It was hardly a surprise to see that some United fans were not too happy to hear Roy Hodgson talking about how the Arsenal and England star Danny Welbeck has improved since he came to join the Gunners after the new Manchester United manager showed no faith in him and all but said the striker was not wanted or needed at Old Trafford.
Some in the United camp pointed to the stats, which show that Welbeck actually scored 10 goals and featured in 36 games in his last full season as a United player, but as we know all too well, stats rarely tell the whole story. We could just as easily point to the previous season under Sir Alex Ferguson when Welbeck managed just one Premier League goal and two in all competitions.
The difference since he joined Arsenal has been that Arsene Wenger has had faith in him, playing him all across the front line, giving him licence to roam and get involved in all our play and starting him in the big games. And as reported by the Arsenal website, the boss said in his press conference yesterday that Welbeck definitely had improved this season.
Wenger explained that it is our forward´s all-round game that is better, most notably his technical ability, his reading of the game and his calmness in goal scoring opportunities and I think we can put a lot of that down to the manager, his training and the confidence he has given Welbeck.
Wenger said, “I think he’s an important player who contributes a lot. Not only does he now score goals, but as well contributes a lot to the team work.
“He’s a team player and I believe technically he has improved a lot. When you look at him now I believe that technically he is much more mature, more composed in front of goal, the quality of his runs is getting better and he has huge, huge attributes.”
Hopefully he will be fit enough to start against Liverpool tomorrow and continue to prove that van Gaal was wrong to let Welbeck go.