English League Football [19th - 23rd Feb 2010] **spoilers**

Wolves were unlucky and Chelsea very lucky.

Good win for West Ham, nice to see Phil Brown lose ;) and nice to see that little **** Fagan sent off. ****.
West Ham are a decent side, Zola is doing well.

Good win for Everton, thats Chelsea and United who they've beaten so far this year, that's not a bad record, better then Arsenal :p

Good win for Arsenal, who despite have a easy end to the season, they've played all the other rivals for top 4 now haven't they?
Walcott is quick.

Sheffield Wednesday lost, another really poor performance with Beevers having a shocking game :(

Didn't think Ipswich were much better to be honest, two poor sides seperated by one good goal, we hit the post again. I think thats 3/4 times in two games :(

Ah well, I think I've jinxed Wednesday (as the people I sit with keep reminding me :p) They've lost the two games I've been to and won the couple I wasn't at :(
 
bloodline76 said:
Seriously though he does seem to have lost the plot since his injuries. He is still young though, so Im sure he will come good eventually. He really needs to work on going around people though. He had one nice little run against Porto where he left them for dead but his end ball is still disappointing. I think he has actually got worse since he arrived at Arsenal.
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He has gotten worse, largely because we brought in a striker, and played him as a winger.

Commentary was brilliant for a change, I cringed, and wanted to punch the guy at the start when Walcott missed his first shot. The guy said something along the lines of, not really a finisher though is he, Walcott's all about using his pace, hugging the wing and providing a killer final ball. Anger turned into a lot of laughter, he also said of Eboue on his first run, thats all Eboue's about ok running but awful final ball because his first cross was way overhit.

By half way through every touch Theo had basically had the commentator go from making excuses, to signs of exasperation to admit that he was ruddy awful. Meanwhile Eboue's comments got more encouraging throughout and by the end they were saying he had been fantastic.

Thats how this thread went aswell, comments during the first 20 minutes were "best game ever", because of one run, then nothing, to absolute disgust.

The problem is, he HASN'T remotely regressed since injuries, he was never good and has never looked good. I can remember I believe 3 performances he did ok in, Croatia, against a very poor Croatia on the day, his wingplay was still awful, passing non existant and really didn't make great contact with his shots. Liverpool that one run which was great, but was proceeded by being useless all game. I remember one game, probably a cup game, where he and Bendtner were superb upfront, a long long time ago now, but he was played as the furthest forward striker in that game.

He'll improve if we give him games as a striker, games on the wing are a complete waste, we could have lost or drawn today, when anyone half competant on the right wing would have helped us destroy a VERY poor Sunderland, he won't come good though, because, he's simply not got any talent, pace off the ball, but not drive to use it, his pace isn't even a useful skill because he refuses to fight for the ball. He flat out can't dribble, and by the age he is now, training every day for a decade, if he can't dribble now, he never will be able to, ever.

It would be nice if he was good, but he's not, maybe he's Wengers "english kid to combat new rules in future" type player, but at some stage he'll have to ditch him, the sooner the better, because the sooner we get shot of him, the sooner we get some other youngsters in who might actually be good.

Its a shame as Theo comes across as likeable off the field, quiet, not at all like Cashley, not arrogant, not flashy, more Giggsy than Cashley, but, he'll simply never make it.
 
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I only got to see MOTD (poor mans sky ;)) but I thought Walcott looked better. He made some good attacking runs and got behind the defender well. I think he needs more balls over the top for him to chase as he struggles when he tries to take on the defenders. Would be nice to see him up front.

Nice to see Bendtner get a goal too. I know it was only from a miss-hit Eboue strike (Yes DM((AKA Eboues agent)) it was an attempt on goal not a cross) but he is a confidence player and he will grow from that goal. I think we will need him in the next game against stoke too. Nice to have a player taller than the seven dwarves on the pitch ;)
 
Walcott wasn't as good as the highlights suggested but still a definite improvement

Nasri was awesome today, playing with a swagger, Song had a good game too
 
Far enough he didn't hit a decent cross or pass for most of the game, but I can't see how that was Theo's "worst ever game". He was skinning McCartney constantly. So much so they had to double mark him.
 
Walcott was getting so much stick from the crowd today. It's frustrating because you can see glimpses of talent but he constantly seems to make the wrong decision/not go in for challenges etc. I honestly think he'll come good but he needs game time and I'm not sure if we can give him that game time at the moment.
 
Mad old tory said:
Walcott was getting so much stick from the crowd today. It's frustrating because you can see glimpses of talent but he constantly seems to make the wrong decision/not go in for challenges etc. I honestly think he'll come good but he needs game time and I'm not sure if we can give him that game time at the moment.
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This i agree with but lets be honest here...how many yrs has he been at Arsenal and yet has to show his full potential...ok fair enough hes been injured so hasnt had the game time but like Bender boy he has the odd good game and for me thats not good enough...i just wish he would be a bit more consistent and the same goes for Bender boy as well...if those 2 could be more consistent in their efforts then id be more happier...but like you said seeing him play its just fustrating...he has the talent to be immense but how much more time does he need??....can only hope that him and Bender boy find some form to carry us into the final stage of the season...hopefully with Man Utd and Chelski dropping points in the next few games...we can sneak in and take the title:p...
 
Hopefully a Villa win today, it should be based on Burnley's away record. With Liverpool and Man City playing each other it should be a great chance to leapfrog at least one of them. Let's hope Wigan can also do as good as Wolves did hehe!
 
Spawn said:
This i agree with but lets be honest here...how many yrs has he been at Arsenal and yet has to show his full potential...ok fair enough hes been injured so hasnt had the game time but like Bender boy he has the odd good game and for me thats not good enough...i just wish he would be a bit more consistent and the same goes for Bender boy as well...if those 2 could be more consistent in their efforts then id be more happier...but like you said seeing him play its just fustrating...he has the talent to be immense but how much more time does he need??....can only hope that him and Bender boy find some form to carry us into the final stage of the season...hopefully with Man Utd and Chelski dropping points in the next few games...we can sneak in and take the title:p...
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Walcott is consistently played out of position, he isnt a winger, he is a striker who should have been playing off a target man for the past 3 to 4 seasons working on his timing and finishing.
He isnt going to turn into the english Ronaldo or a right footed Giggs, he doesnt have the skill, what ability he does have, his raw pace, is being wasted stuck out wide against full backs he doesnt have the skill to beat, or a large speed advantage over.
 
Realistically no, I don't see any glimpses of talent from Walcott, he didnt' consistantly get in behind the defenders yesterday, he did it maybe twice despite a LOT of the ball going through him.

Nasri also wasn't particularly good, he had a couple great moments but overall, well, we're just wasting him where we play him. Still his best performances came last season when played as a withdrawn/deep striker behind Bendtner/RVP in a few games, he simply doesn't have the pace to be dangerous on the wings, he'll "do" someone, and rarely get away from them. The massive majority of his best work comes around the edge of the area, unfortunately so does Bendtners, RVP's, Arshavins.

Too many great attacking players without the out and out pace to be great carrying the ball from the half way line up to cross in from the by-line.

I wouldn't say Song was good, Sunderlands midfield is there to kick people, not really be defended against, anything they did offensively was long and over the top to Jones/Bent, Song really didn't do anything good, or bad, the game simply rarely involved the area just inside our half, they didn't even try to play us there.

Highlights are a magical thing, they can show every mistake and none of the good bits, or the opposite, when it comes to possible England players, they tend to not show all the horrible parts. Walcott showed a tiny bit of promise in the first 10 minutes, then nothing.

Saying he was skinning someone constantly, is beyond a joke, the once/twice it happened was mostly from balls inbehind, he got there ahead of him a couple times, he most certainly didn't dribble his way around anyone constantly.

I've been saying it for 4 years now, IF he gets a run upfront playing off the shoulder of the CB's, in a 4-4-2, with another striker playing him in behind, he MIGHT end up getting goals for us and being ok, as a winger he'll end up in the Championship or League 1, if he's lucky.


http://football365.com/story/0,17033,8741_5962866,00.html

lol, this is the problem with the press, half the Arsenal fans in the world will be convinced we won that game purely down to Walcott after that and a few highlights. Worst ever write up of a game I've seen, Theo walcott stared, shades of Zargreb, wtf.

Also the Bolton Blackburn game, can barely see the pitch at the moment, who turned the snow machine up to full.
 
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To be fair, Walcott always improves with time in the side and keeps improving until he gets injured again, if he avoids injuries and gets a run in the team vs the lower teams he'll probably be in form before the WC. Hope so, his pace adds a lot of danger.
 
The snow is mental @ Blackburn game. Camera couldn't see the sub that was coming on then it was that thick. Struggling to see the ball now.
 
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