Theo Walcott says that while Arsene Wenger cops flack for the team’s poor performances and results in January, the players are not exempt from criticism.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Walcott said, “The manager will take all the stick but he looks after us. He believes in us. As players we need to look at ourselves. We need to take responsibility.
“The last few games haven’t been good enough. The worst thing is we have a lot of regrets. There are games we could have won. When you go to Swansea and score two goals you should win.”
Whether or not Theo is making reference to a poor defensive display is open to interpretation but with the England international and children’s book writer the latest to come out and give his backing to the manager, it’s now paramount that the players put their money where their mouths are and back that up with performance against Aston Villa on Saturday.
Walcott has also backed captain Robin van Persie who was, rather lazily, thrust into the spotlight of the Ox sub having being caught on TV mouthing ‘NOOOOoOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, Mendoooooozzzzzaaaaaaaaaaa!” when the change was being made.
“We always like to reflect on the game in the dressing room, even at half-time, sharing our feelings on the game,” said Walcott. “Robin is a great captain who wants to win. He believes in the team and knows the team can do better.”
Meanwhile, van Persie has urged his team to pick themselves up and focus on winning something this season.
“This could still be a good season for us. We have the FA Cup to look forward to and the Champions League. We will all be giving 100 per cent to make sure we bring one of those trophies home, hopefully both of them.
“Let’s all stick together and fight.”
Maybe he should reflect on his performances more implicitly and then the teams. What has he done since the Chel$ki game?
Just a thought.
The greater question is: What have a lot of our players done since the Chelsea game?
got injured?
Perhaps he is too busy thinking about his next book.
I heard that they asked various footballers which book they
would most like to read.TW chose his own.
Perhaps it’s not just as a footballer he thinks he is better
than he really is
Considering his book was probably ghost written, it’s not too far-fetched that Walcott would want to read it and find out more about himself.
The team are making all the right noises but aren’t showing it on the pitch. Wenger protects the players far too much in my opinion and they need to stand up and be counted.
Blaming the manager is all part and parcel of the game these days but as soon as the players cross that little white line, all talk of tactics and preparation can go out the window.
When Robbie Fowler used to cross the little white line, the telly usually went out the window.
Zing!
Of course the Bank Manager to blame, he made us wait 7 years and end up with some crap like Theo!!!!!
Sadly, the Bank Manager can’t even see it.
Honestly mate, the whole ‘Bank Manager’ thing is quite dull. It wasn’t really that funny the first time, and it’s like you’re trying to make it your vita opus or something.. Don’t keep doing it to yourself.
As an aside, these vague platitudes we hear are also pretty boring. Maybe it would be better if the players didn’t have media training, then they might say something interesting every so often.
someone’s been watching too much Deal or No Deal…
Spooner, I never wanted you to laugh, your head far up Arsens arse you wouldn’t be able to laugh even if you wanted to. It hurts you baldy someone calling your beloved arsene a Bank Manager and not “the best manager in the whole world”. To me he lost being a football manager since we moved to the new place. He is to me not only a Bank Manager, he is a Control Freak too. Now Jack is out for the season and we have money to spend, lets wait and see what “arsene knows” going to do about it.… Read more »
It doesn’t hurt or upset me, Cygan. It’s just a shit comment, and you repeating it so often like you’ve struck gold is irritating. That’s all I was saying..
I’ve no idea who you thought you were quoting – it wasn’t me. Also, why are you calling me baldy?
I know it doesn’t hurt you or upset you. You are a loser, nothing gets to you.
And, baldy, quoting you? WTF? are you lost kido????
let’s hope his action speaks as loud as his words. Sick of all the talk before games just to fall flat on our preverbials again.
Fall flat on our balls? 🙂
Sounds painful.
Less empty PR appearances, more training please Theo. Thats all we want.
He himself should know better that he is among the most underperformed player recently. But we all know Theo is not an all round footballer, he is quite a one dimensional player, albeit some fantastic performance this season.
His game might be affected by playing with unnatural fullback but there are times when he just can’t do simple thing properly. Let’s hope he can become more consistent as we all know just what he can do.
Oh yeah, i still prefer Oxlade to be ahead of him at the moment.
Oh no, don’t say Theo has been rubbish, the stats will be pulled out just as we use to do with Denilson. some would rather deny their eyes and what they see and believe the stats and pass completion.
Theo is simply has no football brain, sprinter become a footballer by a chance. Every winger worked out how to put Evra on his ass apart from our sprinter.
nothing better then to compare AOC’s skill in the last game. Left Evra rooted!
I am getting tired of player after player coming out and reciting the usual drivel about paying back the managers faith in us, learning from our mistakes blah blah blah. I’d rather they say nothing and perform, than spoon feed us crap and underachieve.
Theo needs to get his head down and work bloody hard to justify any new contract let alone one on 85k. At the moment he’s Luis Boa Morte incarnate.
he’s the most Jekyll and Hyde player I can remember us ever having. I think we should offer him a performance based contract. ie 85K a week when he’s playing really well ala Chelsea 5k a week for when he turns up and plays like an 11 year old boy who gets picked last every lunchtime because he can’t kick a fucking ball properly. I wish this was the case in football in general really. Give people an incentive to perform and they will be much more likely to. Give them shitloads of cash even when they’re shite every week… Read more »
If he doesn’t like it we can just offer it to him the next day when he’s back to being Jekyll and he’ll accept it.
Why not just pay players a normal wage? If i do well in my career, every year i could earn up to the same amount as he does a week.
I often think that too Steve, but we know very well there’s a lot of money in TV rights etc in football and the players are the ones who play the game that attracts all the money, so they have the monopoly these days. I don’t like how it is, it’s just the world we live in now and there needs to be some way of managing these gross amounts of money fairly. If we didn’t all like football so much it wouldn’t be like this. Also, let’s be honest a lot of footballers are thickos so probably could do… Read more »
Theo is far to eager to pass the buck. He shows this in games, in fact moaning at teams mates is his only consistency this season. He likes to think of himself as a senior player but he needs to act like one.
It seems to me that he just don’t seem to be critical about himself as much, and that is always a hindrance for top level footballer to improve. I might be wrong though. Let’s hope I’m wrong for Arsenal sake.
I thought van p was shouting ‘Snake? SNAKE?? SNAAAAAAKE!!!!’
LOL in Metal Gear Solid , thanks for the laugh I almost forgot we don’t have a midfield
Sell him he’s shit
It annoys me that I have to think hard about paying £40-£60 to go to a game but a player like Theo picks up around 50k a week at present (I think). They the seem quite flippant about being fairly average. I’d like to see stronger management where we won’t even entertain these salaries unless you perform to a high standard like Cesc, Thierry or Bobby Pires did week in week out. The money we offered Adebayor, Nasri or Flamini for 6months of good performances was a joke and has resulted in the overpaid pampered squad we currently have. Sorry,… Read more »
wait until sunday when you hit the big 4-0, then you’ll be in a far better mood
i haven’t looked back since
oh, wait
Maybe I’ll stick £40 on us to win 4-0, at 40-1……..mind you that will probably leave me £40 worse off.
heh… you can probably bet on our number 4 to score 0 goals, mind…
Sorry Fatgooner can’t come out to play today because he’s been a naughty boy, but he asked me to say that Theo is a cunt and it’s all Wengers fault and well soon be playing in the Blue Square Premier unless we kill the Yank.
Well this is a development, he’s never suggested murder before. You’d better keep him locked in his room for the time being
How sad is this when someone like you actually change his name to bother someone???
And Steve the loser thinks it is funny.
Don’t call Steve a loser! He’s a, well ok. He’s a loser.
Oh, the hypocrites are throwing shit around again
Not. Funny.
I do, however, wish that Walcott would shut the fuck up and do his talking on the pitch. I’m sick of his positive ‘lets show them’ interviews followed by abject shit performances.
Walcott IS crap. Maybe he should just retire now and join the BBC as a pundit. HIs media skill are great – much better than his footballing skils.
Good, your boys been bullying my lad, i’m going to have to go and see Mr Arseblog about it.
Walcot his as good as dead,he has no impact on d pitch again,pls lets offer him to PSG to pave way for players lik miyachi nd co
For sale: One player as good as dead.
Yep, that’ll get PSG’s interest.
“lik miyachi nd co”
Language dead also….
Please, just shut up, Theo. Shut. Up. The whole “we need to improve” thing is so tired, and in Walcott’s case it’s self-flattery. “We”? Just who is “we” here? Not the entire team. No, though Walcott would love to believe the rest of the team has been as shit poor as he and one or two others these last few weeks. Imagine if the ENTIRE team were as fucking useless as him and Arshavin! I shudder to think. No, Theo, let’s just start with “I need to improve,” ok? Otherwise: Shut your gob.
Re: “bank manager”
#DontForceIt
With all due respect, I’m sick of soundbites like this. Just fuck up and do better next time.
He’s been ‘Fucking up’ for ages now. Can’t he just start playing decent football again?
Words or actions… what would I prefer? Hmmmmm Theo saying that the players need to accept some of the responsibility for the performances or the players showing us that win or lose they are gonna fight. I don’t mind getting beaten by a superior team that outplays us. I do mind getting beaten by an average team who out hustles us on and off the ball and doesn’t give up from whistle to whistle. Wenger can be at fault for the squad selection before the game but it’s still up the players to go out there, play as a team… Read more »
Theo is currently a crap player who we have been counting on getting good for a long time. He should be getting better every training session, every game he plays. I am assuming they have sports psychologists working with the players? What is stopping him from getting better? Why isn’t he good yet? Fuck Theo Walcott and his empty words. Learn how to play football.
Bored of shit arsenal fans. We never used to be such cunts. The lot of ya