Morning all.
Full of confidence after his hat-trick on Wednesday night, Danny Welbeck has had a few words to say to his old manager.
He’s quoted in one of this mornings newspapers as saying:
Nobody can really criticise my finishing because they don’t really see me playing in a forward position too often.
But now I am getting into these positions I want to be sticking the ball in the back of the net.
Obviously people can say I’ve not scored enough goals, but you stick the best strikers on the wing in a four-man midfield and see if they score goals.
He makes a valid point there doesn’t he and that doesn’t only apply to strikers being asked to play out wide. We ourselves have been frustrated over the years when watching certain Arsenal players who we think should be playing in a certain position, play out wide and that’s happened all over the pitch. The worst at the back recently was possibly Johan Djourou playing right back and Thomas Vermaelen left back. Neither worked and in my opinion, went a long way towards ruining whatever confidence they had and of course, ending their Arsenal career.
Nicklas Bendtner too, after all he was the worlds greatest striker but nearly every time he play he was shoved out wide and expected to score goals. Well that never worked especially considering how many times he’d pop off on international duty, grab a goal or two for Denmark only to come back and either not play or play wide again. Crazy stuff!
Thankfully, Welbeck has at least three months of playing up front in his favoured position and as long as he keeps scoring goals, it’s highly unlikely he’ll be shoved out wide in order to accommodate the return of Olivier Giroud in the new year. The more he scores, the more he will score as confidence in front of goal is key for any striker:
If you’re getting goals and getting a run of games in your preferred position, your confidence is going to grow and performances are going to grow as well. That is something I am really looking forward to doing, building on those performances.
I wouldn’t say I feel different. Maybe beforehand, sometimes I wasn’t getting through on goal if I was coming from a four-man midfield.
Obviously it’s difficult to leave your position and go and get goal-scoring opportunities.
But I’m getting into these positions much more regularly now, and I’m looking forward to sticking the ball in the back of the net.
So are we Danny Boy, so are we…..
I was watching Sky Sports yesterdays morning and they were showing some footage from Welbecks days at Utd. The frustration and disappointment on his face was clear to see as one or two of the few chances he had on goal went by without any joy. Then they showed him playing for us on Wednesday night, the difference was so clear to see. He was smiling, laughing, looking happy and clearly feeling well and truly at home. Even when he missed one or two of his other chances, his head didn’t drop and thank goodness, he didn’t poke his tongue out or look to the heavens either…
He just carried on giving his all….
I know it’s early days but I think we’ve got ourselves a good one, don’t you?
That’s it for today, have a great Friday all….
Morning rico, house. Good post, as soon as Danny signed I read a few of the Man U blogs and had a sense straight away that he seemed a good kid, well respected and always hard working. Their reaction to him going gave great confidence that it would be a good signing. His hitting the post in the first match could have been a damper but that was all forgotten as soon as the first goal went in.
Morning Andrew and all..
The post chance was a real blow, he deserved that to have gone in…
Just hope Welbeck continues where he left off on Sunday, we need to finally beat Chelsea under the dwarf…
Cracking post, Rico…..loved it.
The kid seems genuinely happy with us already, so onwards and upwards.
I think he will give the Chavs plenty if grief, and if Ox has a run out, we will scare the crap out of them.
Of course, we need our defence to stand tall.
Morning all.
Thanks Rico, totally agree on Welbeck. Good luck to him and may he stay injury free. Its a blessing for him with OG out till after Christmas that he can put a string of performances together at striker and show what he can do. Its a big 6 months for him in his career, it could make him as a striker if he does well – as he has so far. I hope he can consistently find goals!
Slightly strange comparisons with wide players at Arsenal though – Johan Djourou never that good, Thomas Vermaelen played a lot centrally and was left back cover. Lord Bendtner wasnt destroyed by Arsenal, he had an attitude problem, fitness issues and generally was over-rated.
Generally I agree with the sentiment though – playing wide is a specialised position, not somewhere you are sent when there is someone better playing in the middle!
We need eleven fit men on the field at the end of the game for a start. Who’s the ref?
Are there that many genuine wide men about these days? Or have most been converted to come inside and contribute more. I want to see a Limpar, Overmars or George Armstrong out on the wing again!
Thanks Scott and Roger…
Martin Atkinson!
Roger, I guess my point was playing players out of position and not just up front, it’s been something AW has done for a long time and it doesn’t always work.
It hardly helped JD who was at the time going through a good spell having not lost a game alongside Merts. Ok, his injury didn’t help but at Rb, he was dreadful and that was him finished imo…
TV apparently hated playing left back and I think I’m right in saying that was when his form seriously started to drop…
BBC Sports – Ramsey could be out for 2 Months..
Happy morning all
Robben, Ribery, Griezmann, Walcott as a start Andrew… but youre right that there are fewer traditional wingers these days… probably for a few reasons – left and right backs play this role more giving attacking pace and directness on the overlap, more focus on central field control, diamond formations, not playing 3 up front these days… Maybe the reason is that when fewer teams play a system with wingers, then naturally there will be fewer wingers! Probably someone can articulate this far better than this poor effort 😉
Hey Rico, sure its easy to agree that players should play in their best positions as much as possible – the team benefits and the player loves it. But lots of teams have this problem when a square peg doesnt quite fit the roundish hole. Cavani at PSG springs to mind as a current example.
I still maintain that Johan Djourou wasnt that good, he’s ok, but I think he found his level at Hamburg. With TV, I wonder if you have any stats on how many times he played CB and LB – Im just going off memory and I thought that he was deployed at CB far more often, but cant be sure…
Good post,Rico, Danny Boy certainly looks happy and settled, it’s early days but it bodes well for the future. Chelski will be a severe test for The Arsenal on Sunday, will Arsene finally break the dwarfs dominance? If he plays his usual game, i doubt it, tweek the tactics and perhaps, it’ll be a different story.Has Arsene learnt from our last visit,only Sunday will tell the story.
Morning all…
Nickie, AW said 4 weks maximun..
weeks, not weks.. lol
Roger, agree with you on JD the player, not the drink.
Has anyone read, Sir Red Noses autobiography?
Queue the “set back” in his pre match conference lol.
We will see..
If we can take Wednesdays performance into Sunday and give it a good go i’ll be happy. none of this reserve and timid approach, just go at them.
Roger, managers should look at their squad and sign who they need, not just a player then make him fit surely. Look at Ozil and Arshavin before him.. Tsk Arsene.
Re JD, no, he wasn’t good enough to be at Arsenal, agree there but he was a worse right back than centre back.. lol He only played there that season we had all our full backs out inured, the one when despite this, AW didn’t sign anyone to cover in the Jan transfer window..
Nickie, Arsene Knows….
Morning Bt, thanks. Agree, early days but it’s started well and that’s all we can ask for. Agree again on Sunday, a win there is long overdue but if we approach it like we did Galatasary, I could be a horrid afternoon….
Rico, four weeks is Arsenal code, when deciphered it means two months! You know our back room quacks are all glass half full, optimists! Two months it is then. No Ramsey for at least two months…..is he becoming the new DIABY??
Re Welbeck, I was actually happy when we’d signed him, knew what he brought to the team…so happy he’s playing well and the crowd are appreciating him now. Shame he sucks on FIFA lol
Rico, did you happen to see The Telegraph article this morning, regarding Fergie on how to beat Arsene sides of recent years? A very interesting read….
do you mind posting that BT, I’d like to read that
Nice Post Rico.Astar has been born#DANNY
Nickie, i will try, but make no promises…lol
Wavy, I thought 6 weeks was the ‘usual’? lol
Nickie, I was too and not just saying that because he got a hat-trick on Wednesday…
Bt, I haven’t, do you have a link please?
Thanks Tonybee, not sure he’s been born, just set free… 😉
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/11135160/Arsenal-manager-Arsene-Wenger-must-adapt-his-tactics-to-beat-Chelsea-or-Jose-Mourinho-will-have-his-number-again.html
Bloody hell, that was easy…lol
🙂 Thanks Bt..
Very interesting and just what most of us here have been saying. Defend first and stop leaving the defence so exposed to counter attacks by sending everyone up when we break or on set pieces…
Thanks BT….it’s so easy for the opposition lol
Ramsey eh, 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 2 months, 6 months, it’s all the same bollox…
I wonder, if Giroud had not been injured, would Wenger have signed Welbeck?
So before everyone and their dog start saying what genius he is, consider that!
Kev, that’s a fair call, but we’ve got him and that’s the main thing.
Let’s hope he bags a few on Sunday, either way 🙂
I’m not sure he would have Kev but thanks goodness he did….
Rico, Nickie, it’s hardly rocket science, for some..lol
Is for Wenger Bt.. lol
Afternoon All,
The chavs will defend deep and hit us on the brake..easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Wenger thinks tactics are them little peppermint sweets…………………………………………
so we can only hope and pray he gets on the strong coffee sunday morning and decides to play the margin game.
In other words shut up shop and use our pace from deep.
Is that asking to much……………………..
Rico, Arsene is blinded by his own genius..lol
Afternoon Fred, do you reckon AW will see it like that? My guess is no…
Bt, either that or it’s dark where his head is… 😉
Catch you later folks, off for a couple of hours…
Going by last year rico..he never cottoned on ..did he.
No, he didn’t Fred. Be interesting to see what Sunday brings…
Can’t argue with you on that one Scott, unfortunately 😉
Fred, I read that Dobson got some good feedback from the Galatasaray game.
Physically, and in terms of age/maturity, I’ve read that our lads may struggle in later rounds as some other opponents (namely Chelsea & PSG, I think) have older, bigger lads in their squads…
But most of our present squad is young enough to enter the competition next year, where we’ll have the bigger team…
Encouraging by the lads, so far…
Just read, Gala fans threw flares and other missiles at The Tollington Arms, on Wednesday. They also ripped up over a hundred seats and damaged many more, in the away end at the ground…What a bunch of ..W^^^ers
Spooky Bt, I just read about that too, what a bunch of A*******S!
Rico, did you see the video?
No,haven’t looked at that Bt…
Rico, hope you are not watching Unreported World….
Nope Bt, Question of Sport 🙂
Good, harrowing programme for animal lovers.
Not sure I’d like it then… 🙁
In fact I’d hate it!
Rico, it was terrible, all about the dog trade in Vietnam.
seems nobody is worried about flamini but me
I read about that on facebook Bt, it’s just so so wrong, barbaric…..
Sukky, I worry about Flamini!
Le coq is way better than him,flamini is useless.CC21 is not good at that RB,really a headache against hazard but who can replace him?Seems Wenger no longer have faith in bellerin
Hi yer Kev,
Dobson is like an old fashion player all heart and team ethic,if I have to be critical he just lacks a bit of pace,but I said that about J Terry 25 years ago,so who knows,
chelsea were huge last year,a lot were around 17 I think.
Kev will email you soon had a bit of trouble with this ageing computor.
How can Coquelin be better, he barely plays and when he did on loan, he was awful or sent off!? Harsh on Chambers Sukky..
Anyway, I’m off for the day, catch up tomorrow..
Night Bt, Fred, Kev, Sukky and all….
Chambers is as good as we have , Flamini is not good enough but was taken on as a cheap option but unfortunately he is getting far too much playing time. Chelsea are strong through the middle of the pitch and we are not , we are likely to be overrun through it so we must find a way of playing to our strengths elsewhere . If we can make Mourinho change his game plan we can upset the odds but if he gets to play to his usual plan we will get our usual return.
Night Rico…
Fred, I’m optimistic that Jonker and his Dutch coaches can add that little extra to the technical side of our youngsters, starting with the current Youth CL group.
The Scouting needs a big overhaul, but you know all about that mate.
Hopefully we’ll some progression in that area very soon..,
Morning all…
Morning Rico, so that fat headed fucktard Martin Jol reckons there are more spxrs supporters in London than Arsenal! Hmmm……
Morning Lee. I saw the headline but couldn’t be bothered to read the rubbish…
Just watching Thierry Henry on Football Legends whilst ironing…
What a player he was….
Have you read the Barton interview Lee?
Rico, whilst your at it, could give my shirt a quick going over… 😉
Morning All
Morning Rico, Lee, Adam, Scott et al
Morning Rico, Kev, Brudder and all.
Sorry Kev, all done and the iron away now… 😉
Morning to you and Adam…
I watched that Henry programme….. he truly was the bollocks.
Rico, I struggle to have anything to do with Barton so haven’t read his article. However I’d quite like to stove his head in with a blunt instrument a mandolin perhaps?
Brudder. I would set Mrs Adam on him, with her Halbard Shaft. 🙂
I read a wonderful article in the daily mail about us playing the chavs on Sunday it must of been penned by a truly gifted wonderful person!?!?
Brudder I would fear for Barton….
Dennis is next on the planner Lee, another truly remarkable football.
It’s amazing to think when Wenger told Henry he wanted to rescue him from Juve, Henry said ‘but I can’t score’ – and Wenger replied, ‘I don’t care, you are coming to Arsenal anyway….’
The rest is history….
Barton makes a good point about not having any true leaders or fighter.. But yes, I’d like to give you a helping hand with the mandolin. Another horrid man in the game…
Rico 🙁
Kev 😛
Tbf to Barton, he made some good points, but nothing that hasn’t been commented on before…
The Daily Mail is a quite outstanding read today.
I thoroughly recommend it…
You are right Kev, it’s no different to what we have been saying… Just he get’s paid for saying it!
🙂 Re The Mail…
New Post Up Now…