Chelsea FC Beat Arsenal: 5 Things Learned From The London Derby
4. Theo Walcott is not the solution to Arsenal’s attacking dilemma
To exploit a relatively slow Chelsea defense, Arsene Wenger deployed Theo Walcott as the lone striker up front. But unfortunately, this decision now seems to be a failure as the Englishman failed to create any sort of impact for the Gunners.
Walcott is blessed with tremendous pace and balance where he can make direct and purposeful runs from the midfield, tearing apart defenses. But what he lacks is that sharpness and composure which a striker should have in front of goal.
Also, if seen tactically, leaving Walcott as the lone striker against Chelsea defenders who are greatly superior to him physically was a naive move to make.
His relative size means that he can’t hold up the play for his other team mates, while he is not able to chest those long air balls either because he can’t beat Gary Cahill in an aerial contest even if he jumps on a trampoline. Furthermore, Jose Mourinho was genius in deploying Zouma to counter the threat of Walcott’s pace.
On the other hand, Wenger has the perfect center forward in Olivier Giroud who has the physicality that can compete with that of the Chelsea defenders. He has the upper body strength to hold the ball and link up play, and also the brawn to compete for those air balls and even win them at times.
It is about time Wenger understood this and changed his team accordingly, otherwise Arsenal will continuously suffer under circumstances similar to those that they faced at the Bridge.
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