Exactly. Why people are trying to fit people in into positions that will imbalance the team astounds me.
You guys think Evra is shit defensively, so you want a striker 'protecting' him?
We're set up so that the wingers cover the full backs. Even if we likely go to 4231 lots, we'll still need that. I don't see Scholes and Carrick and Kagawa being able to cover defensively anywhere near as much as our 442 if the wingers don't help out (Nani, Scholes, Carrick, Valencia). Our wingers need to defend, that's why Welbeck who may run around a lot and close people down doesn't start much on the wing. Lots of the time our wingers need to be the only man between the oppositions fullback/winger and the box. I.e. If they are beaten they'll have a free ground cross from the touchline. More often than not Young/Nani/Valencia tend to close the man down and not get beaten until someone comes up to help them, but Welbeck isn't suited to this i feel and i certainly don't want to see him having to defend against a winger man to man. He's not trained nor experienced nor defensively sound enough to do so.
Either that'll mean Evra stays back more often as he doesn't have someone like Young/Nani covering him (Which will make it very hard for Welbeck, he isn't exactly the man to try and take on and beat 1-2 defenders positively, or worse, Evra will go forward and we'll have no-one backing him up and we'll be very much liable to the counter attack.
It's a lopsided formation, and I don't think we'll start with it.
You saw how we scored against Le Arse when Arshavin didn't track back? That's what'd happen to us if Welbeck plays. He might track back, and if he does he'll get beaten easily as he's a striker and won't have any where near the defensive discipline and skill to contain players.
He'll be worse offensively from there than our other options (his passing is consistent, but the range at which he passes is limited, also he isn't the man you want trying to beat defenders unless he already is going at pace, which even Rafael and Evra do easily) and as discussed he isn't near as good at covering for a full back. i.e. Worse defensively. He's got enough of these qualities as a striker, but a wide forward requires something different with us, at least. He doesn't have the skill of our other wingers in seeing and threading a pass for a more central player, and doesn't have near the skill they do at being someone. Furthermore, their defence will be much much narrower as he can't really provide width (Can he even cross?) and i feel wouldn't really help Evra at all in what Evra himself is good at (Why carry the ball forward if the guy can't cover for you and bring it central anyways?).
Welbeck is a good striker, albeit one who needs to practice banging them in more, and bringing more vision to his game, and extending his passing game.
He'll develop lots as he's young, but he isn't near top quality YET, and to try and make him versatile when he's still learning his trade in such an important position in which we have so much cover and he doesn't have the tools to do very effectively, is worse than trying Jones out as a CDM, and far worse than at RB, where he's both more suited and we have less depth.
For Nani, perhaps LF IS his BEST position, and he's got the skill to play anywhere attacking, pace to burn, top passer defensively sound, perhaps our best finisher too. Valencia can provide more width on the RW, and also come narrower when the ball is there. He's a great man for the 1-2's and you guys think he's far more limited than he actually is. No, he won't give us a left footed through ball, but I've seen him thread so many passes to Rafael that I think he'll be very good closer to Kagawa too. Also, it's only a few metres to the right and he can drag his full back way over to the touchline. Young is also very suited to the role.
Welbeck? Not there.
People don't understand that having players that were regulars in your team last year, having to compete with and maybe lose their spot, despite improving themsleves, is only good for Manchester United. He's got a decade long more to go in his career, and will only improve massively, even by being on the bench and coming on for 1/2 an hour. Also, a formation change that may suit us more in the current climate, should not be stopped to accommodate a player that's not world class! He wouldn't have expected so much game time last season, and knows that he was very promising as a player last season, but overall looking at his contribution, it wasn't setting the world alight. 1-3 assists, and <10 goals?
with Kagawa pulling strings behind them.....
Ever heard of injuries/suspensions/rotation ?