Welbeck has been missing chances regularly like that his entire career.No, I wouldn't.
We'd be a better team with him instead of Falcao.
Yeah because Welbeck was never criticised for his finishing. The difference actually is we'd have had a striker at least being a pain in the arse for defenders, playing at pace and dragging them wide like West Ham's strikers did while ours stood around up front causing no threat.The difference being if Welbeck fashioned that chance against West Ham and fluffed it just like Falcao did you'd be praising him for getting himself in that goal scoring position, not lambasting him for missing it.
Welbeck has been missing chances regularly like that his entire career.
We've been better going forwards with him up front than without him every time he started in the last two seasons.
Beggars belief that anyone can have watched Falcao and RvP wading through treacle this season and think it would have somehow bucked the trend.
We've been better going forwards with him up front than without him every time he started in the last two seasons.
Beggars belief that anyone can have watched Falcao and RvP wading through treacle this season and think it would have somehow bucked the trend.
He hasn't exactly been tearing the league apart at Arsenal. Falcao and van Persie aren't good enough at the minute but neither is Welbeck, keeping him wasn't the solution - we need to go out and spend big money on a top quality forward in their prime, don't see who that could be though. Maybe taking a punt on Ings or Berahino could be the best solution now.
No what we need is someone who scores goals and LVG to play a creative midfielder who creates chances, both of which are at the club right now. We don't need an average striker who runs a lot.He hasn't been scoring freely but he's been a great foil for Sanchez. A selfless player who will run the channels, press defenders and create space for others to exploit. Basically exactly what we need.
Well of course, I'm sure this thread would be a lot quieter if we'd bought a striker like that. We didn't, we've loaned a player who looks done to replace a 24 year old for no financial gain but left us in the farcical situation where we have 2 senior strikers who now need replacing and our manager doesn't think our best striker should be playing up front.Why do we have to choose between having a striker who is a pain in the arse to play against or a striker who can finish?
The panacea is a striker who brings both - like Costa at Chelsea, Aguero at City.
No what we need is someone who scores goals and LVG to play a creative midfielder who creates chances, both of which are at the club right now. We don't need an average striker who runs a lot.
He hasn't been scoring freely but he's been a great foil for Sanchez. A selfless player who will run the channels, press defenders and create space for others to exploit. Basically exactly what we need.
When it comes to the level required at Manchester United, a world elite club, yes Welbeck is average.We need all of the above and Welbeck clearly isn't "average".
When it comes to the level required at Manchester United, a world elite club, yes Welbeck is average.
It still doesn't take away from the fact Welbeck really isn't the answer. We have the players at the club already to make a significant difference, its up to LVG to concede defeat and let common sense outweigh his stubbornness.Well feck knows what that makes Van Persie and Falcao...
I'm not even surprised you didn't include Rooney in that list.Well feck knows what that makes Van Persie and Falcao...
Agreed.He hasn't been scoring freely but he's been a great foil for Sanchez. A selfless player who will run the channels, press defenders and create space for others to exploit. Basically exactly what we need.
I'm not even surprised you didn't include Rooney in that list.
that is so far from the truth, that it can be called lying.A player who can't get into Arsenal's squad should start up front for United?
Sanchez's numbers would be worse if not for Welbeck constantly dragging defenders out of position for him. DW's problem is that he doesn't get into the box enough, so his own numbers look shit.
That doesn't mean he isn't making intelligent runs that allow others to get into the box. Pointing at the scoring charts is missing the point.
Welbeck's quick, one-touch passing and movement in the final third is exactly what we've been missing.
People seem to be getting caught up in a simplistic midfielder/striker paradigm, where the midfielder stays deep and the striker scores all the goals. Football doesn't have to work like that as long as everyone brings a little bit of quality to the table. For example, Drogba only ever had two prolific seasons in the Premier League. He's frequently been used as a means to create space for Lampard and the wingers, but that doesn't mean he's average. Hughes/Robson would be another example. Welbeck is obviously a different kind of player, but I'm certain that he could have created a fantastic tandem with Rooney playing from midfield in LvG's system.
Strikers don't have to be prolific in their own right to be top class. Granted, they need to be surrounded by a certain kind of player for it to work, but they're hardly unique in that.
And that allows him to escape criticism how?Remind me of his poor performances as striker this season?
A player who can't get into Arsenal's squad should start up front for United?
that is so far from the truth, that it can be called lying.
He has started most of the time that he was fit. Case in point, he made it to the starting line-up immediately after being back from injury of 4 weeks or so, when he wasn't expected back according to the previews which were done on TV.
He has been playing out wide since Giroud came back. And getting into match squads because they have had Ozil, Sanchez, Walcott out for various reasons.Liar.
I have to say it increasingly feels like Danny going was a mistake. I mean yesterday the difference between our strikers and theirs was night and day. They could just roll a ball into the channel and their strikers would be there fighting for it, which means either our centre backs were getting dragged out of position or our full backs were getting pinned back. They caused us problems all match with that tactic.
Our strikers on the other hand were just totally static, which made it all too easy for the opposition to crowd them out, and made it hard for an already imperfect midfield to service them.
Danny's a poor finisher but having someone like him who could work hard and pull into wide positions would have helped immensely. Not to mention someone who was fast enough that a one v one with a defender isnt a forgone conclusion.
I still think Wilson is a better player, but I also think he's too slender right now to influence a game against a team as muscular as West Ham (and many others). RVP is too old to do that hard work any more and Falcao was never that kind of player even at his best. So as flawed as Danny may be, we still miss him.
And that allows him to escape criticism how?
He has been playing out wide since Giroud came back. And getting into match squads because they have had Ozil, Sanchez, Walcott out for various reasons.
And getting into match squads because they have had Ozil, Sanchez, Walcott out for various reasons.
I haven't looked up the stats, but despite both of them playing pretty badly, I am going to say Van Persie definitely has scored more, possibly even twice as much, and Falcao, despite moving to a new country and coming back from a terrible injury, has around the same goals. I'd say 1 in it either way. That's them playing badly.Well feck knows what that makes Van Persie and Falcao...
Good Lord.Exactly.
In the long term, Danny needs to score more goals to be considered up there with the very best. At 24 he's still very young for an elite striker though and with his ability to work the channels, press defender, out-pace the opposition in behind their lines and consistently win headers (all qualities that both Falcao and RvP seem to lack completely) he'd have been a fine addition to our squad with the season that's in it.
If he could kick on from here and add more cutting edge to his game, so much the better but he could be a valuable squad player regardless. All the more so when you consider his age, as compared to Rooney and Wilson. The three of them plus one absolutely world class striker in his prime (which is a category that at least one of the other two chumps that started against WHU should belong in) would be an absolutely perfect blend of strikers. I said that at the beginning of the season and it looks more and more true as the season goes on.
I haven't looked up the stats, but despite both of them playing pretty badly, I am going to say Van Persie definitely has scored more, possibly even twice as much, and Falcao, despite moving to a new country and coming back from a terrible injury, has around the same goals. I'd say 1 in it either way. That's them playing badly.
Welbeck was not, nor ever would be, the answer.
We need better than we're getting from the boys up front, but look at how Welbeck is doing since his move. Not exactly fabulous, now is he?
RvP has 9 goals, Rooney has 8.
Welbeck has 4.
Good Lord.
