Theo Walcott joined Arsenal in January 2006 and was dubbed as the next
Theirry Henry due to a number of similar attributes and hence the next heir of
the famous 14 number shirt.
He started playing initially out wide for the
Gunners, making his debut as a substitute in the season opener against Aston
Villa in August 2006. However, his will to play up front has been crystal clear
since the first day. Theo featured mostly out wide in his early days with the
Gunner, but Wenger was adamant that Theo’s future lies in a more central
position. However, with the likes of Henry, Adebayor, Persie and Eduardo ahead
of him.
Theo’s chances of leading the line were very slim. Departure of Henry,
Adebayor Eduardo and RVP within 6 years with Arsenal not buying any adequate replacements
seemed to open the gates for Theo getting to play at his dream position-even
though Arsenal bought Giroud once RVP’s move away from Arsenal became
imminent-and the Englishman did start getting his chances the very next season.
-The Transition:
Over the years, Theo Walcott has been featured across the Arsenal’s
front line, usually on the wings but he had his chances playing as a centre
forward.
Arsenal 7-3 Newcastle (2012-13 BPL season),
Arsenal 4-1 West Brom (2014-15 BPL season),
Arsenal 4-0 Aston Villa (2015 FA Cup final),
Arsenal 3-0 Manchester United (2015-16 BPL season).
These are the four matches where Theo Walcott started as a striker for
the Gunners and performed like a true match winner and also scored two hat-tricks.
On the other hand, ask the Arsenal fans and they will tell the tales of how
they cannot wait to witness the quality that he was supposed to add to the side
as a striker 10 years ago.
-Strengths:
Anyone who has seen Theo play for even a single match knows what he is
capable of. Known for his pace, Theo when on the ball likes to take players on
using his speed to get the better of them. His off the ball runs behind the defence
have contributed to a number of goals as well.
-What went wrong?
Theo has featured more and more as a striker as years go past but his
impact seems to be decreasing with time.
What happens to be common in all those 4 matches is-which arguably in my
opinion are his best performances as a striker for Arsenal- that the opponents
tried to play the game rather than sit back and pack the defence. This allowed
Arsenal and especially Theo to exploit the space and gaps behind the defence,
as could be seen by the number of goals scored by the Gunners there. Link up
play and short passes were never something that Theo was good at and if anyone
expected him to be good with his back to the goal, well it wasn’t Theo’s fault.
So what really can Theo do up front? Theo isn’t a great dribbler of the ball
but likes to run past defenders using pace and times his runs superbly behind
the defensive lines. Both these things require a good amount of space to work
the ball and teams in the English league are known for sitting back against
Arsenal not giving the London side enough space to open up the defense line.
Remaining Arsenal midfielders whether deployed centrally or on the wings
such as Ozil, Cazorla, Sanchez etc like the ball on their feet rather than it
played to them. This attribute of a number of attacking players of Arsenal has
left Theo (and any other player playing up front, especially Giroud) isolated
against the opposing defenders. Even if ever Arsenal’s wingers are able to pull
the full backs deep out wide, it leaves Theo with a 2v1 situation against the
centre backs with not much space behind them as teams tend to defend deep
against the Gunners leading to goal scoring crisis for the team. While Theo’s
own performances have not done much to his cause of playing as a striker, he
alone is not the one to be blamed for the debacle of the dream of every Gunner
to see him emulate Henry.
-Solution:
Admitting your mistakes and failures is the first step towards getting
yourself back on your feet, and one must credit Theo for accepting that playing
on the right side is where his future his. To be fair, what Theo has is a rare
gift but he is also a very limited player depending massively on his pace. It
is better for him as well as Arsenal that he plays on the right side from where
he has won Arsenal numerous points in the last decade.
However, Wenger still seems to believe that Theo
could contribute by playing as a striker if needed. While Arsenal fans would
prefer it does not come to that but in case it does. For Theo to feature
as a centre forward, I believe Arsenal should move to a three man front line
rather than their usual 5 man midfield. A 4-3-3 formation instead of the
4-2-3-1 would allow Theo to rotate a lot more with his partnering strikers
which could create massive problems for the opposing defence, given the pace
that Arsenal’s attacking options such as Iwobi, Sanchez, Campbell and
Chamberlain possess. Along with that, this formations puts three Arsenal men in
an advanced position meaning that the centre forward will not be isolated and
could push back the defensive line which creates gap between the defense and
midfield for Arsenal to use.
Theo has been at the scene for a decade now, but people usually forget
that he is just 27 and still has at least half a decade of playing on his peak
ahead of him. Arsenal fans’ patience with him is running out and that could be
the case with the management if the former Southampton man does not improve
immediately. This could prove to be Theo Walcott’s make or break season, and I
am sure deep down everyone wants Theo to perform and stay for a lot longer but
we will have to wait and see. Until then, fingers crossed.
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