How over-reliant are we on one player?

First off: Happy new years!

Ok. I just wanted to ask you guys what you think of this. You hear alot of people saying that we were nothing without Fabregas, that we relied on him too much. You heard the same in regards to RIP. I wasn't following football when Henry was playing but i'm sure they said the same. Now, i'm hearing this about Walcott too! We're not good enough without him, we rely too much on him. All that sorta stuff. This is what bugs me though. Walcott was not a player who was signed and we just relied on his magic. Seasons before he was plying his trade for us but he was never that good until now (last season he was pretty good though).

I'm having trouble trying to type what i'm thinking but, are we really too reliant on a certain player? Or do we just get the best out of a player and build the system around him?

Or in even better terms, is this player dragging us across the finish line, or are the rest of the players pushing this guy to the top of the pack (if you know what i mean)?

I apologize guys, i'm having trouble saying what i'm thinking but i hope you get the picture with that last line.

When one player plays better than everybody else, a dependency on him to produce is created. It's an unavoidable thing that happens to every team, no matter how many quality players they have. If you take that player away, the team isn't as good, which is logical.

The fact is though, these players aren't literally doing everything themselves and are reliant on the rest of the team as much as they are reliant on him. I'm sure the Invincibles were very reliant on Henry to be at his world class best every game, but he, in turn, was reliant on the likes of Bergkamp, Pires and Ljungberg to support him.

The team was reliant on Fabregas to create and score goals, but he was reliant on the forwards making the correct runs so he could thread balls through and get into goalscoring positions himself.

Walcott's form right now is better than any one else in the squad, so it looks like he's carrying us. However, Walcott is a limited player very reliant on the service Podolski, Cazorla, Wilshere, etc. give him.

The only time you're too reliant on someone is if you have no one else that can do the same basic role in your side. During Henry's era, we had good backup strikers like Reyes, van Persie, Kanu, Wiltord, etc. and guys like Pires and Ljungberg regularly contributed goals, so for the odd game we didn't have Henry, we could still score. Beyond Walcott, we have Podolski, Cazorla and Giroud who can score goals.

Last year we were too dependant on van Persie for goals because we had no one else, except maybe Walcott, that could score goals. Even van Persie, though, relied a lot on Walcott and Song for service.

So all in all, the concept of a one-man team is nonsense.

walcott better than anyone else in the squad atm? ok he had a good game against newcastle, chamberlain was motm against wigan, cazorla was motm against reading, wilshere was motm against west brom, walcott has hardly done anything this season in matches that mattered, + even in games that mattered he scored when the game was over (like reading). In the last month the most consistent player has been wilshere. Cant believe walcott is getting so much atttention basically because he is holding the club to ransom, what a great player he is....

we are not over reliant on walcott. Imho signing another striker is more important than signing walcott, but anywhoo everyonr seems to love him now he demands to ghet paid 100k. We also need to sign a defensive midfielder, imo because we dont have a world class striker or an actual defensive midfielder it is more a team effort now than relying on an indivdual

Walcott's done a lot more than just "have a good game against Newcastle".

In his last 10 games, Walcott has scored 10 goals and has 9 assists. No one else in the squad has made that sort of contribution.

Contribution in games that matter? Hat-trick against Reading in the Captial One Cup (1st, 4th and 6th goals - possibly the most important goals of the night); scored our first goal against Schalke; two assists agaisnt Fulham, who were on a similar points total to us at the time; scored our only goal against Everton at Goodison Park; won the penalty that lead to our only goal against Wigan and a hat-trick against Newcastle recently (1st and 4th goals - again, important goals).

The club's player of the month for October and November and one of our best players (along with Arteta, Cazorla, Wilshere and Podolski) in December.

It's certainly not just his contract situation that's getting Walcott attention right now.

He's had a lot of help from the rest of the team, of course, which was my original point in this thread, but I can't see how you can be so dismissive of his contributions. Also, me saying his form is better than everyone else's does not imply that everyone else's form isn't good right now.

I disagree. With Giroud also finding a finishing touch along with godolski, and great players like cazorla and arteta supplying walcott. I think walcott has been fantastic, honestly, his hard work has really paid off. Funny thing is, he was always a decent dribbler of the ball as well, but his decision making really left him down.

As Jay said, it is common for everyone to come with the idea when one player is certainly a class above others.. Barca dependent on Messi, Real on Ronaldo, Athletico on Falcao, Chelsea on Mata, etc..
So same was said about Henry, RVP and Cesc who were world class..
And the sad thing is Walcott doesnt even deserve that type of hype.. All this because he scored some decisive goals and his contract situation on the media.. Although, you have to give credit that Walcott has been consistent this season..
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Btw, i thought this thread was about Cazorla.. We suffer to create chances when he gets marked.. But in the last few games Cazorla was anonymous.. But Wilshere has been returning to his best and contributing more offensively.. So our dependence on Cazorla has reduced in the last month..

I wouldn't say we are overly reliant as in the past with rvp, cesc and Henry. We have different players stepping up in each game, one day it's theo, another it's santi or jack.

I think at the moment he is our talisman, and there's really nothing wrong with that.