Like most Arsenal players these days, Theo’s one major enemy is the injury curse that seems to get its wicked way with him more than the usual Premier League footballer. It also seems to take Theo longer to get back to his best after injury than it does to some others in our squad. Should his injury issues persist then Chamberlain will surely have the door open enough

I imagine that the usual finger crossing and avoidance of ladders were in full effect during this first week of Internationals that were in full swing since the Arsenal last kicked a ball in anger.

Theo Walcott must have gulped a little on Thursday evening after he heard about Oxlade-Chamberlain’s hat trick in the under 21s. He must feel like the older brother who is watching his younger brother take all the plaudits for playing the same musical instrument that he has played for far longer. He also might not think anything of it whatsoever but I thought it sounded good at the time.

I watch Chamberlain and I get that buzz that you get when you know you are watching a very special talent but I think disregarding Theo right now would be wrong. Naturally Chamberlain is the more complete footballer but Theo is Premier League ready and an experienced professional.

Theo Walcott contributes to a vast amount of goals in the time he has on the pitch, whether that be assists or goals and you cannot ignore that fact. Another vital advantage that Theo has over Chamberlain is the knowledge of his team mates, he has an understanding with van Persie, with Aaron Ramsey and Alex Song. He knows when to spin in behind Robin and he knows when to dart behind the full back to give the midfield an important passing option in the final third.

Theo Walcott is very important to our current system and without him we are basically playing with one forward. Walcott has continued his personal crusade to end up in the central striking position without actually realising the amount of times he ends up in that position during the course of 90 minutes.

Like most Arsenal players these days, Theo’s one major enemy is the injury curse that seems to get its wicked way with him more than the usual Premier League footballer. It also seems to take Theo longer to get back to his best after injury than it does to some others in our squad. Should his injury issues persist then Chamberlain will surely have the door open enough times to stake his claim, especially when the fixture list starts to pile up as the season goes on.

Walcott’s cross to Ashley Young in the England game was superb but unlike for Arsenal, he had players in the penalty area. How many times has Arshavin, Gervinho or anyone other who play on the opposite side get to the back post to challenge for headers?

If Theo put that cross in at Arsenal then it would have bounced out for a throw on or at best Kieran Gibbs would be high enough up the pitch to collect it and pass it back inside.

With so many of our opponents flooding the middle to stifle our combination football, it would be nice if the full backs had more players to aim for in the box. Even if those players were not strong in the air, just having a player to turn the ball back inside at the far post could result in a few extra goals over the season.

Park Chu Young bagged another brace for South Korea and one can only assume that he hasn’t been able to acclimatise to the pace of our way of playing just yet. It took Eduardo sometime to adjust to the Premier League when he signed and I assume that the same is happening with Park. I picture a guy who bangs everything in during training whilst with his Korean team mates but when at London Colny every pass bounces off his shins or he just blasts his passes off the pitch.

Perhaps Arsene feels that players from further afield need longer to adapt to the English game as well as the culture as both a vastly different. The highly talented Ryo Miyachi is yet to taste Premier League action after only managing 15 minutes or so in the Carling Cup.

It got me thinking a little about how this new squad is being built. Mertesacker has recently spoken to the German press about needing time, Park is nowhere to be seen and Alex Chamberlain is being dipped in and out of the first team.

There has been a huge amount of pressure on Arsene and Arsenal to win trophies, especially given the way the team folded last season. With big players leaving the squad, most fans expected the club to go out and bring in all the players necessary to compete with the bigger spenders in both transfer fees and wages.

Players like Juan Mata were spoken about until Chelsea barged us out of the way. Eden Hazard has been linked to us strongly and while it was reported that Borrisua Dortmund turned down a €28-€34 million (£25-£30m) bid from Arsenal for the creative talent Mario Gotze.

We do not know who else was scribbled down on Arsene’s list during the summer months but we do know that experience was brought in. Mikel Arteta aged 29 signed and Yossi Benayoun found his way to Arsenal on loan. Why did Arsene bring a player to the club on loan? Arsene never looks for loan moves and has refused to fill gaps in the past with loan deals but he changed tact.

Pat Rice and Arsene Wenger have said that the world will soon see the amount of talent we have from our new players. Chamberlain is only 18 and seems to be treated with caution while Ryo is playing in the reserves.

Many of our targets did not find themselves wearing the red and white of Arsenal, yet they remain at their clubs. The last piece of the puzzle came from CEO Ivan Gazidis.

Gazidis said:

“We have kept some powder dry and I think we have done that deliberately. We have looked at the market, looked at the players who were available and who we really wanted and whether we were able to achieve that over the summer. “

Maybe this post Cesc Fabregas team is not the cobbled together mess that it appears to be. Well, currently it is given our league position and form but maybe this is a half rebuilt team.

Maybe against all the stomping of feet and frustration is a manager, board and owner who are taking a longer view to getting Arsenal back at the top. Longer than any fan would want but perhaps it was the only way to construct a team together who can compete with £50 notes being shot from all angles.

Perhaps the hope was to get through this season and remain above Liverpool and Tottenham and then continue to build the post Fabregas team. The window opens in January and it could be a chance to bring in new players but don’t be surprised if this doesn’t happen unless a verbal agreement was made during the summer between Arsenal and one of our target’s club.
January is a time where clubs do not want to lose their best players and it is also a time where adapting to a new country, league, style etc is not straight forward or even  ideal.

Perhaps the club feels that the financial fair play rules will drive clubs closer to Arsenal rather than us busting a gut to keep up. Perhaps the club also have an eye on the new commercial deals that need to be renegotiated over the next few years and this will see Arsenal flex some more financial muscle when it comes to keeping hold of our best players.

The summer would have stung the club, would have stung Wenger. Having been so patient with Cesc, Nasri and many others they will not want a repeat of that. There has been an interesting twist to this Arsenal squad that hasn’t been present in a while.

Say what you want about Carl Jenkinson’s readiness for the first team. When Arsenal equalised at the Lane we didn’t see a player sat stony faced, chewing gum. We saw fist pumping an expression of excitement as Ramsey stabbed in Song’s cross. Emmanuel Frimpong wrote the bio ‘I love Arsenal more than the person who founded it’ on his twitter account. Jack Wilshere has consistently declared his love for Arsenal. Even older players like Mertesacker, Gervinho and Chamakh all had an affection for Arsenal before they put pen to paper on a contract at our club.

Should we have the capabilities of keeping hold of our best players for the next few years then I am very confident about the future of Arsenal. How can you not feel excited about Wilshere, Ramsey, Gibbs, Frimpong, Coquelin, Chamberlain, Szczesny and Ryo coming to the start of their best years. The years that Cesc and Nasri are at now. By that point, I expect others to make the grade either from our current youth system or externally.

The issue comes from the bridge from today to that day. Is the bridge strong enough to take all the pressure of top level competition and negativity from all around. I hope so, but it is certainly not as strong as previous years. That is a huge concern, especially given our inconsistency and obvious lack of belief but hopefully as time goes on and the players adjust to our way of playing and settle into a new country then the bridge will start to set, the cement will harden and we can get back to what we do. Score goals, entertain, out play teams and win games.

van Persie’s contract is still making news as you would expect. Arsenal in crisis is out there and it needs to be fed. Many people want to feed it.

I am sure there are many players, important players who have the same amount of time to run as Robin. Any players worth his salt should look to get into this position and we have recently seen that with Wayne Rooney. It is how the club handle it that counts. It is where we are when that time comes, not only that but more importantly where we are going. I have said it before and I will say it again. I refuse to allow that to concern me too tuff until something actually happens. Team x,y and z will be gathering all sorts of assorted flowers to woo van Persie but this is nothing new, this is normal. This is the age of millionare footballers and agents. He plays for us right now and I want to see the best from him as is the case with the rest of the squad.

Interested to hear the Reina stories confirmed. £20m bid from Arsenal for a goalkeeper ey? Who would have thunk it. Without having watched Liverpool every week, I will still say that I am happy with how this story turned out. The potential Szczesny has is just amazing and if Reina was signed then I doubt very much that Szczesny would be at the club today.

Kalou seems to be the new Obafemi Martins, being linked to us every other minute. I get a little agitated about transfer rumours three months before a transfer can be made. Unless I bump into Mario and Eden sharing a McDonalds opposite me on Holloway road then it can go straight in the rubbish until December at the earliest.

Before I go can I point you in the direction of something really sexy and intriguing. It is about penetration and it is quite an exciting read. It is written by Hazzaboy and is well worth a sneaky peak.

Back again tomorrow.