Theo Walcott slated by Alan Shearer after Arsenal lose to Manchester United

'Is he a centre forward? Is he a winger? He's not even a regular'

Theo Walcott (GETTY IMAGES)

Theo Walcott's role at Arsenal has been questioned by former England centre-forward Alan Shearer.

During Arsenal's 3-2 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday, Walcott made little impact, making just 17 touches before being replaced by Olivier Giroud.

It led Shearer to question whether Walcott is a winger or a centre-forward - a question that has been asked since he joined Arsenal from Southampton over 10 years ago.

"What I think is unfortunate is we're still asking the same questions now as we were six or seven years ago about Theo Walcott," Shearer said on Match of the Day.

"Is he a centre forward? Is he a winger? He's not even a regular in that Arsenal team. And we're still asking the same questions."

Shearer then seemingly had a dig at Arsene Wenger by pointing out that during his own career, managers gave him direction on what he should do and focused him on playing in a particular role.

"One of the things that happened to me was as soon as I went to Blackburn it was fortunate that Kenny Dalglish was the manager. He knew the position that I wanted to play in. He guided me to make runs, when not to make runs, into the penalty box.

"A lot of it is instinct when you're sniffing the ball out or where the ball is going to fall to you in the box. I'm not so sure you can teach that to people but he doesn't make enough of those good runs.

"His biggest asset is his pace so he shouldn't be going that way all the time towards the ball. He should be going the other way to ask questions of defenders."

Arsenal have the opportunity to get their title tilt back on track when they play Swansea at the Emirates on Wednesday.