Theo Walcott has admitted his frustration at being left out of the side so often in recent months, and said he’s waiting until the summer to think about his contract situation.
The England winger’s last start for the club was on March 14th at home to West Ham. Since then he’s been restricted to very brief cameos from the bench, but being involved in yesterday’s equaliser might well give Arsene Wenger something to think about it.
Speaking after the game, Walcott told the Evening Standard, ““No, I can’t give you an update on the contract situation. I just want to continue playing my football and we will see where it takes me at the end of the season.”
And asked if he’d found it frustrating, watching from the sidelines, he replied, “Of course. Any player wants to play. I want to play. I have been out for a long time. The manager was patient, I have been patient myself. I need to be ready and focused at all times because it is not just about the starting line-up, it is about the whole squad.
“It worked for me yesterday – it was a bit of a break and I am very happy. I have been training very well and that’s the best I can do to impress the manager.
“When given the opportunity in a big game and a massive arena like Old Trafford, it is not going to do you any harm.”
Walcott also said he was trying to claim the goal which has been given as a Tyler Blackett OG.
“Firstly, its my goal if you are going to ask! You’ve got claim any one you can! I didn’t see anyone in the box so I just shot and luckily for me it hit Blackett and go in.
“I’ll take that but it is not about the goal, it is all about the result.”
To be fair, every striker would try and claim it, but to us it looked more like a cross than a shot. Still, there’s no doubt his contribution helped salvage a point yesterday when it looked as if we might struggle to claw back the deficit.
I do think he has been need on the right, his pace is very dangerous and he was tracking back far better as well.
A limited player in some ways but very good at what he does. Golden years coming up, let’s keep him.
Exactly, it was nice to see the RW player actually being on the RW and challenging his fullback. if he can improve the defensive side of his game (like Cazorla has) now that he’s a bit older, there’s no reason he should not play. He has still been a part of our best elevens during the time his been here. Maybe not an automatic starter but to compete/rotate with Alexis,Ox ,possible new signing.
Agreed – he doesn’t need to do it all – his pace alone is worth a lot.
Plus, since he really improved his finishing a few seasons ago, he’s a good threat to have, and we seem to need all the finishers we can find.
He can be the 15 goal a season player.
Well he did score 20+, 2 seasons ago. So off course he can.
And a decent amount of assist as well. Wasn’t he got double figured in that season or the season before that?
Yeah, his contract talk kinda rubbed people the wrong way (including myself), but I was so glad he played yesterday. Aaron has been doing a good job on the flank, but I think Theo in a RW position really add more dimension to our attacking scheme.
Still waiting for By the Numbers column Mr Blogs
I don’t write that. Tim from @7amkick off will be publishing it later.
Grrrrrrrrrr, so frustrating, what with all the money we pay for this…
And seriously, thanks for the match reports, articles, numbers, news, podcasts etc, whenever they arrive.
I got really excited in the 2nd half yesterday when him and Jack came on and Ramsey was back in the middle. I dunno, as much as I love the new look side with Alexis, Ozil and Santi in his new role, part of me was just like “Yeaaaaahh this is my Arsenal!” When Theo was making those runs and Jack got the one touch thing going.
Really want Theo to sign!
I upvoted your comment but…
We Arsenal fans are wierd aren’t we??
The view of him sprinting back to help the defence was pleasing to see.More of it please.
Arsene please keep him and offcourse ask him to do more than just making good runs
The thing with walcott in the team is that it adds up to two players who are very weak in the physical side of things.. ozil being the other one.. but i dont know how people just cant wait to see ozil threading balls through to walcott.. it was beginning to happen last season.. hope it happens in the next..
I do think he came back from his injury a little stronger/bulkier
Seems to me that he always steps up ahead of contract negotiations and after they are done it is back to normal. If he would be consistent I’d be more keen to see Arsene keep hold of him but as it currently stands I’d say: let him go if he wants more money because he is not worth it.
Probably more to do with the fact Theo is a big game player, and is one of the few players we so have who’s performance always go up a gear against the big boys.
Absolutely. Theo unfortunately is all promise and not a great deal of delivery. A few decent spells in a history of injuries and a lot of underwhelming displays and contract bollocks. Bellerin can run fast too. Maybe he can play on the right wing ahead of Debuchy or Jenks….
I reckon on Wednesday we’ll field the same starting 11, and we get the point we need. Then next Saturday the fringe players will all get to start so Özil, Alexis, Ramsey etc get a rest for the cup final.
Personally I’d rotate for Wednesday, let them get all three points and then play my first team for the final day of the season and the cup final. Maybe is someone plays a blinder on Wednesday give them a half against West Brom to decide on the cup final team.
Sign da ting!!!
Watching him run straight into Blackett several times had me shouting FFS! Watching the ball go in had me screaming YESSSSSSS!
It’s a career turning point for theo. He sign a new contract and prove his doubters wrong ,and regain a place in the starting line up. or he choose the easy option and go to a ‘good club’ ( cause I don’t see Cheslki nor Man city going after him this summer) become the ‘Star’ of the team but will never fullfill all his early promises.
This year end.. hope we have review on arseblog identifying the players and their contributions to the team based on the number of points they could have won us and how many points they have lost.. that will help people understand who has contributed to the success of the team.. and more importantly who lets us down
The grammar and spelling in these comments so far…
It’s simply end of season dyslexia brought on by the usual heart attacks and nail-biting trauma as we do everything the difficult way. The last few years we’ve been fighting to get fourth and now we’re in the cup final again and should be cementing 3rd place on Wednesday so on the whole I feel quite bucked up which is four letters away from how I felt after Swansea.
To be fair to Walcott, it might just have been a bad shot…
Mr Wenger’s tactical change worked but he could have changed it earlier on during the match, but I guess better late than never hey. Santi didn’t really have a good game, Rambo on the right was also subdued, but the game opened up soon as Jack and Theo came on. Also Ozil had a good game, seeing him fight for the ball and I swear his pace has improved a lot more, all in all was a well deserved point. Well done Gunners!
Ozil didn’t have a good game. You Ozil cult members need to be less partial.
Theo says he was shooting , not crossing. That settles it for me .
It didn’t even look like a cross, why is the further mentioning that? He looked at the goal and the ball was in the direction of the goal (straight at Valdés mind).
It is hardf or me to imagine my favourite team without players like Theo or Jack. Just give them more time on the pitch Arsene. Theo need this. He must improve his finishing and he will be a top class player.