With Arsenal heading north for an FA cup quarter final on Monday, it gives our summer signing Danny Welbeck a first chance to show his former club Manchester United that they were wrong to not play him much and then let him leave. But the England international striker has not been playing regularly for his new club either of late and may be worried that he will be left sitting on the bench while his team mates run out on to the Old Trafford pitch.
I would not worry if I was him, especially after what Arsene Wenger said about him in his pre-match press conferene today. As reported by the Arsenal website, Wenger was full of praise for his new forward, insisting that signing him from United was a great move for the Gunners.
The boss also alluded to his lack of time on the pitch in recent weeks but reminded the player that Olivier Giroud has been in good form since his return from months out with injury. As Wenger pointed out, Welbeck has played a lot of games for Arsenal this season, all across the three forward positions.
The manager said, “He’s very important and has played many, many games since the start of the season. I think he’s played in nearly every single game. His position is one of the three up front – central, left or right. He can play anywhere.
“He’s one of the players who has played the most games for us, but not in the last couple of games. You have moments in the season where some players play a bit less.
“Most of the time it’s up front because not every single player can play every game in the biggest part of the season. You have a player like Olivier Giroud who is playing at the moment but he missed four months. During that period Welbeck played every single game.
“He plays very well for me and is an exceptional player who will have a great future here. I am very, very happy that I bought him.”
Danny has started 23 games already for Arsenal and I have a strong feeling that Monday will make it 24. As well as needing to keep the team fresh after three tough games in a week, Wenger will not be blind to the ‘former club’ factor that will have Welbeck desperate to impress at the club he joined as an 11 year old and who never truly believed in him.
So is the striker a must start on Monday? And if so should it be at centre forward or out wide?
I want to see Giroud use more strength on the ball, turn and advance towards goal once in a while, with some power, he is a very big physical player so why not. Its not good to always give a pass straight back to the player who gave it to you in the first place, and doing first time passes.
This boils down to the question I am yet to find answer to: Why is Wenger not playing Walcot? Sometimes in some games it’s glaring we need a winger or striker who is good at running in behind defenders and Walcot is good at that…but all of a sudden Arsene would bring in Welbeck instead. What’s going on? Is Walcot being frozen out for a reason unknown to many? Walcot can score goals but not Welbeck. Why use him ahead of Walcot is beyond me.
I have a theory. I believe Wenger sees Walcott as going off script. Trying to lead the attacks and push giroud out of play. Maybe Wenger wants all build play to go through giroud.
Maybe I’m completely wrong and Wenger is protecting him like many have suggested. Maybe he isn’t too sharp or has an injury.
Or maybe he sees the likes of welbeck, giroud and oxlade ahead of Walcott.
I actually think welbeck has been an under performer for us and I can see why utd let him go. Yes he works hard and presses the ball but too many times he loses possession and he has no idea where to run to find space. Walcott is far superior in his runs and finishing and at the end of the day we need our attacker to score not just work hard and press the ball. Welbeck is work hard no end product, walcott is the opposite.
I owuld play welbeck against utd because of old club motivation but then walcott really deserves a run
in our last match against united Welbeck started and Giroud who didn’t start scored when he came on later.
Giroud has difficulty against top teams and big matches BUT I would most definitely play him against United
Reasons
1. Even though United have a world class GK, there defense is mediocre. Giroud won’t have a problem with their defense.
2. He scored against United in our 2-1 loss to them.
I think we will win this time.
1. In the Nov match we had Monreal as CB which he isn’t great at. Much better as LB
2. We will have better defense. This time we will have Koscielny, Coquelin, Bellerin
3. In that match we had Szczesny. This time we will have Ospina
4. In that match Wilshere, Ramsey and Arteta started. Neither Ozil, Cazorla nor Giroud started. This time we will have Coquelin, Cazorla, Ozil, Walcott
5. Gibbs scored an own goal, which is rare
Starting lineup for November match
Szczesny
Chambers..Mertsacker..Monreal…Gibbs
Ramsey….Arteta
Ox….Wilshere…Alexis
Welbeck
Subs
Giroud
Cazorla
Martinez
Welbeck Welbeck hes our man if he cant do it Theo can.
Theo Theo hes our man if he cant do it Ozil can.
Ozil Ozil hes our man if he cant do it Sanchez can.
Sanchez Sanchez hes our man if he can do it no one can.
Plenty of options but little cohesion or real attacking menace especially considering the potential there.
IMO Wellbeck will show Man U what they have been missing by showing poor control and heavy touch, not scoring and running into dead ends. In fact it won’t be news to them as they had him long enough to know it and is exactly why they let him come to us!
Now ja’ think Maureenho will sell Costa to us in the summer?!
Welbeck – potentially the worst first touch of any player i have ever seen!
Agree his first touch is not great, But what he does is run his nuts off to create space for our other more talented players.
I like Dannys huge effort and he is decent, I have no issues with him starting at all.
Can’t deny his effort. I would give it a bloody good go but after not having played for 27 years I doubt I could offer the team a significant contribution.
I feel the same about Danny. At this level and for a club of our stature more than a big heart and effort is required especially for a forward.
No disrespect but Danny is a great athlete no doubt but a great footballer he isn’t (IMO;)
To be honest it wouldn’t be a bad idea. Man United’s defence has been torn apart by dynamic movement, this is not really Giroud’s strength. I would probably use Wellbeck out wide however to keep one of their wingbacks pushed back or tracked. He natural energy and desire to cut in will help put pressure on both wingback and centreback. Thats the channel we need to attack there, between those two positions, if we try and attack down the middle with one striker he will be outnumbered by three CBs. Balls driven accross the 6 yard box is their weakness. The CBs don’t react very well and if someone gets on the end they will rarely give De Gea (their best player) a chance.
If Welbeck plays, I hope he plays better than last time we played United.
Last time he played upfront.
This time Giroud should play upfront
I am happy with Welbeck playing on wing
I would Prefer Walcott and Alexis to start on wings but I’m sure Welbeck will do an excellent job.
These are changes I think we should make
…..Nov Match— Monday match
GK- Szczesny— Ospina
CB- BFG & Monreal—-Koscielny & BFG
RB- Chambers—– Bellerin
LB- Gibbs—– Monreal (maybe)
DM- Arteta—– Coquelin
b2b- Ramsay—- Rosicky or Cazorla
wings- Alexis & Ox —- Alexis & Walcott/Welbeck
CAM- Wilshere ——- Ozil/Cazorla
ST- Welbeck ——- Giroud
I think we will win if our players play with passion and play hard. Draw is not bad result but I badly want to WIN especially after losing at home
Would Welbeck be appropriately startable for this our upcoming big Cup game at the Old Trafford on Monday’s night? If the boss considers him very appropriate to start that game, let the boss go ahead to start him then. But the Gooners choice (including me) to start that game is Walcott. The reason for that opinion is, Walcot is a trusted scorer whereas, Welbect is not a dependable scorer. But he does give assits to score. To close this argument, I think the boss should start all his top notchers for this game. Because that is what Man United will certaintly too. They won’t leave any of top brass out save their injured Van Persie. Arsenal too shouldn’t leave out theirs. For me, Welbeck, Walcott, Sanchez, Giroud, Ozil, Cazorla, Coquelin, Rhino’ Koscielny, Gibbs, Bellerin and Ospina but less one of them should all start. Szczesny is reported to be down with virus attack. I think the boss should excuse him for this game and later compensate him to start the West Ham game.
I think d bigger question for d Monday match is what formation and strategy to choose. Walcott has been benched for quite a while now probably bcos of his lack of defensive work. Welbeck on d other hand is a better defensive option but really lacks attacking wise. I remember he missed good chances against manutd last time. So I think ox will get d nod as he gives more balance to d team. But I still expect Wenger to surprise us wid his selection and I hope framsey doesn’t starts!!
My team:
OooooooOoo00spina
Monreal Chambers Mertsacker Gibbs
Le Coq
Ox. Sainti. A-lexus
Wellbeck. G-Rude
So 4-1-3-2 with a rigid back 4 meaning no wingback strikers, no Per nose bleeds.
Press as a group (back 4 & le Coq) and hit them with pace and double intent to score upfront.
This wins the game.
I will be calling AW after preparing my Spag Bol to counsel him..
Welback scores a goal then runs all the way to celebrate in front of united fan.
Hows that!
A goal for Arsenal right?
My starting 11 for united match
Ospina
Bellerin-mert-kos-gibbs
Coq-rosicky
Walcot-ozil-alexis/ox
Welback
Carzola should be rested for this game, may be alexis too, bt dont think wenger will rest both for same match
I would not be surprise if cazorla, alexis, giroud, ozil all starts.
Wenger could start all these players for the rest of season if they are not injured
Welbeck should get his centre of gravity checked out! At crucial moments of the game, he seems to lose his balance!.
Totally agree he offers 0 protection to full backs hence why ox and welbeck play their