Theo Walcott interview: Arsene Wenger has been giving Arsenal stars Le Hairdryeur
Theo Walcott interview: Arsene Wenger has been giving Arsenal stars Le Hairdryeur
"People think he doesn’t let loose, but he can" reveals
Gunners star who credits win over Bayern for boosting his team-mates'
self-confidence
Bossy: Walcott says Wenger's men did "need a little kick up the backside"
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He is the man Arsene Wenger could be turning to this weekend to play up front for Arsenal, with Olivier Giroud suspended.
Although the Gunners
are no longer masters of their own Champions League destiny, Theo
Walcott is calling for a big finish to at least give them a chance of
punching their weight among the continent's big boys again next season.
The north Londoners could find themselves out of the top four places by the time they face new champions Manchester United at home on Sunday.
But Walcott believes his resurgent team are capable of reproducing the form that saw them achieve an impressive Champions League win over Bayern Munich last month.
That result in Germany was followed it up by a hard-fought Premier League victory at Swansea days later to keep the Gunners’ top-four ambitions on track.
Wenger’s
men have gone on to win four of their subsequent five, and Walcott
admits the Arsenal boss has had to adopt the famed hairdryer - more
often associated with Old Trafford counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson - to
get the Gunners going.
He said: “He lets us know [if we haven’t
performed well] the following day, that’s for sure. There have been a
couple of those this year.
“People think he doesn’t let loose, but
he can - just in quite a calm way. We all understand how much it means
to him, as well as to us, and how much belief he has in us. That should
be enough to spur us on to do it for him.”
While Arsenal’s recent
run has taken them third place going into the weekend, Walcott admits
they should have produced that kind of form earlier in the season
instead of now, as part of the scramble for the Champions League places. Thumbs up: Koscielny scored in Arsenal's encouraging win over Bayern
Alexander Hassenstein
Speaking to Sport magazine, he added: “We need to be having a
bit more of a go at the league, definitely. We want to compete, and we
can do it.
“You saw when everyone was against us we had a great
result like the one at Bayern - winning 2-0 away from home and then
doing the same at Swansea. So we can do it; it’s in us.
“We just
haven’t been at that consistent level to do it at times. We did need a
little kick up the backside to get us back on track.
“But, lately,
I think we’ve worked harder as a unit, kept more clean sheets -
everyone is in their positions and there’s more communication.
“I
think you can see that the players want it a bit more because they want
to prove people wrong. We want to show that we’re still a top four team.
Next year, though, we want to be right up there.”
Giroud was shown a straight red card during Arsenal’s 1-0 win at Fulham last Saturday after a bad foul on Stanislav Manolev. An appeal failed which means three games off for the striker and Wenger having to now examine other options. French dressing-down: Giroud gets his marching orders at Fulham
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Walcott has hit an impressive 18 goals in all competitions this season but has not scored since the 2-2 draw with Liverpool on January 30.
While
the pressure will be back on Wenger should Arsenal finish out of the
Champions League places, Walcott believes any such criticism would be
unfair.
He maintains it should be the players, rather than the
Frenchman, who shoulder the blame for the club’s perceived
underachievement this season.
Walcott went on: “He obviously puts
his message and tactics across at training, but if we don’t do the job
on a weekend, it can’t be down to the manager. We need to step up
ourselves and not always let the manager take the blame.
“He
always puts it back on himself and protects the team, but us players
know that we’re the ones who go out there and play. We do the job.”
Former Arsenal striker Robin van Persie returns a title winner on Sunday, just a season after leaving the Emirates.
Walcott feels the Gunners' eight-year trophy drought could have been ended in the FA Cup had they shown as much hunger as Blackburn, who dumped them out at the Emirates back in February.
He
said: “I think this year we probably had the chance to win something.
We had Blackburn at home in the FA Cup and that [losing to the
Championship club] wouldn’t normally happen.
“I think, nine times out of 10, we’d win that, but Blackburn just wanted it more and you’ve got to give credit to them.”
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