Arsenal: Theo Walcott Message Written On The Wall

Arsenal and Theo Walcott helped each other out through the start of the season, but was it really that much of a two way street?

I took this fun little vow to be nice to Theo Walcott, and I’ll still toe the line in doing that. Arsenal and Theo Walcott have been tied together for over a decade and the fate of the two is amazingly parallel.

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The start of this season was amazing for the Englishman, as he reaped the benefits of an offense with tremendous firepower, poaching goals from all over the place. It looked like he was finally fitting in.

But as Arsenal struggled, so too did Walcott. Again, that painful reminder was there that he really needs a functioning offense to work, because he can’t do it himself. Not like Alexis or the Ox. Walcott needs an easy ball to poach or he just doesn’t have much to say about the fate of things.

Walcott hasn’t played since mid-December. He was injured right before the hectic holiday season, handing Lucas Perez the chance he needed to assert himself.

Maybe I’m getting too far ahead of myself, but I think the writing is on the wall, big, plain and clear, for all to see. Theo Walcott does not serve any purpose on this offense that the Ox, Lucas or Iwobi can’t provide. Perhaps we have a bit more faith in Walcott to poach those sitting duck goals, but I have seen more from the three other options than I have from Walcott.

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With the faith that Wenger shows in him and the money being funneled into his pockets, you would think him an irreplaceable piece of the puzzle. You’d think he had something that no one else has and he is too often treated like that.

But he really doesn’t. I am fully aware of what he does offer and in his own capacity, he offers it up very well. But in terms of making this offense more versatile, you need a counterweight on the right side to balance out Alexis’s dominance and Walcott really isn’t it.

Again, Lucas has competence on the ball that Walcott doesn’t. The Ox has individual inspiration that Walcott doesn’t and Iwobi has an eye for the pass that Walcott doesn’t.

We have to look at this in the scope of maximizing what the offense has to offer. I don’t see why any of the three other options couldn’t have done what Walcott did earlier in the season.

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And given how Arsenal has become the second best offense in England in the midst of Walcott’s injury, I don’t see him as anything that couldn’t be just as easily replaced.