Originally Posted by
Niall_Quinn
Ask that question of Theo Walcott and remember RvC. Ask why Chamakh takes 13 months to score a goal.
Yes it was all great fun last night, so much fun that as we were 45 minutes into the worst Arsenal performance in years most on here were actually laughing. It's so bad now we seem to accept it when it gets worse, because I suppose what can you do?
Don't we all want to see a team that's committed to Arsenal and striving to achieve? Who wants to see a team constantly being fragmented by contract disputes and lurching wildly from acceptable to Laurel and Hardy? 4-0 down to Reading at half time is a warning about just how bad this season could turn out if the players don't get their shit sorted and start pulling for the team. Same goes for the manager and the shitheads that run the place. If fans have even been temporarily placated by last nights comedy routine then they should prepare for disappointment on a grand scale unless things change dramatically.
As for Walcott, how can he sit there making his demands and then put in a first half performance like that? How can you not hate his guts when he does that? Sure, he shows up later on but where is his consistency from the outset? Why does he give the ball away so cheaply? Why can't he pick a pass? We see again with Walcott, if he has good player around him (Eisfeld and Giroud last night) he can be effective. But he's not the guy who takes the game and turns it himself. And yet he sits there making demands about where he wants to play and how much he wants for it. I have no problem with that if he's the guy who makes the difference but he isn't. Plenty of players out there who can capitalise once somebody else has stepped up to control the game (like a young German kid on a fraction of Theo's wages did last night.)
It's not about scoring 3 in the Cheddar Cheese cup against a ridiculously poor Reading, it's about what happens this weekend when we need a big player to cause some damage to the likely champions. If Theo steps up in that and helps us even keep it respectable then he'll have put his money where his mouth is and it'll be far less ludicrous to consider matching his efforts with the club's (read fans) money. If the kid hit the newspapers today and said fuck it, I'll play where the manager tells me to and I'll show you why I deserve the money - and if he then goes on and delivers, I'm with him 100%.
As it is, as far as I'm concerned he's a Juventus or Liverpool or City player in waiting just taking up the space. That's what he's telling me at the moment and why should I want anything to do with that? If he changes his tune I change mine. Until then he can fuck himself.
Same with Chamakh, who gave a fine Carlos Vela impersonation last night - with everyone seemingly forgetting just how awful he was aside from the last segment of the game. It's going to take more than that after months of zero production. I'm as happy as the next guy if this is a turning point but how many times do we have to see this to distinguish between the real turning points (of which there have been none) and the latest false dawn.
This squad lacks quality all over the pitch excluding a small core of players who can't do it on their own. That's what I want to see addressed, the team, not the individuals. Thing is, it's not going to happen, the greedy fucks at the top have just said as much. So as fans we have nothing coming except the odd laugh as we saw last night. It's something at least. Better than QPR, Norwich. But it's also a bit embarrassing to be an Arsenal fan having to feed on scraps like that. I'll take it but I'm not going to sing and dance about it.
Did you watch the interview with Walcott last night? There's something very different about that guy since he first arrived. The way he dropped that ball as a "joke", it's unpleasant. He's starting to look like a real footballer. At least when he's off the pitch. Can nobody else see that and have a little guess at what we're in for with this guy? Let me just say, you won't all be singing his name in a few short months, at least not without an insult attached. I hope I'm wrong. But we've been here, done that.