Theo Walcott

[The Birdman]

What track record has Wenger got nuturing and developing young English players??
Aliadiere was at Arsenal for more years than he made league starts and that is the tip of the iceberg, if you buy enough youngsters some come through, Rafa in the last 2 years has done what Wengers did 10 odd years ago, no-one remembers all the other young Arsenal players that look good in 1 Carling Cup game then disappear.

[Skillz]

I am not going into one about Rafa on here but you can't say that. Torres is back in our own goalmouth for corners and asked to feed off scraps and fight for 2nd balls. Gerrard does the same - you cannot say they are afforded the same freedom as Ronaldo. I also disagree that Rooney and Tevez have suffered, United have a very free flowing attack.

Torres scored 33 goals for us last year, Gerrard 20+. It's also pretty clear Rafa wanted Walcott, still does IMO.

Rooney was played on the left like Kuyt was for us, albeit on the right. Rooney defends as much as Kuyt too. Infact the difference in the way we played at the end of last season to the way Manu played was minimal IMO. Clear lack of depth in talent aside.

[peekay]

£5mil upfront rising to £12m was the price. And the way he's going Arsenal will pay the full £12mil. I'm no Parry fan but did we really have £12mil to spend on completely unproven talent in 2005/2006?

We were interested in Theo 3 months before he broke into Southamptons first team and a year before he transferred to Arsenal. Paco scouted him and he told Rafa that this kid was the best he has seen in a long time. At that point the asking price was 3.5 million rising to 5 million. Parry the hardball negotiator, offered 3 million and not a penny more.

I think Dave Usher at TLW broke this news about theo walcott months before the transfer saga started. I think this was among the first things which caused a rift between Rafa and Parry. I think Rafa was interested in Diaby and Denilson before Arsenal and the transfer did not materialize.

Having said that Theo Walcott is still a talent with massive potential. He has not reached a level where we can use his transfer as a stick to bit Parry with ). He is a good player no doubt but people( i am not restricting this to est1892) are going overboard comparing him to 18 year old michael owen. An 18 year old michael owen was just frightening, a frightening talent. Theo Walcott has a long way to go to reach that level.

[blacky]

I doubt if we had signed Cristiano Ronaldo that he would become the player he is playing in the restrictive nature of Houllier and Rafa's teams. Not a dig, just a fact. Players like that need to be given freedom, hence why Ronaldo is never asked to defend and was given the freedom to make so many mistakes in his early years.

Depends what is deemed more important by the manager. Some managers view a team ethic as more important than individuality I doubt Demento would have given Ronaldo the same free role 10 years ago. Rafa is no different in that respect than Capello, Lippi, Mourinho. IMO truly great players will flourish in any system.

[Johnny]

Would Rafa have been able to nuture a talent like Walcott compared to Wenger. I somehow don't think he could or can

This season alone has seen El Zhar and Plessis on the pitch and and few other kids on the bench.
Rafa brings kids on when they are good enough.
Babel was raw when he joined and he got loads of game time,even when he wasn`t ready.
Rafa took a load of young talent from the youth team to the reserves so he could watch over them himself.There was talk off two youth set ups because Rafa was so protective of those he thought would make the 1st team.Lucas wasn`t an auld fella either when Rafa gave him his chance.
I think Walcott would be an even more accomplished player under Rafa.It takes England managers to push Walcott back into the media spotlight.

[el matador]

We were interested in Theo 3 months before he broke into Southamptons first team and a year before he transferred to Arsenal. Paco scouted him and he told Rafa that this kid was the best he has seen in a long time. At that point the asking price was 3.5 million rising to 5 million. Parry the hardball negotiator, offered 3 million and not a penny more.

I think Dave Usher at TLW broke this news about theo walcott months before the transfer saga started. I think this was among the first things which caused a rift between Rafa and Parry. I think Rafa was interested in Diaby and Denilson before Arsenal and the transfer did not materialize.

Having said that Theo Walcott is still a talent with massive potential. He has not reached a level where we can use his transfer as a stick to bit Parry with ). He is a good player no doubt but people( i am not restricting this to est1892) are going overboard comparing him to 18 year old michael owen. An 18 year old michael owen was just frightening, a frightening talent. Theo Walcott has a long way to go to reach that level.

one great game doesnt make a great player.

He has a lot to learn yet and even then im not sure if he will be the top class player that everybody was raving about. Something is missing from Theo that players like owen, gerrard and rooney had at his age.

[Elvoz]

one great game doesnt make a great player.

He has a lot to learn yet and even then im not sure if he will be the top class player that everybody was raving about. Something is missing from Theo that players like owen, gerrard and rooney had at his age.

your posting well today fella have you a brain transplant lately

[Rashid]

This season alone has seen El Zhar and Plessis on the pitch and and few other kids on the bench.
Rafa brings kids on when they are good enough.
Babel was raw when he joined and he got loads of game time,even when he wasn`t ready.
Rafa took a load of young talent from the youth team to the reserves so he could watch over them himself.There was talk off two youth set ups because Rafa was so protective of those he thought would make the 1st team.Lucas wasn`t an auld fella either when Rafa gave him his chance.
I think Walcott would be an even more accomplished player under Rafa.It takes England managers to push Walcott back into the media spotlight.

The point isn't what you are making but whether he could make someone like Ronaldo as good as he has become.

[Johnny]

The point isn't what you are making but whether he could make someone like Ronaldo as good as he has become.

I answered Bari`s post about Walcott.Is that ok?

[Skillz]

The point isn't what you are making but whether he could make someone like Ronaldo as good as he has become.

Would the whiskey drinking cunt have done as good a job with Torres? In other words it's pointless to ask cos we will never know.

[redwien]

Walcot is ****e, he'll probably never score again for England or Arsenal.

[Kenneth]

Walcot is ****e, he'll probably never score again for England or Arsenal.

?

[Reece]

Okay.....

[Exiled_red]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/racing...5875-20733687/

It was astonishing to see Theo Walcott go through the Croatia defence on Wednesday - he's only just gone through puberty.

Predictably he hogged all the headlines after Zagrabbing the match-ball but all Theo did was to prove that it IS possible for a player to score a hat-trick and still have a 'mare.

Walcott got the call from Sven Goran Eriksson in 2006 and it's taken him almost three years to find his feet at international level - unfortunately both of them are left. His goals apart, Walcott hardly put a foot right despite being marked about as well as a teenager's Sats by a Croatian defence that made Emile Heskey look like Pele.
It might sound churlish to criticise a player who has just grabbed a hat-trick, but what I'm saying is don't get carried away by bookies' over-reaction to Theo's trio. He's been cut to 15-8 by Blue Square to be the England fans' player of the year and to 5-2 by Hills to be England's top scorer in the World Cup qualifying campaign. But he scored four goals from 25 Premier League games last term.

He is 1-8 with Ladbrokes to start England's next qualifier against Kazakhstan and 80-1 to spell it.

David Beckham is 7-2 not to play for England again, which is one hell of a bet.

To start against Kazakhstan (Hills): 5-6 S Gerrard (5-6 not to); 11-4 D Beckham (1-4 not to); 8-15 E Heskey (11-8); 2-9 F Lampard (3-1); 10-3 Hargreaves (1-5); 4-1 M Owen (1-7).

[red g]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/racing...5875-20733687/

superb piece. From memory at least 2 of the goals should have been saved and he didnt play that well at all.
I think he has a lot of growing upto do with regards decision making and
his goal return?
64 games
8 goals
1 in 8? not particularly good for a striker is it ?

Just to put it into perspective at the same age Owen scored 23 from 40 games and Fowler had scored 18 goals in 34 games.