Tag Archives: Theo Walcott

Monaco, Sanchez, Ozil & Walcott

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Monaco

Last night Arsenal were not glorious defeat. Arsenal were not unlucky. It was not a result to be proud of. Ultimately, Arsenal were dumped out at the 2nd round of the Champions League once again. And we were victims of our own downfall.

Yes, 2-0 away at a side who had not conceded a home goal since November is a good result, and as a single game, it was an excellent performance, one of our best of the season, but the Champions League is over 2 legs, and having conceded 3 at home in the 1st leg, we did not deserve to go through.

We showed how average this Monaco team was last night and, infact, had finishing been better, both last night and at home, we could have scored 5 or 6. We should have scored 5 or 6. A 2-0 win away at Monaco should have been expected. It should have been building on a comfortable home victory. But we bottled it at home. That last second goal at the Emirates putting the nail in the coffin.

We are out and deserve to be so.

Spurs fans however need a reality check. For some time, we have known that there footballing lives is dictated by our failures, rather than their success, and their boasting about us being out, and them having made more quarter finals in recent years shows how small time they are. They got knocked out of the Europa League, are 7th in the league, lost in the League Cup Final, and are out of the FA Cup. Their season is over.

As things stand, Spurs will need need Arsenal to win the FA Cup for them to get into Europe next season. There is a sensible Spurs fan out there:

Alexis Sanchez

Alexis Sanchez is a brilliant player. He plays the game the way everyone should. Realising you have a talent, working hard at it, and playing with a smile on your face. You know his life is football. You get the sense he is more interested in kicking a ball about than the money in the bank.

At times this season, he has single handedly won games for Arsenal. But in his last 11 games, he has gone off the boil, with just 1 goal and 1 assist in that time.

It is natural for players to have peaks and troughs throughout their career. Even more usual is foreign players to have an average 1st season. The fact Sanchez started so brilliantly just further highlights his current dip of form.

The worry for me is Sanchez’s response to this dip in form. Rather than keeping it simple, playing himself back into form, Sanchez seems to be burying his head in and complicating his game. Last night was a perfect example.

Sanchez continually gave the ball away, continually ran into blind alleyways. Yes, he was fouled a lot, and wrongly booked for diving, but it was certainly his worst game in an Arsenal shirt so far.

At 74%, his pass completion was only better than Olivier Giroud, of our starting 11 – Cazorla, Ramsey & Ozil were all over 84%, Coquelin 94.6%. Yes, I know that passing is not his game, but 74% is very low, that is dribbling.

He only successfully completed 1 dribble, and was disposed more than any other player 0 bar Giroud, and with just 1 shot, which  was off target, he contributed little.

You could see last night why he does not suit Barcelona and why they were happy to sell him. He is not a team player. It reminds me of when you play FIFA online in the mode where you play as a single player. There is always someone in your team who every time they pick up the ball, they attempt to run it the length of the field and score. They usually mess up. Sanchez is that sort of player.

He needs to learn to get his head up, to notice his team mates, to play the simple pass. He does not need to try and win the game single handedly every time.

Despite the criticism, he is a quality player and will continue to get better.

Mesut Ozil

Whilst Alexis Sanchez seems to be immune to criticism, Mesut Ozil seems to be able to do nothing right in the eyes of most journalists and some Arsenal fans. Since he has returned from his injury, he has been in sensational form, and last night was no different.

The reports from last night would make you think Ozil had a stinker. Bet lets look at things:

Successful dribbles – 6 (Match high)
Passes – 101 (Only Cazorla completed more)
Pass completion – 84.2%
Kay passes – 2 (Match high)
Touches – 126 (Only Cazorla had more)
Crosses – 8 (Match high)

Yes, he might not do the defensive work load some demand, but that is not his game. Complaining that Ozil does not put in enough tackles is the same as moaning that Mertesacker does not put in enough crosses, our Bellerin does not make enough saves. It is not his game.

As for the shirt swap. Some people were up in arms over this, but in my opinion, if you are the one being asked to be swapped with, it is actually a good thing, as it shows your opponent believes himself to be inferior to you. Kondogbia asking Ozil to swap was very different to Santos asking van Persie to swap.

Theo Walcott

What to do with Theo Walcott. Since he returned from nearly a year out, he has struggled. Struggled to make the starting 11, struggled to make an impact when he come’s on.

The chances he has missed since returning from his injury are into double figures. Against West Ham he could have had a hat trick, last night he should have scored – hitting the post.

The problem is he plays on the edge of the game. Bar hitting the post last night, he did little else. In 25 minutes of football, he touched the ball just 4 times. In comparison, Gibbs was on the field for half the time yet had 21 touches.

I have long been a fan of Walcott, and 2 years ago he was one of the best players in the Premier League and had finally looked to have become a man, then he got injured.

He is now 26, and as examples of Michael Owen and Fernando Torres show, players start to slow down in their mid-late twenties, and if you have not developed other aspects to your game (as Giggs & Henry did) you will struggle. Walcott is now in that boat.

With one year left on his contract, Arsenal have a decision to make. Do they offer him the deal he wants, which, with his recent injury record and dip in form could be a waste of money in a year or so, or do Arsenal cash in this summer.

I feel it will be the later. I would not be too surprised to see Walcott moved on and Arsenal sign Raheem Sterling, who also has 1 year left on his contract. Or even a shock move for Gareth Bale.

The fact is, our right hand side is the weakest part of our attack. Walcott can be improved on. I think he will be improved on.

Keenos

 

Arsenal’s Injury Crisis – A Simple Solution

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Some players are just more injury prone than others. That’s a fact. No matter how much you think there injury record will improve, it never will. From Darren Anderton and Jamie Redknapp in the 90s to Michael Owen in the 00s, some players always struggle to stay fit.

The key is to not have too many of these said players in your squad.

One of the major contributors to Arsenal endless injury crisis is we carry too many players with poor injury records;

Abou Diaby
Tomas Rosicky
Yaya Sanogo
Kieran Gibbs
Jack Wilshere
Theo Walcott
Mikel Arteta
Aaron Ramsey

8 players in our current squad who, over the last 5 seasons, have missed a lot of games, and will continue to do so. I would bet that over the last 18 months, at least half of that list has been injured continually throughout.

Every side suffers injuries. According to the physio room, each Premier League side currently has out, on average, 5 players. Manchester United have the most, at 9, Tottenham the least, at 2. Injuries are an unavoidable part of football.

Arsenal’s problem is that as we carry so many injury prone players, whenever a ‘normal’ player picks up an injury, his loss is exaggerated.

Look at the players involved in out current injury crisis;

Abou Diaby
Yaya Sanogo
Mesut Ozil
Theo Walcott
Serge Gnabry
Mikel Arteta
Mattheiu Debuchy
Olivier Giroud

The list can easily be split into two. Mesut Ozil, Mattheiu Debuchy and Olivieir Giroud have very good injury records. The rest have extremely poor records.

You can not legislate for Giroud injury his ankle blocking a clearance, or Debuchy being crocked in a horrendous challenge, or even the odd knee or hamstring here and there.

But what you can do is ensure that you limit the effect by having a very fit squad. Unfortunately Arsenal do not have that.

By the time we pick up our 2/3 ‘normal’ injuries that every club suffers, we already have 4/5 long term injuries to our injury prone players. This then puts us in an injury crisis.

At Arsenal, over the last 4/5 years, we have always had 4/5 long term injuries, the same handful of players going in and out the treatment room. This then makes it seem like our injury crisis is never ending, as a combination of the above players will always be out.

So how do we solve our current ongoing injury crisis? It is not by changing the training ground, or the medical staff, its by changing the playing staff.

First out of the door should be Tomas Rosicky, Abou Diaby and Yaya Sanogo. These three have been forever injured. They have missed more games than they have played. The ironic thing is that by selling them, it will actually make no difference on the 1st team squad, as neither will be missed. But what it will do is create a bit of a mental change. It would immediately reduce our ‘injury list’ by 3.

The others create a controversial debate:

Jack Wilshere or Aaron Ramsey

It seems one of either Jack Wilshere or Aaron Ramsey is always injured. In the 90s, we mocked Spurs & Liverpool fans for putting Redknapp and Anderton on such a pedastool, yet both were always injured. No point being a brilliant player if you are injured. Wilshere & Ramsey for Arsenal are quickly falling down a similar slide.

Both are talented, but both miss a lot of games. The harsh side of me says ‘get rid of both, we have the money to buy equally as talented, but less injury prone players’. The more moderate side of me thinks we should dump one of them.

As previously said, you can afford to carry one or two injury prone players. At the moment, Arsenal are trying to carry 2 in the same position. Jack Wilshere’s injury record concerns me more than Aaron Ramsey’s. He has not played over 30 league games since his break through season – 2010/11. Is it time we were ruthless and cut our losses with him? Buy someone better and less injury prone? Think with your head, not your heart

Kieran Gibbs

Kieran Gibbs is now 25. When he is on the pitch, he is a great full back. In my opinion, he is England’s best. His record is worse than Wilshere’s, in the fact he has never played more than 30 league games. He really is made of glass.

He is another one who I always think should we cash in on. He can not even be trusted to remain as second choice left back, as chances are high that if the 1st choice left back was injured, he would be too.

It is another head over heart decision. If Kieran Gibbs can not play over 30 league games, should he be at Arsenal?

Theo Walcott

In his younger days, Theo Walcott had a lot of injuries. Many of these were associated with weak shoulders, which he has since had pinned in. His latest injury is a tad abnormal. I put it down to one of the ‘normal injuries’ that every side suffers during the course of a season.

The question over Walcott is how does he return from his injury. He has already had a few set backs, and a player who relied so much on pace, would he have lost a yard having been out for nearly a year?

If it is clear he has lost something, or he does continue to break down, we should flog him quickly. Cash in whilst his stock is high, and move on. Let’s not carry him. Let’s not hope that one day it will improve. It rarely does.

So who would I ship out:

Definitely out

Abou Diaby
Yaya Sanogo
Tomas Rosicky

On a last chance

Kieran Gibbs
Jack Wilshere or Aaron Ramsey

Give him time

Theo Walcott

Arsenal carrying injury prone players is not a new things. Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie and Thomas Vermalaen all had poor records before we signed them, yet we still signed them. Decisions like this just opens us up to entering an injury crisis.

To solve our injury woe’s, we do not need to reinvent the wheel, we just need to ensure that we have a squad full of players with good injury records. Stop buying players with poor records. Ship out the players with poor records.

It really is that simple.

Keenos

 

4 current Arsenal stars better than Cesc Fabregas

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OK, I am fed up. Cesc Fabregas joined Chelsea, and a few days ago, had a decent game for them, setting up 2 goals. Unlike many, however, I am not fed up due to Cesc playing in the blue of Chelsea. I am fed up due to the lack of respect Arsenal fan’s are giving to players in the current Arsenal side. I am going to make 2 statements:

Cesc Fabregas would not get into the Arsenal 1st team
There are 4 players better than Cesc who would keep him out

Mesut Ozil

Cesc Fabregas and Mesut Ozil are direct comparators. Both play in the number 10 role. The attacking midfielder. It is the presence of Ozil that led to Arsene Wenger not buying Cesc. And lets look at the stats.

Lets compare their stats since 2011/12 (when Cesc left Arsenal) for club and country (League, Europe and Inteernationals):

Cesc Fabregas: 134 games, 40 assists
Mesut Ozil: 135 games, 52 assists

Ozil is the king of assists, Fabregas is merely the prince.

Alexis Sanchez

The story go’s that when we were in Barcelona to discuss the Alexis Sanchez deal, Cesc got word of it and was excited as he thought Arsenal were coming in for him. He called Wenger and was promptly told it was Alexis Sanchez that we were after. Both were available, we chose Sanchez.

Both men joined Barcelona in the summer of 2011, how did they fair?

Cesc Fabregas: 151 games, 42 goals
Alexis Sanchez: 141 games, 47 goals

If we were after pace and goals, Sanchez is the better player.

Theo Walcott

Cesc Fabregas had his best season at Arsenal when he was 22. Theo Walcott also had his best season in an Arsenal shirt at the age of 22.

2009/10: Cesc Fabregas, 19 goals
2012/13: Theo Walcott, 21 goals

And remember, Cesc took penalties!

Aaron Ramsey

One way to accommodate Cesc Fabregas would be to drop him deeper, behind Ozil. That would result in dropping Aaron Ramsey. CRAZY. Lets look at the full league stats from last season:RamseyvCescIt is no contest. Aaron Ramsey out performs Cesc is almost every important department of an all-round central midfielder.

 

So next time you are sitting crying over Cesc, or getting angry that we did not sign him, remember, we have 4 players in our side who would keep it out.

My bet of the season? Ramsey, Walcott and Sanchez to score more goals than Cesc, Mesut Ozil to get more assists.

£27million to buy a player to sit on our bench? No thanks.

Keenos