Theo Walcott
Theo Walcott 22 Winger/Forward Arsenal
In citing Walcott as ‘Winger/Forward’ in the header, we are perhaps looking at the single biggest puzzle surrounding his career. While the player himself has repeatedly stated a desire to play through the middle, his natural (and biggest) asset of blistering pace seems to push both his club and national manger into favouring a wider position for Theo.
At 22 he already has a wealth of experience but the elephant in the room when discussing Walcott will always be consistency. Knowing he is capable of destroying teams on his own, it’s the regular non-performances and poor decisions that frustrate more than anything. Clearly he’ll be given a lot more responsibility at Arsenal this season following the departures of Cesc and Nasri, and may even get regular chances to play through the middle, but there is a real need to see him put in twenty to thirty good performances, rather than one truly outstanding game followed by several average ones.
“Walcott is quick, but he has found the accusation of him being more an athlete than a footballer difficult to shake. Prone to punctuating decent spells of form with significant malaise, he needs desperately to work and improve on his finishing and consistency if he wants to move into that more influential central role he covets” – Luke Moore (The Football Ramble)
“Will never be the superstar people hoped for when he was 17, but he's quietly become a useful player for Arsenal, stretching the play and crossing well, though on counter-attacks he makes poor decisions” – Michael Cox (Zonal Marking)
C- You could be one of the outstanding players of your generation. Now believe it and furthermore, prove it.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Reader Comments (1)
Ever, ever so slight disagreement with the fact that he's a C-; I believe he certainly can improve on his consistency, however I feel he has shown enough ability to suggest that he could still be an indispensable member of the first teams of both Arsenal and England for his entire career. What I believe he does better than most quick players is the way he utilises his pace; for me only Gareth Bale uses his pace in the same manner. Beating a player is only easy if you make it so by using your best attribute; Messi's quick feet, Drogba's strength, Ronaldo's speed. Of course other elements come into play, such as balance and intelligence, and these are the things that Theo needs to improve upon in order to make himself better. He certainly has shown potential of having these skills, such as the run Vs Liverpool in the Champions League [if Arsenal had won people would be talking about 'that run' still], so I certainly agree with the consistency comment. Like most players, he's very much a confidence player, so tends to need to get the better of his marker just the once and he'll usually have a pretty good game, but if there's one bit of his game where I feel he's completely sure of himself its his finishing. If all 'athletes' were such accomplished finishers Usain Bolt would be the highest paid footballer in history! So, especially after his good start to this season, I'll say a C