Arsenal: Pendulum Swinging Away From Theo Walcott

Arsenal lost a heartbreaker to Everton and changes should be made going forward. But that change must be Theo Walcott, no one else.

I would definitely qualify Arsenal‘s loss to Everton as a heartbreaker. Mainly because of the ending where the Gunners had three straight balls cleared off the line. That kind of stuff doesn’t happen, yet we just saw it as clear as day.

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It was also frustrating in the lack of effort we saw from certain players.

There is a case to be made that, for a midweek Premier League game after having just played over the weekend, that there are going to be some tired legs. I totally get that and if you want to deflect the blame game I am about to play on Arsene Wenger, that’s perfectly fair.

But I saw some effort, or lack thereof, from some guys out there that made my head hurt – literally.

Both Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain did not show the same intensity I am used to seeing from them and their body language looked as if they didn’t want to be there. Naturally though, they were not the worst offenders.

The worst offender was yet again Theo Walcott, who touched the ball 25 times in his 70 minutes of play. Again, if you want to say he was tired and should have been rotated, that’s fine, but he was out there (so they say) and he had a responsibility to be a threat and I saw nothing from him at all.

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That’s fine though. I’m through doubting Theo Walcott because he always manages to come back strong. But with the pendulum swinging away from him and with changes coming in the wide positions, it has to be Walcott that gives way and not Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Sure, the Ox didn’t have the best game either, but these are the times where you need to stick with him. He probably expects to be dropped but it would be wholly unfair to do that when, in a comparison, he did far more than his English counterpart.

Next time out, it should be the two youngsters, Iwobi and the Ox, in the wide positions (unless Wenger wants to slip Giroud up front, I wouldn’t oppose that) while Theo Walcott gathers himself and tries to not look so invisible next time he plays.

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This is the benefit of having a lot of talent. But you have to follow through and rotate the way things should be rotated.