Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

[Co0ter]

But Theo is a CF that Wenger has been playing out of position for years. The whole reason he even got the hype that made Arsenal sign him was him playing as a CF for Southampton. Wenger kept Thierry Henry on the wings until he was 22 and he was nowhere near the player he became until he finally moved to the CF position.

Wenger wants to make Theo a striker that can do it all, but all the mistakes he has been making as a teenager were seen under a microscope. Imagine being 19 and having scored and assisted against the biggest clubs in the world, score a hat trick for England, then dislocate your shoulder twice and have a bad run of form. Then suddenly you have "no football brain" or w/e else the pundits say.

Theo is only 22 and is a brilliant footballer. There's so much more from him to come, and when he finally gets his preferred position he'll set the EPL on fire.

I've been saying he'd do way better as a CF for a long time now. The kid seems to dribble well in space but not too great against defenders. His decision making and passing overall is still quite dreadful. Wenger might be trying to turn him into a well-rounded player, and for even a 22 year old, he's taking quite a while to develop. Calling him a brilliant footballer is a bit far-fetched imo. He has a lot of potential but so did Pato, for 22 year olds I would have liked them to be much better by now.

 

[Yugi]

oh the hype

 

[Theconomist]

Hype? go checkout the Cuenca and Tello threads.
Walcott is an okay player but he can't compete with Persie for that CF position

 

[Jenks]

Arsenal fans have been moaning that they have no back-up for RVP though, so surely it's time to give him a go there, no?

 

[AnfieldEd]

Walcott a "brilliant" footballer

 

[Biscuits]

Walcott a "brilliant" footballer

NO, that is Andy Carroll

 

[Robbie]

Walcott a "brilliant" footballer

He's the fastest footballer in the world. No one can catch him. He also has world class movement. That IMO makes him a brilliant footballer.

Those two attributes (movement + pace) added to his split-second clinical finishing would make him an absolutely deadly center forward. Still, Wenger sees his lesser developed attributes (passing vision, link up play) and stuck him out on the wings for years to improve them. On the wings it's like he's playing with an arm tied behind his back.

Also, like RVP he had problems staying fit. Last season when he scored 10 or 11 goals in a few months, he looked nailed-on to score 25+ but ended up getting another serious injury. If he gets lucky like RVP and plays a full season, and also gets to play up front, then you will all see a completely different player.

 

[Superfly]

I really think Walcott can become a Henry v2 if Wenger ever decides to play him as ST. He just needs consistency (which will probably come as he ages) and somebody like Gotze/Ramsey/Whoever behind him to feed him great passes.

 

[Robbie]

He's incredibly consistent when he's fit and on form. His problem is he has very dodgy shoulders (dislocated both of them) and runs so fast that if he gets tackled he takes a bad tumble and he's out for months. Then he needs a few weeks to get back to where he was, only to get injured again.

 

[barcaboy15]

I think you're over-rating Walcott.

Yeah, he's incredibly fast but he's not a sprinter he's a footballer so he needs some other attributes to be a great player.

I agree that he should have been played as a CF and developed a la Henry but that hasn't happened and he really will never get close to Henry's level. His decision making and finishing are awful in my opinion and his dribbling is also not good enough.

Will certainly never make it as a top class player, and will never cut it as a CF either as his goal scoring is poor.

 

[gulaman]

I really think Walcott can become a Henry v2 if Wenger ever decides to play him as ST. He just needs consistency (which will probably come as he ages) and somebody like Gotze/Ramsey/Whoever behind him to feed him great passes.

What??? That's crazy. At the same age Henry was 10 times the player Walcott is. Walcott really isn't a footballer, he's just a sprinter and has poor technique. Oxlade-Chamberlain is a natural footballer and is a far better prospect. Walcott has not improved one bit since Arsenal signed him.

 

[Robbie]

Theo is 22... He scored against Barca when he was 20 years old, dribbled past the entire Liverpool defence in a CL quarter-final as an 18 year old, scored a hat trick away vs Croatia for England as an 18 year old... etc. He scored and assisted against Chelsea last season, did it again this season. Scored against United, Liverpool, Villareal, etc.

Henry was a flop at 22 and Wenger was trashed by the media for trying to turn him into a striker. Even Ian Wright had this long-ass article on the Sun way back when Henry was 22, titled "Henry is NOT a striker!". Henry went something like 8 or 9 games without scoring or assisting when we first got him. He came a long way, but everyone conveniently forgets that after he became world class. Did any of you even watch him play for Monaco or Juventus? He wasn't anything special, just another kid with potential.

He has everything in him to be like Henry. Look at that goal he scored against Villareal when he was still a teenager. Skips past a couple players and casually chips the keeper. Look at how he scored against Chelsea this season. Now keep in mind he is being played out of position and is at the age now that we signed Henry anyway. He'll shut a lot of people up.

 

[mitkoa7x]

Yeah but where is he now? He is more shite than ever.

 

[Robbie]

Yeah he's been shite.. like how he saved our entire season by scoring against Udinese in the CL qualifier, and how he dribbled past the entire Chelsea defense and scored at Stamford Bridge.

And how he made 3 assists last week.

He's a big game player. Liverpool? Chelsea? AC Milan? Barcelona? He turns up and saves our asses when we need him most.

 

[barcaboy15]

Yeah he's been shite.. like how he saved our entire season by scoring against Udinese in the CL qualifier, and how he dribbled past the entire Chelsea defense and scored at Stamford Bridge.

And how he made 3 assists last week.

He's a big game player. Liverpool? Chelsea? AC Milan? Barcelona? He turns up and saves our asses when we need him most.

I agree he's a good player with potential but I truly don't think he'll ever be world class or anwhere near it.

I always said that he should be played as a CF and not a winger and he'd do great but correct me if I'm wrong as I haven't watched that much Arsenal this year but hasn't he played CF a few times this season and he's had a couple of good goals (that you posted) but he's also been attrocious on occasion?

And just because Henry turned world class when he wasn't at that age doesn't at all mean that Walcott will...