Quote Originally Posted by IBK View Post
This. At the time, I thought that given Chelsea's susceptibility to pace this season, sacrificing Giroud when Mertesacker went was understandable. The fact that we then conceded anyway, and allowed a Chelsea team to sit back, get bodies behind the ball and simply play long balls through on the break meant that Walcott was nullified. Because he does not have Giroud's ability to find the net when under pressure in a crowded penalty area. Walcott suits a particular style of play that is more open and counter-attacking. Did we play a high line because we don't have the MF solidity to sit back and play more on the counter? The choice of personnel and the playing style are just not joining up for us lately, and I think Theo is a victim of this.
Agree with that to some extent. Any player would have a hard time making sense of Wenger's bizarre selections, tactics and formations. But even so, Walcott has been badly off form, of late he can't kick a ball without fucking up. He's back to his bad old days with a vengeance. He was never going to do anything today. At least with Giroud, pace or not, you have a sniff. A corner, a free kick, one of those scrambles in the box, we'd have been much better off with Bif than the hapless Theo. But Wenger won't have figured that out. For all the games he claims to watch he doesn't seem to see any of them.