Swansea boss gives his verdict on Theo Walcott

Saturday, January 5, 2013
12:02 PM

Swansea manager Michael Laudrup is aware of the threat Theo Walcott poses when he is played in the striker’s role.

The England international is Arsenal’s top scorer with 14 and the former Denmark international has called on his defenders to be careful.

He said: “He is a threat when he plays wide or through the middle, he is not a centre forward but his pace makes him dangerous to every defence.

“He is faster than 98% of centre-backs so you know you have to be careful as one ball and he is gone.

“Speed is very important - obviously speed without quality is useless - but he has quality as well. He is dangerous even if he is not a number nine.

“I have seen players with only pace and nothing else, but you have to know when to run and what to do with the ball.

“If you are just a runner it is not enough, you should go star in ‘Forrest Gump’ or something like that.

“This is football, even if centre-backs are not as fast they can be clever so you cannot only have pace.

“He has real quality and it means it is a different Arsenal team to the one we played at the Emirates last month.”