverpool and both Manchester clubs have been linked with moves. "It is not my decision - it is Theo's decision as well. If it is my decision it is quickly done," said Wenger.
"I believe he has been educated at Southampton and Arsenal and he has become a top player. I hope that when he considers his future he will consider Arsenal is the best place for him and sign for us."
Walcott signed from Southampton as a 16-year-old in 2006 for an initial Ł5m rising to Ł12.5m and has scored 52 goals in 237 appearances for the Gunners.
Arsenal are understood to be willing to pay him around Ł75,000 per week but the player has yet to agree terms.
The 23-year-old also wants a regular run as Wenger's main striker, where he played to such good effect at the Madejski Stadium.
Walcott said: "Talks are ongoing and it's going to be a slow process. It's taking a long time but hopefully something will happen soon."
Wenger is keen to keep Walcott after watching Robin van Persie and Samir Nasri leave Emirates Stadium during the final year of their contracts in recent seasons.
The Frenchman is also hoping Walcott's fellow England internationals Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson will agree new long-term deals.
Wenger said: "I do not want to come out on details of Walcott's contract but simply say our desire and will is clear and he knows that. Hopefully we can get to a happy ending. "I believe we have a good core of young English players. We couldn't keep the good core of young foreign players. We hope we will be capable of building a team around the young English players and achieve something together."
Monday's win at Reading may have eased some of the growing pressure on Wenger, who suffered heavy criticism from supporters following Arsenal's shock Capital One Cup quarter-final defeat at League Two Bradford City.
He said: "Our game is based on movement and technical quality and that demands freedom of initiative. When you are in a crisis that sometimes suffers but we have to go beyond that."
Asked whether he thought Arsenal's season had descended into crisis after the loss to Bradford, he added: "It depends what you call a crisis. If you are being slaughtered by everybody you are in a super crisis.
"In the championship our run is not so bad recently. We lost just one of the last six, but because we had not won them and were starting in the middle [of the table], no win becomes highlighted. This run is not fantastic, but not disastrous.
"It was difficult but it was also interesting because you look around and you can see who is mentally strong. It is a test when you have been in a position like we were in.
"There was a unity and I'm pleased everyone in the club remained on board and focused. That's what it is all about."
He's gone.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olivier's xmas twist
So's his face :coffee:Quote:
Originally Posted by JoshGooner
meh.
This is actually the only sensible thing Robson has ever spluttered. Not that Walcott can't improve his game in time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olivier's xmas twist
He's hardly ever been played up front, I don't know how Robson can be sure that he's not good enough to play there. He did well yesterday (albeit against a terrible Reading side) and we won't know for sure until we see him in that position for an extended period of time.
I have to say that for me, Walcott has shown his usefulness to the club. I'm impressed with his response to challenge, and I think he has harsher critics than the likes of Song or Vermaelen have had.
I hope so, his face wouldn't be much good on the pitch, especially on the wing where legs are probably more important.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olivier's xmas twist
Time will tell but I reckon he might be on his way and his response is the typical "shop window" response we see from players before they leave, once they get the move most of them never perform again.Quote:
Originally Posted by IBK
Well if he is playing for the shop window and to get his move, then he deserves to be booed if he leaves the club.Quote:
Originally Posted by Merry Chrizimas
Like he'll give a f***.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olivier's xmas twist
Pretty much. Would RVP rather not be booed by us and be with us right now or at Man U where he's challenging for the title?Quote:
Originally Posted by JoshGooner
Not saying he would or he does now.Quote:
Originally Posted by JoshGooner
RVP don't get booed because he played jusr for a window. Which he never did.Quote:
Originally Posted by Merry Chrizimas
He also had a far more protracted honeymoon period than those two ever had. Walcott's an average player. The only reason we can't spot that is because our standards have dropped so low. If we had a board that was in the least bit interested in this club we'd cash in on Walcott and then throw an extra Ł20million on the fee and get a top class striker. But we won't do that. We won't even keep Walcott, we'll cash in and keep the cash. By "we'll" I of course mean them.Quote:
Originally Posted by IBK
True re the honeymoon period - but that's not how it works, is it? RVP was mollycoddled through injuries by us for years, but then skipped as soon as he'd put in a single fit season. For anyone but football fans (and certain managers trading off success in the distant past), all there is is the now. Walcott isn't the best player in the world - but lately he's done a job for us, and an effective one at that. He was 13th in the league in goals and assists last season - by a long chalk the next best in our team after RVP. This season he has 5 goals and 4 assists in the PL. But more importantly, he seems to form good partnerships - with RVP last season and with Cazorla this. We don't have many really quick players - and he would be a loss.Quote:
Originally Posted by Noel_Quinn
The problem, as you correctly point out is that he won't be replaced with better if he goes. Even if he were to be replaced 'like for like', the transfer fee plus the new players wages are likely to be on a par with what Walcott wants.
Truth is, I'm not sure that we are in a position as a team any longer to claim to be ambivalent about the loss of a player of even Walcott's quality.
Need THEO to sign badly, if he goes we have literally zero pace in our team.
SIGN DA TING
:gp:Quote:
Originally Posted by IBK
:ilt:
A good piece from Arseblog.Quote:
Two minutes before half-time, Theo Walcott received the ball with his back to goal. In close attendance and breathing right down his neck was Reading’s imposing centre-back, Kasper Gorkss. He bumped Walcott once. No response. He tried to bump him again but this time, Walcott was too swift and he quickly spun away from Gorkss and spread the ball wide. The move was only a minor moment in the grand act that was Theo Walcott getting his chance up front but if Arsene Wenger did have one reservation about using him in that position; it was Walcott’s ability to hold the ball up. He was reassured here.
The deployment of Theo Walcott centrally has been a long time coming. Some may read it as a bargaining act to persuade Walcott to sign a new contract with the club but Wenger says he had seen enough in training to convince him it was the right move. Not only that though, he had seen enough in the recent games to suggest that Walcott was the type of striker, in theory, Arsenal needed.
Gervinho had his chance to stake his claim in the humiliating penalty shoot-out defeat to Bradford City but fluffed his lines in front of goal while Arsenal’s performance in the 2-0 win ove rWest Brom was impressive; they still had to earn their goals through penalties. Wenger wanted to build on what was good in that game and as such, the decision to use Walcott as a number 9 against Reading was emblematic of his team’s philosophy. They would play their game – “focus on the quality of our football,” was Wenger’s comments after the 5-2 win. “The game is based on movement and technical quality and that demands freedom of initiative.”
As such, Walcott was as much a decoy as the player who would get onto the end of passes. Because behind him, was a quintet of technical excellence, five players who would move the ball about and revel in the space Walcott created by playing as high up the pitch as possible. Indeed, Walcott’s movement was excellent, always on his toes and looking to spin past his marker. He got behind on numerous occasions too, thriving on the chance to use his pace.
Of course,Reading’s approach also helped play into Arsenal’s hands. They started well, looking to engage Arsenal’s centre-backs by using two strikers – just as Bradford did to much success – and looking to commit midfielders beyond. For the first 10 minutes, it caused Arsenal’s backline a bit of problem and indeed, Reading should have scored when Pavel Pogrebnyak got through but decided to square it instead. But there was a flipside and Reading manager, Brian McDermott, can be accused of being a little naďve here. His 4-4-2 never really pressed Arsenal – and they couldn’t such was Arsenal’s fluency – but nor did they look to defend deep. They did a mixture and neither at times, lending to a disorganised display.
That’s not to take anything away from Arsenal who were brilliant apart from a ten minute spell halfway through the second-half where they conceded two goals. The decision not to start Olivier Giroud was almost symbolic because it meant Arsenal wouldn’t be tempted to hit the ball long without being penetrative. Instead, they were forced to focus on a technical game which wasn’t always accurate – which is where Giroud may have benefited the team due to his ability to protect the ball and as such, the team attempted a number of unsuccessful through-balls for Walcott. Wenger didn’t mind that much as long as it remained with them in the middle of the pitch, where they could work their opponents around. (In the first fifteen minutes, when passes between the midfield in particularly went astray, he couldn’t stay on his seat, moaning constantly to his assistant, Steve Bould). Arsenal’s fourth goal was a perfect illustration of the plan working exactly as Wenger would have intended it to, The Gunners shifting the ball from left to right and then back again and with four left footed passes, the ball was in the back of the net, the final one being the tap-in by Santi Cazorla (who completed his hat-trick).
Cazorla was magnificent last night and as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain mentioned, the team has “been working on getting him and Jack [Wilshere] in behind the lines, between the defence and the midfield and picking up little pockets of space”. That was achieved, as mentioned earlier, by Walcott stretching play horizontally but also, by the wide men who started high up the pitch at beginning of the build up, then roamed infield when the ball was played forwards and the full-backs supported. Mikel Arteta was the reference point to build attacks around, allowing Wilshere in particular, to push forward and Cazorla to roam. The number of men Arsenal could get into the box was a reflection of Arsenal’s positive approach and paradoxically, it may seem, it helped their crossing game because the pass and move allowed the midfielders to burst into the box naturally.
When Theo Walcott scored the fifth, it was the fitting ending. Vindication of the decision to finally start him up front but for Wenger, it was also vindication of keeping faith, when others doubted, in his way of playing.
http://arseblog.com/2012/12/tactics-...ls-philosophy/
@TotallyArsenal
Theo Walcott (31.3%) has the best Goal-per-shot percentage in the Premier League this season. Lukas Podolski is third with 29.4%.
I remember one season in the NBA when Shaq had a 100% 3 point shooting rate.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wiltord's Winter Wonderland
He had only attempted and sunk one 3 pointer all sesson :lol:
Stats :haha:
:gp:Quote:
Originally Posted by JoshGooner
Stats :haha:
Wumger loving stats :pal:
Shaq :haha:
As Png would say Racist :coffee:Quote:
Originally Posted by Grimandi's Perm
Png :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Olivier's xmas twist
Alwful player of the race card
Alwful rapper.Quote:
Originally Posted by Grimandi's Perm
He was, however, the star of one of the best video games ever.Quote:
Originally Posted by JoshGooner
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/i...AAvzomHEBJHbuGQuote:
Originally Posted by Grimandi's Perm
So what is it that's still stalling Theo? I mean, barring injuries, he has be played consistently this season and has been given a few games as the centre striker. He has also been allowed to take all our corners (ahead of Santi and Mikel who both deliver better corners), even though his ability to do such leaves much to be desired.
Seems like Wenger has bent over to all his demands barring one.
It's obviously about money. Always has been.Quote:
Originally Posted by JoshGooner