Comments on: Theo Walcott, Arsenal, And England

By: Nolan

Nolan — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:24:25 +0000

Most of the big 4’s English talent is grabbed from other clubs, but Arsenal is the only one to get shit for it, so I don’t see anything wrong with this post.

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:05:51 +0000

“And didn’t Southampton take him from Swindon Town, anyway? He’d have started more games at Swindon Town than Southampton.”

Nice of you to at least admit he wasn’t conceived and born on Arsenal’s training ground and that the words “Southampton” and “Swindon Town” deserved to appear in your original post.

By: steven.

steven. — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 01:16:40 +0000

Theo should hop ship and come play for Liverpool .. we’ll give you Kuyt in exchange .. that way Arsene won’t have the burden of having an English player ..

By: Abby

Abby — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:27:17 +0000

I’m not saying anything but what Arsene Wenger was saying early in August- “His first touch his much better and he moves the ball quicker. His penetration and final ball is better.” It’s the endless debate- is it better for a teenager with that kind of potential to be starting every week for a team where he’d be against lower-level opposition with lower-level teammates, or starting less but playing against the very best with some of the top players in the world to learn from? It’s hard to say exactly. Clearly he got a lot from Southampton, but watching Theo from two years ago and Theo now are different things.

And didn’t Southampton take him from Swindon Town, anyway? He’d have started more games at Swindon Town than Southampton…

By: Non-Big Four

Non-Big Four — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:03:54 +0000

Typical Big Four ego-centrism. You rape lower clubs for their talent and then claim all the success as your own. Yawn.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:19:56 +0000

Yes, he’s improved at Arsenal, but my point was simply that the majority of his development came from Southampton. That was where he was getting first team games every week, playing regularly, scoring goals, getting experience, etc. He’s developed at Arsenal from their coaching staff and training for sure, but he’s mostly a reserve and hasn’t had a chance to develop as far as first team match experience like he had at Southampton. I think it’s highly likely he would have developed faster and farther had he stayed at Southampton the past couple years, and if I had to play the arbitrary percentage game, I’d say 75% of who he is as a player right now is due to his Southampton influence and 25% is due to the Arsenal influence. So reading a long blog post about Theo, who he is as a player, and his development, giving the impression that it’s all down to Arsenal, yes, is short-sighted and insular.

“He’s shown on a large stage what he’s learned in his two years at Arsenal.”
“Theo’s learned a lot about football at Arsenal – finishing, passing, beating defenders, etc.”

I just picked two quotes as quick examples, but obviously these comments are flat-out wrong. He was showing all these things (and in first team match situations) before Arsenal even became interested in signing him. That’s all I’m saying.

By: Abby

Abby — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 06:23:20 +0000

Considering you have to resort to insults, Anthony, I’m not sure that you should be attempting to make a point…

By: Anthony

Anthony — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 05:41:04 +0000

Abby, clearly you are like Jon said, narrow-minded.

Walcott barely plays at Arsenal, clearly improved? Not so sure about that one.

I guess he gets a few more touches from Wenger tonight then?

Lucky boy.. :\

By: Abby

Abby — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:52:16 +0000

Yes, but Theo has clearly polished and improved his game since coming to Arsenal. Look at his first games for Arsenal compared to now. He still has a way to go until he reaches his full potential, but he’s learned from us.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:23:29 +0000

A bit narrow-minded. A lot of the credit goes to Southampton.