Arsenal 7 – 3 Newcastle
Match Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
I ought to be revelling in this victory. Instead, it’s strangely bittersweet.
Make no mistake, this was Theo Walcott’s game. Although his first half performance was patchy, he went on to complete a scintillating hattrick and pick up a couple of assists along the way. This was probably his finest performance in an Arsenal shirt, and a convincing audition to be the long-term occupent of the central striking berth.
The first goal will invite comparisons with Thierry Henry, coming as it did after an intelligently bent run, matched by an equally intelligent bent shot inside the far post. The second was a wonderful finish, clipped with little backlift past a wall of Newcastle defenders and in to the top corner. The hattrick goal was the best of the bunch: after collecting the ball from a short free-kick on the left, Walcott scooted between two challenges, tumbled to the ground, sprung to his feet a la Stamford Bridge last year, and lifted the ball beautifully over the goalkeeper. It was a goal worthy of a hattrick, worthy of the crowd’s acclaim, and worthy of Sunday morning’s headlines.
It was not, however, a goal worthy of a £100,000 p/week salary. Not in the mind of Arsenal’s board, who are still locked in stalemate with Theo Walcott’s representatives. And so, whilst I should have been lost in ecstasy over Walcott’s outstanding display, I was instead consumed with the thought that Theo Walcott might finally be about to explode in to the player he’s long threatened to be, just six months before he walks out of the club on a Bosman free.
Yesterday, there was one man who took more delight in Walcott’s performance than Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal fans, or even Theo himself: his agent. He will have been rubbing his hands together, as his negotiating position was enormously strengthened by this hattrick display. The pressure upon Arsenal to meet his client’s demands has never been greater. Equally, any potential suitors’ interest will have been piqued. Theo holds all the cards.
I’ve long insisted that if he was going to sign, he would have done so by now. We are just two days away from Walcott being able to formally discuss a contract with a new club. It’s hard to question his commitment on the field; equally hard to ascertain his commitment off it.
Arsenal, of course, can’t afford to freeze him out. In the past Arsene Wenger has had a squad so replete with options that he’s been able to leave the likes of Edu and Sylvain Wiltord out of the first-team squad once it became clear their futures lay elsewhere. Not so this season. The competition for fourth place is so fierce, and the squad so bear that an in-form Walcott is a guaranteed starter.
The question I keep coming back to is: if he hasn’t signed thus far, why would he sign now? He doesn’t even have the threat of being omitted from the team hanging over him. He can continue to play games, score goals, and let the offers from other clubs roll in. By the end of the season he’ll have deals on the table that significantly surpass the £100k he is demanding from Arsenal – never mind the £75k or so they’re currently offering.
It’s why I was so gutted when Olivier Giroud volleyed that late opportunity against the bar. I would have loved to have seen a hattrick scored by a player I am confident will be with us beyond May. On the subject of Giroud, his introduction saw Theo moved out to the right. In that position he still managed to score one and assist another inside fifteen minutes. He’s doing well in the centre, but I’ve not seen much yet that I don’t think he could do coming in off the line from a wide starting position. His form is not depending on his position.
Regardless of where he plays, it looks like he’ll have a tremendous goalscoring season. Arsenal will benefit in the short-term, but as long as that contract remains unsigned, each goal will be accompanied by a familiar feeling of gloom as we achingly cheer the name of a player all but certain to desert the club come the summer. It’s a bit like Robin van Persie last year, all over again.
Before I go I ought to give some praise to Newcastle United, who were excellent up around the 70th minute, at which point they collapsed. It’s worth remembering that whilst our players had their feet up on Boxing Day, Newcastle were playing out a draining 4-3 at Old Trafford. It showed, and the ludicrous scoreline in yesterday’s game can be attributed to the fact they completely ran out of gas.
They have some superb players, though. I was impressed by two young midfielders who aren’t even regular starters for them. First off, Sylvain Marveaux continued his impressive adaptation to English football, providing one particularly sumptuous cross for their third goal. Then there was Gael Bigirimana, a 19 year old who last season was playing for Coventry City, who moved the ball intelligently and accurately all afternoon.
As for Demba Ba, if we don’t try to sign him for £7m then it is tantamount to mismanagement. I made a point of watching him carefully from behind the goal, and his power, movement and finishing is outstanding. Walcott and Giroud’s goals were heartening, but we’re still in need of more attacking options, and with Premier League experience and an affordable price tag, Ba fits the bill.
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Further reading: Player Ratings for Bleacher Report
Many thanks for your comments on our (NUFC) performance. You are right; we were knackered by the end for the reason you state without the strength on the bench that we could introduce. For the neutral, as with our game at Old Trafford, it was all great stuff. I guess it was pretty good too for you Gunners!
So Arsenal are not the only injury prone team. 8 regulars out!
Blimey.
I felt the same when theo got his hattrick. But a small part of me still believes he may just sign the contract. It’s important that we turn the tide of defecting players. Only then can we go on to greatness again.
It is not for gone that he will leave.
I think Wenger will weigh the decision on what offers come in but he is likely prepared to come close to asking price if he has dragged proceedings this far into season (without much attempt to sell last summer)
He is gone. Take off the rosé tints
What is impresive about Walcott this year is the number of goals and assists per minutes played.
Anyway, I queation if we really need a stiker. Ok, thats not really true. It would be great to get a top class striker, but its worth noting that we’ve scores more goals so far this season than we dis through February of last year.
We do.
One knock to say Walcott or Giroud and we are bare.
Walcott is gone. Giroud is slow. We need three strikers. One to replace theo, one for rvp and one for either of park or chamahk
Theo has always maintained that it isn’t about money for him-we’re going to find out exactly tgen what it is about. Sure he probably wants to be on par (wage-wise) with most of his peers, but if he was to be offered 100k a week would he immediately sign on? What about the ‘playing through the middle’ issue? Is he going to think he has a chance to win things if he does commit to Arsenal? All these issues need attention.
I personally don’t imagine he’d fancy joining a foreign club at this point in his career so we can assume he’ll “honour” his contract. Wenger is convinced Theo loves the club and apart from perhaps winning trophies immediately and licrative wages, I can’t imagine there’d be many a better place for him to play football. Anyway, speculate as we may, only he’ll [insert agent influence] know what he wants. Let’s hope he sees his future with the Arsenal then..ok?
They hold the stronger hand (agent/Theo)
This is the issue.
I’m not sure we will see many moves for him in January as the main vultures will likely come to fet in the summer.
The likes of Liverpool may make a play for him but does he honestly want to go to a midtable team with no CL prospect next season?
We’ve put moral pressure on him with using him up top. ow its up to whether he deems an improved offer closer to his asking price acceptable.
As much as Walcott has been good, IMO he can be replaced. We have a number of good direct wingers developing (Chamberlain, Gnabry). It will be a mistake to rely on them as replacement for Theo but that said, there are options in the market which may bring better dynamics still to the team.
Someone creative with quick feet like Konoplyanka at Dnipro (23, not cup tied) who can play across midfield, may give us even more options.
If Arsene wants to go for the cl spot,he must start winning. NU were swept aside but bear in mind the gunners were more fresh.Of course it’s feel good kind of feeling.Oh ,please tighten up the defence because against teams like MC and Chelsea,the gunners could be two goals down and with freedom of the ES wide open in search of goals,the gunners will be vulnerable to the sudden counter attack.It had happened in the past and will happen agin,mark my words. I am not a wet blanket but these are the dna of Arsenal under Arsene.
I feel sorry for Pardew having been ridiculed by red faced.Btw as everybody knows the latter has been using million s,if not billions to buy the epl .Surely he’s due a blip soon and very soon hopefully in the cl.This guy thinks he is the King of soccer and entitled to win games and trophies.His time will be up soon ,whether he likes it or not.Nothing is permanent in this world.
His arrogance and condescending manner have put him in a bad light.
Which is why we hate the United.
Walcott is exceptional. I don’t think we could replace him. Thierry started as a winger and at 23 switched to striker and we all know how that went. Give theo some time and he will adapt. I think arsenal should do everything they can to hold on to him
Theo loves the club, and we all love Theo. Theo is such a nice boy that I’m sure he’ll stay on with the Arsenal because of his loyalty and genuine love of the Arsenal.
In my FM11 game, he’s blossomed into one of the best strikers going around. And he’s still at Arsenal and we’ve been unbeaten in 4 years.
It seems some kind of arsenal curse that players play their best football, and often only ‘come good’ when they’re into the final stretch of their contract, only to then be shipped off — a la flamini, nasri, van persie, etc…
it’s our player policy, Vic.
I am a man with a gigantic penis. That alone makes me worthy of your adulation.
Well, there are others out there who can pay much more. Just the reality of it, giant penis or otherwise.;)
Arsene beware. I know one game doesn ‘t make Walcott wc but he is young and could be as good as RVP. Don’t be surprised the red faced will propose an exchange deal with Nani to weaken the gunners. You never know.
Be a mistake for us to take Nani.
So we sell them our top players in exchange for another of their rejects who isn’t performing up to par at the moment.
no thanks.
i will be enjoying young theo’s goal purely on its own merits. the last goal was a peach of a goal in the midst of a fruit bowl of choice delights!
Echoing my thoughts. I was hoping Giroud would have a hat-trick too to remind Walcott that he is not alone in claiming that match ball.
I don’t believe it’s not about the money. It definitely is. I’m pretty sure he sees his future somewhere else.
Hope to be proven wrong tho.
Com’on Giroud.
I believe you’ll be proven wrong about young Theo, and you know what? I think you’d be GLAD to be proven wrong! You, RVB, are an optimist who’s afraid to hope. You want Theo on the forward line, you NEED Theo on the forward line. But you don’t want to get your hopes up because you did the same thing with Cesc and RvP and all those other chaps who upped sticks and left for bigger, more ambitious clubs.
But fear not! Young Theo is different! He’s an Englishman born of an Englishman and he’s been brought up in the Arsenal way since he was a strippling lad of 16! If Young Theo cannot resist the allure of trophies and big monies, then no one in our generation of young Englishmen will be able to resist! We will soon be saying goodbye and thanks for all the fish to those English chappies named CFJ, Jacks, the Ox and Rambo Ramsey, who is Englsih even though he’s Welsh.
Believe in Theo, RVB! He is reliable!
And young Gibbsy. Can’t forget young Gibbsy.
Also young Willie Zaha and Lukie Shaw, both strapping young Englishmen with the stiff upper lip and can-do attitude that typifies an Englishman as an Englishman rather than one of those craven, lilly-livered continentals!
shut up your not funny
Pretty effective stuff from the Frenchman.
Out on the pitch for 20 and two maybe 3 goals is a good return.
he’s a sharp finisher.
I think Theo and Giroud in tandem is the best prospect for us.
Regardless, we still need another striker.
Pref with pace and technical awareness/skills.
I can c theo transformin into a playa beta dan rvp. I think walcot wil be doin himself a big favour more dan any one else if he stays. Am realjay
Theo trhives with space afforded. Less so when it is tight.
The one big differance between him and Henry is his awareness. It is porb the reason why I would prefer someone-else in the middle at this point.
The other of course is Henry’s outrageous technical skills.
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A big dose of reality needed here, the situation with Walcot is simple! he has never been consistant enough he’s a 1 in 10 one good game nine WTF is he doing in an Arsenal shirt. Yesterday against one of the worst defences in the PL he looked good, but, look at the game again, ignore the goals and watch the normal tear your hair out Theo head down run like fuck and ignore completely the unmarked team mate with a simple tap in opportunity; this is why the board didn’t sign him up two years ago, and while Theo is riding high now lets see if he can replicate over the next ten games, games where the defence will be better and he will have to show some foot balling nous in order to put the ball in the back of the net.
But he is putting them away.
Considering the number of times he has started this season, it is a very good return.
that too is reality.
I was happy Arsenal won and not Theo’s hat trick. All this nonsense about him being English makes him unlikely to leave ehh Gareth Barry, Ashley Diver Young, Milner, Cahill etc all left for money and they are all English. Theo has been badly advised by his 10% people and will regret this in future. Theo is not worth more than Podolski, mertersaker or Cazorla .
Well, English players traditionally have a higher asking price than foreign ones so it is all relative.
but you are correct in the sense that we have to be wary of the overall wage structure. If we push one player’s pay way up, there will likely be pressure from the other players mentioned come contract negotiation for them.
KIERRAN GIBBS!!! What a cunt!!. Newcastle goals number 2 & 3 all attributed to Kierran Gibbs blind defending. And after the ball hits the net he just stands & hold his fucking head. Nobody to shout at him. Vermaelen wake up & command the defence. Shout at Kierran until he cries
Your a twat
goal 2: Gibbs got (rightly) sucked into the middle to mark a spare man. Its then Wilshere’s responisbility to mark the free man at the back post
goal 3: defence at sixes and sevens because the newcastle man picks it up in midfield completely unmarked without and arsenal midfielder within 10 yards of him. True Gibbs made the final mistake but the whole thing was avoidable if our whole midfield didn’t all wander forward.
but hey, lets blame it all on that ‘cunt’ gibbs.
The same gibbs thats been reliable all season.
Like I said – your a twat
Goal 3 was Gibbs fault. But he made up for it with a positive drive later which led to our Goal 4.
Goal 2 Newcastle was the fault of the covering mids. Be it Arteta, Jack or Podolski.
Gibb was sucked in to watching a free man in the box. Someone needed to pick up Marveaux.
Don’t quite agree with you GS and I normally do. Whatever Arsenal’s “wage structure” may be, it is clearly rubbish. It means we lose our best players every year, miss most of our transfer targets and fail to offload the useless players we want to get rid of. Wages are a relative thing for players. Theo will want to know Arsenal really value him and are not trying to take the piss and get him on the cheap compared to what a number of other clubs (not just the big three) would pay him. It’s time for us to stop bleating about wage structure and pay theo 100k per week – if he keeps playing the way he is now we we will recoup many times over in merchandising etc and new fans for the future. Its probably what we already pay Chamakh!
We can afford to be a little more generous.
Likely we will go in with an improved offer, Theo is not asking over the top prices considering.
Theo will end up at ManU, believe me. I think he will run down his contract, because i think ManU promises him much more than money, his friend RVP. All that talk about playing through the middle is a smoke screen. If it was that simple, Theo should be given to Juventus or any other team abroad, but it won’t happen, and he won’t sign. Better to let go and buy Zaha or any other good striker.
I said this months ago!!
He’ll end up at Man U where he can lick RVPS ring piece.
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Lets see Walcott could be front man for Manu… or Man city… or Real Madrid, or Barcelona… oh wait what utter rubbish he wouldn’t even be 2nd choice in any of those teams why the hell do you think some other club will take him at a higher wage as a forward?
Stop speculating and just wait and see even if he doesn’t stay just like RVP, Arsenal is more than just 1 player we can always find a replacement.
Now I wait on more trolls to argue this point.
City and Chelsea have filled up in the wide areas and are likely to wait summer before shedding some of those players (if there are takers for their inflated wages)
Chelsea in particular are more keen on a front man to back Torres up (replace him). They will likely prefer a bigger presence than Walcott.
United may be in the hunt, with Nani likely leaving and bearing in mind RVP/Walcott being very effective.
It will be a question as to whether Wenger will be ‘fooled’ twice.
Liverpool, well why would you go to a club with no CL football. Simply daft.
On the continent, unlikely. He has pace but may not have sufficient nuance for the more technical game there.
Still very unlikely manu would sign him they have plenty forwards so he would only get a wing position and would not be 1st choice so it would be a retarded move for him, chelsea have shit overrate Torres but would have to replace him with someone better than walcott once again… my point still stands… and yes pool retards are completely out of the running… need say no more.
True Cunt, you Yankee Doodle Cunt, fuck off back under your rock.
Even I’m a Theo skeptic but ultimately if he scores 30 goals away in the season then that keeps you high up the table.
I’m with you. I’m not complaining wherever he plays so long as they are going in.
aragonce is arsene wenger who thinks he owns arsenal. at least ferguson fucking wins things. thats the diference in fans also. do you think utd fans would allow a recird like wengers at utd, no fucking chance. its the like of you gs that paints over wengers failure to do his job that helps blind some of the stupidest fans in the world. makes me fucking laugh to ocasionally hear wengers spin doctors put out stories linking him with real madrid, firstly he wouldnt have the balls to go were it true because he knows the big clubs have ti in and secondly more importantly the madrid fans would never allow this has been deluded person anywhere near the team
I don’t think he thinks for one moment that he owns Arsenal.
But to have us yet again within CL despite the ‘massive’ crisis is an amazing achievement.
It’s as if we are the chap who maybe doesn’t have the most top end car but nonetheless have something quite special. Differance being that whilst others are gifted the cars (Chelsea and City), we’ve worked for it with our own money.
Be a bit ungrateful to assume that we can always be a top team in the CL with the sort of funding we operate on over the years.
How dare you?
Sir Arsene is the best thing to happen to Arsenal…
He’s gonna leave us with some amazing talent – Chamakh, Bendtner, Rosicky, Squillaci, Djourou, Arshavin, Ramsey, Gervinho…
….All fucking quality…and you retards complain…
Why don’t you stop complaining and go support Spurs.
excuse the spelling mistskes. also gs you can forget about ba, chelsea are paying the 7 million. rumour has it wenger offered 1.1 milliion. pity he wasnt french and playing in ligue 1 and then wenger would have paid 20 million. isnt it suspious as to why wenger pays a lot of money to french teams for mediocre players yet wont pay for decent players from other leagues
Ba.
Not so much price.
More ACN commitment issues.
Pato is an injury liability but if we have Giroud, Walcott, firing, may be a gamble if price is heavily discounted.
he is only 23 with bags of experience, cunning and particularly more speed. Can also be depployed out wide left if Poldy takes a knock (Bearing in mind Gervinho is also at ACN)
Just checked. Senegal are out of this year’s ACN.
So he is fair game at that price (proviso as you say, Chelsea don’t dip in for him)
But the problem with the African players is this is now a perennial issue.
Prefer someone-else. I think we will be looking hard once the likes of Chelsea make their move. Still plenty of players with experience floating about. Villa for one.
Walcott contract :
1) That Wenger is dragging the issue so deep into the season suggest
a) That he is probably agreeable in private to come close to the asking price (say 90K)
b) That he is weighing it against offers in January to attractive to turn down.
that said, the current form Walcott is in, regardless of his position, I finally hard to see us not seriously considering extending his service, even if it is at a slightly reduce length to meet our preferance with regard pay scale.
I agree that position is not the sissue here.
we will be detracted if we believe that the current success he has in front of goal is due to a more central position.
More likely he is benefitting from one of two types of opposition we nominally face. Namely those that bravely come at us (newcastle) as oppose to those who sit deep and defend (Wigan) where he is less effective.
Particularly as whilst he is able to exploit the space opened up for him due to Newcastle’s adventurism, he is less aware when manouvering against tighter defenses (as apparent in a number of occasions yesterday)
The point GS makes about his equal effect when coming wide with Giroud in the middle is telling.
Also with it should come recognition that Giroud (despite being on the pitch for 20 mins) came a whisker close to a hat trick himself. Perhaps we could attribute it to tired legs on behalf of midweek exertions by the toon but maybe, we are also more effective with both Giroud and Walcott on the pitch.
Whatever happens, this should not distract us to the need for another striker, preferably one with good pace and importantly awareness in the box. With one of either Giroud or Walcott out to injury, we will face vulnerabilities in prosecuting the remaining 3 fronts effectively.
Whilst all the furor is on Walcott,
we should also reflect on improved performances by several other players :
1) Pdolski. German industry and keen awarness. Whilst we should be grateful of the added option of playing Walcott top, I do think Podolski is yet another who can give us a different bite to our arsenal employed in the striker role (if provided we find someone as effective at LW…other than the unused Arsharvin of course)
2) Jack. He is playing with increasing confidence and most importantly bite. Like Poldy, he also pushes our play positively forward, the added dynamism has itself helped in Theo’s play. Won the ball on numerous occassions high up and push us forward quicly and decisively.
Was reading other blogs bemoaning our lack of possession in this game. I for one am not bothered so long as we bring result to our play which we did.
3) vermaelen (and Koscielny). yes we let in IMO 2 cheap goals (2nd and 3rd) but the Cbacks were largely solid. Vermaelen has quietly improved his game since start of season.
4) Wenger. I thought it extremely negative last game (Wigan) when we piled on defenders to protect our slender lead. This game (possibly because of the open nature), Wenger employed more positive tactics in adding Giroud effectively into the mix.
Whilst we may see walcott’s improved performance as complicating the contract situation, we should also appreciate that his ability to be employed up top has given us options we need. Plan B comes to mind.
Good result. Even if some of the same issues remain. Is it the first time we have won four straight games in the league this season ? Important ahead of a tough run of games in January.
Walcott, as good as he was yesterday, still doesn’t convince me as the long term option up front. Like Podolski he is much better playing wide off the central striker. Maybe if we switched to a 4-4-2 he might do a job there. Let’s not forget Giroud managed to bang in 2 after coming on as a sub.
I hope we sign a striker and a defensive minded midfielder in January.That should give us enough strength to make a run for the champions league spots and offer cover for Giroud and Arteta.
Walcott’s situation is interesting. It definitely is about the money. Surely he would have had a definitive answer on his position (wide right or single striker) from Wenger already. I don’t blame the club for holding out on a 100k per week offer, Walcott is not consistent enough to merit such a pay. But the reality is we need him more than ever ( as we failed to buy another striker/winger this summer ) and his position is strengthened by it.
I wonder how difficult it would be to get Edin Dzeko. Proper striker , premier league proven and definitely looking for a move. Demba Ba looks likely to go to Chelsea , sadly.
I also would like to see Sagna renew his contract. If not we are looking at another position possibly weakened this summer.
i thiknk walcotts desire to play in the middle.is due to lack of space out wide. the lads grown up, become man. what was once ample space has become tight confined. he is simply much bigger than he once was, and cannot.be confined to one wing. he needs the full width of the paek to spread his talented package.
notice too that this talk only occurs with the introduction of giroud, which obvioisly means giroud is a man of substantial reputation down there. can arsenal accomodate both walcott and giroud on the front line??????
perhaps not. i have similar issues with economy flight seats
2 hours into 2013, i have yet to see any transfers into the arsenal.
wenger out
I would be happy if we didn’t sign Demba Ba. He seems to have a dodgy knee.
i think resigning van persie last year would’ve been like a new signing this year.
Sir Arsene performs another miracle. One nil down away from home and we still manage to get a draw. Most other teams would not have the mentool stwength or spiwit to fight back. Even the £millions of Southampton could not prevent Sir Arsene.
I am so looking forward to a cracking 2013 with Sir Arsene – the man’s a genius.
Ramsey MOM for me today. And that says something. Jesus, who wants to pay walcott 100k+ now? Not me…..
there is a lot of work to do…
theres no new signings coming in. arsene is still an aragont cu** who still thinks he knows it all. its actually a blessing we didnt pox a win tonight otherwise the arsene fc fans would be drooling about wengers spin of 4 wins in a row and not needing any recriuts. of all the games ive watched us this season, most of the performanes have been like this