Now I know I’m a bit late on this, but I thought it would be
appropriate to express my views on the Theo Walcott injury situation after
contemplating my thoughts for a few days. As you all know, Theo Walcott was
diagnosed with a ruptured
anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee, an injury he sustained while
playing against the Tottenham Hotspur in a 3rd round FA cup match. The
match ended with a score of 2-0 in the Gunners favour, although the loss of
Walcott for the remainder of the season certainly meant the enjoyment of
victory was not felt for long. The young Englishman is expected to be out for
around 6 months while his knee heals, leaving manager Arsène Wenger with a
difficult situation.
Normally, I wouldn’t be as concerned with an injury like
this because there are two players that are able to play Theo’s position
relatively well, with the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Serge
Gnabry able to fill in for the English winger. The only problem with the
timing of Theo’s injury would be the amount of crucial matches that still must
be played and the fact that the majority of centre forwards are injured as
well. Out of all the non-centre forwards in the squad, Theo is the only one,
apart from Podolski, whom I consider to be a LW/CF, who is able to play upfront
and adds a dangerous element to the attacking game. Now with virtually no
attacking options available, Wenger may be forced to open up his wallet once
again and spend big for a new forward.
The squad is now short a vital player, a player who scored
the most goals in all competitions last season, and needs to find something
similar to fill the void. I believe that deploying The Ox on the right wing is
enough to cover the issue of pace and crossing, but in terms of finishing, the
other players will need to step up in his place. This is where Poldi, Giroud
and Lord Bendtner come into play. Now with the latter two currently sidelined
with injuries, Wenger must fully entrust Podolski to be the goal-scoring
machine he has so long hoped for. Even when Giroud comes back, I believe that we
should continue to play Podolski in the No.9 position, as he has shown to be
more effective than Giroud during clutch situations. Yes Giroud should be given
chances as well, but there needs to be some competition for the No.9 role to
ensure both desire up front as well as adequate rest for the players.
Going forward I think our attacking three should consist of
Santi/Podolski on the left, Podolski/Giroud down the middle, and The Ox/Gnabry
playing down the right side. After thinking about it for a while, I don’t think
Wenger should try to sign a striker and should instead work with the team
already available to him. Let’s not get ourselves worked up too much because I
know that these forwards are still capable of winning matches. Our midfielders
will be required to put a lot more emphasis on goal scoring as was done during
Waclott’s first injury tenure of the season. We have seen the club play without
the major stars and still fare well, so don’t worry about the situation too
much. All we can really do is hope for a speedy recovery for Theo and wait for
him to come back stronger than he was before.
@ZachAFC
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