Well, Blackpool were hit for six weren’t they?
The biggest talking point of the weekend was the fantastic performance of Theo Walcott, and his well-deserved hattrick. More specifically, the seemingly unnecessary criticism of Walcott by Alan Hansen on Match of the Day.
Let me say first of all I thought Walcott was stunningly good, but let’s not forget that the kid is only 21. And as strange as it sounds, despite not being a stick on starter for Arsenal, he is more than good enough to be in the England squad and probably should be in the first eleven. But that’s another debate for another day.
Arsenal fans are taking exception to the “analysis” Hansen made of Walcott but I think people are taking things a little bit too much to heart. The main point he was making was that Walcott was a far better player when he is instinctive and doesn’t have time to think, which is a fair analysis. Walcott is devastating when at full speed, and in fact my favourite Walcott moments for Arsenal are in the build-ups to stunning counter attacks, like the Arshavin and Adebayor goals at Anfield. When he is on it, Walcott is breathtaking. And I would have to agree, when he’s a full pelt and doesn’t have to think he is brilliant.
The problem Theo has is when he has time and space and there are too many options available. That’s not necessary and criticism of him, and the part I did take exception to in Hansen’s analysis was that Walcott doesn’t have the ability or potential to progress. I personally believe that he does have the capability to improve in that area, and with Arsene Wenger (and his track record) guiding him the only way is up as far as I’m concerned.
The only frustrating thing about Theo’s performance for me was that I didn’t buy him for my Fantasy Football team!
And the latest news on the transfer front is that Sevilla’s Sebastien Squillaci is undergoing a medical at Arsenal.
I don’t know much about him, but apparently he’s rated at £6.5 million and he’s 30 years old, which on the face of it seems strange, considering Arsene’s policy on players over 30.
But then again, we did have William Gallas (33), Mikel Silvestre (33) and Sol Campbell (35) on the books last season so maybe that policy is changing slightly these days. Maybe Arsenal wants to integrate experience with the youth. £6.5 million does seem a lot for a 30 year old (I sound like Arsene now don’t I?) but Wenger’s track record in bringing in defenders has been good in recent seasons so hopefully he is the signing we’ve been waiting for on that front.
We just need a decent goalkeeper now…
Dude the quote U put there as far as Sebastien Squillaci is concerned is different from what U R saying” Sevilla’s Sebastien Squillaci is undergoing a medical at Arsenal.” BBC is saying he is ” …to undergo medical at Arsenal”….. they are different stories!
DB10, the BBC story was from last night, currently Squillaci is undergoing a medical right now. Hence the undergoing part of the post.
Good post, and your very right about Walcott. We have generally taken the criticism to heart, but let’s hope he puts in the same type of performance against the likes of Chavski and Manure, and that way he will ram it back down the throats of the likes of Hanson and that odious Redknapp.
Hanson’s a total pr1ck. He seems to expect every break Walcott makes to result in a goal or assist. No-one makes the correct decision every time, not Messi, not even Hanson’s beloved Rooney.
Walcott won’t get a hat-trick every week but he’s 21 FFS and steadily improving. He’ll still have bad games like every other player but hopefully if he stays injury free with a full pre-season behind him, he can keep on getting better. And Evra got rinsed by Duff at the weekend so that kind of p1sses on Hanson’s bonfire.
Honestly, the stick we take over Walcott is ridiculous. We are constantly slaughtered for our lack of English players and yet get just as much for sticking by him for 3 years.
If Arsenal had 10 world class English players, d1cks like this would still find a way to have a pop at us.
Good point Simon, Hansen seems very anti-Arsenal, like most of the other pundits like Shearer and Lawrenson!
Rooney has been shit over the last 6/7 months, yet no-one says anything about him do they?
If you want to pick out brainless footballers… step forward Jermaine Defoe. Why attempt a simple 5 yards square ball for a tap-in when you can try and blast it through 5 players and score at the near post…?
Don’t know why persons like Hansen don’t use their eye! Frankly speaking, if u can see your eyes open, Wal’s performance of the day was so impressive and enjoyable. His passes and finishes show this young guy is improving. So it is better for persons like Hansen and other anti-Arsenals to shut their mouth if they cannot say something good while such a marvelous thing happening on the pitch.
Isn’t Alan Hansen the guy who said “You can’t win things with kids”, and predicted last season the Liverpool would win the league? The scousers finish 7th that season!
Hansen on the whole, is full of crap. He, like Shearer, just spouts generic rubbish that a 10 year old could come up with. Maybe it’s just Scottish pundits, because Andy Gray is a wanker as well.
Completely agree with the article. I saw nothing particularly wrong with what hansen said (linker pushed him into making it sound worse imo) except that, as you say, I do think walcott can learn to be better when he has time on the ball. Every player improves in that regard with experience.
Theos problem is consistency, and the fact that people always hype him up over one good performance, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Imo he was always going to do damage against blackpool, who arent great at the back (particularly with 10 men), and really he didnt deserve that chance. Imo vela deserved it far more, but what’s done is done, theo must now have some confidence with which he needs to build a run of form. Frankly im not optimistic, but obviously I hope he manages this, and finally proves himself worthy of a starting place for arsenal. He can be devastating as he has shown on a few occasions, but he needs to be more effective more often. Good luck to him, but the pressure should be on. Imo, this should be his last chance before dropping him. We have too many talented youngsters to be waiting around for just one of them to come good. That doesnt make sense.
Well , no matter how much you try to sugar coat Hansen’s analysis , i think he was just being plainly bitter , proud and generally stubborn.
If Gary L could be evidently shocked at what Hansen was saying on TV and he had to ask him twice if he is sure of the points he was making, then Hansen was wrong.
Walcott was part of a team that scored 6goals in a single match- that means everybody did something right.
Then he went to score 3goals, that excuses anyone from any short comings and achievement should not be robbed of the poor bloke.
Hansen should be ashamed of himself because he should have used the opportunity to encourage the guy.
I will love it if we win the premiership this season , i am sure he will say we don’t deserve it.
Hansen should be ashamed of himself because he should have used the opportunity to encourage the guy but he did the opposite.
I will love it if we win the premiership this season , i am sure he will say we don’t deserve it.
Hansen did give theo credit for the performance, but lineker goded him to go further with the criticism.
Im sick of everybody being so nice about walcott. He needs to improve and not just give one great performance per season. All he receives is so positive, and he never has to work hard for a place in the team. so many people believe in him so much, regardless of his performances. His omission from the WC squad was the first real knock he’s received in his career, and it was deserved because he hsa not played anything close to his maximum ability on anything like a consistent basis. Maybe some criticism is justified here, and maybe he should use it to prevent himself from getting carried away with himself because of this one performance. He needs to realise he has a long way to go, but everyone keeps telling him hes made it. THAT is 10x more harmful to arsenal than what hansen said.
Theo Walcott, against the better sides (we’ve seen it against AC Milan, Liverpool, etc.) is an impact player. He has the ability to completely ruin a defence, rip right through them and set-up a goal. So in that sense, he is a valuable player, but you will still get people like Hansen who will criticise, even though he might score a goal and make a couple. It doesn’t matter if for the rest of the game you don’t really do much, since you’ve made a big impact on the result.
Against the lesser sides, Walcott has more space so he will do more against those kind of teams, so I struggle to find why Alan Hansen can be so negative about Theo when he was instrumental in a 6-0 victory! I don’t think Arshavin or Chamackh (even though they also had good games) would have lead Arsenal to a 6-0 win. It would have probably been about 2-0 or 3-0 possibly.
Davi, I don’t think anyone’s said Theo’s made it, and the interviews and quotes you hear from the lad back this up.
Wengers Immortals – His wage says someone important thinks he’s made it.
The way people are so angry over Hansen’s opinion and how they were so angry that he was left out of the WC squad shows that they think he’s proven something..
Theo’s words were sort of encouraging, but I think he’s said these sorts of things before, but it hasn’t helped him to become consistent. I hope he does do that this season, but I really doubt it. I see nothing new here.