@OptaJoe 31% - Theo Walcott has best chance conversion rate of any player in the 2012-13 PL with more than 5 goals (excl pens). Signed.
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@OptaJoe 31% - Theo Walcott has best chance conversion rate of any player in the 2012-13 PL with more than 5 goals (excl pens). Signed.
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Unfortunately it's true, we had to keep this guy because we had to stop the loss of blood somehow. For whatever reason (probably purely because he's English) Walcott is viewed as a top player. So losing him would have been another signal that Arsenal is nothing more than an incubator and shopping mall for the serious clubs.
I think what's really gone wrong with our player policy is Wenger's mistaken belief there is an ounce of loyalty in this game. Maybe there is an ounce, but that's it. He's been bringing young talent in in the hope of building long term careers at the club. I guess he's wanted to build one team behind another for a smooth progression when it was time for young players to make the step up. It's not a bad idea but it can't work when you have comedy teams like Man City and Chelsea in the league. And in all fairness any fool should be able to figure that out. We should have modified this policy sooner but it has persisted too long and has resulted in us obtaining the worst of both worlds, the loss of talent we have carefully developed plus (until recently) a lack of experience that comes about from having a youth policy as an alternative and to the exclusion of a buying policy (Barcelona mixes it up, we don't).
The kids are on higher than normal wages because we want to keep them at the club. This will mean risking silly wages on a prospect that might not make the grade. But it also means the odd Jack Wilshere comes through. Jack is the ideal example of the model working. But he's a rare case. Other supposed stars haven't materialised, Djourou being a good example. Clichy. And Ashley Cole who started the rot. Cole should have been the danger sign and the cue to make a change. Can't remember how many years ago he left now but there has been enough time between then and now to shift to a more balanced policy of youth and splashing a bit of cash on experience. That started happening as a panic measure a couple of summers back and has progressed with signings like Podolski but the damage has already been done and the huge squad we have and the high wage bill has left us at a big disadvantage.
Tie in a billionaire who doesn't want to spend a penny and the result is bland and mediocre from a footballing perspective. So I see Wenger as naive in placing his faith in the character of the modern day player and I see Kroenke as... just a tight, greedy, ignorant bastard to be completely fair about it. Bad combination.
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Stats don't tell the story of Walcott. Walcott will miss when you desperately need him to score. The opposite of RvP.Originally Posted by AKBapologist
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That's not true. Big games like Barca, Spurs, Chelsea....he usually turns up and gets important goals. As a striker, I think he'll get even more chances and with time he'll get better because he's more of a natural finisher compared to Adebayor and once that guy that his confidence he was hitting the back of the net on a regular. As for RVP, at Walcott's age, the guy was inconsistent and would chances, have games where he wasn't involved with build up play but all of sudden score a wonder goal....RVP has hit his peak now and is different player to what he was when he was Walcott's age. It's worth remembering that.
lets stop over analysing things and look at the simple.
when including appearance fees and bonuses (115k-120k), he's on about twice as much as squillaci and chamakh. thats about right.
we rewarded one of our best players with best stats with a new contract. thats about right.
we broke our socialist wage structure to tie down a player. thats about right.
this is the way it should always have been but lets hope this is the start of new things. berate wenger and the board for a lot of things, but rewarding theo with a new contract should not be one.
this wasnt about us standing firm and being stubborn in terms of giving money to a player, this was about starting fresh and breaking the mould. we absolutely had to tie theo down because he was the kingpin of the youth policy wenger believes in so much. theo was here since the beginning and was home grown, you lose theo and the past 6 years would have been a complete waste of time. cesc left because he went home, theo leaving home would have undermined every word wenger has spoken in the past few years. for once the player won at this club and its a relief because its two fingers to the status quo. lets hope we see more of it because for too long we have been far left in our values.
6 british first team players tied down in the space of a month. result.
Arsene Wenger, the only football manager that got paid 8 million quid to do nothing but sit on his arse..
RVP was all potencial and little end product at Theo's age
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No he was compared to Bergkamp, in that he could become as good.
Theo is nowhere near the league of Thierry Henry.
It's better to burn out, than to fade away.
Pretty much, RVP was always an amazing talent it was just that he was injured a lot.
Walcott is nothing special, if only we'd broken the bank for someone that was actually worth it, I've long said I'm not that fussed whether he signs on again, there didn't seem to be much interest in him from big clubs which probably made it easier for him to sign.
Last edited by Özim; 19-01-2013 at 02:44 PM.
Pretty much agree with all of this, he's really not a particularly talented player but he's one of our better players which says more about us than it does him.
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