Theo Walcott

Football is an ever changing landscape. I am drinking in this form, and I advise you all to do the same.

I agree with you completely the criticism of wallcot was wrong and over the top but you go on to do the exact same thing here

Nah, the difference is Iā€™m right there.

Ramsey perhaps deserves an asterisk: if heā€™s willing to play on the right as an aux midfielder and give his best (which is something I doubt), then he is not a cancer and is actually a rather useful option to us. In the contrary case heā€™s absolutely a cancer, like Oxlade Chamberlain, who, like with Flamini last season, I would prefer to just subtract from the squad.

Youā€™re guilty of the same shit yourself particularly in regard to Ramsey who went on to have a great tournament at the Euroā€™s.

All this victory parade nonsense some are indulging in as if it washes away some of the absolutely abysmal performances and lacklustre efforts he put in is a little funny. Perhaps at times it was OTT but it happens to many players and Walcott is in a list of many. Iā€™m enjoying his form as much as anyone but I wonā€™t get ahead of myself, whether itā€™s in regard to the team or Walcott.

You can say youā€™re interested in mentality (which is again pretty funny) as it is a key factor as to how a team can perform and is one of the biggest reasons we havenā€™t won the PL in over a decade, Walcott was the poster boy for this last season. In addition to other issues he simply wasnā€™t giving enough for the team, he himself acknowledges this and credits it as a key factor to why heā€™s performing as he is now. Last season we had a similar crop of players at least attacking wise so itā€™s more than just team selection playing a factor here

He still needs to be replaced though. I donā€™t know about Iwobi and where his possible ceiling will be, but if we want to continue to evolve towards a title winning side the next step is probably replacing Cazorla (because old age)/Walcott.

I didnā€™t say Iā€™m not interested in mentality, I said Iā€™m not bothered to dissect it/get involved in the incredibly simplistic analysis of Theoā€™s mentality.

As I said during the Euro cup itself, who the fuck cares? I couldā€™ve told you before the Euro cup Ramsey would do great with Wales. He usually does. Doesnā€™t hold any bearing on what Iā€™ve just said above about Ramsey/his standing with Arsenal. In fact the Euro cup just reinforces what I always say about Ramsey, he should be playing for a side like Everton in Ross Barkleyā€™s role.

Try and cloud the issue all you want but people like you talked loads of shit about Theo last season, and gave people like me loads of crap for defending him and point out how OTT your nonsense was. Wonā€™t expect the guy who once said heā€™d prefer Schneiderlin to Busquets or who backed signing Fellaini or who called Wenger clueless for playing Ramsey over Ox at RW early last season, etc. etc. etc. to admit being wrong though.

Iā€™s not a simplistic analysis if the player himself credits it as a key reason for how well heā€™s playing so well, essentially you want to ignore it because it is a valid argument but carry on.

You were incredibly OTT about Ramsey much more than I was of Walcott tbh. However, now youā€™re attempting to revise how terrible he was which is laughable.

My main gripe in concern to Theo was the attempts of Wenger to convert him to a striker at the expense of signing one, whereas you championed this notion time and time again which lo and behold ended in utter failure. And to be real the vast majority of what I said was justified. You didnā€™t rate Iwobi and look what heā€™s doing now, nominated for Golden Boy and killing it on a weekly basis. Everyone can mention things others got wrong we arenā€™t infallible, funny how that works isnā€™t it? But it doesnā€™t surprise me you cling to Schneiderlin (which was bullshit btw) and all that other shit, you can be really petty like that.

I knew the old AC was in there somewhere.

How was Schneiderlin bullshit? You went on about him in the most nauseating of ways, and you did once suggest that Busquets was overrated and you would just as soon take Schneiderlin.

Of course Iā€™ve been wrong about things, and Iā€™m never shy to admit it. Iwobi I was wrong about, and if another player like him comes through that doesnā€™t stand out at youth levels and looks as uninteresting as Iwobi did at youth level, I will say the same things and be wrong about him again. Luckily for me those kind of assessments usually end up with being right, in the case of Akpom, Yennaris, or Ansah or all the others before them whose names we forget as soon as theyā€™re gone. Sanogo I was wrong about too, namely in thinking his other qualities could make up for his lack of technique, in what was the year of Ramsey and with other qualities making up for lack of technique weighing heavily on my mind, and everything I thought I knew about football me finding myself questioning. :wink:

Canā€™t say the same about you, though, re: admitting being wrong about things.

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I didnā€™t say I would prefer him over Busquets now youā€™re just making things up, yeah I wanted Schneiderlin and but so what? Many others did as well to a high degree but you go on and on about it as if bringing that shit up invalidates arguments I make YEARS later. Funny shit indeed.

The point was that you act as if you can use that shit to invalidate what Iā€™m saying, which inane.

Really? I donā€™t say Iā€™m wrong? Back that shit up because I have no issue admitting Iā€™m wrong, Iā€™ve given credit to Theo in this very thread, bigged up Wenger for spending on the likes of Mustafi the list goes on.

You did, I quoted it on the old forum. And you said a lot more than you ā€œwantedā€ Schneiderlin, lol, letā€™s not be coy here, you said he was the best DM in the league and lambasted us for not signing him.

I donā€™t bring that up to invalidate what you say, I do so because youā€™ve been guilty of talking shit on a number of occasions yet always come back acting as if it never happened, and always seem to pretend as if it never happened when I call you on it, no matter how much you have (wrongly) lambasted my opinion, as in the case of Theo (laughing about my ā€œgraphā€, for example, when the precise point made with the graph was to try to give you lot a bit of perspective and reminder on how OTT you were being), or defending Wenger for playing Ramsey over Ox at ā€œRWā€. Aside from all that I even agree with you a good bit of the time lately.

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Theo was pretty good in July-September, but he was absolutely shocking for the rest of the season. For some reason he was played on the left wing and he couldnā€™t adapt whatsoever to it. Campbell overall played better last season. Ox did not. I had given up on him and wanted him sold as did most of us.

Theo has proven though that Wenger was right to keep him and have faith in himā€¦well unless the rest of his season goes pearshape like it did last season but I donā€™t think it will, heā€™s clearly in better shape.

Actually although he was a shocking CM last season Iā€™m curious about a Xhaka-Ramsey partnership. Ramsey was good at CM to the back end of last season when he forgot about playing super striker. The frustrating thing about Ramsey is heā€™s actually a good CM when he remembers to be positionally responsible.

Why do people continually over the last 2 seasons want to replace arguably our best player in Cazorla? Pirlo and Scholes played into their late 30s and when Scholes left United they struggled, he even had to resign to rescue them. Cazorla is that type of playmaker that isnā€™t easily replaced and itā€™s easy enough to play physical runners alongside him while he handles the finese.

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Iā€™ll never understand defending the right to piss excessively on your own players and staff through likening it to praising a player equally by argument of objectivity? ā€œYouā€™ll look stupid if you say Theo is good now and he is shite next weekā€ not to me you wonā€™t lol Unless it is part of the ā€˜Iwobi is Ronaldo today, tomorrow under the bus he goes, just like Theo, Ramsey, Wilshere, Ox etc.ā€™ crap lol To me youā€™ll look a regular fan of this playerā€™s club if you stuck with the first half? Iā€™d understand. lol :smiley:

Iā€™ll expect jokes from Spurs fans if Theo is shite next week, and Iā€™d understand their obsession with being right about how an Arsenal player is shite, but from within us? Iā€™m surprised sometimes when an Arsenal fan makes an aggressive effort to hold it against another Arsenal fan that he believed in or rated a player too much. Is it just me?

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Nah I didnā€™t, I said Busquets was overrated off the back of him being in shit form thatā€™s about it really. And yeah I bigged up Schneiderlin but in my defence he was balling for around three seasons. But keep going on and on, years later you keep bringing it up though, thatā€™s some sad shit man.

We all talked shit on occasion and contrary to what you say I donā€™t act like it hasnā€™t happened, some of us had egg on our faces in this very thread and I embraced it. Iā€™d much rather get proven wrong in regard to our players and have the team do well than any other alternative.

Anyways back to the topic at hand as Iā€™ve said credit where itā€™s due Walcott is playing well both in attack and defence , hopefully he can maintain it.

But we donā€™t play physical runners do we? I remember Scholes also missing a lot of games through injury since 2007 or so. Because Pirlo did it weā€™ll just assume Cazorla will too?

Agreed with all of this. Campbell did play better than Theo last season, but overall the appraisal of their comparative abilities was all out of whack among Arsenal fans, and Campbell was overrated a good bit/much more of a mystery than what was necessary was made out of Wenger looking to give Ox/Theo opportunities to improve and finally Iwobi a chance instead of playing Campbell every week. [quote=ā€œarsenescoatmaker, post:313, topic:89ā€]
Actually although he was a shocking CM last season Iā€™m curious about a Xhaka-Ramsey partnership. Ramsey was good at CM to the back end of last season when he forgot about playing super striker. The frustrating thing about Ramsey is heā€™s actually a good CM when he remembers to be positionally responsible.
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Yeah, Iā€™d disagree, I thought he continued to be shocking even at the end of last season when Wenger shoehorned him into the lineup. I just donā€™t think heā€™s a good CMā€“last season he was of course a shocking CM, thatā€™s not up for argument, Iā€™m talking about in general thoughā€“no matter what some of the twitter hipsters say, and I donā€™t think itā€™s worth bothering with him in Santiā€™s position for me when, for me a positionally responsible Ramsey is still pretty average, maybe a slight upgrade on ElNeny at best, and a non-positionally responsible/overly direct in passing Ramsey is nearly Flamini level as he was last season.

If he doesnā€™t want to play aux mediapunta/attacking midfielder for us, he needs to go, for me. Simple as that.

Their was a period of time I though eddy mcgoldrick was the best footballer in the world coz he scored in a game I was at, I was about 7 but still

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WoW lots of crowing going on. Theos doing ok and scoring which is nice . After 10 years maybe just maybe he will come good . its been a long long wait.

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If he stays fit, and we donā€™t sign anybody else for rw, heā€™s ~3 seasons away of entering our top 10 of most appearences for the club by the way. He needs 34 goals for the top 10 goalscorers. Proper Arsenal legend.

(Useless information, but Iā€™m a sucker for those kind of stats)

This. I never thought he was a great footballer, but he is one of those useful players that has a knack for stats and has that pace to scare opponents. When he was bad though, he was really, really bad. And what made it 100x worse for me was his pathetic lack of balls. The ManU game really crystallized what ā€œBad Theoā€ was about.

If he becomes a reliable ā€œGood Theoā€ again this year, we are going to be tough. I am absolutely loving his current form (even if he still has those rapist touches occasionally) and I am especially loving his new found energy and drive - looks like a player who finally realizes what a gift he has and is starting to act like it is his last chance to enjoy it (kind of like how Sanchez plays every f*ing game).

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