By Walter Broeckx
If we would believe the moaners, our club is run by a bunch of nogoods who know nothing about football. And who have appointed and kept a manager that knows nothing, is outdated, a dinosaur, a dictator and a ditherer when it comes to transfers and spending money.
The last thing might carry some truth in fact. Because Wenger loves Arsenal so much that he doesn’t want to risk bringing Arsenal in to trouble by spending reckless the money we have so slowly saved for in the last years since building the Emirates.
So yes Wenger will do all he can to avoid costly errors in the transfer market. I think he should be applauded for this, not blamed at all. After all there will be an Arsenal long after Arsène will be gone. And that will be also thanks to Arsène for being a wise spender. Give this club in the hands of some big spenders and we will spend, win maybe a few titles and the to bankrupt. Or end up in miserable times.
Anyway on twitter the specialists in moaning were after one player in particular in their hunt for scalps. Theo was the player they would try to get out of the club.
You should have heard the outcry in some corners when Wenger said during the preparation that he had complete faith in Theo and that we would see a new Theo.
Sell him “they” said. Give him away for free. Some people offered to drive Theo in person to any place in the world as long as he would be out of Arsenal. Waste of space, waste of wages, waste of…. He was declared rubbish. Dead wood was one of the kinder ways of name giving.
Wenger was mocked by them when he said he still believed in Theo. He had lost it. You know the usual shit that is thrown at Wenger. When Wenger stubbornly keeps his faith in a player. Some moaners wanted Theo out at all costs. Give him to State Aid United they said. He is rubbish after all.
But now 1.5 month after the start of the season nobody wants to be reminded about what they said about Theo. I think a lot of moaners have been working overtime to delete all the twits insulting Theo and Wenger in one tweet. That will free up some space on the twitter servers I think.
I think now at this time we can say that Theo has been in great form since the start of the season. It seems that Theo has changed and that something has changed.
That something is rather simple. In January 2014 Theo had a terrible knee injury. Despite Theo sitting upright when he was carried off the nature of the injury was bad. He was out for a long long time.
I am not a doctor but have been told by people who are (I see a knee specialist myself from time to time and can talk with him as he is specialised in treating top athletes) that such knee injuries take lots of time to heal. But what people tend to forget that there is the healing process that ends with getting the green light to train with the group.
But after that… the real process only starts. Because it is one thing to run and run and run some more on the training pitch and do exercises to make the knee stronger again. That in itself is hard and painful work but that is only half the job.
Because being a football player is not just about running around. No you have to twist and turn, avoid tackles, be brave, get stuck in to tackles…..
And to come back to the top level doing all that…. That takes even more time than just the physical healing process. Because it also is a matter of the mind. You have to trust your body and play without any mental handbrake in your head.
A mental handbrake that is inside the head of a player after an injury. The slightest doubt about your body will reduce your levels on the field. You have to completely forget about the injury and act as if it never happened. I think we have seen how long it took for Ramsey to do this and it took him a long time. Eduardo never really got over his terrible injury and saw his career ending at Arsenal.
Despite Theo not having a limb being almost cut off, the mental hurdle will have been there. And I think that it is this mental hurdle that has been removed from his head.
Because Theo is back to being the attacking Theo he was in his best years (the RVP – Theo combination season) and he is scoring at a regular basis. But Theo is also transformed in an all-round player.
He tackles, he defends, he throws himself in to shots when needed…. Things he was doing in the weeks before his injury but that we missed seeing him do last season.
And in the last matches I have seen him do skillful things that were out of his reach. Amazing controls on the side line taking the ball past his opponent in one moment and being free, quick passing with teammates completely in control, running up and down his flank helping Bellerin when his presence is required in the defensive part of the field. In fact I think Theo is a better defender than Iwobi is for the moment. As there is one thing Iwobi has to improve on it is his defensive work and helping Monreal a bit more. But Alex is still young and he seems to improve on this match by match.
Wenger and Theo had a chat over the summer. And Wenger doesn’t want the credit go to him for the new Theo we have seen the last weeks. No, he puts the praise at the feet of Theo himself. And for a part he is right. It is Theo out there on the field who has to do his thing.
But the credit we have to give Wenger is that he is the one that stuck with Theo during the summer. When almost the whole moaning internet part of the Arsenal fan base was screaming to get rid of Theo it was Wenger who rightfully so didn’t listen to the hysterical part of our fans.
Wenger knew better than all of them together. Let’s hope Theo will stay injury free now and will play like he did in the 2012-2013 when he started 31 matches in total and scored 21 goals and had around 15 assists.
Let us keep our fingers crossed for Theo… and I hope he doesn’t get a call up for the English team though I fear he will. Cross some more fingers if he gets a call up and pray for a safe return then if you like to pray. And let us be thankful that Wenger knew better than most of us. But that is nothing unusual I think…..
- Corruption requires ineptness and incompetence and in football it is there for all to see.
- CL Arsenal – Basel 2-0
- How much longer must English tax payers fund the criminal idiocy of the FA?
From the anniversary files…
29 September 1951: Arsenal 1 Tottenham 1. The game is noteworthy because of the variation in crowds reported. Ollier has 68,164 while Newkey-Burden in “Gunners Lists” (a book which acknowledges Ollier as a source) has 72,164. That figure would make this the third highest crowd to see a home league match for Arsenal.
Beautiful piece masterfully written. Thanks Walter.
Arsene indeed knows a lot about football and players. This ‘new Theo’ is interesting and exciting to watch. The moaners can grief all they want.
The team is on the up. Keep it up boys
COYG
Great piece Walter.
As you are probably aware I am, and have always been one of Theos biggest fans. I have on many occasions put together statistics showing just how well Theos numbers stack up. I have put up comparisons to all his contemporaries and he always comes out very well.
You yourself did a very good article on Theo back on the 5th of June 2015 entitled:
ARSENAL’S WIN PERCENTAGES; WHY WE NEED THEO NEXT SEASON.
All this insinuation that it’s took him 10 years to settle in is just bullshit.
I’m afraid the problem isn’t helped by Theo himself when he comes out with remarks that can be interpreted by some, if they want to, and boy do they want to, as ‘I’ve only just realised how I should play, and I accept that I’ve been crap all along’.
He clearly hasn’t been crap, and Theo clearly isn’t saying that he has been, but why say something that is so open to miss interpretation, because as we have seen, dullards such as Keane will jump all over it. It’s not helpful.
Theo is a top top player, and has been for a long time. The only thing that has held him back from being a ‘superstar’ is the injuries he has had to endure.
Given an injury free run I am in doubt he will live up to that billing.
Jambug
September 28, 2016 at 7:01 pm
The famous quotation from Mark Twain that went,
‘The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated’
could easily apply to our Theos form, because apart from a dip in form in the second half of last season, which followed an injury, he has been remarkably consistent at a pretty high level, ever since he joined us.
And here are the stats to prove it.
These are the statistics from Theos Arsenal career:
Appearances 220 (130)
Goals 88
Scoring ratio 1 in 2.5 games
As a comparison these are the statistics for Raheem Stirlings career:
Appearances 150 (44)
Goals 38
Scoring ratio 1 in 3.9
So the player the media constantly say has been a failure seems to be slightly less of a failure than the player the media are always raving about. A lot better in fact.
All that happened to Theo was that last year he got yet another injury, which for some reason he just didn’t recover from, until now.
Prior to that injury he was flying. And here are the statistics to prove it. These figures include England matches:
Start of season till the 27th of October.
16 appearances 7 goals at a rate of 1 in 2.3 games.
5th of December until the end of the season:
29 appearances 5 goals at a rate of 1 in 5.8 games.
So it’s obvious to me that the injury he had seriously affected him. The problem for Theo is the media, and on the back of that far too many Arsenal fans that should no better, jump on his back at the merest opportunity, and frankly it’s a joke.
And just for the record this is how the Walcott and Stirling compare this year.
Walcott
7 Appearances 3 goals at a rate of 1 in 2.3 games.
Sterling
9 appearances 4 goals at a rate of 1 in 2.5 games.
So Theo has started pretty much at the same impressive rate he started last season, yet we hardly hear a Dicky Bird from the media.
On the other hand we haven’t heard the end of how Guardiola has transferred Sterling into the potential saviour of English football, but guess who’s scoring ratio is the best of the 2?
For some reason, and I wonder what that is, Theo never seems to get the recognition he deserves when he’s playing well, which is most of the time despite rumours to the contrary, but gets slaughtered the moment he has, not just a poor spell, but if he has the temerity to have a poor match.
I have said many times on here that Theo would be my first name on the team sheet every week.
Now I’m not daft and know we have 2 absolute World beaters in our squad now, so he certainly has competition for that accolade, but whether he’s 1st 2nd 3rd or whatever he is a fantastic player.
Just reading the crap pieces available, it strikes me now how suddendly Vardy, who Wenger (as the clueless incompetent manager he is) should have bought but was unable to and who would have helped us clinch all these titles, is described.
The bandwagon is on the theme : he would not have fit.
Yet no one then gives credit to Mr AW for having not bought Vardy.
I am more than hopeful that more than 2 players will get into double figures this season – both for goals and for assists.
That ought to brighten our chances …..quite a bit , I fancy !
I was wondering when AW would introduce Gibbs to help out Monreal on the left , to nullify the space that Willian was given by the very slow in helping out Iwobi .
But it did take me by surprise when Willian too was replaced. I then started to breathe easier !
“Yet no one then gives credit to Mr AW for having not bought Vardy.”
This wan’t Wenger’s choice Chris as Vardy himself chose not to come to Arsenal (after indicating that he might), and this is confirmed by Arsene, so no credit due.
The way it’s worked out is to our benefit and Vardy himself said he couldn’t see how he’d have fitted into out style of play.
I think most of our fans are pleased that he didn’t sign, and good luck to him for getting himself a great new contract with Leicester
There’s been something new about Walcott this season from the very beginning. What you say about the psychological aspect of overcoming a serious injury is true, but there’s been planty said about Walcott’s resurgence , by the player himself and also the manager, that in fact we don’t have to speculate as to what is behind his new found form.
“It’s all down to hard work… Me and the manager sat down and I’ve just looked down at myself. I know what I can do and you see it in my desire.”
He also speaks about wanting it more than anyone else right now and admits that : “it’s a shame, maybe it should’ve hit me a few years ago, but there’s been a change in my whole attitude”
I can’t speak for others but my disappointment with Walcott was for not tracking back and closing down opposition players , and not getting stuck in or slide tackle players. As a matter of fact I want all Arsenal players to stay on their feet as much as posible. You don’t need to throw your body around to be a good defender.
I’m very happy for Walcott that he’s seen the light , so to speak, and hopefully he can sustain his form for a longer spell and stay injury free.
I can’t help to think that his inclusion in the World C up squad of 2006 did more demage to him than help.
It’s like Wenger said: ” Sometimes when it comes too easy and too early, we take it for granted”
Wenger is right most of the time.
Wenger is a brilliant manager.
We all make mistakes (and that includes Wenger).
It is unfortunate that when Wenger makes a mistake the press, the pundits and some so-called fans exaggerate the mistake into something bigger than it is.
But Wenger sometimes has blindspots (and we all do have occasions when we don’t see what seems obvious to others).
Sometimes Wenger’s strength is also his weakness. Trusting the skills and strengths of Theo even when others doubted is an example of a virtue that Wenger has. He trusts his players. Not surprisingly, Wenger has shown excessive loyalty to less-than-average players too. Wenger kept Nicolas Bendtner at Arsenal for 9 years. Wenger had unbelievable loyalty to Almunia. Almunia didn’t deserve to ever be called Arsenal’s first choice (or even 2nd choice) goalkeeper.
At the moment Arsene is persisting with using Alexis Sanchez as a central striker. I for one don’t think Alexis is clinical enough to be the central striker. But as I always say … Wenger knows best most of the time. So maybe Wenger will one day train Alexis Sanchez and make him the clinical striker we need. Alexis is a brilliant footballer but I don’t think Arsene is right in making him our central striker. Time will tell if Wenger is right. I hope Wenger proves me wrong and Alexis scores more and better goals than Anelka or Thierry or Ian Wright or Diego Costa or Drogba or Andy Cole or other specialist strikers. Last night we witnessed a beautiful Arsenal performance against FC Basel. Arsene Wenger showed up the most beautiful football that is never witnessed at other English clubs. The only negative was we failed to crown it off with the handful of goals that we deserved. Arsenal should have scored 6 or 7 goals last night. Alexis had a brilliant game but he wasted chance after chance after chance. Ozil too wasted a few chances.
Thanks Wenger for being a brilliant manager. And thanks for the beautiful football that you have brought to Arsenal. Long may it continue.
Leon,
you’re correct about Vardy but if we’d offered him an extra few million a year then he’d have walked to Colney whilst carrying his own bag. And a few million p.a. wouldn’t have been expensive compared to most of the deals around this summer. 😀
Having said that, I’ve always thought he’d be a poor fit. Not to say he’d be crap, but his talents wouldn’t have shown as well with us.
Jambug just let you know Mark Twain never said that ( the same as the supposedly Einstein one) and I’m the village idiot? God you are easily wound up and do you love to rant on ! Answer’s on a postcard please
Andy Mack
You don’t that , besides it’s not Wenger’s style to get involved in a bidding war over ,or with a player.
The funny thing about the whole Vardy saga is that it probably played a bigger role in Walcott’s transformation than anything else.
Arsene attributes 5% down to his talking with Theo, and 95% down to Walcott taking it upon himself to get his s…t together.
Personally , I would attribute a huge chunk of those percentages to Arsene activating Vardy’s release clause.
Inspirational talking can do the trick most times, but nothing sets the fire under one’s ass like actively trying to hire a replacement for them.
Bloggs
“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”
Kindly enlighten, if not Mark Twain who said it then?
You don’t know that
From Quora.com
https://www.quora.com/Why-did-Mark-Twain-say-The-rumours-of-my-death-have-been-greatly-exaggerated
⬆️
That’s a shame, I was hoping it was true. One of my favourites shot down
Bloggs.
It’s called supporting an argument with statistics.
You should try it some day.
Please enlighten me on the quotation then.
Bloggs
And while your broadening my education perhaps you can point out where I called you a ‘village idiot’ ?
Typo; you’re
He never quoted it but wrote in a correspondence “reports of my death were exaggerated ‘ end of school lesson
Bloggs
Yes I know that, it was pointed out to everyone by Gord.
It seemed we both learned something from him.
Bloggs
You failed to point out where I called you a ‘Village Idiot’.
I tell you what, I’ll save you the time as it seems you’ve mixed me up with MickyHazel who actually said this of you:
“He is, I suspect, not even up to the “village idiot” level of intelligence…..”
I’m surprised an intellect such as you could make such an error.
Maybe you spent too much time studying your poets when perhaps a few reading lessons would of come in handy.
Perhaps you can point to where I accused you of calling me village idiot perhaps you should be the one to read into what I stated and I can assure you I have learned nothing from Gord as I doubt he even knew until he Googled it ! Again my point has been proved you haven’t read my post correctly and you don’t like to be proved wrong I have supplied you with the facts and not even a thank you. You really cant hack it can you?
Ta ta
Theo was great last night, and has been a revelation this season. He got a standing ovation after his performance against Basle when he was substituted for a well earned rest.
He has been through the mill in the last couple of years. Injuries, loss of form, and , a couple of years ago, his newborn child needed major heart surgery.
Yes, in the past, but these things can be difficult to fully recover from, especially if you have to recover to the level of an elite athlete.
Yet, as the article mentioned, some would have packed him off to the highest bidder. Imagine if he was tearing it up for Liverpool, Utd, West Ham….or even worse of they were the highest bidder. Of course the beauty of being in the WOB, you have an answer that denigrates Wenger for every occasion, if Walcott was playing as he is now for …say Liverpool, they critics would put it down to Klopps acumen for saving his career.
But strangely, WOB and a few pundits, Wengers stock has never been higher, at least not since 2004… his style and performances are widely praised in the MSM, his ability to develop young players…..strange what
A few excellent performances and results, and , perhaps more importantly,a discredited England manager can do . But alas, I fear they will be spurned, Wenger will be polite and respectful, but won’t go near the England job, for so many reasons. But let the powers that be hold out hope for him taking the national job, they might even keep the pgmol off him.
A couple weeks is a long time in football for Saint Wenger.
Good to remind us of Theo’s performances as recently as 2012 – 13, Walter. And now he is doing so well again. That injury is often forgotten when people talk about him. Let’s hope he has a great season. He is also playing as a real team player.
On BBC2 Piers ‘zero’ Morgan was having a go at Wenger again. He once again shows how stupid his understanding of football is. Wrighty was a little less of an idiot than his punditry position & had some regrets about Arsenals failure in the Champions League. He still hasn’t realised that his leaving Arsenal when he did was a major dent in our chance of winning the European Cup.
Piers says that Wenger & Fergie agreed the RVP deal on the phone, little realising the fact that RVP had been tapped up two years before & was consistently refusing to renew his contract. His sale was cashing in on ‘dead meat’. He was going free within 6 months. TH14 was sold because of extra curricular activities that kept his groin getting strained. His marriage also broke up at that time. Yet, Wrighty said that TH14 went to Barcelona to win the Champions League.
The reason Arsenal had a tough time has been documented on this site over several articles. The timing of the Oil money & the tapping up of players with the FA being selectively blind (& corrupt) in evading all financial fraud.
Wenger has performed miracles in the period he has spent in charge of Arsenal. He has ensured an infrastructure second to none with capital earned through football & subsidiary business. He has maintained a team that is now so potent that envy & jealousy will attempt to hinder its progress. The England issue is not of Arsenals making but some fallout will ensue when Wenger says ‘non merci’.
Good news folks I just got banned from Arsenal truth what a child I am.
What a place it is lies and miss truths are facts. I only went there because of such works of arts as are new players are rubbish and the fact we beat Chelsea doesn’t matter not sure how he feels about Basil.
I really should know better but it allows me to see what we are dealing with boy its nasty.
Am I just slow in realising Piers is an anagram of Pires….or at least I think it is, it’s late!
Still waiting for an apology Jambug or are you not man enough to admit when you are wrong? Have I not given you the “evidence” you crave or will you put the usual twist on it. You see people have an opinion and when you have an open forum people will comment so make this site members only and you can all have a massive love in and live in denial. Just wondering do you actually socialise because your argument is only like for like should get together Hitler also had the same philosophy. Are you like Hitler?
Great piece from The Telegraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/09/29/meet-the-other-wenger—arsenes-brother-reveals-the-arsenal-mana/
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and hope others will too.
http://thesefootballtimes.co/2016/01/14/the-disputed-genius-of-arsene-wenger/
I hope Tony will write an article to celebrate AW 20 years as manager of Arsenal.
Gunnerjoe, you bad boy, I ended up checking out that cesspool called Arsenal “truth”…. That poor guy is beyond sad.
Anyways how about them Mighty Gunners! I am am very happy for Theo, I suspect the boss had more than 5% credit to take for his performance but would he ever take credit for something like this? I suspect that his next “project” is mr AOC….I think he has lots more to give and who else can get it out of him….
Tony, great article by the way!
That would be great one Walter!
Jambug
Typical spin from you re Walcott .
Why is the truth, or the real reason never good enough for you and some others on here?
If anything ,Walcott should be applauded for being honest and not hiding behind excuses – good for him!
Taking ownership of your shortcomings is a first step in rectifying them.
Well done Walcott.
I think the truth is in the middle with Theo, as it usually is in life. Ignoring this season, has he been a failure at Arsenal? Categorically, NO. Has he been a success? Also categorically NO. He’s had moments in every season though, that remind people of what he can do and I’d say has (apart from last year) been above average in most seasons.
That apart though, what really makes me warm towards him is that he has always always been professional, never slagged the club or Le Boss off even when he was negotiating his contracts and has shown he wanted to stay here. I don’t think that is any doubt either.
Now for this season? There’s no doubt he’s defending more. His runs have always been deadly and he’s always scored big goals over the years, but he’s never defended as much as this season – throughout a game. And since these days almost everyone play 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 or whatever fancy numbers you want to put in there – no way anyone can get away without defending in the midfield.
So that’s helped. And the fact that Alexis runs around like some Duracell Bunny game after game after game helps. Sometimes its very pointless, but it has a bigger, psychological impact on some others. And England. And he wants to stay here (so far). If it wasn’t this season, he wasn’t getting another contract – no doubt about that.
And the pride of a footballer too, specially one who is as articulate as Theo.. would hurt if he was on the bench all the time.
So, as Tom says here – we might all differ in thinking how much or how little a liability he was over seasons. But there’s no doubt, there’s a change this year. And frankly, I don’t f**** care. I just hope he stays injury free.
I remember his 2 goals against Man City in December, and then he got injured soon after. If we get 15 goals from him and 10 assists – that’ll be a success. Fingers. Toes. Everything crossed.
Oh and I’m a fan. Always have been. Even in his worst times.
Spot on that article.
Theo is now re-finding his way. As stated above, the mental aspect is the one that can take a long time to recover. He is actually a better “team” player now and any goals he gets will slowly transform him into the striker he always wanted to be. Theo has also learnt how to be humble and let his ability do the talking.
HOW TO TALK –
Talk to Mother -lovingly,
Talk to Father – respectfully,
Talk to Brothers- heartfully,
Talk to Sisters – affectionately,
Talk to Children- enthusiastically,
Talk to Relatives- empathetically,
Talk to Friends – jovially,
Talk to Officials- politely,
Talk to Vendors – strictly,
Talk to Customers – honestly,
Talk to Workers – courteously,
Talk to Politicians- carefully,
Talk to GOD – silently,
Talk to WIFE –
~no no~ ……
*KEEP QUIET & LISTEN ONLY…!!!*
???
* To ‘them’ ? – with all contempt that you can muster ! They deserve that much. Maybe more !
Oh my God, you are as bad as the people who you have a go at for criticizing Wenger. Theo has a couple of good games in a number of years and you think Wenger is a genius. Seriously guys, calm down. Wenger has had faith in a lot of players that have cost us at important times over the years. Yes, get excited and enjoy the show for now, but when it starts going wrong again don’t be so harsh on the people who have some bad things to say.
I read this and it kind of sums up how I feel about our manager.
http://www.espnfc.co.uk/club/arsenal/359/blog/post/2946528/arsene-wenger-20-year-anniversary-with-arsene-tribute-by-nick-hornby
Redshark I hope you had your shots the place is a cess pool as you say changed post and others not posted.
Again, the medja are fabricating stories, stories of Wenger managing England.
And I thought to myself, what could be worse for Arsenal, than Wenger becoming the England manager? Moaninho becoming the England manager. He would have the team overloaded with Arsenal players, and they would never be taken off early to avoid injury.
One of the difficult things(amongst a myriad of them)a manager must do is to know when to call time on a player. Will he develop into the player I hope he will become? Or, should I sell him or let his contract lapse? I, though I didn’t voice it, must admit to wondering where Walcott was/is headed. I don’t feel bad about that nor should anyone, however, there is a limit to what should be said about a player. Calling them deadwood or even worse, doesn’t do anyone any good. I would love to see Theo keep producing for the rest of the year and score 20+ goals but he has never done so before so I keep my counsel before I crow about him. However, I shall continue to support him as long as he wears the red and white.
Bloggs
“September 29, 2016 at 4:40 pm
Jambug just let you know Mark Twain never said that (the same as the supposedly Einstein one) and I’m the village idiot?”
Proof enough ?
Bloggs.
“Just wondering do you actually socialise because your argument is only like for like should get together Hitler also had the same philosophy. Are you like Hitler? ”
Really, do you think this is acceptable ?