Theo Walcott: Sold to Everton

[CaseUteinberger]

Cause you were a professional footballer who had to goto training three days or four week plus a match or two every week. No comparison between an ordinary Joe and a professional footballer returning to the rigours of professional football.

If your reasoning is that we aren't professional footballers here on the forum, and therefore our own experiences and views are of no value, then we might as well close down this forum.

I think the points I raised are valid points. If you want to be a **** in the way that you respond to posts here that's your choice. I feel a better option would be to to respond to the points I made around the impact of ACL injuries instead.

 

[Jury]

Great post. People don't realize that with an ACL injury, your body change forever. When I had mine, I was amazed by the amount of things I had to re-learn. The physical part is easy to recover, but getting back to the same technical level when it comes to first touch, dribbling, shooting isn't easy at all.

Did you have the operation/reconstruction? Mine is torn, but I didn't want the operation because I still had around 50% intact and very good stability. I was told that playing football would very likely rupture the remaining ACL, so I stopped playing. It was my standing/pivot leg, so more chance of tearing it again.

 

[bingobob]

If your reasoning is that we aren't professional footballers here on the forum, and therefore our own experiences and views are of no value, then we might as well close down this forum.

I think the points I raised are valid points. If you want to be a **** in the way that you respond to posts here that's your choice. I feel a better option would be to to respond to the points I made around the impact of ACL injuries instead.

No need to name call.

I've had bad injuries in the past sometimes they ache after a 90 minute match sometimes they don't but when they do I'm glad I have a week before playing again. Professional footballers don't have that luxury. They're back at it in training wearing down their bodies all over again to then have a match two or three days later back in training and back to a match at the weekend.

Of course your experiences are important but also realise the limitations when trying to transfer those to professional athletes. As The Jury pointed out lots of players have failed to return to the player they once were after ACL injuries. Just because you have, and it's fantastic you have, doesn't mean those who compete professionally will and what I'm pointing is the reason why I believe that to be the case. The body has just suffered major trauma. And professionals place way more repeative strain on their bodies than what you or I ever will do playing Saturday league football. I know people who've broken legs playing and just left it after that. Professionals cannot do that their livelihoods are dependent upon it. And as you rightly pointed out 12 months later physically your back in shape but what about the mental side of things?

Hopefully you feel I've been less of a **** in how I've addressed this, never meant for it to be that way.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

No need to name call.

I've had bad injuries in the past sometimes they ache after a 90 minute match sometimes they don't but when they do I'm glad I have a week before playing again. Professional footballers don't have that luxury. They're back at it in training wearing down their bodies all over again to then have a match two or three days later back in training and back to a match at the weekend.

Of course your experiences are important but also realise the limitations when trying to transfer those to professional athletes. As The Jury pointed out lots of players have failed to return to the player they once were after ACL injuries. Just because you have, and it's fantastic you have, doesn't mean those who compete professionally will and what I'm pointing is the reason why I believe that to be the case. The body has just suffered major trauma. And professionals place way more repeative strain on their bodies than what you or I ever will do playing Saturday league football. I know people who've broken legs playing and just left it after that. Professionals cannot do that their livelihoods are dependent upon it. And as you rightly pointed out 12 months later physically your back in shape but what about the mental side of things?

Hopefully you feel I've been less of a **** in how I've addressed this, never meant for it to be that way.

Fine with your post here. Just to set the record straight. Of course I see the limitations in using my own experience and comparing them with those of a professional football player. But I honestly take that as a given here on the forum and that we don't need to state that, unless someone here on the forum is a former professional elite player which I seriously doubt.

I also never made the point, that because I had experienced something, that that would be fully transferable to e.g. Walcott. Everyone is different and reacts to various situations differently.

The points I was making which should be clear from my posts are:

1. Coming back from an ACL injury isn't an excuse for poor performances when it has been 1.5 years since the injury. It can be the reason (physically or mentally) but it isn't an excuse.

2. Walcott is personably responsible for his own poor performances.

Think we need to stop allowing reasons for poor performances to become excuses. Yes, Walcott has been injured, but why should that excuse him to run less, not track back, have a poor first touch etc. etc. Maybe it simply is that he needs to work harder and be less soft on himself. He simply needs to bring more to the team. He doesn't which is why I feel we should let him go asap.

If we allow reasons to become excuses we could all play for Arsenal. My personal excuses for being absolute **** would be that I am overweight, old, slower than drying paint when running and have almost no feel for the ball. Oh, and I can't jump either...

PS. The name calling actually wasn't that bad. Was surprised that the site replaced it with *s. But regardless, now I know that I cannot use that expression either.

 

[LiamSpencer]

Always was and always will be a nothing player. Selling him this summer is as important as signing a quality CF.

 

[Trilly]

Young players so tend to come back from ACL's quite well tbh. Falcao chose the riskier surgery option in order to try and make the world cup.

Players like Max Gradel at Bournemouth tore his early in the season and was back to being influential for them by the end of the season.

Wenger isn't willing to tailor the team around Theo anymore and that's why we're seeing these awful performances. He's completely out of his depth here.

 

[chessygoal]

Did you have the operation/reconstruction? Mine is torn, but I didn't want the operation because I still had around 50% intact and very good stability. I was told that playing football would very likely rupture the remaining ACL, so I stopped playing. It was my standing/pivot leg, so more chance of tearing it again.

Yeah I had an operation. It gave me 2 month of paid vacations from work so I was quite happy to do it .
Mine was completly gone and it's really hard to have any kind of physical activity without an ACL.

 

[GunnerGetYah]

The signing of Vardy will make or break Walcott now. Wenger must surely say to him, you play on the wing or you leave the club.

Tbh, if Walcott wants to play for England, he isn't going to displace any of the strikers anyway, so he might as well stick to the wing.

 

[gunner4lyfe]

Young players so tend to come back from ACL's quite well tbh. Falcao chose the riskier surgery option in order to try and make the world cup.

Players like Max Gradel at Bournemouth tore his early in the season and was back to being influential for them by the end of the season.

Wenger isn't willing to tailor the team around Theo anymore and that's why we're seeing these awful performances. He's completely out of his depth here.

Is it that he isnt willing or isnt able to? I think, as bad as he is, if we played to his strengths we would get a lot out of him.

 

[cloista]

Walcott's main strength has always been his ability to get in behind using his pace. We're now apparently about to sign Vardy, who's main strength is his ability to get in behind using his pace. So we'll either make Vardy look **** or change how we play to utilise that strength, which will benefit Theo aswell.

 

[carlito'sway]

With the Vardy signing, it may be time to cash in on Theo.
I am a bit concerned though that Arsène will keep him around next season.

 

[Trilly]

With the Vardy signing, it may be time to cash in on Theo.
I am a bit concerned though that Arsène will keep him around next season.

They are so similar it's a joke, we must be selling Theo.

If we don't it would be quite hilarious to have Vardy and Theo in the same lineup. Stuff of Fifa dreams.

 

[carlito'sway]

They are so similar it's a joke, we must be selling Theo.

If we don't it would be quite hilarious to have Vardy and Theo in the same lineup. Stuff of Fifa dreams.

Similar in pace indeed but Vardy has a much better end product than Theo.

 

[Dokaka]

Still not buying it. Walcott doesn't take penalties. Remove Vardy's 5 penalties and he's got 19 goals in 3140 minutes. Walcott had 14 goals in 2286 minutes in his best season. He also had 10 assists that season. In other words, Vardy scored (without penalties) a goal every 165 minutes. Walcott scored a goal every 163.

One player plays in a 4-4-2 system that's built around him, the other played 90% of those games on the wing in a possession based system. Said it in another thread; put Walcott into that Leicester 4-4-2 of last season and he bangs in 20+ in the league if he stays fit, easily.

Unless there's a dramatic shift in playstyle, Vardy will look just as lost up front as Walcott did/does.

 

[Coolin]

Still not buying it. Walcott doesn't take penalties. Remove Vardy's 5 penalties and he's got 19 goals in 3140 minutes. Walcott had 14 goals in 2286 minutes in his best season. He also had 10 assists that season. In other words, Vardy scored (without penalties) a goal every 165 minutes. Walcott scored a goal every 163.

One player plays in a 4-4-2 system that's built around him, the other played 90% of those games on the wing in a possession based system. Said it in another thread; put Walcott into that Leicester 4-4-2 of last season and he bangs in 20+ in the league if he stays fit, easily.

Unless there's a dramatic shift in playstyle, Vardy will look just as lost up front as Walcott did/does.

Why does there have to be a shift in playstyle? We create all sorts of chances.

 

[Dokaka]

Why does there have to be a shift in playstyle? We create all sorts of chances.

Because Vardy needs space to score. He looked awful at times for Leicester when he got the ball in tight spaces.

 

[carlito'sway]

Because Vardy needs space to score. He looked awful at times for Leicester when he got the ball in tight spaces.

The dude creates spaces with his movement, run in the box or behind the defense. He has a whole body of work this season to prove it.

 

[Dokaka]

The dude creates spaces with his movement, run in the box or behind the defense. He has a whole body of work this season to prove it.

Look at the defensive setup in those goals. Most are very open as a result of them just having attacked. Now compare it to this:


Look at the difference in the types of goals scored. I can count on one hand the amount of times Vardy has had to score in a situation like this:

I'm not saying it won't work out, I just highly doubt he can replicate his Leicester form at Arsenal unless a system change happens.

 

[Dokaka]

Also worth noting that Walcott generally scores in the situation Vardy found himself in so often, evident by the video above and years of watching him. If there's one guy at Arsenal you'd bet on scoring in a 1vs1 against the keeper, it's Walcott.

 

[carlito'sway]

Look at the difference in the types of goals scored. I can count on one hand the amount of times Vardy has had to score in a situation like this:

I'm not saying it won't work out, I just highly doubt he can replicate his Leicester form at Arsenal unless a system change happens.[/QUOTE]

I don't think a system change will happen. He will adjust and adapt either on the RW or as a CF, depending of the opposition or match up.

On Walcott, unfortunately since his wonder season, he has been more misses than hits. He had his chances and he did not take them.