Tag Archives: Theo Walcott

Time for Europe to stand up and take note – The Arsenal are back

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It was not just the win last night which is getting Arsenal fan’s excited. It is the manner in which we won 2-0. It was a show of brilliant attacking football. We only got 2-0 goals, but you feel we could have got more. It was arguably the best Arsenal performance in terms of style and substance in a long, long time.

The play was clinical and direct. With 63% of the possession, Arsenal dominated the play. But it was the passing for passing sake as in previous season. This was direct passes driving the team forward. It has been a long time since an Arsenal side has passed the ball so accurately, but also so hard. Gone was the tappy tappy football. It was hard into feet, knowing the player receiving the ball had the talent and technique to control and pass it on. A pass accuracy of 89.1%. It was exhilarating.

This was a very comfortable win against a very good Napoli side. A Napoli side which beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the last round. A Napoli side who many were tipping to finish above Arsenal in the group. A Napoli side who were some people’s dark horse to win the Champions League. A Napoli side who spend €90million this summer. A Napoli who have P 6 W 5 D 1 in the Serie A this season. This was not a poor team.

Arsenal played scintillating football from start to finish. Dominating the play. Dangerous in attack. Stingy in defence. Yesterday was a coming of age for this Arsenal side. A show to the world that we are a team to be recognised with.

And lets not forget, this Arsenal side which destroyed Napoli was without Cazorla, Podolski, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain and more. This was by no means a full strength Arsenal side. Or a fully fit XI. And that is what is scary. This Arsenal side is good. Very good.

Arsenal are top of the most competitive domestic league in Europe. Top of the Champions League ‘Group of Death.’ It is time for the rest of European football to stand up and take note – The Arsenal are back.

Keenos

Giroud injury would mean a change of formation for Arsenal

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A lot of talk over the last few weeks would be how would we line up if Olivier Giroud picked up an injury. Like many others, I held my breath as he limped off the pitch last weekend against Sunderland. Whilst Giroud is a brilliant physical specimen – his last 4 seasons he has played 42, 43, 52 & 57 games for club and country – it is inevitable that he will pick up an injury.

Were that to happen, it would potentially cause a catastrophe as we have no top class 2nd choice striker in the squad. An injury prone postman in Yaya Sanogo and Nicklas Bendtner (cnut) are our only two proper striking options in the squad. That is not good enough and it would cause a worry.

Writing a few things down on paper, messing about with players in positions and formations, I have come up with a good possible solution were Oliver Giroud to get an injury. It would see us move from our current 4-2-3-1 formation to a narrower 4-3-2-1 Christmas tree formation.

The defence does not need to be talked about for obvious reasons. As we move through the midfield, it would see us have 3 central players in front of the defence. This would make us a tad bit more defensive, but also allow us to sit deeper. Jack Wilshere & Aaron Ramsey on the left and right of the 3 would be a given. The central would be either Mathieu Flamini or Mikel Arteta, depending on injuries. This would allow Wilshere & Ramsey to cover the full backs when play is down that side, whilst still allow us to have 2 men on the inside.

Ahead of them, we then have a narrow two in behind the striker. No points for guessing who these would be. Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla. They would then sit behind Theo Walcott.

This would see us line up:

Szczesny
Sagna Mertesacker Koscielny Gibbs
Ramsey Arteta Wilshere
Cazorla Ozil
Walcott

Whilst the formation is narrow, what it would do is get the best out of all the players on the pitch. There would be no point in playing a wider formation with Walcott upfront. He does not have the height or heading ability were we to whip crosses in. What he would require is through balls. Over the top, or quickly in behind. By playing both Ozil and Cazorla in behind him, he would have plenty of ammunition. Also, with Theo up top and Ozil and Cazorla behind, it would leave the opponents with a quandary with how to defend.

Defend deep, and it leaves Cazorla and Ozil on the edge of the box to fire in shots. Defend high, and it allows Walcott to run in behind.

The 3 man central midfield then allows the front 3 to neglect their defensive duties. We are essentially playing with 7 of the outfield 10 with a defensive mindset. This allows Cazorla, Ozil and Walcott to concentrate on attacks, and allows us to sit deeper. This in turn would mean that Cazorla, Ozil and Walcott would spend more time on the half way line, allowing us to launch quick counter attacks.

With a midfield 3 of Ramsey, Arteta & Wilshere, we can certainly play quick counter attacking football. All 3 are excellent passers. All able to either clip the ball over the top of the opponents defence from deep giving Walcott plenty of space to run into, or play the ball shorter into Ozil or Cazorla to build up an attack.

Yes, playing 4-3-2-1 does mean a narrower style of play, but it should still be a winning style. One that should see us put out a strong enough XI to win most games.

Now does anyone know Arsene Wenger’s email address so I can let him know the plan?

Keenos

Would people love Theo Walcott if he had red hair?

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We love you Freddie, cos you’ve got red hair
We love you Freddie, cos you’re everywhere.
We love you Freddie, cos you’re Arsenal through and through.

Nearly 15 years ago today (15 years + 1 week to be exact) Arsenal signed a Swedish 21 year old striker who went by the name of Karl Fredrik Ljungberg. To Arsenal fans he became known Freddie Ljungberg. As Sid Vicious. As a Super Swede. He was loved by the fans. And got cult status. Mainly due to his red hair, as per the song above. Although when his career finished with us, he had less hair then Steve Bould!

Freddie Ljungberg deserves his cult status. He was brilliant for Arsenal, scoring many crucial goals in his 9 seasons for Arsenal. Scoring on his debut against Manchester United in 1998, he was immediately a key member of the Arsenal first team, shooting himself from Day One into the hearts of Arsenal fans.

His career for Arsenal peaked in the 2001/02 season, scoring 17 goals in all competitions, and perhaps more importantly, scoring in 5 of the last 6 Premier League games of the season as Arsenal went on to win the double. The same season, he also scored in The FA Cup Final.

He was a played who scored his goal’s in bunches. When he was hot, he was scorching:

  • 2000/01 – 8 goals, inc 6 in 9
  • 2001/02 – 17 goals, inc 7 in 9 & 7 in 8
  • 2002/03 – 9 goals, inc 5 in 6
  • 2003/04 – 10 goals, inc 4 in 6
  • 2004/05 – 14 goals, inc 6 in 7

And this is where we come to the problem of Freddie Ljungberg, when he was not scoring, he was not doing much. In his Arsenal career, he only got 22 assists. He was not a great passer, could not cross and rarely tracked back. Yet he became an Arsenal great. Many fans, when making a ‘Wenger Era XI’ would have him right wing. And many more would have him in the starting line up of an All-Time Arsenal XI. In an Arsenal fans survey, he was rated as 11th greatest ever Gunner.

This ‘greatest’, for a man, who when he was not scoring, was not doing that much. The man reasoning behind this is he scored in many low scoring games, often popping up with crucial goals.

Now we come to Theo Walcott. A man who, despite looking like silencing his critics with a scintillating season last year, gets a lot of criticism still. Despite scoring an absolute peach of a goal to open the scoring in the tough away European Champions League game that was Marseille, he still gets criticised.

“He did nothing else”
“He did not track back”
“He was very quiet”
“He was not a threat”

Were some of the snippets from Twitter last night. Yet he scored. And that is the important thing. He once more came up with an important goal which saw Arsenal take 3 points away from home in Europe. 3 crucial points. And a crucial goal from Theo. So why did he get – and continue to get – criticism?

Let us look at some stats:

Ljungberg v Walcott

Freddie Ljungberg and Theo Walcott have an almost identical games per goal record. Whilst Freddie was deadlier, Theo Walcott creates a lot more than others. So this makes me wonder, why is Freddie Ljungberg an Arsenal great, whilst Theo Walcott is highly criticised by many?

The only difference I can see is Freddie Ljungberg had red hair.

Keenos