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An Upgrade On Kuyt?

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IN the Premier League, there are probably few more divisive figures than Theo Walcott. Much like Joe Cole, his career started with much fanfare at a smaller club.

Following a bidding war he was transferred to Arsenal barely a year after his 16th birthday. Yet, despite how high-profile his career has been up to now, he has still not convinced everybody that he is anything more than a hundred-metre sprinter with some decent footballing ability.

In his earlier days, he was often compared to Michael Owen, such is his pace, trickery and direct running play.

Over the past few years though, his star has waned slightly and he is usually considered to be either a nearly-man, in the same vein as Defoe, Bent, et al that go through fits and starts of form but never manage to reach the level that all expected from them, or a player that has bags of potential but has yet to fulfil what has always been expected of him.

On the one hand, he has great potential, and at just 23 he has 10 more years ahead of him for whichever club he is at. On the other, he’s been at the top level since he was 17 and has yet to really deliver. Surely if he was going to by now, he would’ve done already? I mean, by the age of 23 Michael Owen had scored over 100 goals for club and country and had been awarded the Ballon d’Or, so there is certainly an argument for this.

Many people will take a quick look at Walcott and decide that he isn’t right for us. I mean, if Arsenal are prepared to let him go, aren’t we basically taking their leavings? Also, when you consider that he is effectively lined up as a direct replacement for Dirk Kuyt, is he really going to offer us anything different to the great Dutchman? Really, what we need are improvements on players that have left this summer, not like-for-like replacements, and certainly not players that are perceived to have failed to deliver to date.

I think it’s a little bit unfair on Walcott though. I’m still not totally convinced about him but a lot of the criticism aimed at him is based more on people’s expectations of him than actual reality. I mean, if we had a player that played primarily out-wide last season, scored 11 times and provided a further 14 assists, would he be considered to have had an average season? Hell no. He’d be considered to have been one of the most productive wingers in the league. Well, funnily enough, those were Walcott’s returns for last season, from just over 40 games. If Downing had managed that he’d have been one of the best signings in years.

You see, Walcott is often the victim of other people’s expectations. He was considered England’s great young hope, which means he basically needs to be Pele or Maradona and single-handedly win the World Cup. A number of players have suffered from this over the years and despite having good careers, they’re always thought of as having never reached the heights expected of them. Theo will never be allowed to be just ‘good’, he will always be expected to be ‘great’ and when he isn’t then he’ll be categorized as having under-performed.

One thing that is never taken into account though is the influence Arsene Wenger has had on Walcott. He has moulded the youngster since he was a teenager and turned a pacy, direct striker into a pacy, direct wide-player so when Walcott drifts in and out of games – or when he doesn’t score the odd hat-trick – his performances are over-looked. Because of this, he is also largely considered to be an impact player; somebody that can only really have any real influence on a game when brought on against a tiring opposition. This is an opinion which was only further enhanced by his substitute appearance against Sweden.
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However, Walcott’s real strength is when used as support to the attacking players, or as a striker himself. His style of play is constantly threatening and his pace always keeps defenders on their toes, knowing he can slip by them in a heartbeat. The only downside to this is that he is often frustratingly inconsistent in his end product, both finishing and his crossing. Which is perhaps why he is often shunted out wide. Wenger is notoriously less patient with his young English charges, which may also explain why Walcott has never been given the opportunity to develop into a striker at the Emirates and is usually slotted into a variety of positions, depending on what is required on any given match-day. His return of 24 goals and 22 assists over the past 2 seasons though suggest that the potential is there for him to become a more productive striker/support striker in the years to come. Remember, Thierry Henry wasn’t always that good and he only really hit his stride when he moved to Arsenal and got the chance to work under a manager that understood him 100%.

Despite the minuses against him though, in regards to his potential signing, I think that a front-three of Walcott, Suarez and Borini is a particularly exciting one. It takes everything we’ve already got in Suarez and adds an injection of pace, finishing and trickery, not to mention the odd touch of youthful audacity and fearlessness that you often get with players still in their early twenties.

Something that will be in question about both these youngsters though, is whether they are on the same wave-length as Suarez. There was only really Maxi, Gerrard and, to a lesser extent, Dirk Kuyt that were able to work well in tandem with the Uruguayan master and we’ve already lost two of those so for any player brought in to work alongside him this really is of the utmost importance. But if Walcott is signed up over the next couple of weeks, we’ll certainly find out. His own ability is not in doubt and he has the potential to be twice as good but if he can strike up a link with our main man then he’ll have already won half the battle. In my opinion, he simply needs to work on his game intelligence and know when to pick his moments and that is all about timing. Suarez is very much a man for the moment; he does what comes naturally to him. I believe that through working alongside him – and learning from him – Walcott (and Borini) can only improve and enhance their understanding of what is expected of them as a trio.

While I think we’ve lost a real asset in Dirk, I think we’re ready to move on to a new era and that means new players and a new mentality. If the clubs’ interest in Walcott is solid then I can definitely see him growing into the role and becoming a major player for the club. I still have my doubts about his consistency but that is something that comes with age and if Andy Carroll is moved on over the next few days any disappointment from that would be quickly tempered by the signing of Walcott, particularly if the fee is around the £12-£15 million mark. He has more ability than Dirk but as to whether he’d ever be able to fill the boots of Dirk the man, only time will tell.

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I'm a 32 year old Liverpool fan, living in the heart of the City Centre. I've supported the club since the day I was born and have been writing articles for L4L for over 3 years, writing close over 350 articles in that time. My favorite player of the past generation is Sami Hyypia.

I am the current editor for L4L, with my day job being in R&D for the NHS.

18 comments

  • orville says:

    no ramirez much better

  • omar says:

    to be honest, i do not think there is a chance in hell we will sign walcott. even if we do try, he will not come to liverpool. does not look like a realistic transfer target to me and you’re just wasting time writing about what could have been if he comes.

    • J75J says:

      Why wouldn’t he come to Liverpool? British manager ,plenty of England team mates and would go into the starting 11 instead of warming the bench at Arsenal. Walcott has been linked now for a few months well before David Tyrer wrote this!

    • J75J says:

      Walcott is a Liverpool fan as well!

      • Dan says:

        Wayne Rooney is an Everton fan, is he signing for them next week. Top players want champions league, Liverpool are a long way off that, and that is truth, Moses maybe or Johnson, theo we have no chance

        • J75J says:

          Walcott could be enticed to Liverpool you might not understand why players join Liverpool but Walcott does being a Liverpool fan! Suarez signed were we in the Champions League?

        • omar says:

          look, i’ll be honest with you. i’m a red fan through and through and there is nothing I would want more than to see some top quality players at our beloved club who would help us win that long awaited epl title finally. walcott, on the other hand, as much as i want to see him in the true red color, i don’t think we will get him. i’d love it if i’m wrong but i know i won’t be. despite him being a liverpool fan, i don’t believe he’ll jump at the chance to come here if he was to be linked with some other team, like Dan said, with champions league football.

        • omar says:

          and players usually leave arsenal when they are tired of the fact that their team is not winning trophies, fabregas and nasri being the most recent examples. something arsenal hasn’t done since 2005. i don’t see us challenging for major honours very soon. not in the next couple of seasons anyway. if we make it into the champions league next season, then we might be able to attract top quality players as we used to do in the past. with ease.
          I hope Brendan Rodgers gets us back into that top 4. we need it now more than ever.

    • J75J says:

      The problem is in England the Europa League isn’t valued but in Europe and South America it is! Lucas said so himself a couple of years ago they grew up watching players like Ronaldo win the UEFA Cup with Barcelona and Inter Milan.
      Athletico Madrid won it last and are no where near Champions League football but still managed to buy and keep a hold of Falcao who won the Europa League the season before with Porto!

  • Dave says:

    Can’t see it happening . Let’s face it arsenal have finished above us and have a lot more money to offer for wages, Moses would be more realistic

    • J75J says:

      Isn’t the reason why Walcott is looking to leave Arsenal is that they won’t match is wage demands?

    • Red John says:

      Arsenal famously pay a LOT LESS wages than the other ‘big’ clubs. Liverpool’s wage bill is far higher, as is their highest wage. Chelsea are in for Moses, which actually makes him less realistic.

  • Dan says:

    When has Walcott said his looking to leave arsenal, he is about to sign a new deal at afc and play in the champions league. Not Europa, do the math

  • Tony says:

    A one-trick pony is not an upgrade.

  • Red says:

    Simple fact is Walcott would be a substantial upgrade over Kuyt.

    He is faster (much faster) but he also has much greater technique despite the claims of his detractors.

    Kuyt’s technical ability was always quite poor but his main strengths were his stamina and the defensive work he put in when we were out of possession. Kuyt was in so many ways our first line of defence.

    I’m not sure that Theo is so strong in those departments but for speed and skill (primary attacking attributes) Dirk can not touch him. He is also young and intelligent, still learning the game and still with the potential to go from good to great.

    I think Theo woud be a tremendous addition to the squad if we could get him of course and certainly an improvement on Kuyt. That ‘if’ is the main problem… he might have been a boyhood supporter but then we were interested in him when he signed for Arsenal.

    The main question, to my mind, is whether he sees and understands Brendan’s potential at Liverpool and wants to be at the forefront of that or to play a more peripheral role amongst the current contenders for CL places or maybe in Europe.

    Let’s face it there are a lot LFC fans who are still suffering from Kenny myopia to the extent that they don’t get Brendan or how great he can be (greater as a manager than Kenny IMHO).

    We’ll see see more as the pre-season and the season unfolds but already the signs are there that Brendan is going to stay true to his beliefs… and that believe it or not is exactly how Liverpool used to play when we genuinely were the greatest team ever to lace up a pair of boots.

    We were also regarded at the time… as boring by everyone else. So be warned but for me this could be the beginning of our return to the Promised Land. Give it a couple of years and we could be back.

    If Theo sees that he might just want to be in on it: a legend in Red alongide the greats like Barnes, Heighway and Thompson.

  • Fivelamps says:

    Just to clarify Reds remarks above – for those youngsters who may have not seen the truly great winger Peter Thompson in the 60’s and 70’s its PETER and not PHIL (who maybe legend but certainly is/was not someone fast or graceful)

  • Mike says:

    I see no reason for the debate TBH. Rodgers is not willing to sign players, probably bcos th owners are not willing to sanction signings, all thanks to dalglish who wasted fortunes on… Unfortunately, they’re trying to copy Arsenal who have won nothing in 7 yrs. Football needs more of investments than policies. Utd have kagawa, have wrapped up moura, chelsea have hazard, marin, have wrapped up oscar, tottenham have sigurdsson, vertoghen, are after lloris, damiao, LFC have borini, and are chasing dempsey! We might shout over we are not in the champs’ league, but honestly, will it cost us a fortune to sign ramirez, strootman, castaignos, guidetti, adam johnson, paulinho… etc
    He should have sold spearing, cole, skrtel, doni, with kuyt, maxi, aurelio gone, he should be given £50m plus revenue from sales. In my opinion, both FSG and BR are at fault. While we should be targetting the likes of strootman to replace charlie adam, leroy fer in place of spearing, shelvey for joe cole, ramirez for maxi, borini for kuyt,

  • imoff says:

    I would prefer Alan Dzagoev or a Vaclav Pilar but looks like we are not looking at them as an option

Comments are closed.