Should Theo play again until contract issue is resolved?

By Avenell Dave

Reports this morning that Arsene Wenger is frustrated with Theo Walcott's contract situation and so are we all.

Theo is an integral part of the team at the moment - the only player who has the pace to frighten defences and our top scorer.

We saw the flip side to his abilities last weekend when he was very poor against Swansea and the contract impass is an unncessary distraction we could all do without.

Should he sign and find that elusive consistency, we would have a core of young English players along with Jack, Kieran, Alex OC and Carl who could be the core of the team for years to come.

Is Theo's refusal to sig due to wanting to play centrally, wanting more cash or has he already decided on moving to another club? We do not know nor may we ever know, but one way or another, this has to be sorted out.

The club have been criticised for not sorting it out earlier but Arsene Wenger has said that the club have been trying to come to a solution for some time and I tend to believe him.

If Wesley Sneijder and Llorente can be excluded because of contract wrangles, it makes you wonder whether we shouldn't take a tougher stance.

That may be cutting off our nose to spite our face given the team's indifferent form but we ned to send out some sort of message that we won't be pushed around.

It's a shame this didn't happen last year. Having missed out on the World Cup in 2012, I suspect Theo would have been far more willing to compromise if the threat of not playing put his Euro2012 position in doubt.

It's good to hea taht the club want to Bacary Sagna to sign a new deal. He is a superb player and we have to stop the merry-go-round that has afflicted us for so many seasons.

Theo won't play against WBA of course which is less than ideal with three points essential after the start we've had to the season.

The Baggies have been superb this season and we have to hope that the rest the players have had, the stinging criticism and a positive home crowd help them on their way.

I'm not to bothered about Lukas Podolski being unavailable either - he has blown very hot and cold and it simply means another opportunity for the Ox, no doubt.

I'd change the formation slightly, with Ox and Jack behind Olivier Giroud. We don't have pace in the side and we can be predictable so anything that messes with Steve Clarke's gameplan is good for me.

Let's hope there's no more booing tomorrow - I do feel too many fans go to matches for a moan rather than to try and enjoy the game and we follow football because we enjoy it, don't we?

Addict XI

Szczesny

Jenkinson Mertesacker Vermaelen Gibbs

Cazorla Coquelin Arteta

Wilshere Oxlade-Chamberlain

Giroud 

Comments

[Big Lebowski]

Walcott is stalling so he can leave on a free at the end of the season so he can get a nice big signing on fee. My bet he will join his mate at Manure.