Arsenal fan here and closet Everton fan (If that's possible by your standards). I want to give a bit of lowdown on Theo as I take it other Arsenal fans haven't chimed in fairly. It's gonna be a long read so I apologise.
I really hope Theo does well here and scores lots of goals. His biggest strength was finishing and the ability to play balls in (Contrary to what others might fool you to believing). Yes his pace is a big asset but he's a sort of poacher in and around the box. IMO he had the best movement out of anyone in the Arsenal squad barring maybe Sanchez (Ozil maybe too). The issue at Arsenal was that he would make these great runs that were getting the teams goals and himself goals or assists but the Arsenal team stopped playing them. They would prefer to try to go in through the middle and pass the ball around as you guys are often aware. This will bring me on to another point later.
Theo is also a big confidence player. I'd like to ask the fans to support him please as thats when he plays his best. When he's got confidence he can be unplayable but fans would often get on his back often and blame him for everything even if he wasn't playing. He can go from playing like Messi one match to fluffing everything the others. His dribbling is there but he never shows it as like I said he is a confidence player and would not risk it at Arsenal as the fans were always out for him.
Now moving on to the point I was talking about before. What people don't realise about Walcott was that when he was bought into the Arsenal team, the Gunners were playing a more quick counter attacking direct football. His playing style fit in at the time and he was good at dribbling, running fast and finishing. However, Wenger decided to change to a Barca lite philosophy and made the game all about keeping the ball and that required technically brilliant players.
It was unfortunate for Walcott that he came through the ranks in England at the time when direct counter attacking football was important. He was never really going to be all that involved in the Barca lite days and this is what many Arsenal fans don't realise. He was recruited in a team that were known for being strong at the back and quick and lethal at the top. He soon found his biggest strengths being limited but he still managed to put up great numbers from the wing.
Arsenal fans like to moan about him but they can't point to many recent wingers who put up numbers like Walcott. Heck Ox was good but they guy was a headless chicken who had no end product. Anyway I digress. I'd just like to say that Walcott is better than given credit for and I hope he does well here. I think Wenger's coaching didn't help him at all and he would have fared better under a more strict and up front coach.
Anyway sorry for the long read and up the toffees. Good luck Theo, and all the best. Just be patient with him guys, he will deliver. (P.S. F*** the Red S**** and Tottens****)
