Theo Walcott says Arsenal let down their fans this evening as they were run ragged in a 3-0 defeat by Sam Allardyce’s relegation-threatened Crystal Palace.
Goals by Andros Townsend, Yohan Cabaye and Luka Milivojevic were followed by furious chants from Gooners on the terraces that the players aren’t “fit to wear the shirt.”
Speaking to Sky Sports, the England international, who was captain for the evening, did little to play down such suggestions.
“The biggest thing would be letting the fans down tonight,” the 28-year-old told Geoff Shreeves.
“We all did. That’s not Arsenal at all. I thought we’d bounced back well against Man City and West Ham at home but tonight wasn’t us at all.
“We’re very disappointed in the dressing room, as the fans are as well because we’ve let them down tonight. We need to respond. That’s only going to come from hard work that we take into Monday [against Middlesbrough].
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion. We don’t have a problem with that. We want to try and do a job. We don’t go out there to lose games. We try the best we can but tonight it just didn’t happen. Like I said, all we can do is apologise.
“They just wanted it more. You could tell. You could sense that from the kick off. It was an uphill battle towards the end there. Like I said before this isn’t Arsenal at this moment in time.
“We thought we’d got out of this little patch, hopefully we’ve not fallen straight back into it. Judging by that performance tonight it looks like we have.”
For fucks sake mate!
This sums up Arsenal really, giving this little bottler the arm band. Like what happened to the Arsenal captaincy? Why has it become this thing that’s passed around like an open Pringle can at a Christmas party? Where’s the pride in it now? If you’re the captain of any team, let alone Arsenal, first and foremost you have to be a player that everyone respects on and off the pitch. You also have to set the level of intensity, and lead by example. You also have to be one of two things; either the best player in the team, or… Read more »
Spot on. People might say it’s petty but it’s mini-decisions like that that, when conglomerated, result in performances like that.
People who say that a captain doesn’t make a difference just genuinely don’t really understand football, because they do. Not to blow my own trumpet here, but I play football at a fairly competent level, obviously not at the same level as these guys but still, I think having a great captain really does motivate you to go that extra bit harder. Having a really strong leader on the pitch is not to be underestimated at all. I think you cant dismiss the correlation between Arsenals achievements when we had great captains i.e. Adams, Vieira, compared to now when we… Read more »
as a person who plays football you must also recognise and know that if the ref does not want you to win…..you wont. or has something like this never come to your attention? never? i agree about strong personalities as captains but the vieira team was a once in a lifetime. you can not replicate that unless kroenke sanctions the purchase of mueller kroos and neuer or brought ininiesta xavi villa and puyol when spain bossed world football. we can not expect 2-3rd tier players to perform like absolute top world class. why we had them back then and not… Read more »
@salmok Were you implying that the referees are somehow to blame for us currently being 6th in the table? And I disagree that there aren’t any central midfielders out there in world football that are captain material because there are. Obviously you wont find any that are carbon copies of Vieira – but there are definitely ones out there that could have a huge impact at Arsenal. And again I disagree with your comment regarding tier 2-3 players. Spurs their squad is littered with them and so is Chelsea’s. Players like Victor Moses, David Luiz, Alonso, Matic, Rose, Dyer, Wanyama,… Read more »
It’s not people who say this,it Wenger who says this.
I used to be a captain. In the Army! Do you need one, course you fucking do! When the shit hits the fan, humans need corralling, motivating, inspiring and someone to follow, to lead the way! Its a basic human need, we all need it. What on earth is Wenger thinking? “I can do without the Roy Keane/ Viera/ Admas types”! You really can’t because when you need to pull yourself out of trouble, you need a hard nosed bastard whose not willing to lose to give everyone inspiration. Our troubles have been exacerbated by a lack of an identifiable… Read more »
I can’t believe you really said this Theo. Why didn’t you want it then? Cos you’ve got as my old granny used to say more money than bleeding sense.
Thankful that someone used that word – “hiding” – Walcott constantly hides. His PR and Agent tell him periodically to get stuck in for a couple of games, and he makes a few tackles and picks a fight. Then he goes back to looking keen and running in a purposeful crouch, without any purpose. A very lucky athlete in that he periodically scores just enough goals to not be shown up entirely.
Woe to be a gooner
Wow. That picture says a thousand words. The wheels have fallen off the bus. As a business, Arsenal Plc need to now listen no??
Piss off. Neither you nor anyone else EA ft to wear the shirt.
Going off tangent for a second, but Xhaka in many ways represents everything wrong with Arsene and his tactics.
At a time when we needed a defensive powerhouse; who’s attributes are to protect the back four and be a physical beast, a time where Kante was available, what did Wenger do? He bought a “DM” who’s actually shit at defending, is immobile and slow but his greatest strength is….passing and influencing our attacking play.
Xhaka was exactly the kind of player we were screaming out for this time last year. It’s not a case of Kante vs Xhaka, but a question of why we didn’t just go all out for both. Signing Xhaka wasn’t a mistake, but a whole tonne of decisions made by Wenger since then have been though.
A Xhaka-Kante partnership could have been dreamy. Strangely, passing is Xhaka’s only exceptional skill but Kante could of made up for all of his deficiencies. Sigh, can always dream..
Kante would be played with Xhaka and instead of Coquelin or Elnenny. He’s a completely different type of player. The whole balance is wrong. If you’re playing a midfield three with Ozil and Xhaka then you need a third player with the same attribute as kante. Elnenny and coquelin have them but nowhere near good enough if we want to challenge for anything. Our weakness has been Wenger’s wrongly placed faith. He didn’t push for Kante because he believed in Coq and Elnenny, and to be fair, no one was sure if any of those Leicester players could reproduce that… Read more »
Dembele is very underrated. Everyone raves about Alli and Kane but Dembele is easily their best player.
Look at the average size of the invincibles.. Viera sent shivers down the spine of players in the tunnel before games.
Kante wasn’t really for sale at the beginning of the transfer window to begin with.
This wankstain is paid seven million pounds a year by Arsenal Football Club. And this is the best he can do?
He played great against west ham and the logical thing to do when a player is in that form is keep playing him. If at his age and after being at Arsenal for more than 10 years Walcott is still struggling for consistency, how naive do we have to be to fall for the same shit every year. He along with players like Gibbs, Ramsey, Ox, Wilshere haven’t been able to stay fit for years now, and even when they were fit they couldn’t maintain any sort of consistency in their performances (other than that freak season Ramsey had). We… Read more »
How embarrassing. How can any player stand there and say “they just wanted it more”, Wenger said roughly the same thing as well. You shouldn’t just be accepting of that, you should be so ashamed you don’t even say it.
I know Wenger doesn’t give a shit about who the captain is, his own words were “it doesn’t matter”, but Theo is only good when opportunities are put on a plate for him. He shows no fight, no determination, until it’s time for a new contract that is.
Funniest part is we were two points better off before the game, than the same time last year, we were just as shit then as now, everyone else was just shitter. They sorted it out, we remained shit.
Walcott, are you saying you didn’t want it more from the first wistle?
Shame on you…
Of course, these guys excel in the apologies and excuses and holding the hands up routine after defeats on camera. Also the stuff about “Up for the fight” before matches. This honesty business really pisses me off from Theo. I like him as a person and a player but does he play the scenario of defeats and him talking in interviews in his head before and during the game?? Are they afraid of facing the media and their own fans enough after defeats?? And if they do, why does that not push them to be better when they have a… Read more »
Nothing to like about any of it. Lack of quality on the ball, remarkable for a Wenger side. The sheer amount of them that have a bad first touch and bad short range passing. Slow in the head, slow to pick a pass and slow to react to situations. Predictable play. No guile or intelligence on the ball. No invention, no natural talent being displayed. That’s the aspect which is truly eyebrow-raising for me. I think they are getting away with the excuse of ‘not wanting it’ and ‘lost the dressing room’ stuff. Lack of effort. Well if you can’t… Read more »
The differences between the two player interviews tells you everything…You didn’t even need to watch the game. At least there was the common thread used by both players where it’s acknowledged by both they “wanted it more”. Nice job lads…great support for the manager you stand so firmly behind. As for the fact that Big Sam laid out the master plan to beat Arsenal in his interview. Tip for any club playing us: just watch his interview. Now Theo, put that dinner plate sized watch away. It wasn’t a fashion shoot but an interview about how pathetic we were. Pants…complete… Read more »
Beat before a ball was kicked. Is this us now?
Walcott really needs to shut to fuck up
It’s performances we want on the field not how someone on 50k a week wanted it more than guys on 150k a week the Muppets
100 ways we could tell someone like Sanchez “we are not the ambitious club you are looking for”
Sanchez play well again did he?
sorry, that was unnecessarily snarky. My politeness has the handbrake on at the moment.
How the hell can other teams always “want it more” than Arsenal?!?!?! The players admit it as much and it is on them to come out and play as if they give a shit for a change.
These are the comments of the man appointed as “captain” by the manager of arsenal, the case for Wenger’s removal rests. Shame we already have two years more of this to endure
We have 3 big issues.
Issue 1. We are Mentally weak, soft, too nice.
(Wenger needs to bring in the right players and motivate them)
(The players need to fight for Arsenal too)
Issue 2. No plan B,C, D. We play the same way win, lose, draw.
(This is Wengers fault, not the players)
Issues3. Too many injuries.
If Wenger cannot fix the issues above, he needs to leave. Otherwise we are stuck in the same cycle next season if he stays.
If, what if?
He can’t fix them. He’s proven that.
Can you please tell me what plan A is? it isn’t clear t me and doesn’t appear to be any clearer to the players.
Ok so they wanted it more and u let them have it without much of a fight. Then u say it so calmly in the post match conference, like its nothing. There is something wrong with this club that I can’t exactly place and it doesn’t make sense.
Easy to place. The manager went stale years ago and he has absolute power at the club. It’s a dysfunctional set up and difficult to know how it will end unless he does the decent thing and steps down. I’m not holding my breath though……
What I don’t understand is why the other team want it more than Arsenal? We’re fighting for top 4. Fighting to save the manager’s job. They should be fighting to prove they’re top players. They should be fighting to win the fucking title. There is something deeply disturbing and wrong if every time we lose it’s because the other team ‘wanted it more’. It stems from the board, from the manager, the players know it. Only the fans won’t accept this shit
The fact that he is currently the captain at Arsenal sums up the problem. Compare him to Adams or Vieira. He is just too weak, too nice. He’d have never cut it with a Fergie or Mourinho. We have waited over ten years for him to come good.
“We try the best we can but tonight it just didn’t happen.” And the old cliche, “They wanted it more.” WTF? “We sucked” might have been a more appropriate response. This is a talented team and when you say “it just didn’t happen” it means you DIDN’T do the best you can. Bah humbug.
http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/45/50/43/9865422/4/1024×1024.jpg
What rubbish is this clown talking about….only a job at a circus will fit him. 100 000 a week and he said palace want it more
Said Mr.Anonymousagain.
These pampered little brats. When we played, the team with the most talent always won the game. If you lose a game because the other team ‘wanted it more’, you get your ass kicked and won’t play again.
This is the problem with Wenger and his ‘pet projects’. English core. Gorget about it already. AGAIN I mentioned this last game, Walcott may score the odd goal here and there but the rest of the game, he is not holding the ball enough. In this game, he did not offer the struggling Bellerin enough protection and Mustafi had to cover wide on too many occasions. Another who was poor Welbeck whom some how (like Elneny) people like to big up. Again this is a Wenger project that may eventually pay dividend but enroute can cost us. As I said… Read more »
If Wenger stays, Giroud should leave. He is being wasted as a ‘super sub’.
Wenger does not know how to use a (traditional) center-forward. Instead of trying to create a team around Giroud, he bought players that play his style. They are failing, yet gets to start match after match.
Giroud has many capabilities that remain underutilized.
Please why can’t someone tell this fool to stop talking to the camera all the time. The sight of him disgust me. He do more of talking than playing the dam ball.
People can say what they want, if last night proved anything it’s because we are nothing without mertesacker, he’s the Apple to our Apple sauce, were mid table team without him. Can’t blame Wenger for that
Lol well 8 people don’t get British humour lol
Well, it’s the old joke: How do you make an Englishman happy in his old age? Tell him a joke when he’s young.
If this was Football Manager I would have fined him a weeks wages for that comment. Actually I would have transferred listed him 10 years ago.
Did he actually say “judging form that performance tonight we actually have” or is the speech mark in the wrong place and that was the closing statement of the article.
I think between now and Monday we should a massive training session open to all Arsenal fans, pick the best 11, then replace those fakers that currently wear the shirt!!!
Is it just me that cringes every time Theo Walcott gives a post match interview. I can’t think of a more inappropriate captain. It says everything about this Arsenal team..!!
Walcott – media trained to within an inch of his life.
Pity he doesn’t put as much effort into his football training, the talentless, spineless, Wile. E. Coyote sprinter that he is.
As the song goes “We are shit and we know we are shitttttt” nice song for Theo to sing when he does his next media response.
I love Wenger..
But it is idiocy to make Walcott a captain. Who makes the little lamb the captain?
Insanity.
Watching the game Walcott may aswell have been a ghost. Those who saw it will also know oxlade Chamberlain actually did more to create a chance in his first 30 seconds of play (flicking the ball to beller in a and running on) than walcott did in 60 odd minutes. Having said that he received few balls that took advantage of his pace, I’m beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about his speed when he too rarely makes intelligent runs to punish the opposition. He sums up this team, player’s with the potential to be world class but… Read more »
Is it just me that cringes every time Theo Walcott does a post match interview. He is the last player that should be given the captains armband & pretty much sums up everything that is wrong at the moment. Come up with a definition of a good captain & he is the exact opposite of everything you would want.
Walcott is an awful footballer and it seems like we’re currently playing at his level. Sooner players like him are shipped out the better
Just for a little levity on the subject I would just like to point to the fact that the media have completely ignored the penalty decision last night. Giroud grappled to the ground by Sakho and then Townsend diving for a penalty at the other end. Anyone remember what happened when Eduardo did a similar thing in the Champions league ? The video highlight was played and replayed all over Sky Sports and he ended up getting banned for 2 games. Nothing happened to Rooney at Old Trafford and nothing will happen to Townsend. Why ? Because the magnification of… Read more »
It shouldn’t matter if Palace wants to win a game more than us ffs. We’re the Arsenal, act like it.
I’ve held my tongue on this but I’m just going to say it now, I feel sorry for Theo. And the only reason I say that is because for once, just once, one of our players is being honest after a big defeat and he’s now being slated for it. No deflection, no ‘oh we were unlucky’, no paradoxical comment about being motivated and mentally strong and yet being humiliated. Just the truth about what is wrong with this club
Some of these players demand better contracts with more money etc!! In my opinion they should all be docked money and not paid until results improve. Including the manager and boardroom staff
I sent our Grandson all the TJ books and Walcott became his favorite Gunner. Then we got him a Walcott jersey. Clearly I am not grandparenting correctly.
Walcott you’ve been nicking a living as a footballer and you should thank your agent every time you get that massive payslip every month !