Match Reaction v Fenerbahce

[Power n Glory]

Not really.

My dad's old enough to have seen Greaves play back in the day. I remember him telling me how one time he saw him and he did nothing all game, apart from score a hat-trick.
There are some things Theo is good at, some things he isn't. If he's running at a defender my money's on the defender to get a foot in. If he's through one on one then my money's on Theo, I reckon he's a pretty good finisher. If he's in a position to cross the ball it's more 50-50, he can deliver a good ball but not often enough. Thing is I'd say that last point is true of most players. I personally think it's ridiculous that professional footballers can't consistently deliver a good final ball but for whatever reason it seems to be the case.

2 assists in a game is a pretty good return. Football is all about goals, it's unfortunate that a defender can have a great game and then one mistake which leads to a goal and everyone focusses on that whereas an attacking player can have a stinker and then get a goal and he's a hero. End of the day Theo's goal and assist tallies are pretty impressive. That's good enough for me. Is there room for improvement? Of course, and he hasn't developed as quickly as we'd all have liked. But he's not as bad as you're making out.

Greaves was a striker. Theo gets judged as a winger and playing that wide right position, everyone expects him to dribble, cross, beat his man....that's just not in his locker. All strikers have those moments of inactivity but then pounce when the moment arrives.

[Niall_Quinn]

It's Wenger's fault again. He must be able to see Walcott's limitations but he keeps asking him to do the same things over and over. Walcott's primary attribute is his speed but the Wenger loads other requirements on top of that, stuff that Theo can't do. For me Walcott would be better playing behind the main striker (who would have to be a lot more mobile than Giroud) and we should be using Cazorla and Wilshere to play him into space behind the defence. If the defence counter by sitting back that's good for us anyway but we should also have a better player than Giroud to give us a plan B. Can't be denied Suarez would have been ideal, not that we ever had any intention of signing him.

[LDG]

In fairness to Theo (and I can't stand it when he runs down blind alleys), he is making very intellegent runs a lot of the time, but we're often too slow at getting the ball forward. We won't play two up, so he's doing what he's being asked to do, which is make that diagonal run off the full backs shoulder.

What he never does himself, if push the ball past the fullback, and beat him for pace. He opts to run into the fullback with the ball, or dribble the ball out of play....which is the source of most of my frustration with the bloke.

He's not technically gifted, but he can make runs, and take chances.

[Letters]

Greaves was a striker. Theo gets judged as a winger and playing that wide right position, everyone expects him to dribble, cross, beat his man....that's just not in his locker. All strikers have those moments of inactivity but then pounce when the moment arrives.

He's more of an attack minded player, judging him on goals and assists is a bit simplistic but a decent starting point. On the basis he's an effective player. He needs to improve in some of the areas you mention but he's not a complete waste of space.

[GP]

He plays on the right side of attack but he isn't a winger.

We haven't played with wingers since Overmars left.

[Power n Glory]

It's Wenger's fault again. He must be able to see Walcott's limitations but he keeps asking him to do the same things over and over. Walcott's primary attribute is his speed but the Wenger loads other requirements on top of that, stuff that Theo can't do. For me Walcott would be better playing behind the main striker (who would have to be a lot more mobile than Giroud) and we should be using Cazorla and Wilshere to play him into space behind the defence. If the defence counter by sitting back that's good for us anyway but we should also have a better player than Giroud to give us a plan B. Can't be denied Suarez would have been ideal, not that we ever had any intention of signing him.

This is something we agree on. If it wasn't for Walcott's pace he'd be just as anonymous as Podolski on the other side of the wing. Neither are awful players and have their strong and weak points but we're not playing to either players strengths and their weaknesses get exposed all the time. It was the same with Arshavin. We bought him in his late 20s and he didn't have the legs, stamina or defensive mind to cover the wingback and get up and down the pitch. It was an obvious weakness but he was a very creative player and able to score goals. Why not push him to play behind the striker and see if he's more efficient in that area? I just don't get Wenger. He can be flexible with some players and others he's so rigid. He pushed Gervinho to play as striker but it was the reverse. He was forced to play in a position where his weak area would be further exposed because he can't shoot and his decision making is awful.

[Power n Glory]

He's more of an attack minded player, judging him on goals and assists is a bit simplistic but a decent starting point. On the basis he's an effective player. He needs to improve in some of the areas you mention but he's not a complete waste of space.

If Theo were played as a striker, I think he'd be judged differently. He makes good runs, his first touch can often set him up to be in on goal as seen with the penalty decision. He plucked it out the air with no problem. He's a one two touch player. Play him in and all he needs is one or two touches to get his feet right to T up the shot. That's what he should be sharpening up on. He's not a waste of space at all but I don't see much progression for the kid playing on that wing because he'll always be judged as winger which is wrong or a playmaker like we've seen in past Arsenal teams. He's just not that sort of player.