Theo Walcott appears to have accepted that he’s not a striker and wants a chance to regain his place on the right wing for Arsenal.
At a time when the Gunners are crying out for a centre-forward, the England man says he wants to return to the position he’s played in most of his career, despite speaking time and time again in the past about how viewed himself as a front man.
Walcott was given a chance there last season by Arsene Wenger, but despite a couple of good displays was unconvincing overall. But he hasn’t been considered a genuine starter on the right hand side for well over a season and a half, after the Arsenal manager lost patience with his lack of defensive effort there.
Now he seems to have thrown all his eggs into that basket, and at 27 years of age it’s a confused message from a player who doesn’t seem to quite know what he wants.
“I have told the manager that I want to be known for playing on the right again,” he said.
“I can play up front. I want to know where I want to play. The manager has said I can play up front. It depends on what game it is.
“I want to make my position on the right – that’s where I know where I am now.”
And never one to doubt his own ability, Walcott said he could still contribute even if new faces arrive, saying, “I have been here 10 years. There is always competition for places. It doesn’t matter what club you are at.
“I always believe that I can get back to where I want to be. I’m sure if I keep working hard then I will get there.”
It’s the fact he keeps changing his mind about where he wants to be that causes such doubt though. It was widely reported that part of his recent contractual negotiations was an assurance from Wenger that he’d be given a chance as a striker.
What the manager has planned for him remains to be seen too, but at this point you’d wonder if a clean start for both parties might not be the best thing for all concerned.
Walcott talking about being a striker.
November 2010: “For me personally, I’m a striker. Hopefully in the next couple of years you’ll see me up front, I’m looking forward to that.”
September 2012: “It is a case of having trust in me up front. I was signed as a striker and it is about time, I want to play up front. I have learnt my game on the wing.”
September 2015: “I will be judged on the number of goals I score. You can play the best game in the world but if you don’t score it doesn’t mean anything. But I’m very confident I can do a job up front.”
Get out.
The fact he has not been able to make any of the two positions his own shows his lack of character. You choose a position and stick to it. He doesn’t know what he is and I think (hope) Wenger has realised he has to move on
now.
No problem, he can be 4th in the pecking order after, Ramsey, Chamberlain and Campbell.
Or you suck it up and be professional and play wherever the hell the manager wants you to just like Grimandi, Flamini, Coq and Ramsey
He does know what he is. That’s what these quotes are about. He’s made his decision.
I don’t get how finally making a decision on his position is viewed as “confused”
You’ve missed a bit of history here mate, it seems. Walcott is like Arsenal going for a rebound relationship after Henry broke up with us. And then he tells us that he likes chocolate ice cream, and that everyone should expect to watch him eating pints of chocolate ice cream, but that Wenger’s making him eat vanilla for years. Now he’s claiming he likes vanilla.
He’s about as stoic and determined as a leaf on the wind.
It took him 10 years. That’s the problem. The same problem with decision making manifests in his game all the time. I believe you can now see how it is a problem?
This guy on our squad is equal to death by a thousand pin pricks.
I think the majority of the comments here are very exaggarated.
Walcott played 10 seasons in London – maybe worth of 8 years as far as minutes concern.
He scored 85 goals and gave 41 assists.
That is more than 10 goals and 5 assists per seasons.
It think it is “fair enough” (at least) from a winger who plays at the highest level of world football since he was 17
The very tiny sentimental feeling I had towards Theo Walcott well and truly died when I went to Old Trafford away last season. I saw a player on £140K a week, literally lose the ball with every single touch, and run around a bit. He showed no fucking balls at all. He did the old classic ‘Hey, I want the ball (but please don’t really pass it to me)’ face the whole match. Off the top of my head I can think of at least 5 occasions where in the second half Ozil had the ball, looked up to see… Read more »
Joel Campbell you’re up. Your turn to play CF. At least you have some type of experience at CF at international level with a good goal ratio in that position. You’re up and Chuba you’re next to fill in till we get that world class striker
what a Wally!
Is he joking? Someone tell me this is a joke. Please. Anybody! In what alternate reality is Theo functioning when he thinks he is in a position to chose if and where he plays? That ship has sailed Theo…
theo, surething, at southampton or west ham?
wallycott?
He should be happy that he is playing at all.
Walcott definitely needs to go. It will be better for both parties.
If we do sign a striker I’d much rather have Akpom as a 3rd choice than Walcott. He is not a viable option anymore either upfront or on the right.
Even if we don’t get Mahrez I feel we’ll be better off investing those minutes on the pitch on ox or Campbell or even Iwobi or Jeff. And I’m sure we’ll get better returns both in short term and long term.
Sorry Theo, it isn’t working out over here. It’s time to move on.
This should be more apt! “I have told the manager that I want to be known for sitting on the bench,” he said. “I can sit for hours. I want to know where I want to sit. The manager has said I can anywhere on the bench. It depends on what game it is. “I want to make my position on the right side of the bench – that’s where I know where I am now.” And never one to doubt his own ability, Walcott said he could still contribute even if new faces arrive, saying, “I have been here… Read more »
Have a bit of respect. He’s almost a centurion with 85 goals in a injury hit career.
He’s suffered from the weight of expectation on all English players. He had far too much power given his nationality and his position as the most high profile player to stay at the club when all our stars left.
This guy taunted the Tottenham fans from his stretcher. He may be a one trick pony but he’s our one trick pony.
I did have respect for this bloke until he decided to lose all that he earned over 10 years with that MOMENT at Sunderland. You remain a bit shortsighted since he taunts the Spuds and always says the right things, but he is a footballer at the end of the day. I can live with a lack of ability (Parlour and Lauren were not blessed with ability but made up with effort), but a lack of desire and commitment from “the most high profile player to stay at the club when all our stars left” – that is some example… Read more »
I couldn’t agree more.
I’ve never understood the level of vitriol Walcott receives for that “moment” at Sunderland, especially from a fan base that regularly criticizes Wilshere for getting unnecessarily stuck in. He’d recently come back from a significant knee injury, and I’m at least willing to entertain the idea that the “moment” was instinct–not the nose for goal kind (don’t we all wish) but the “I don’t want to go through 9+ months of near hell again” kind. Sure, it looked bad, but I’d encourage everyone here who despises him for it to actually go blow out a knee, spend almost a year… Read more »
I know, btw, how much time had passed between coming back to the squad and the moment–I’m just saying it can take longer than you think to really get full belief and confidence back in the knee even after your cleared. Some say it take several years to completely put it behind you.
Apologizing for Walcott…the world has gone mad!
I was thinking the same thing, so many people pissed off at him for that. Then they scold wilshere for not doing exactly that. Everything is shit!
The more reason we should let him go. Jack recovers from serious long term injury and plays like he never had one. Theo recovers and it is excusable for him to spend his lifetime avoiding another injury. Isn’t the difference in character and commitment very clear?
“Fan base that regularly criticizes Wilshere for getting unnecessarily stuck in” – Really? I don’t seem to recall that but then when you mention unnecessarily, then i can understand. Theo’s MOMENT was a necessity, it was something that Alexis or even Ramsey when he came back(who broke his leg after all) would never shy away from. The fan base would learn to live with Ozil shying away from challenges, excusing him for the abundance in quality that he compensates with, but Theo Walcott doesn’t possess that! Theo had a brilliant game against Man United at the Emirates last season, and… Read more »
Lmao
Looool!
Oh Theo.
What an incredible twat. The fact that he’s the 3rd highest paid player in the club demonstrates what a basket case the club has become in the post Highbury days
Or on the bench, Theo, until you’ve made up your mind? What do you think ?
At least he knows where his best position is now – we could have all told you that 5 years ago buddy!
Best position is the bench. Harsh I know – but 10years to convince – never lived up to hype.
Definitely never lived up to his hype, and I wouldn’t be too disappointed to see us cash in on him this summer, but I think he is somewhat harshly viewed. Don’t get me wrong, he was utter shite all last year and pre-season hasn’t been going much better, but in his Arsenal career he has 55 in 236 (one every 4.29) in the league playing from the right. As a comparison, Draxler has 24 in 142 (one every 5.92) in the Bundesliga. I’d happily swap Walcott for Draxler because I don’t think Walcott is technical enough for our style, but… Read more »
never mind the hype, he’s never even managed to played to his own ability for whatever reason…….
On the contrary, I don’t think he’s hugely talented as a footballer – but he has had periods where he was actually really good. The fact of the matter is he has not played well since rupturing his ACL a long time ago (he got that injury when Bendtner was still around). I think for his sake he should go as he won’t get many minutes this season
yes, his best position is the bench now, but not arsenal’s bench please.
get out.
He shouldn’t even be in the club let alone out wide or up front, he isn’t worthy nor dedicated enough for the cause. Ship him out, it’s been 10 years and we’ve wasted enough time and resources on him with insufficient return on investment.
I can’t understand how Arsenal have managed to tolerate his mediocrity for ten years. It’s staggering.
To be honest I’m not sure Walcott out wide can work if Alexis is on the other flank. You’re talking about a genuine front three then and I can’t really think of a team that has success playing a 10 like Ozil behind a front three like that at the moment. No balance Like think about it – our best football last season was played with Ramsey out wide, who’d sweep through central midfield and cover Ozil. People get upset about us playing “midfielders” out wide but that’s what gives the team the most balance when Ozil is allowed to… Read more »
Spot on.
Overmars, Parlour.
Pires, Ljungberg.
Spot on.
Overmars, Parlour.
Pires, Ljungberg.
With solid double pivot behind them.
Vieira, Petit.
Gilberto, Vieira.
Coquelin, Xhaka
The irony of your statement is that during the period you are talking about, Theo was playing up front!!! Our best game of the season was easily Man Utd at home.
But I otherwise agree with your statement. It’s 4-2-3-1 not 4-2-1-3 for a reason. A possible alternative would be to ask Ozil to play a little deeper, at CM, like Madrid have done with Modric and we have already done with Cazorla. This would have the additional benefit of giving Ramsey or Cazorla more freedom to roam
He’s going to be third choice striker at best, third choice on the right wing. On what he’s, on I’d rather The Jeff, Chris Willock or Chuba get in before him. His touch has gone and he has no confidence. Time for a new challenge Theo.
olympics sprinting?
Maybe a children’s pop-up book on how to run with the ball.
I like Walcott, but he’s just not very good.
that’s not fair! He’s consistent in patches 🙂
He lacks any substantial amount of technique to play on either role for a team like Arsenal. I usually think Walcott should try to emulate the role of Ljungberg but heck even he had a better technique and ball control than Walcott.
He also, post horrendous injuries, lacks bottle. Jumping out of that tackle at Sunderland was the last straw.
Can’t wait for this guy be be sold. Waste of money. 10 years at the club and achieved zero.
A sign we’re signing a striker and he knows he will be third choice?
More like a sign he still has no idea what position he plays. No decision-making skills on the pitch, and no decision-making skills off the pitch.
Bye bye Theodore.
Walcott wants to be a winger again….
For West Ham.
Get this numpty out this transfer Window, please.
Am I a striker? Am I a winger? (Am I a footballer?)
Absolutely no consistency to be of reliable use to any team and no one will forget him jumping out of challenges. He’s unaffordable to clubs at his level though.
“I have told the manager that I want to be known for playing on the right again,”
Unfortunately Theo, you will probably be known as a player who can run fast, can’t cope if he has more than half a second to think about what he’s doing, is a bit of a wuss and is defensively inept.
But as you always say Theo “these things take time”, I mean, it’s not like you’ve been trying to find the position you can play for 10 years nowOH WAIT IT HAS BEEN TEN YEARS
West Ham need a right winger
Can he please go and want to be a winger somewhere else please? So poor.
Theo is confused
Ivan reckons that Arsenal cant afford to make mistakes in the transfer market. However, apparently they can afford to retain players who are on a shed load of cash, yet make sod all contribution.
That is so well said. Hadn’t thought of that angle. It makes Gazidis’ comments even more of a joke than I initially thought.
Yet again more talk from Theo. No doubt there will be no walk yet again though.
I think the original plan was always for us to bring in 1 more top player (mahrez/ lacazette/ drexler).
Give theo a fresh start on the right, or up top… with west ham…
Deliver the money to leicester n top up some for Mahrez, then continue our original plan of bringing in lacazette.
I am done with this experiment to turn him into a footballer. He should write the second half of his memoirs and continue on with the kids books. The England team that couldn’t beat Iceland didn’t want you in the team. Time to wake up. We made a monster mistake being held to ransom by his agent when we had no other choice but he should leave on loan or something. Maybe he and TGSL can form a great partnership in some Sunday pub league, at the least they could afford to by the team a round for every sitter… Read more »
Maybe he wants to be 20 again?
If we get back the Theo before his injury (the good one), does that mean we can go all out for a striker instead of finding a solution on the right?
Pillock.
Try being useful first, then arsene can work out your position.
Nope, his time is more than over. Sell him
It must be hard honestly, to have all that pace and very little technical ability. To be at the longest serving at a club like Arsenal and not be a fan-favourite. To be a young prodigy, eventually have the weight of the previous number 14 fall on him, and not coming-through on it. To be fickle-minded because of youth but having to be mature because of responsibility. I feel sad for him sometimes, apart from the anger I feel about him being paid so much for contributing so little.
That’s just it. I’m more angry with Arsenal for keeping faith in him for a decade…improving contracts over and over again despite no real contribution. What’s he on now? £140k/week? That’s criminal, but that’s down to the club.
A big fan of theo but he seems to be following the downward trajectory. May be he’s still recovering from the injury.Hope he plays as good as he talks.
I think Arsenal and Arsene give players too much power or freedom. What with the constant whining about which position to play, or discomfort and being played out of position. I don’t hear much of this at other top clubs. I am sure players over there also have concerns, but whether its PR or whatever, they seem to do a job whenever called upon and not whine
Wow, a lot of hate for Theo on here. Personally speaking I think he’s just short of confidence at the moment, as can happen to any footballer. Also feel a bit bad for him. At another club maybe he would have been played in the striker role that he wanted for the last 10 years and become quite good at it. Imagine being shunted out of the role you wanted to play since youth, only to be finally given a shot 10 years later and vilified for not being the next Henry. He is piss poor atm, yes. But he’s… Read more »
Never seen so much hate for one of our own before, it’s really sad tbh. Not sure how he became a scapegoat for everything wrong at Arsenal but I think that’s just the way the club is going
If he’s still with us at 30 I’m sure he’ll reveal he sees himself as a bench player.
“I want to know where I want to play”
So do we theo, so do we
with all these inflated prices surely we can sell Wally to Liverpool, West Ham for 50 mil minimum?
What I wanted Theo to say is, “I have told the manager that I want to be known as the player who took advantage of Arsenal to fleece the team out of millions of money, but we all knew I had no talent whatsoever to deserve it…” I guess it is wishful thinking; but I can live with his confusion over where his true potential lies. What I cannot forgive is that he held the team to ransom with his stupid demands – who knows, we could have got a proper striker by now, if we didn’t have to deal… Read more »
Which is surely 100% the managers fault.
Walcott has talked a lot( his position, during the time he dilly dallied on signing an extension etc etc )and delivered little.. yes there were moments where his pace made a telling difference, but a lot of the time there wasn’t a lot of team performance , slacked about, didn’t track back and defend and we gave away a few goals.
and then of course his injuries..I think we’ve persisted enough with him and he should be sold.
These comments confirm what others are saying about us; Arsenal has a lot of fans, but few supporters.. Our job is to lift our players up when they are down, not tell them to piss of and buy replacements. I feel ashamed reading stuff our own “fans” are writing about Theo on the internet, and even to him personally on twitter.
Once it’s not abusive, there’s no problem people discussing him on a comments section like this. People have their opinions.
Totally agree that Tweeting at him, or any other player, just to give them grief is the work is donkeyfisting knobhandles though.
All this could be avoided if he just put his head down and worked hard. But the modern footballer has to always say something even when all logic points to the contrary. You can’t blame people for expressing their opinions after the fact. It’s pity because you’d think Theo is one of the “good guys” in football
I’m so confused. “I want to know where I want to play.” – What does this statement even mean? As an acclaimed author I would expect TW to be able to get his message across better than this.
Assume you are using acclaimed in the same way that Jeffrey Archer might that is to say entirely in his own mind.
Am I the only one who thinks theo might just be d surprise of d season.
desperately want him to succeed with Arsenal. Thus is d final chance son, would love nothing better than u shutting up the fans with goals.
Prove us wrong
Hi, please our comment policy re: spelling/English – http://news.arseblog.com/comment-policy/
Use ‘the’ not ‘d’, ‘you’ not ‘u’. Thanks! 🙂
If it happens, it happens.
I was thinking more Dolph Lundgren Rocky III “If he dies, he dies”
I meant IV
It reminds me of when I’ve lost my keys.
I look half-heartedly downstairs convinced they must be upstairs.
I look half-heartedly upstairs convinced they must be downstairs.
When Theo plays on the right and barely gets involved in the game I think that’s because he should be played up front.
When he plays up front and barely gets involved in the game I think that’s because he should be played out wide.
The reality is he’s just a bit shit. And I still haven’t found my bloody keys!
Where did we last leave Walcott?
The fact is that most managers who have seen what Walcott can do think he’s an incredible weapon that they’d love to have. There really aren’t many defenders who can keep pace with him in a straight line with the ball at his feet, even now. He beats people with pace to such an extent he doesn’t even have to have any other tricks (although he has developed his game substantially). And that pace hasn’t gone, just, a little bit, the confidence. But as all owners of a Swiss Army knife know very well, there’s a tool for every job… Read more »
I always wanted to like Walcott. I really wanted him to be the player he promised in patches. But then as he got older, he started making these bold statements talking up his ability and importance to the team. As soon as he did that he lost me. It always seemed to be based on no substance. The guy had a couple of good seasons on the right then makes this assumption that his efficiency from the right – that Arsene preferred and seemed to prefer, meant he was our only option up top. Then most times when played there… Read more »
The worst thing about all this is that Waddle was right.
He’s matured into a full on blagger, basically. All talk and very few trousers.
This is how I feel about Walcott .
https://youtu.be/BDgcc5Sif3k
I couldnt care less about him…
Manchester City get Leroy Sane for £37M and we’re stuck with a £140K-a-week yet-to-realize-his-potential ditherer with ex-delusions-of-grandeur.
Someone tell him to Fuck Off.