Theo Walcott: Too soon to give up

 The Guardian has a piece, a poor piece suggesting Walcott  may be done.. I don't think so:

I too am going to try and defend him. I actually hope Hytner would write about Walcott his stuff has more meat.

Re.  Walcott:  Okay, I know have been critical of him in the past, especially last summer with the under 21s, no need to remind me.  But, there are a few of  reasons for his defence:

1) He's been injured and has taken a huge knock on his confidence --he can get that back if he stays injury-free.

2) Arsenal don't play the blistering counter-attacking of days gone by, probably in part because Walcott has missed long spells or has not been to quite ready.  But, there are other factors, there isn't anyone else fast willing or fast enough to support him on rare occasions I have seen him surge forward in counterattack. The next fasted player Arsenal have is probably Clichy who never seems willing to break in support or is instructed not to (although both Fabregas and Arshavin have worked on their pace) . Theo needs support when he breaks because he can't really hold the ball up on his own, and he needs the option of passing the ball rather dribble out of trouble. But either way, how many times have I seen Almunia ball in hand searchng  for someone to release to? Plenty.  We break with Fabregas or Arshavin when we do break on the counter, and neither have frightening pace.

3) Theo (and actually, I'd argue Adebayor when he was there as well) benefited tremenendously  from having a senior player he could learn from in Henry. When Thierry left he lost that influence, and without somebody he could learn from, and more importantly someone to help him reinforce good habits, newly learnt skills, and good decision making in training everyday, it was only a matter of time that even the bits he'd picked up lose sharpness.  And so he may look worse today than he did two years ago.

Contrast him with Ramsey who has grown leaps and bounds with Fabregas as his model. Walcott has had nobody to help him model his game. Even Hleb wassn't exactly a winger; Nasri is no winger, Eboue, as much as I like him is no winger either, Bendtner not. To boot none of these are great finishers either. Eduardo has been injured and himself rediscovering his own form as a striker.  For a teenager, I think this made it harder for Theo. An experienced player doesn't have to be Messi, but he can teach/share the fundamental things that great players must build on.  It's no coincidence that the most improvement in Theo's game has been in his defensive responsibilities: He tracks back and helps defend. A thing of marvel from a player who frankly looked very lazy in this respect.

Ironically the only person who is somewhat adapt at playing as a winger, RvP, never  plays wide at Arsenal. And I am probably seeing things but I don't think Walcott has as easy-going a relationship with RvP as say with Bendtner.  Henry could take him under his wing as the senior guy who wasn't worried by competition from an upstart; I'm not sure that sort of dynamic exists wth RvP. I don't think it exists with Arshavin either, the latter with whom I  had hopes  would help Theo develop.  I was as thrilled when Wenger signed Arshavin and hearing that Arshavin's English language skills were pretty decent because I thought it would be good for Walcott amongst other things.  I hope that lttle incident when Arshavin wouldn't  pass to him in this one game where we were up 4-1  or something isn't a sign they don't get along in general.

4) Walcott has a lot of raw material that can be used very effectively  even doing the simple things. For example, rather than looking to dribble he can do what Agbonlahor does quite a bit: knock the ball forward behnd a defender and start a foot race. Crossing the ball can be learnt,  I'm not too worried about that. No so long ago Lennon was touted as rubbish in part because his final ball was poor; he's improved there. Theo can improve this aspect, no problem.  His finishing can be salvaged with his confidenceand some help from Arshavin/Eduardo.  Dribbling...  well ... just pass the ball, move pass the ball, no need to spend too much time on the ball, not at Arsenal anyway.

That said, I am not suggesting he should go to the WC ahead of anybody else at the moment. I just think there's still a case to be made for him. Oh, and I hope he's superstitious and gives up that No.14 shirt at the end of the season. It may free him from the burden of self-expectations. Take back the 32 and set yourself free Theo.