Your Vision
Your Vision - Theo Walcott - Central Striker
11 Mar 2010PLEASE NOTE THAT YOUR VISION ARTICLES ARE SENT IN BY READERS AND ARE NOT WRITTEN BY ARSENAL VISION WRITERS.
By DJ Dragonfly
* Article sent on 4th March 2010
After watching Theo's performance for England against Egypt last night, I have finally come to the conclusion that until Wenger plays him in the central striker role for Arsenal (where Van Persie has been a major success this season and where Bendtner is currently plying his trade); we will never see the best of Theo Walcott.
Theo is at his best when he is playing on the shoulder of the last defender. When he is deploying this move, he uses his devastating pace, which enables him to peel off his marker and run into space, whilst bearing down on goal. He is also a very good finisher, whilst under pressure.
Theo may be one of the quickest players in the squad; however it doesn't mean that he would make a decent winger. If you were to analyse his performances on the wing for Arsenal to date, his final delivery from the wide areas has been very poor and he is very predictable whilst in retention of the ball (he always tends to take on his opponent on the outside instead of varying his runs), however his defensive play has improved from last season, when it has come to covering for Sagna or Eboue.
My reasoning to Wenger for playing Walcott on the wing was in order to help him improve his overall awareness of the game and learn how to make a variety of runs on the pitch, whilst providing width for the team.
By deploying him on the wing, it has lessened the threat that Theo could pose onto the opposition and his confidence has been weakened when it has come to taking on the opposition.
The most disappointing thing about watching Theo on the wing is that it is pretty obvious to see that he is uncomfortable playing there, however Wenger and Capello continue to position him there, which is very frustrating to see. The matter is also not helped by him picking up a number of injuries and not getting a consistent run in the team.
I strongly believe that Theo is now ready to play in the central striker role, however until I see Theo getting a regular run in a central position (for club and country), I am not going to be critical of his performances.
Mean Lean's Response
You raise some very interesting thoughts DJ Dragonfly. Theo Walcott came to us as a center forward and is certainly a good finisher, or has the potential to be a consistent finisher. There has been many times where I thought that center forward would suit him more than the right wing but I am not so sure that in our system he would be able to do very important tasks required of a center forward.
Quite often when we are not in possession of the ball of have just regain possession, our central striker is alone alongside one or two center backs. Van Persie is an expert in finding space receiving the ball and finding a joining colleague.
Bendtner has been doing well in the last few games, bringing the ball down on his chest and playing in the overlapping full backs or which ever player is in an advanced position. At this moment in time, I do not see Theo Walcott being able to do that.
Andrey Arshavin, who I thought was the perfect player to fill in for Van Persie looked lost in that role, his goal threat diminished and he found it very difficult to get involved in games. Since he has moved back out to the left, he has looked a far more dangerous and useful player, I may be wrong but I wouldn't be surprised if that would be the case with Theo.
The one reason why I would love to see Theo as a center forward, is because of his obvious natural strong point. His amazing pace.
The idea of Cesc lifting his head and scooping a ball forward to Walcott to outstrip everyone else would be great because I doubt that there is anymore than a handful of defenders that could keep pace but in reality, most teams would be too wise.
Even without Theo's presence we have faced teams who sit so very deep and very narrow that Theo would not be able to use his pace and would have to rely on his technique. We all know that Theo Walcott is perhaps a little behind most of our attacking players in technical quality.
I actually believe that the 4-3-3 system on paper at least is his most suited position. He gets to make those runs into forward positions and also has the space out wide to beat players. We have yet to see the best of Theo and that will only come with a number of regular games behind him.
Perhaps one day, we will see a more rounded and developed Theo as the 'new Henry' but for the time being, I believe that he should continue his trade setting up Nicklas Bendtner or curling in left foot shots.
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Unless you're saying we should shift back to 4-4-2 just for him, to which the answer again is, "it's not going to happen".
I can see him playing behind a Chamakh/Adebayor and even an Eduardo type in a 4-4-2. The problem is that even as support striker his final ball has to be good.
Let's be realistic. Theo's best spot is as a wide forward.
I am a great fan of the 4-3-3 system, but the system simply ain't bringing the best out of Walcott from the wide areas. It is also affecting Eduardo and Vela's game as well when deployed out wide.
These players are at their best either playing from a central position or playing with a centre forward (Bendtner for example).
Last season, we had a number of options we could field in any game situation (4-4-2, 4-2-3-1 or 4-5-1). This season, Wenger is solely relying on the 4-3-3 set-up and I have yet to see Walcott excel in this formation at wide attack.
However there is no doubt that the 4-3-3 is the formation that best suits Cesc Fabregas and Abou Diaby, the 2 players around which Arsene has made the cornerstones of the squad.
It also solved the problem of where to play Robin van Persie, and how to accomodate Andrey.
Wenger is not going to lose all this to accomodate Theo Walcott. I think he will be very right not to do so. I don't know that the gains from doing so would be enough to justify losing the midfield balance we now have just with the hope that Theo may come good.
About options; I agree that we should return to 4-4-2 every now and then...for example before Bendtner came back, we could have had Arshavin and Eduardo as a strike pair. I agree we should use the 4-2-3-1 sometimes as well (the formation on Wednesday was very close to this).
However, I don't agree that Theo at the moment looks set to grab a position in the team as a central striker.
If we switched to 4-4-2 he'd have to queue behind EDS, Arshavin, RVP, Cesc, Nasri who all have strong claims for being played behind the main striker. Why? Because their final ball is better, and they get involved in the intricacy of Arsenal's attacking play.
Walcott is still learning his trade as a professional football player and, like Ole Gunner above, I don't think Walcott has the multi-dimensional skill set at present to play as an effective central striker for Arsenal.
He may well develop the required skill set in due course, but right now that is clearly not the case.
As Mean Lean has pointed out, most opposition teams & managers are sufficiently street wise & tactically savvy to let themselves be ripped apart by someone relying on pace alone, whether from a central attacking position or indeed from a wide one.
When Walcott is 24 to 25, we can make a proper comprehensive assessment of his game, and see what sort of player he has become and what he brings to the (footballing) table at that stage of his career.
But right now, we're simply not in a position to say - at least not in a meaningful & accurate way - that Walcott is at his best when he plays on the shoulder of the last defender in a central position.
I don't think we know what Walcott at his best looks like yet. Let's give Walcott time to develop & learn at his own pace and review the situation in 3 or 4 years time.
At present, I just feel that we could gain an extra 20-30% from Walcott if he was deployed in a central position. If this meant changing the system in particular games in order to utilise this threat, then Wenger must action this ploy.
the guy is 20 years of age, i mean give him a break, he is learning.
it seems as if you believe he's like forrest gump, they gave him the ball and nobody could catch him. there needs to be a precedent and if wenger had never managed to turn a player around i would be hesitant, but look at players like song and diaby, there is no doubt in my mind that theo will be a fantastic player, and his natural strengths will elevate him above players of similar ability.
if i'm not mistaken when henry first arrived he was played in wide positions as well, to get him ready for the central role. i saw him against burnley and he was fantastic, my man of the match next to nasri, give him time and he'll come good.
You have it spot on - where's your blog?
Firstly Theo has had a miserable time with injuries preventing him from getting any kind of consistency, though his last couple of showings have been promising in my opinion. He's been making a few more accurate passes as well as showing he can finish.
Secondly, with that in mind I'd like to remind you that this formation has lead to us scoring more goals than any other team so far this season. I think any debate should really focus on why we also concede more goals than our closest rivals.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it, scoring goals is the last thing we need to worry about this season, the amount we have conceded is the massive issue
We've gone from putting 6 past Everton at the beginning of the season to letting in 2 against Blackburn... that is a real worry for me.