Theo Walcott, Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

In the aftermath of the North London Derby When the Gunners all but demolished the small team of the neighbors across the road, a lot has been written and said about one of the Heroes of the day: Theo Walcott, in the games leading up to this one, Theo’s critics’ list had been fast building up, with many actually calling for the axe upon him, and others that were a little considerate resorted to throwing him down the pecking order, in the first half of that very game, the player did little if anything to prove his doubters and critics wrong in any way. He misplaced FOUR consecutive passes, blew up a chance when he received a ball with a lot of space ahead of him and instead decided to prematurely pass it over to the captain who was then being closed out by the only defender sticking back for Totten ham. Everyone hoped that afternoon that Theo would at least be brought off at Halftime for maybe Chamberlain or Gervinho. This had become too much, too much to the point that in some games (Sunderland [FA Cup]) the player actually went incognito. But the two goals against Tottenham showed us another aspect of Theo, one that we had long hungered to see: - Sublime Finishing!

Many games had he played and many chances had he got before this one, and in almost 90% of all those, was he fluffing the chances, to the frustration of the many spectating the game live and those watching by their television sets. Like it would happen to many of us, Theo Walcott started losing his confidence, it was always evident when he was on the pitch, his fine runs were never his strengths, hardly did he know what to do with the ball, many had actually now started counting his days at Arsenal… Then came Sunday!

The Rebirth

In the last minutes he had (before being subbed) right from when the players returned from the Tunnel, Theo had three shots on goal and two of these were fine finishes that ended up in the back of the net, with the third being really so close! You would call it the rebirth of Theo, many were left wondering how fast he could’ve transformed into such a great finisher in such a short period of time, what he lacked in interplay that day, he compensated with such wonderful finishing touches. For the first time Theo’s name started being mentioned with positivity attached to it all over the blogosphere. But still, some critics proved so hard to please, until now some are still not impressed, they still claim that he’s not that good despite the goals, and I beg to argue differently.

I’m never a worshipper of players, I never want to think of any player as infallible, no, not me, and not ever! I always move fast in embellishing a performing player with praises and neither do I ever hold back my criticism when I find the same player underperforming, I have been a big critic of Theo in the past couple of months, always frustrated with his lack of confidence which has ended up making him as a player with “no-footballing brain” his runs have mostly been a “wild goose chase” with hardly any meaning to them, predictable had he become to almost every Full back, they could always close him out easily, but I would be such a hypocrite to not appreciate when I see him doing something I’ve daily prayed he could achieve! Theo added class to his finishing as we saw on Sunday, both his goals were something close to a marvel, especially to the many of us that have always seen him miss even sitters and 1v1s. Sunday showed him having gained composure in front of goal, never the rushed hoofer he had always been, we saw attributes of van Persie reflected in him, and I would like to credit him for having gained that, if he continues with that, promise you he will be one of the most reformed players in the EPL in the last part of the season, and even in the next seasons to come! And yes, then all of us will be confident when the club decide to offer him a new contract meeting his wage demands.

MORE of that Theo Walcott

Cheers.

Rodger