About 275lbs probablyOriginally Posted by GayPete
Any other lower league dross we can sign up?
What's Dean Windass up to these days?
About 275lbs probablyAny other lower league dross we can sign up?
What's Dean Windass up to these days?
you're underestimating walcott's effect on the opposition. i know these things may not seem like much but they are worth millions, trust me. i saw it a number of times last year.
the best example was at the etihad. they had full backs attacking us all game but as soon as walcott came on for podolski im not joking the look on zabaleta's face, i wont forget it. nor will i forget the way mancini ushered him over and pretty much ordered him not to move an inch over the half way line. it's little things like that you can't put a price on. it scares the shit out of opponents and has an effect on their tactics. in the end as soon as walcott came on we bossed that game as city were pinned back into their own half and kos scored the equaliser.
the other example i can give is fulham in 2011-12. we bossed that game at craven cottage until wenget took off walcott and bought on rosicky. their fullbacks had been pinned back all game but as soon as theo was taken off they were given freedom to roam forward and guess what happened? we conceded 2 goals in the last 5 minutes. and lost
as i say, little things like that you don't see but are worth shit loads. plus he scored a bucket load last season and has been one of the best wingers in europe (statistically) for the past few years. someone made a good point on twitter, if we signed theo with the stats he had accumulated last summer we would be loving him up.Good analysis. Walcott gets way too much flak and he contributed a lot last season and the season before that. There are limits to his game and he’ll never be an out and out winger because his game is based on off the ball movement. I can’t see why Wenger doesn’t play him down the centre more often so he can drift in and out of pockets of space all over the pitch. He’d be the hardest player to pin down and cause a lot of confusion at the back. Henry’s unorthodox movement used to cause havoc and open up space for all the players around him. Pires and Cole would always find space down the left, plus we had Bergkamp dropping deep to confuse things even more and Freddie dipping into the box from right to exploit the gaps….it was beautiful. The team feels way too rigid at the moment we’re not getting the best out of several players.
walcott is different to young though. young is a 'get the ball and run at you' type player. walcott is a 'put the ball behind the full back and run into the space' type player. the latter can be more devastating. in fact having the latter is quite rare, who else does that? i can only think of lennon at the scum but he's shite. rarely do we see ashley young pin full backs into their own half and scare the shit out of them, he's much more possession based than walcott. for theo to succeed you need a good system to take into account his strengths. we've lacked that sometimes i.e. bayern at home when he was lumped up top against 6ft+ van buyten and dante. what's the point?
to balance the argument, ive also seen the worst performance ever by a footballer throughout my arsenal career and that was by walcott against liverpool at home in 2011 when we lost 2-0. there really isnt a word in the dictionary to describe his performance, so i'll make one up: FUCKINGSHITEWORSTEVERUSELESS. literally was diabolical that day, the highlight was probably when he picked the ball up on the halfway line and ran straight off the pitch with it.
having said that, statistically he's one of the best in europe. take a read of this which was written last summer, he's only got better since. he holds his own:
http://www.arsenalreport.com/statist...ers-in-europe/
and how does he fare against wonderboy at scum? once again holds his own. read the conclusion if you're lazy, this is league only:
http://www.eplindex.com/28256/gareth...omparison.html
so i think he's doing alright. at 24 he's improving but he's maturing too. he was shocking when he first came but he's getting better. he's improving at a slow pace which is the problem as we expect more but in 2 years he could be our bale. fingers crossed.
The game the season before last (or was it last year - it was one of the 5-2s) sums Walcott up in a nutshell.
First half he was just awful, a friend and I exchanged texts at half time saying Wenger really should take him off.
Second half he went and scored 2 goals
He's a good finisher and if you play him in behind (which we don't often enough) no-one's going to catch him but running at players with the ball, he doesn't have the control or 'footballing brain' to bear players. If he did he could be a lot more effective but he's definitely got better. Not as quickly as we'd have all liked but he's become an effective player.
and dont forget thierry had a world class team around him. theo has had the likes of bendtner, chamakh, denilson and eboue to work with over the years. the invincibles had a settled core that were exceptional, quality wise. theo's had a team with a high turnover rate which means he's had to constantly retune his understanding with strikers, full backs etc. he finally found an understanding with RVP and he fucked off after 1 season. then he had to retune with giroud.
put theo up top in the invincibles team and he'd break wrighty's record quick time. i suppose most strikers would but theo would really benefit from an intelligent team like that, not idiots like gervinho who shoot straight into row z.
Wright was an exceptional player, sorry but Walcott isn't at the same level and never will be, his finishing was exceptional and he scored a hatful of goals in a team with no creativity. He's a legend in my eyes.
that's something he can learn though and comes with confidence, and also mental attributes that only develop with age. he was a shy little timid teenager when he first arrived and sometimes looked out of his depth taking on defenders. it's slowly starting to improve and he's becoming more arrogant, which is good. i said from day 1 he needed to be more arrogant. i suppose we're all expecting a ronaldo or bale but sometimes players take longer to develop these skills.The game the season before last (or was it last year - it was one of the 5-2s) sums Walcott up in a nutshell.
First half he was just awful, a friend and I exchanged texts at half time saying Wenger really should take him off.
Second half he went and scored 2 goals
He's a good finisher and if you play him in behind (which we don't often enough) no-one's going to catch him but running at players with the ball, he doesn't have the control or 'footballing brain' to bear players. If he did he could be a lot more effective but he's definitely got better. Not as quickly as we'd have all liked but he's become an effective player.
on the plus side, if he was a ronaldo or bale he would probably have pissed off by now and not signed the new contract, so perhaps it's good he isn't like them.
you've got the wrong end of the stick. im not comparing the two im saying if walcott was in the invincibles team he would get more goals, assists and would look better. hence would break records (he was just the first record that came into my head). he's working with a load of shit at the mo and has been for pretty much all his career, and the players you work with affect how you play. you're only as good as your team mates and theo's has been damn right shocking.
in no way am i saying he's better than wright, that would be bloody stupid. wright is a fucking legend.
King of the world, tbf.
It's better to burn out, than to fade away.
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