Welcome to the Arsenal Football Club Mr Danny Welbeck.
Welbeck’s signing hasn’t made me jump for joy nor am I excited like I how was with Sanchez or Ozil’s signings. That said, he is a better forward than Yaya Sanogo which is an improvement for Arsenal.
I like Sanogo. He tries and with a bit of luck he’ll score….but it will only odd few. Speaking from the head ‘trying’ won’t score you goals which is something Welbeck has already a proven record.
What do we know about Danny Welbeck?
He’s 23 (24 in December), 6ft.1 and born in Longsight, Manchester and developed through United youth system. He is another English player to our increasing ‘British Core’ joining Gibbs, Chambers, Ramsey, Wilshere, Walcott & Oxlade-Chamberlain so should have no problems fitting in.
Welbeck plays mainly as the leading striker but can play either side drifting in from the flanks. He’ll add more pace to the team which is something that we drastically lacked last year. This will give Ozil & co someone to run onto & pick up the through balls in the channels. Similar to Giroud, Welbeck will press and chase defenders keeping them on their toes.
The other thing that I like about Welbeck is that his departure from United has angered some of their fans, given he was ‘one of them’, as well as Welbeck rejecting any (loan) move to Spurs. Always a great start!
Between Sanchez and Welbeck I believe that they’ll cover the forward role depending on fixtures. I mainly see us leading with Welbeck and Sanchez outside of him.
So what of Giroud?
I think some fans annoyance is, not the lack of squad depth which I’ll come onto, that we were lead to believe strikers of the calibre like Cavani or Falcao would sign. Maybe that “top, top player” is Sanchez who is being slowly integrated to the rigors of the Premier League outwide before permanently moved centrally. Wenger has long history of using the wide positions as a test bed.
Whilst Welbeck is better than Sanogo I don’t see him as better than Giroud. In fact I don’t see Giroud any better than Welbeck either. I think both are two different players.
I think we have two very good “2nd Strikers” or back-ups that would lead most of the Premier league teams yet not in the top 5-6 sides. Who is better? Only time will tell.
Defensive Cover
The lack of defensive depth is what worries me and most other Gooners.
Last year didn’t score enough and we conceded too many.
Offensively we have strengthened with the signings of Sanchez & Welbeck and that’s without considering the injury to Giroud. We also have Walcott returning soon too and I sincerely hope he can stay injury free.
Defensively we have lost Thomas Vermealan & Bacary Sagna.
Debuchy is an impressive like-for-like replacement for Sagna. Chambers, who has been a very exciting signing and prospect, is a defensive midfielder turned right
back. Yet we have now turned him into a very capable 3rd choice central defender. This is where the problems start.
Chambers is being asked to cover 2 positions now that Jenkinson was sent on loan to West Ham.
Although Gibbs & Koscielny are both rumoured to be available for our next game against Manchester City as it stands currently they are both injured. Playing devil’s advocate, and this is very likely, our current defence would line up with Debuchy, Mertesacker, Chambers & Monreal.
Chambers won’t be able to cover Right back if Debuchy he gets if injured or sent off whilst he is playing in central defence. It’s rumoured that 4th choice centre back would be Monreal. Similar situation who covers left back if either Mertesacker or Chambers become injured during a game? Flamini?
With no disrespect to Monreal but he is no central defender and that thought alone worries me.
I hear that Hector Bellerin would be called up/promoted as necessary but that still leaves us with only 7 defenders. 5 of which are currently fit. This is all very ‘make shift and do’ from Arsene.
I understand that it’s difficult to sign someone that is both good enough be a top Premier league defender AND has to be 3rd or 4th choice behind Mertesacker & Koscienly. Yet there must be central defenders out there that are better than make-shift Monreal that would jump at the chance of joining Arsenal?
Whilst I’ve talked about depth I haven’t spoken about strengthening our defence. I still think we miss the defensive power and shield the likes Gilberto gave us. With the speed at which he could cover ground we wouldn’t be suspect to counter attacks. I like Arteta but its past time that we had a ready replacement. I’d love to see Chambers in a central midfield birth but he’s already doing too much as it currently stands.
We have learnt from past season that a lack of depth has cost us. That’s either as a result of bad luck injuries and no quality behind but also tiredness (over playing) injuries. Chambers has already played in every single game for Arsenal so far. That’s not a major feat except when you remember that he’s our back-up and still played every game!
By not getting the bodies in Arsene is in danger of overloading these players. Don’t be surprised to see a back 4 of Bellerin, Chambers Monreal & Flamini at some point this season.
Block 5 Gooner
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 