For much of this summer transfer window, speculation at Arsenal has focused on who might supplant Olivier Giroud as Arsenal’s centre-forward. In the Gunners’ Emirates Cup victory over Wolfsburg, we saw a potential answer to that question. Arsene Wenger’s new striker may be one of his beloved internal solutions: On the evidence of this game, Theo Walcott is ready to play through the middle on a full-time basis.
Giroud had played the first game of the tournament against Lyon, but it was Walcott who was selected for the match against the Bundesliga runners-up. Given that Danny Welbeck and Alexis Sanchez both seem set to miss the start of the season, it seems like a straight fight between Giroud and Walcott for the No. 9 spot.
Walcott showed what he offers against Wolfsburg, testing the Germans’ defence time and time again with his movement and speed. He grabbed the only goal of the game, showing real composure to poke his shot beyond the advancing goalkeeper. For years, Walcott insisted he deserved a chance to prove himself as a centre-forward. Now that his manager has handed him the chance, he seems determined to seize it.
After the match, Wenger expressed his delight at how the England international is taking to his new role, telling Arsenal.com:
Another goal for Theo and I’m not surprised by that because I played him through the middle. I’ve always said that he’s a goalscorer because he has the movement, he has the timing of the run, the speed for the finishing, and he has an eye for taking his chances at the right moments. When he gets into these positions he finishes well. [Saturday] he nearly scored when he came on as a substitute, [Sunday] he scored. I believe that Theo will score goals.
When Walcott returned to the squad after his cruciate ligament injury last season, it quickly became clear it would be difficult for him to hold down a regular place on the flanks. The role of the wide-men in Arsenal’s 4-2-3-1 system has evolved in recent months, with a greater onus on defensive duties and persistent pressing than previously. The responsibilities have effectively been remodelled as a consequence of the remarkable impact of Alexis.
Walcott is not suited to that kind of all-round style, but as a central striker he is liberated from those shackles able to concentrate on what he does best, which is bursting between opposition lines to create goalscoring chances.
Wenger appears conscious that Walcott’s combination of anticipation and acceleration is unmatched in the current Arsenal squad:
He’s not an aggressive striker, he’s a mobile striker. He’s the striker who lives from the quality of his movement and the speed of his movement. He turns up in the right spaces in the box and you cannot give that to a player. He anticipates well, he understands quickly and when that is linked with his speed and execution it always makes him very dangerous.
At the back end of last season, Walcott followed up a hat-trick against West Brom with the opening goal in the FA Cup final. This pre-season, he already has strikes against Everton and Wolfsburg to his name. The way he performed on the final day of the Emirates Cup suggests he is now a credible alternative to Giroud. With Walcott in this kind of form—and, according to Wenger, “closer and closer” to agreeing a new deal—the chances of Arsenal recruiting a new striker have to be on the wane.
James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2015/16. Follow him on Twitter here.
from Bleacher Report - Front Page http://ift.tt/1GTdSxB
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