Theo Walcott says that focusing on the Arsenal’s trophy ‘drought’, after the club won the FA Cup in 2014 and 2015, is silly and that the players have to look ahead to the new season and a title challenge.
Arsenal finished second last season, overtaking Sp*rs on the final day, and the 27 year old believes that shows the Gunners do have what it takes to go the distance.
“we cannot dwell on the past,” he said. “We can’t be dwelling on this silly trophy (title) drought.
“We have to forget about that. We won the FA Cup twice a couple of years ago. We have to forget about that as well. It is a massive year for the club itself.
“We know what we need to do. Tottenham had their best season last year and we finished second. Let’s be honest, we didn’t perform, especially on the run-in, but we managed to finish second.
“So we have got it in us. We have got to make sure we are at it every game now.”
While all the focus should be on the season ahead, it’s perhaps a little unwise to dismiss the lack of a Premier League title as silly. Understandable in many campaigns, but last year when all the big names fell short, it really felt like a missed opportunity.
Walcott has also been speaking about his desire to play on the right hand side as a winger again – details on that here.
Beside his right wings talk. Completely agreed that we gotta move on every year. Everything start from zero again.
Now back to his right wing talk, when we wanted to sign a striker in 2015 he said he can play there now in 2016 we wanna sign a RW in Mahrez he again said he can play there
LOL Walcott!
Funny phrase that, to dwell on the past. Some people’s profession or part of their profession is to do exactly that, dwell on the past. It’s called analysis. We absolutely need to analyse where we can improve, where we have shortcomings but perhaps in Theo’s case he’s afraid of what the results might be…
Walcott the football politician. Talks the talk without the actual walk. No sir you Theo my friend at this time your silence will be much appreciated. This is the moment to keep silent bury your head in hard work and focus on your football because very soon you’d be a permanent sub if you don’t improve drastically. Joel Campbell should be given a shot at CF he’s a bit more tenacious with a better football brain and link up play than Theo and can finish. Plus he’s played CF for Costa Rica on the international stage even as a lone… Read more »
STFU Wally!
Here we go again. No one at Arsenal talks a better game than Walcott. Ahead of the visit to OT which could have put us top if we had won, he was, as he usually is, mouthing off to all and sundry about what we are going to do. Then he crosses the white line and…..splat! Another nothing performance. And he does this constantly. If his feet matched his mouth he’d be Cruyff.
It will be a shocking indictment of Wenger’s incompetence if we start the season with him up front against Liverpool.
If only he’d said that they had “learned their lesson” I’d have a full house on arsenal soundbite bingo ?
Of course he would say so- him never hitting the heights we envisioned played a role in us having that drought to begin with. Not putting it all on the shoulders of a 16 year old winger- but considering the bloody hoops we had to jump through to get him to stay for his last two contracts you’d have hoped for more. Especially his performances last season (after we won the FA cup twice) where he didn’t even look like he was arsed to try, let alone try and just be pants. I say bin the man.
Try to bench Marhez if he comes, Wally. Stop talking.
Get Draxler and Lacazette, and offer Walcott to West Ham at half the current market price and I am still happy.
At this point, Wenger (an economist, after all) needs to refer to the definition of a sunk cost and realize that our massive investment in Walcott over the last 10 years should not influence the decision to sell him.
“So we have got it in us” Got it in us to what exactly? Let a far weaker team get so many points away from us and, through luck more than judgement, manage to pip sp*rs to second. I don’t quite see how last season showed any depth of character or belief that Theo alludes to here.
Just shut up and do work on the pitch.
Never been as confused about anything in football as I much as I am about Theo.
No need to be confused. He lives off his PR as opposed to his footballing ability. The questions to ask are quite how Wenger has managed to allow him to do so for 10 years and just why the vast majority of Arsenal supporters are gullible enough to have swallowed his utter lack of ability and output for so long before realising his enormous limitations.
This ^^^^^^!!!
He is an enigma. He can be anonymous for long time and then sort of score goals out of nothing. But this only occurred during his contract years. Same as adebayor…….
I thibk maybe Theo is probably making the best choice for himself here he’s not going to make it as a forward with us at least, could see him doing ok lower level but never really that well. Maybe he’s happy being a squad player earning a lot in a big team. I think his career is a shame cos I thought I see great potential in him but he hasn’t lived up to expectations happens to so many players. So now it’s down to what he expects from his career isn’t it, earn good money and don’t play much… Read more »
This is coming from our longest serving player. Very disappointing. I’d expect nothing less though. He’d never have the balls to say this during Adams and the invincibles era.
Please fuck off Theo. And hand your shirt over to Mahrez!
It surprises me how are people so certain of the unseen. Maybe, Mahrez or any other player joins and is even worse than Theo.
We’ll never win the league with Theo in our starting XI. Maybe Mahrez is worse but then we have at least tried to do something. And we all know that Mahrez would be better.
DB10, how can you do worse than contributing absolutely nothing?
It’s called Own Goals.
Yes of course a new player could be worse than Walcott. There’s very few guarantees in life; you have to take calculated risks. And in this case there’s lots of evidence to suggest that Mahrez would do better. If he doesn’t…well then you curse your luck and roll the dice again. By your logic we’d keep playing Theo till he’s dead.
Sell Walcott and buy Draxler
Portsmouth and Wigan also won the Fa cup since we last won the league 😉
Walcott would be a good player for clubs like Bournemouth and Sunderland where he gets alot of room to exploit. But when teams sit deep just waiting for you to come at them like 99% of Arsenal opposition then Walcott become neutralised.
But wingers like Mahrez got the skill to take defenders on and penetrate defences regardless. We need wingers capable of dribbling past 5 men in a phone booth and not wingers who need an airfield of open space to get passed.
You don’t dwell on the past. Sure, but it is useless to look at the future without correcting past mistakes. For us, that means swapping mediocre players for better ones, proposing better tactics, and getting better results on the injury front. Easier said than done but at the first improvement can be achieved quite quickly by spending some money we know we have.
stupid boy.
I know he’s hardly flavour of the month now but I agree with what he’s saying here. He seems to have woken up to the fact that he’s far from a first team player as well and seems determined to get back there. I wouldn’t be disappointed if he left, but if he does stay let’s hope he really focuses on doing what he can for the team. You never know, he could still have a big future at the club.
I’d love to believe this. However experience tells me that this is simply his usual pre season PR campaign.
Madness is repeating the same experiment time after time and expecting a different result.
Silly you, talking sensible when you should bemoan over how long we haven’t won a trophy and generally about how unfair the life is by not giving you the toys you want.
That’s funny because the trophy drought says to me that dwelling on Theo Walcott is silly.
What kind of fans are some you. Insulting and belittling your own players. Regardless of whether you like him or not, he hasn’t done nothing wrong. The guy was out for almost a year and on top of his previous injuries has never really get fully going. Watch Walcot 2013/14 before the injury. Some of you don’t even know anything about the players you are screaming. Spend this n that on this player and we will be title challengers. If it was that easy man Utd, Chelsea or man city would have won the title. Arsenal finish second despite being… Read more »
With regard to Walcott in fairness he has had 10 years to prove himself. There comes a point at which you have to start seeing what is there as opposed to what you wish was there. Criticism under these conditions is surely valid. Not to criticise under these conditions is simply self delusion.
And when the criticism starts having a knock on effect on players performance, thus creating a shit atmosphere…..do you continue criticising and bring them down to the detriment of your team? You think the other fella don’t see Walcott limitations? Why you calling him deluded? What if he understands that people react better in positive environments and wants to support his fucking team? What’s with you know it all that see things us mere mortals don’t? Guys lighten up..traditionally,historically you could call us the 3rd club in UK. ..certainly not the barcelona of UK or the bayern of UK, so… Read more »
Nothing to do with factions. Everything to do with having a firm grip on reality. I see no need to pretend he’s something he’s not. I’ve been paying my share of his wages for ten years through my season ticket. In this time he has been a massive disappointment while trousering millions. Frankly I don’t care anymore if his precious ego gets dented. I’m all for protecting the younger players but he is now a man and its time for him and us to put away childish things.
Looool are you seriously saying we lost the title because of refreeing decisions?? Not because we bottled it as usual?? Not because Theo was shit after November?? Not because Giroud went 15 games without scoring?? Christ. What sort of mentality is this.
So are you seriously saying that our not winning the PL was entirely our own fault, and that nothing outside the Club’s control influenced our season? Leicester playing out of their skins had nothing to do with them winning the trophy? They won only because we were utter garbage bottling failures? Seriously? We came second, ahead of every one of the teams that consider themselves to be the cream of English football. We did that as a team. If that means we bottled it then EVERY team in the PL except Leicester bottled it even worse than we did. People… Read more »
Walcott needs to move on, its the best outcome for both parties. He might do well at a mid-table club, but I feel he’s out of his depth here at Arsenal. For the money we pay him, we could do so much better.
Mr. Wenger, time is running out of hand for you to singe good players for us. In Liberian, Man united supports always mocking at we the Arsenal fans in Liberia that we are not serious for the coming 16/17 season because you are not doing any good marketing. Wenger , can you really tell what you will get out of Holding and Asono for this coming season?. Your answer is yes because you are not ashamed of yourself. Look at what the others club are doing. They are buying good players while you are buying 1 million, 2 million where… Read more »
Theo just need a fighting spirit. He is too clean a player. All the best to him
No more clean than someone like Bellerin, for example, who is a great example of putting in an incredible shift and contributing to attack and defense. Of course the two positions are significantly different, but it goes to show Walcott could get a lot more done on field without losing his ‘clean’ reputation.
He talks what/when he wants. But let us test it on the Poo-o-Meter, please!
I want to be a winger too or a vinegar at least!
Theo’s press prowess on show again, distracting fans with head scratching nonsense to disguise his dig at sp*rs! ?
Still having you in the squad Theo is silly, but it’s not your fault. You should’ve been shipped to anywhere really right at the end of a season and then we would have enough time to replace you (not that there was much to replace really as your output was close to one big stinking pile of sh!te). And I can’t see having him as a squad player as he is too expensive, he earns as much as Ozil as far as I know. In the end, if we do keep him, in Theo’s place I would be thankful, shut… Read more »
This guy talks way too much.
Should have been a sprinter, because this donkey is not a footballer.
“While all the focus should be on the season ahead, it’s perhaps a little unwise to dismiss the lack of a Premier League title as silly. Understandable in many campaigns, but last year when all the big names fell short, it really felt like a missed opportunity.” Blogs- agree that dismissing the lack of titles as silly is, well, silly. But on the other hand, (and this is not directed solely toward you) I think the popular sentiment that our failure to win the title last season is somehow even more egregious than failing to win it any other year… Read more »
“I fell in love with Arsenal precisely because they could go toe-to-toe with the best and beat them while still playing beautiful football.” This is the problems with Arsenal fans today. So many were drawn to us when we were going through a truly exceptional time for the Club and expected it to go on forever. The 15 year “droughts” between one-off titles or an FA Cup win, is historically more an accurate depiction of Arsenal than the 1998-2004 period. What we are experiencing now is actually the “Good Times” that Arsenal fans always used to dream of. Top 4… Read more »
Walcott’s rubbish, apparently, yet he’s managed to spend 10 years at arsenal and get paid shit-loads in the process; how on earth did that happen? Answer, Wenger. Fair play to Walcott, if there’s any vitriol to be directed, it shouldn’t be in his direction.
Simply truth is, he’s going nowhere anytime soon. Yeah he was poor last season, but with the paucity of CF options at our disposal (again, who the fu*ks fault is that) I for one will be encouraging him for the coming season. Anything else is counter-productive.
It’s the market’s “fault”. Since all those billionaires started buying up clubs around Europe (and China) there have been far more people able to pay silly money for the best players. However, the number of top players in any particular position doesn’t really change much from year to year, so they are harder to buy because the competition is disgustingly rich. The billionaires (the ones who buy a club in order to massage their own ego, not the businessmen who are simply investing in a business) are no longer worried about FFP so they can now pay any bloody transfer… Read more »
I’m surprised to see so many people bashing on theo. “Time to leave Theo”, “Fuck off Theo”, handover your shirt no to “Draxler/Mahrez Theo”, while everyone forgets that he’s our longest serving player. I agree, he did took club to ransom till last 6 months of his contract before signing, but won’t you or I would do the same when it’s about career. He wanted to be a striker, like you or I, wanted to be an astronaut, or whatever, while it’s widely rumored that “Before signing Dat thing”, that’s what was emphasized, for theo to play upfront. After dismal… Read more »
Shouldnt have given him the pay rise, after he got it he was utter poop on the pitch performance wise.
He’s right, actually. It’s just that many fans disagree.
Theo is not very good at football. End of.
City have Sterling and buy Sane…we still have dickhead??????
I’ve only been watching Arsenal for two seasons and I’m already waaaaaay way way over Theo. He’s a shy little cupcake that needs to be 1,000 miles from this squad if we’re ever going to flip the “mental toughness” switch from bondage slave to dominatrix. How you all have put up with him for 10 seasons is beyond me…
I’ll be honest, I’m a bit disappointed with all the negative comments/insults directed at Theo. I’ll agree that he hasn’t really hit the heights that at 16 years old, was the very reason we signed him. I’ll agree that his striker/winger/striker/winger indecision is frustrating. I’ll agree that since he was out for a number of months twice in quick succession, that on his last few outings hasn’t really looked himself. But, Theo is a good player, has put in some hugely memorable performances for the right reasons, and sadly has been blighted with injury after injury. He always comes back… Read more »