Walcott to get chance with Henry absence

Ben_Ng69 SG

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that the absence of Thierry Henry until the New Year will pave the way for more first team opportunities for youngster Theo Walcott.

"This is a good opportunity for Theo Walcott to come through and play more games than he would have done, explained the Frenchman.

"I know I will use him because we have so many matches coming up and the area of the team you rotate the most is up front because you need your strikers to be sharp and fresh.

"What is good for Theo is that he is already a different player to the one we had six months ago.

"He is stronger, more decisive in one against one situations and a great finisher.

"At the moment he does not have the physical presence to compare with Thierry and is
still more suited to playing on the flanks.

"But Thierry is 29 and Walcott is only 17."

Walcott finally made his Arsenal first-team debut this season and has shown flashes of brilliance to suggest he will live up to the hype surrounding his potential

Nigel009 SG

Wenger ready to use Walcott
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says he will use teenage starlet Theo Walcott more prominently in the weeks to come.

The former Southampton forward looks to get a regular run in the side following the enforced absence of captain Thierry Henry.

The France international looks to miss the rest of 2006 with a neck injury, with no date set on when the goalscorer will return to the squad.

Henry's absence means the likes of Walcott come into Wenger's plans, with a busy run of fixtures coming up over the next few weeks.

"I know I will use Walcott because we have so many games coming up," Wenger said.

"You rotate a little more up front because you need the sharpness.

"At the back, you need a little more experience. He will play and that is good for him. Today, he is a different player to six months ago.

"He is much stronger at one-on-ones and when going forward. He is much more decisive and is becoming a good finisher.

"You cannot say Walcott is better than Thierry was at 17, but he has spent more time training alongside senior players.

"Thierry was an exceptional talent. When I took him and put him in the first team (at Monaco), he was training with the Under-17s.

"That was a massive shock for him because he was playing every day with kids, then he was playing with men.

"But you could see there was something exceptional there.

"At the moment, Walcott does not have the physical presence in the game that Thierry has.

"At the moment, he is more suited to play on the flanks."

The Gunners need a result against Porto in their Group G clash in Portugal on Wednesday, as they aim to reach the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League in the New Year.

Nigel009 SG

Wenger insists Gunners will fire again

Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal will flourish in Europe now they have clinched their place in the Champions League knockout stages.

Last year's beaten finalists survived a potentially hazardous trip to Porto last night by securing a goalless draw at the Estadio do Dragao.

The point was enough to send both Group G rivals into the last 16 while CSKA Moscow, who lost at Hamburg, had to settle for a place in the UEFA Cup.

But it was a nervy, lifeless display from Arsenal who saw Ricardo Quaresma hit the woodwork twice in a one-sided second half.

The match petered out in the final 10 minutes with both clubs happy to share the spoils and Wenger expects more from his side when the Champions League resumes in February

He said: 'We were nervous because we knew to go out would be a massive blow and a huge disappointment after what we achieved last year.

'In the knockout stages we will play with more freedom and will be like our normal selves.

'We were in a very difficult group overall but we lost only one game and that was in Moscow. I felt that should have been 1-1 but we had a goal disallowed.

'We've seen Hamburg beat Moscow in another game so losing one match is not bad in this group, although going forward against Porto we did not do enough.'

Arsenal finished group winners with Porto in second but it was the Portuguese champions who dominated last night's encounter.

The Gunners managed just one shot at goal - a tame Cesc Fabregas free kick - and Wenger admitted his side lack urgency in attack.

He said: 'It was uncomfortable for us and we suffered because Porto played well. They appear to have improved since we beat them at home in the first game.

'We were flat physically and over-cautious when we won the ball. We didn't push forward enough and support Emmanuel Adebayor.

'But the good thing is we didn't make any stupid mistakes despite having a young side, although we were lucky when they hit the post.

'When you play every three days you can be less sharp sometimes. It's difficult to predict when you'll be sharp.

'We lacked spontaneity with the ball and that was down to over-fractiousness.'

Wenger signalled his intentions by selecting midfielder Mathieu Flamini over striker Robin van Persie with Adebayor operating as a lone striker.

The Frenchman said: 'I picked Flamini so that we had three midfielders. Also van Persie had played two very physical games recently.

'There are a number of games coming up so I'll rotate the squad whenever I can.'

Swiss defender Johan Djourou sustained a hamstring injury and is a doubt for Sunday's Premiership clash with Chelsea while William Gallas has only a 20% chance of making the trip to Stamford Bridge because of his thigh problem.

Mervyn>_< SG

Yay for Arsenal Smile

Urroh SG

Wenger dun use him as much.. Rolling Eyes

R3SsH|n SG

i hope he plays, cos he hasn’t really shown me how good a player he really is.