Arsenal: It’s so obvious what’s wrong with Theo Walcott

Arsenal were left frustrated by another sub-par Theo Walcott performance. And yet it’s so clear what is wrong, so why isn’t anything being done about it?

In case anyone is wondering, the answer is yes, I do get tired on harping about Theo Walcott’s inadequacy. I do it because I have to talk about something, and when it’s so obvious what is going wrong with an Arsenal man, that makes it easier to focus on.

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Theo Walcott has had one hell of a tumultuous career with the Gunners. It started so well, was derailed by injury, and then hit a serious snag when he had delusions of grandeur and spent a year at striker.

His time at striker went so poorly that he even admitted himself that he’d best move back to the wings. When is the last time that happened? The correct answer is never.

So anyway, enough beating around the bush – what is wrong with Walcott? Simple – he’s a winger! You can put a duck in the ocean and hope it turns into a shark, you can put a duck in the jungle and hope it becomes a jaguar, you can put a duck in the arctic and hope it becomes a polar bear, but at the end of the day, that duck is going to be a duck, and you’re going to have to deal with it.

You’re either going to have to accept that it’s a duck and live life knowing exactly what that duck is, or you can sell that duck and use the money to buy what you actually want. It’s not rocket science. It’s simple logic, and it’s not being taken seriously.

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Walcott is now being used as a central attacking midfielder, which, surprise surprise, isn’t working consistently. He has his bursts of usefulness, like he did at striker, where every so often he’d remind us that he does actually have talent, but guess what? In the end, Walcott is still a duck.

The problem therein is that the 3-4-2-1 formation does not have wingers. You can make yourself a winger, but then you break the formation. Which isn’t the end of the world, but it’s clear that Walcott is more intent on cutting inside and being a central attacker, like he should be.

Props to him for trying to do his job, but seriously, the guy is a duck!

The more we force Walcott to play positions that aren’t his natural wide positions, the more we risk seeing duds from this ducks out of position.

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Again, this seems so simple. Walcott is best at wide angles – as wide as possible. And I’m not saying he is crazy effective even then, but it beats him trying to play centrally, where he is a liability. But we aren’t going to be changing this formation just for him, so what next?