Is Wenger right about Walcott?

[selassie]

IMO our flaws in the transfer market have more to do with Wenger's desire to be proven right than anything else. He persists with players that he has developed rather than cashing in his chips and moving on - when more pragmatic managers would either accept that they are perennial crocks or that they will never fulfill their promise. Which brings us back to the question that I posed originally. With Walcott, I don't think the problem is the manager's vision for the player and what he brings to the team, I think it is that his castle may be built on sand - because there's no point building the team's new approach on a striker who looks like never being there for a whole season. We have Giroud who has shown consistently that he can't do the business over a period of time, and his alternative that is usually crocked. Wenger seems to insist on shooting himself in the foot.

I agree with both you and PnG, in terms of the squad, I think Wenger has mismanaged transfer windows for a good few seasons now, of course he bought well in Cech, Sanchez & Ozil but they really were no brainers and were brought in to improve our first XI which they all have and significantly. Where Wenger falls over is consistently leaving the squad short of quality and consistent back up players, I agree with you in as much as he does it to prove a point. The fact that he has to come out with statements like "Quality isn't linked to price" and stuff like that tells me all I need to know about his approach and stance on the transfer window. I'm more than happy with him to persist with players assuming they remain fit, the problem we have is that every single season we have half our players out crocked, the likes of Arteta and Rosicky are pretty much worthless to us now because they are never fit! They are essentially clogging up squad space.

I do agree with P'n'G in as much as we should have pace up front, the team seems to function better that way, some of our performances have been explosive with Theo up top, he might not be the solution but an alternative with pace would be better suited to the team than Giroud. Giroud is an OK player, he scores goals...but his lack of consistency and lack of pace lets him down.

Finally and I know I have banged on about this a bit, the problem for me is Wenger, he will always do enough to keep most of us satisfied but he will never do enough to move us forward. He needs to go now, we need a new man in who is a little more pragmatic and who is focused on moving the football team forward at all costs.

[IBK]

3 thoughtful posts, so I will do my best to give a considered reply.


PnG - I agree wholeheartedly with you about the principle of Walcott. As with so much about our manager, his promotion represented a lot that is good about Wenger. I think that he realises that with Ozil as a prime playmaker and Sanchez capable of drawing defences out of position, Walcott was a key link in a team evolving to deal with teams deling with our technical ability and close passing skills by having the discipline and patience to sit deep and catch us on the break. I think you also made the point some time ago that using Walcott's pace means that we don't have to play so high up the pitch and are therefore less vulnerable to the sucker punch. And the frustrating thing is that it was working extremely well - and Walcott was performing betters as a striker than many thought he was capable of. Earlier
this season we were looking like we had proper team balance and that was making a real difference to the way that we were able to impose ourselves upon teams rather than simply keeping possession and desperately looking for individual brilliance from a star player to do something exceptional to score.


But we have seen this fresh approach falter for the simplest of reasons. Walcott can't stay fit. And unlike our other brilliant players in this category - Rosicky and Wilshere - we have no replacement.


So we come to NQ's point. We don't have adequate back up. I think that if we didn't have the long long history of Wenger's key players being out long enough each season to kill us as far as the league is concerned we would give him more of the benefit of the doubt. But as it is, the Walcott situation more than any other recently illustrates something that I think most of us feel deep down. As Selassie says, it feels like he is Wenger is doing the bare minimum to give the illusion that we can still compete for trophies. The problem with Walcott is not the principle, it's the execution. The team works with him in it but winning the league relying on Walcott is a gamble, with more of a chance of it failing than succeeding when the player is absent as usual for months on end.


So I guess the real question is - is Wenger right to gamble with building a team around Walcott. As usual, the manager could say that this is justified. However a pragmatist - and the manager of one of Europe's top teams would say no - that this variable is something that can't be tolerated if the team is going to have the best chance of winning. in this sense I think we could say that Walcott sums up where we are as a team - an incomplete solution - and a player whose fitness issues will ultimately prevent us from winning the league.

[Power n Glory]

I wouldn't even suggest Wenger built the team around Walcott this season. I wouldn't go that far. He was on the bench for our opening 3 games and we looked just as lifeless in those games as we do right now. I'm really not sure what Wenger had planned for this season. It's way too early to say we got it wrong with Walcott. He could come back and fingers crossed, stay fit for the rest of the season. But then it comes back to injuries and fitness again. Sanchez is looking at roughly the same amount of time out as Walcott and that could set us back offensively. Cazorla may be out for a while and if Ozil picks up an injury it's curtains and we end up with a situation where we have a quick striker cause trouble but none of the service. All very hypothetical but the way things are with our injuries are going, I'm expecting more problems to unbalance the team.

[IBK]

I wouldn't even suggest Wenger built the team around Walcott this season. I wouldn't go that far. He was on the bench for our opening 3 games and we looked just as lifeless in those games as we do right now. I'm really not sure what Wenger had planned for this season. It's way too early to say we got it wrong with Walcott. He could come back and fingers crossed, stay fit for the rest of the season. But then it comes back to injuries and fitness again. Sanchez is looking at roughly the same amount of time out as Walcott and that could set us back offensively. Cazorla may be out for a while and if Ozil picks up an injury it's curtains and we end up with a situation where we have a quick striker cause trouble but none of the service. All very hypothetical but the way things are with our injuries are going, I'm expecting more problems to unbalance the team.

Hmmm - perhaps not 'built around' but I'm going to give Wenger the credit for having a plan to address our lack of penetration both last season and early this season. No point in having a plan (Walcott) - only for the player to be absent, though. As for Theo staying fit after he comes back - like all our other serial crocks, a betting man would stay well away. Only our manager would back this. And that's the problem!

[Kano]

What is the point of this guy? He's either out injured or a waste of space on the pitch. The little shit needs selling in the summer. I'm sure Liverpool would spend £30m on him.

[Marc Overmars]

The 10 years tribute - laughable.

[Xhaka Can’t]

I want rid of him.

Ten years of hoping he'll come good.

Fuck off.

[Power n Glory]

It might be time to move him on. He has to play through the middle as striker or nothing at all.


But considering we had 10 men and Wenger's tactics and instructions were unclear for this game, I'm not reacting off this game.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Wenger's tactics are suspect if they exist at all, but I doubt they involve telling Theo to run into offside positions whenever we are on the attack.

[Power n Glory]

The tactic was to get in behind their defenders and hit them on the counter. Sometimes it doesn't work out and were weren't creating much today. The passing was off today.

My main gripe with Theo and the tactics was him still playing on the left after Giroud went off. Senseless.