Theo Walcott slated by Alan Shearer after Arsenal lose to Manchester United

'Is he a centre forward? Is he a winger?  He's not even a regular'

Simon Rice
Monday 29 February 2016 04:17 EST
Comments
Theo Walcott
Theo Walcott (GETTY IMAGES)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Theo Walcott's role at Arsenal has been questioned by former England centre-forward Alan Shearer.

During Arsenal's 3-2 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday, Walcott made little impact, making just 17 touches before being replaced by Olivier Giroud.

It led Shearer to question whether Walcott is a winger or a centre-forward - a question that has been asked since he joined Arsenal from Southampton over 10 years ago.

"What I think is unfortunate is we're still asking the same questions now as we were six or seven years ago about Theo Walcott," Shearer said on Match of the Day.

"Is he a centre forward? Is he a winger? He's not even a regular in that Arsenal team. And we're still asking the same questions."

Shearer then seemingly had a dig at Arsene Wenger by pointing out that during his own career, managers gave him direction on what he should do and focused him on playing in a particular role.

"One of the things that happened to me was as soon as I went to Blackburn it was fortunate that Kenny Dalglish was the manager. He knew the position that I wanted to play in. He guided me to make runs, when not to make runs, into the penalty box.

"A lot of it is instinct when you're sniffing the ball out or where the ball is going to fall to you in the box. I'm not so sure you can teach that to people but he doesn't make enough of those good runs.

"His biggest asset is his pace so he shouldn't be going that way all the time towards the ball. He should be going the other way to ask questions of defenders."

Arsenal have the opportunity to get their title tilt back on track when they play Swansea at the Emirates on Wednesday.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in