A sign, guys. It’s all I’m asking for.
Tbf, if Pepe produces like Theo in 12/13 and 13/14 before his injury that would be a decent return. Not the dream outcome but a definite median/decent outcome. A4tt is right in pointing out how underrated that Theo is around here. He was a quality player during that time and as A4tt points out was on a good trajectory.
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No dispute with what you are saying about Theo in 12/13 & 13/14. However, I expect more out of Pepe cause there are more facets to his game than just pace and some decent finishing. There is also no disputing that Theo was largely disappointing in seasons thereafter, for whatever reasons, and could not become a match winner for us like we expected him to, not to mention how inconsistent he was from game to game.
As for Pepe, I haven’t seen anything that really excites me so far apart from a few wicked turns but we have to be patient. It’s only been 4 games with 2 starts for him so we need to give him a heck of a lot of time. Let’s not forget, he hasn’t had a pre-season. I feel the international break might be just what he needed.
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Looking back, that injury against Spurs sucked away the confidence he was finally showing in CF position.
If he steered clear of injuries after he signed da ting, he would have had a better striker career atleast for a year or two.
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Theo in the year before he did his knee had 21 goals and 16 assists in all comps, I guarantee Pepe won’t give us anything close to that. In fact Theo had 14 goals and 12 assists in just the PL that season. If Pepe gives us that I think we’ll all be well chuffed, so yeh hopefully Pepe can get on his level. Once again the disrespect to Theo smh, I guess ppl have short memories, he was massive for us and he destroyed defenses back when healthy and in his prime.
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Bale was having his top season for Tottenham that season and I remember a per minute comparison of them where Theo looked pretty close. Not saying he was Bale level but yeah he was definitely a big player that season.
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Not forgetting the way him and rvp had a partnership up front
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Both Walcott and Bale came from Southampton, as well as Chamberlain.
They must have produced more top talent in recent seasons than any other club in Europe, and Liverpool have had most of them.
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The next season Theo was at 5 goals and 5 assists in 800 PL minutes. He was scoring or assisting 1 per match. Doubtful he would have kept up that pace but yeah in his prime before the major knee injury he was balling out.
Ppl are always gonna hate on Theo because he wasn’t what they wanted him to be, a technical tricky winger like Neymar or Pepe. His pace and timing of runs plus his finishing and cut back passing made him a lethal weapon tho.
Yeah, I remember when he got injured against Tottenham telling my friends I was watching it with there goes our most important player. They laughed at me cause Özil was also on the pitch (so was Cazorla?) but sure enough our season went very downhill from there. Fixture list obviously played a part, as well as regression to the mean with luck, but I do think he was probably our most important player that season (Cazorla was still being played higher up the pitch, Özil wasn’t quite at his 15-16 level).
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I agree.
For several seasons he was often our best finisher and most effective attacking player because of his pace and finishing and he was also our captain and longest serving player.
When a player like Walcott is your captain and one of your best players, as well as the longest serving player, it means that you know you have an average side.
He is the epitome of why we dropped out of the top four.
The team lacked true world class quality and we had a manager that persisted in picking players like him, when it was clear we needed more quality.
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Cesc and RvP made Theo tick. When they weren’t playing, Theo looked so fucking shit.
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Both you guys are spinning this fit your narratives. Cesc is/was one of the best midfielders in the premier league and RVP was one of the best strikers in the league. Latter of which was the go to person for Theo. To lose those two as the supporting act is a major blow. Not only that we shifted play from the right to the left to accommodate Sanchez and his selfish ways which was more of a reason why we lost our CL spot. So many revisionist on here it’s crazy. Theo was not the reason we lost CL spot because he was not the one who bought xhaka, grioud, Mustafi and all those fail buys. Nor did he change tactics which made home redundant on the field
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I didn’t say Walcott was the reason we dropped out of the top four but it was a persistence with players of his limited ability and inconsistency that meant we weren’t in the CL.
It’s not Walcott’s fault, just as it’s not Xhaka, Mustafi, Giroud or any one of the average players Wenger accumulated over the seasons and persist with.
It was the club and manager between them that lacked the urgency to do anything about it.
Like I said, when your captain and one of your best players is Walcott, you know you have a team that is going to struggle, not to win the CL, but just to qualify for it.
Even with his limited ability name one player that played RW that produced better numbers than Theo?
Lionel Messi
Theo showed a degree of promise and built on his early potential. Put his hand up and out for cash and opportunity to lead the line.
Simply didn’t apply himself well enough and basically didn’t have the balls for the challenge when given it. If anyone player can be singled out for letting Wenger down it was him.
Wenger gave him the trust and he got short-changed in the process. Theo was Wenger’s last hope.
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Thus proving my point it takes someone beyond exceptional to beat his numbers. He was not wingers last throw of the die Ozil and Sanchez were
I don’t think this is true, Theo had average/poor close control and technique but he worked hard on his movement and was professional. He simply wasn’t elite but he was a good player for us. Towards the end he’d clearly lost a step
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He didn’t repay the trust for me. Never pushed himself honestly enough and he really had to for the required step up.
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