For a while now I have been massively critical of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

He is now 22, and for me, he has not improved as a player from when he first joined the club. He still makes the same mistakes he made when he first came to Arsenal in a £12million deal from Southampton.

He still always looks a yard off the pace, a stone overweight and tries to take on one player too many. People used to have a go at Theo Walcott for having “no footballing brain” but at 22, Walcott was far superior than Chamberlain. And the stats prove it.

For a player so talented, or reportedly talented, Chamberlain does not score enough, or create enough. 6 goals in 95 Premier League games is just not good enough.

I saw a stat before this weekend that Chamberlain has never played more than 5 games in a row for Arsenal. This perhaps highlights his issues. He has never stayed fit enough, or inform enough, to get a run in the team. Likewise, he has never been given the chance to get the run in the team to build his confidence up and feel relaxed within the side.

This season, Chamberlain’s form / injuries / weight has been so poor that (along with his own form) he has fallen behind Joel Campbell in the reckoning for a first team place.

Of course, Campbell is the perfect example about how to not judge a player. 6 months ago he would have been on many peoples ‘deadwood’ list. Now he is an important squad member. So we should be careful not to write of Chamberlain.

Campbell got his chance, incidentally, when Chamberlain picked up yet another injury – he has had 9 in 3 years. He got his head down, worked hard, and kept it simple. Chamberlain could do with doing the same.

At the weekend, we saw Chamberlain’s best game in a long while for Arsenal. They key for me was that he was playing in the middle of the park. He just looked so more comfortable than out on the wing.

His best performance to date was now nearly 4 years ago, in a Champions League performance against AC Milan. Remembering back to that game, Oxlade-Chamberlain played in the middle of the park. He was dynamic and he was direct.

At the time, people will talking him up. “A gem of a player” Marco van Basten said. There was talk that he could be the new Steven Gerrard. With his dynamism, passing ability and shooting from distance.

Since that performance. He has stalled. And when he plays on the wing, he looks average.

For England he always looks a much better player. Looking through where he plays for his country, it always seems to be in the middle of the park, or on the left with the licence to drift in. When he plays wide right, he just does not look good enough.

He is just more comfortable in the middle of the park.

The problem at Arsenal is we have a lot of central midfielders. Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla. All are about him in the pecking order. But he offers something different to all 4 of those with his ability to run with the ball. With Cazorla slowly coming to the end of his career, Chamberlain is perhaps the closest to being his replacement.

There is definitely a good player in Chamberlain waiting to break out. He is two footed, has some pace, and can beat a man with ease – a commodity that is rare in football. Jose Mourinho always talks about transitional players. Who can take the ball comfortable through areas of the pitch. From defence into midfield, midfield into attack, breaking the lines. Oxlade-Chamberlain certainly falls into this category. He just needs the chance. The luck. To get a run in the centre of the park.

Keenos

Follow @KeenosAFC

This morning’s news that Aaron Ramsey is set to miss a month with a hamstring injury gives an opportunity to another Arsenal youngster to finally get a solid run in the team. And potentially his last chance to show that he is good enough to be more than a bit part player in the clubs future. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Signed a few day’s before his 18^th birthday for a fee rising to £15million, Arsenal were, according to Southampton fan’s, signing ‘Theo Walcott, but can play football.’

It took him no time to get up and running, scoring his first Arsenal goal a month later in the League Cup against Shrewsbury Town. He followed that up with a goal against Olympiacos in the Champions League, becoming the youngest Englishmen to score in the competition.

This was 4 years ago.

Move forward to today, Chamberlain is now 22. And for me, he is one of the most overrated players at Arsenal and, the injury to Ramsey presents his last chance to show he is good enough.

A big criticism of Theo Walcott over his career is that he “does not have a football brain”. It is something that Chamberlain has never been labelled with. Yet everytime I watch Chamberlain play, he always seems to be behind play. In his early years, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, but 4 years on, he has not improved in his positional sense.

When we are attacking, and he is playing wide, he never seems to be in the right position, ready to receive the pass. He is always a few yards behind where he needs to be. He is a reactive footballer rather than a proactive one.

When he receives the ball. He is sensational. Probably the best dribbler England have at the moment. He can bet a man without a problem. Be it pass or a trick, he has both.

But once he has beaten that man, he becomes a frustration again. He either go’s on to try and beat another 2/3 men, ends up running down a blind alley and loses the ball or, more often than not, beats that first man, or even the first couple, then plays a lazy, poor pass, ruining his good work.

And how often over the last few years has he been caught out in his own half? Whether it be playing a poor pass or trying to dribble out of trouble, and very quickly putting himself and the team into trouble.

I just do not rate the bloke, or at least not as high as some people.

And let’s compare him to Theo Walcott.

Walcott has been much criticised throughout his Arsenal career for not delivering. Yet let us compare the two based on their first 4 seasons at the club:

Theo Walcott – 136 games; 18 goals

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – 116 games; 12 goals

In Theo Walcott’s 5^th season at the club, during which he turned 21, he scored 9 League goals. Walcott was better, at a younger age than Oxlade-Chamberlain. The next two seasons after, Walcott got 31 goals and countless assists. Chamberlain, at 22, is essentially in the first season of those two seasons, and he is a million miles behind Walcott.

The problem is he lacks end product.

For all the nice work he does on the ball, he just does not get enough goals and assists. Last season in the Premier League, he scored 1, made 1. The year before, it was 2 goals, 1 assists.

3 goals and 2 assists in 2 years is simply not good enough. When you compare to Theo Walcott, 10 goals 4 assists, you wonder what the hype is around Chamberlain.

Infact, last year, Chamberlain produced less going forward than Hecror Bellerin, with 2 Premier League goals and one assist.

And this season has been no better.

In 453 minutes of Premier League & Champions League football, he is yet to register a single goal or assists. Yes, he scored a cracker in the Community Shield, but that was a friendly. It is simply not good enough.

What perhaps shows Chamberlain’s issues up is that with Walcott playing upfront, it left the wide right position up for grabs, and Wenger went Aaron Ramsey  over Chamberlain.

Now some will criticise Wenger for that. Ramsey is not a winger. He is useless outwide. Wenger is just trying to accommodate him. Etc, Etc. And to some extent, I agree. Which is why this period whilst Ramsey is out is important for Chamberlain. He needs to stamp his authority on games and show that he is good enough, moving forward, to be Arsenal’s first choice right winger.

With Walcott playing upfront, and Giroud and Welbeck in the squad, it seems Wenger is happy with the strikers. With the lack of top draw strikers in world football at the moment, if Theo Walcott continues his progress, they will be the options for the next few seasons. That then leaves the wide right position up for grabs.

I would be very surprised if Wenger see’s Ramsey as the long term option on the right wing. That leaves him with 2 (possibly 3?) choices.

1. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain steps up and proves himself
2. Arsenal go out next summer and buy someone
3. Danny Welbeck

At the minute, Chamberlain is in the driving seat. A month or more to show he is good enough. If he fails, Wenger will surely be looking elsewhere to compliment Sanchez on the left. There is an abundance of wingers out their in world football who could come in and contribute more than what Chamberlain does at the moment.

This really could be his last chance.

Keenos

Follow @KeenosAFC