5 Thoughts on Boxing Day Football

Theo Walcott might be leaving Arsenal soon.

Another game in which Theo Walcott could not make an appearance after an injury spell. In the year 2014, Walcott played only 4 games for the Gunners. His recovery from a cruciate ligament injury was done very cautiously and then he picked up an injury on international duty which he’s barely recovered from. He has made the bench in the last two games but due to the way both games panned out, you can understand why Arsene Wenger has been reluctant to put him on.

As it is, his contract currently expires in about 18 months. There’s talk that both sides are in talks but Wenger added a significant yet vague caveat on that by suggesting that negotiating with Walcott was a complicated task. The last time this happened (the season before last), he had a gun to their head as he was playing so well they had no choice to give in to his demands. This time, not so much. The signing of Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck means he’s not a guaranteed starter in both his preferred centre forward role and the winger striker hybrid Wenger prefers him in. His injury situation also raises question marks about his durability which would all be factored in whatever terms he’s offered.

London derby highlights why Allardyce has no big club appeal.

Sam Allardyce has a habit of blowing his trumpet whenever minor successes are recorded. Last season after holding Chelsea to a draw he boasted of out tick tacking Mourinho’s side forgetting that doing that would have meant he got 3 points on the day. He performed the same shtick after getting the better of Tottenham. He once claimed if his name was “Allardici”, he’ll have managed a top 4 club. I dissent. The London derby with Chelsea was a perfect illustration as to why Allardyce has no big club experience. This season, his West Ham side have tweaked their style and been one of the success stories in the League. With that, it was surprising that he opted to rest the likes of Alexander Song and Diafra Sakho and return to the style that Jose Mourinho haughtily described as “19th Century football” last term. Right from the 13th minute, attention was being drawn to their time wasting tactics. At Half-Time, possession stood at 27% to Chelsea’s 73%. Now, it might be that Allardici saw the game against Arsenal on Sunday as more winnable and effectively sacrificed this one. A more rational conclusion would be that: As soon as he’s faced with a certain type of challenge, Allardyce and his team suffer from inferiority complex and resort to his more agricultural style of football which underlines why he’ll never be the most fashionable manager around.

Respite for Steve Bruce

Earlier today, the odds on Steve Bruce losing his job stood at 19/10. Last season, he led his side to a Cup final and the Europa League. In the summer, he was supported in the transfer window by club owner, Assem Allam who funded the signings of Jake Livermore (£8m), Robert Snodgrass (£7m), Michael Dawson (£3.5m), Andrew Robertson (£2.85m), Tom Ince (Compensation), Brian Lenihan (Undisclosed), Mo Diame (Undisclosed) and Abel Hernandez (Undisclosed). Gaston Ramirez and Hatem Ben Arfa were also brought in on loan. To say the season has gone badly would be an understatement. They dropped out of the Europa League in the qualification stages and before today’s game were on the back of a 10 game winless streak. As Adam Johnson fortuitously took the lead, it started to look like Bruce could soon be seeking alternative employment. Fortunately, his team were able to mount a comeback and earn him some respite.

Brown Ideye isn’t good enough

Water is wet and all that. From the get go, Ideye’s transfer to West Bromwich Albion raised a lot of red flags. At £10million, he was their record signing. Then Alan Irvine, the head coach who had just “signed” him declared “I don’t know much about Brown Ideye – I’ve not seen him live, but people we trust have done” in what read as an act of preemptive buck passing. If he wasn’t good enough to keep Shola Ameobi out of the Nigerian squad to Brazil, he had no business being any one’s record buy. It says a lot that his first league goal came on Boxing Day. The untidy nature of the goal might just be a metaphor for his time at the Hawthorns.
Time Up for Nigel Pearson?

The odds on Nigel Pearson being the next manager out of a job currently stand at 5/2. Since the win over Manchester United on the 21st of September, they have not won a game. It also didn’t help that Pearson got in a kerfuffle with a supporter. They presently lie at the rear of the table and you know what they say about the team who’s bottom at the end of the year. As the January transfer window approaches and their proprietors, the King Power group ponder on whether Pearson can be trusted in securing reinforcements, expect the press to draw links to managers like Tony Pulis and Bolton manager, Neil Lennon (who played for the club and will understandably be a fan favorite.)