Arsene Wenger hasn’t, despite what some headlines would have you believe, suggested that Danny Welbeck can be the new Thierry Henry.
The striker opened his Arsenal account at the weekend, and the manager says that being deployed down the middle after a spell out wide, means he’s following a similar path to that of the Frenchman.
At Juventus Henry found himself playing as a wing-back at times, but after being signed and played as a central striker … well … we all know what happened then.
Welbeck found himself shunted to the left as Man United accommodated more developed strikers, but the Arsenal manager thinks this could work to his advantage, and when asked if he could develop him the same way as he did with the club’s record scorer, he said, “Look, give me some time! It is a bit early to say that when you look at the number of goals Thierry Henry scored.
“He is a good finisher. I think as well he has played at Manchester United in the position wide for the last two or three years, never through the middle. Then you lose a little bit of that instinct to score … which is a little animalistic.
“You need to always be in the middle and wait for your chance to kill the opponent. On the flank you have less of that responsibility.”
Famously it took Henry 9 games to get off the mark in Arsenal colours, so there’ll be some pressure lifted now. Wenger continued, “I think he has an interesting potential and let’s see how he develops.
“He has a good mentality, good physical potential, good technical potential, he contributes to our team play because he doesn’t lose the ball up front and those are important qualities.”
Welbeck is unlikely to start tomorrow night’s Capital One Cup game with Southampton, but should return to score in his first ever North London derby on Saturday evening.
Early days but Saturday was very promising and will certainally make AW think very hard about next Saturdays line up.
Great set of results for us over the weekend
Give us 20, Danny!
Or 25 to shut up the pundits……I would like to see Van Gaal when it happens LOL
strangely i thought welbeck was the least annoying of the manure players..always seemed not cocky enough to be in a team like that. so good luck to him to come good at a decent team.
He had a better goals per minute record than Thierry when Henry joined Arsenal, at a similar age. Let’s hope he can take off as well, I’m hopeful given the start he has made (97% pass percentage v Villa!!!), though perhaps too much to hope that he would soar that high.
He also scored more (non-penalty) goals per minute played than Falcao, Remy, RVP, Giroud amongst many others.
Last season that is.
I don’t know but whenever I hear Arsene speak about Welbeck it doesn’t seem like he’s too optimistic about him – “interesting potential”. He still seems a bit cautious, fair enough really. Seems as if it was up to him he would have loaned him, with an option to buy. See how he develops this year, if not that well then don’t exercise that option. That shows he doesn’t have full confidence in the lad, or he didn’t when he signed him anyway, which is understandable I guess. I am absolutely loving Welbeck, he seems a perfect fit for our… Read more »
I have to disagree with you mate, i dont think Wenger buys for the sake of buying, well maybe except 2011 panic signings! But with Welbeck, he obviously saw something in the kid, maybe he was reluctant to change his style of play after playing so long with the ever reliable Giroud. If Wenger doesnt want to buy a player, he wont sign him, how many times have we seen him pull out of deal?
Disagree. Wenger knows that if does glow about the boy, the numbnutted British press will cream themselves in an instant. Then the hype will be nauseating, 24-7, and every Welbeck miss will be acclaimed by the press as an utter disaster for Welbeck, Arsene, Arsenal and every Gooner on the planet. I think Wenger is just trying to get past the first few weeks with Welbeck when people are really looking closely, and once the boy settles, he will start to lavish the praise. And this loan thing has really taken hold, and it is kind of annoying. If you… Read more »
Fair enough, some good points I can’t really argue with. Just the feeling I was getting, do hope I’m wrong.
You have been mislead completely. Wenger has sounded rather excited in all his interviews and comments on Welbeck.
His potential is huge and he is already having an immediate impact. Giroud has a fight on his hands.
I Dreamt… Saw us beat the Spuds 3:0 at the emirates…
Woke up and my shit was rock hard… Looking like Van Gahahahaha’s neck-head.
I mean… Is it normal?
Try some laxatives.
For the Brave, Nothing is too difficult
C’mon Welbeck!! Be our New Henry..or atleast try (Which you are doing now)
Please god let him score the winner on saturday! Danny boy can be our new hero up front! Let him never loose against the shitspurs, like Titi never lost against them!
COYG!!
I hope the experiment with Ozil on the left is now over. I had time to understand, we’ve got our no. 10s who are quality. The thing is, there were too many draws already. Not as catastrophic as some fellow Gooners say but points dropped in the manner we have doesn’t leave many room for understanding. Ozil probably is the most talented of the lot to play numerous positions but his defensive work undermines his unequivocal attacking qaulity. Again, no. 10 position needs the least defensive work, so Ozil needs to play there. Wenger had every right to play Ozil… Read more »
I don’t really think Ozil’s work rate is as bad as people say it is. The number of Km he runs per game is usually pretty high. Meaning he puts a shift in. In regards to his “defensive” work undermining his offensive capabilities, i think that is a bit of a flippant comment. You do not buy one of the best 10s in the world and expect them to defend like a beast as well. Each position has its strengths and weaknesses so I don’t see why people are so surprised. Some people would argue that is the reason why… Read more »
I agree with you when you say that we shouldn’t buy the best #10 and then expect them to defend; however, when we do buy them, we shouldn’t play them in a position where they will be expected to do a lot of defending (or at least covering) in our system of play. Arsenal plays with both fullbacks pressing up the field in many circumstances, which leaves room in behind. If we can’t count on our player to track back with a runner, etc., they shouldn’t be playing in that position. I don’t think Ozil’s attacking problems have to do… Read more »
Well this will bring the best out of everyone, we will now have 2 will be the new Thierry Henry at our club in the form of Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck. Imagine if both get 30+ this season.
if arsenal score 70+ goals this season we will be top 3
80+ minimum required..
The scenes when Welbeast does a hat-trick over the scums! COYGs!! Hoping for Joel and Chupa to start tomorrow.
Manure lost at Leicester, Rottenham lost at home, Loserpool got beat by a bunch of ex Arsenal players.
The only down side is that stinking pile pile of blue filth Chelscum didn’t lose their unbeaten record in spite of the fact that Man City is well populated by Arsenal players.
Ozil scores, Wellbeck scores; does it get any better than this?
However; we should keep our feet on the ground, Villa really did appear to be afflicted by some kind of illness and were very poor.
Lets hope that we really are getting our shit together
Up The Arsenal!
I think Arsene simply talks down Welbeck slightly so that the media cannot seize any chance to get on Danny’s back following comparisons with Henry and knock his confidence.
I wouldn’t mind if he turned into another Ian Wright, “…a walking talking swearing raging inferno of goals… (Highbury A History of The Arsenal in N5 by John Spurling).
Even better; if one day Ian Wright and TH are compared to the great Danny Wellbeck instead of DW being compared to them
Very good weekend for Arsenal. Every conceivable rival dropped points…A few more such weeks will put us on top.
Mighty Liverpool and Everton feeling the pressures of competing in Europe? No one seems to be hammering them the way we usually get criticized. That probably shows the high expectations those hacks have of us:)
ManU looks funny eh. Embarrassment of riches up top but no one to cover their backside. Football works in strange ways.
Now for Southampton. Let get them. COYG!
I’m using Henry as an example to help me improve my Sunday league form, no luck so far…. I couldn’t hit a barn door
I hear Sandra Redknapp can.
Let’s not get too carried away here, English media always try to put so much pressure and expectations on young English players. Danny definitely have the potential to be a top striker, especially with all the creative forces around him.
Ps. It’s blissfully quiet without all the Ozil haters around buzzing on about nonsense. What a weekend!
I love Dannys confidence and ball control…he will be a great striker for us.. .
I think he could improve his aerial ability.
More of the same please next weekend against the spuds and another clean sheet 🙂
We usually beat Villa away so maybe we should calm down abit but Welbeck is a very clever player with massive potential. Balotelli could learn from him.
If I could thumbs up and thumbs down one post, I would do it here. But seeing as I can’t, I’ll do neither.
I’m thinking abit too far ahead of myself here but I’m having some form of dilemma. Now I know most on here are massively optimistic with our squad but I’m struggling to share the same optimism. Having watched the City Chelsea game last night they really have set the standard for the title this year (still early days, I know), the strength and power throughout their spine is amazing. Now I can’t bring myself to eventually watch us at the bridge, certainly more so with Cesc now playing for them, and with us currently not looking like taking anything away… Read more »
Here’s a thought: watch the fucking game and if Chelsea go ahead then turn your TV off. Problem solved.
Bring on So’ton tomorrow! Assuming Monreal and the Flamster are fit, here’s how I’d line up (while I’m guessing Arsène has other plans):
SZCZ / Bellerin – Chambers – BFG – Monreal / Flamini – Diaby / Ox – Rosicky – Campbell / Sanogo
Sanogo is injured for the next 4 weeks.
Ospina will obv start in goal, please rest all first team defenders.
Sincerely, I have enjoyed watching Welbeck lead the line for the team. He has better control than I thought. His link-up play is beautiful and a lovely partnership seem to be developing between him and Ozil.
It’s still early days but promising. Giroud will have a battle on hid hands when he comes back.
As an aside, I wonder who got the better buy for 16m. Liverpool or Arsenal? I think we did.
Balotelli still has amazing potential, but he lacks Welbeck’s incredible work rate. When Balotelli has an off day, he’s completely useless, whereas Welbeck can still contribute quite a lot. I consider that a major difference, especially for a player expected to spear head the attack week in, week out. They’re bound to have off days, but if their work rate and link up play is excellent, they can still help the team win matches. In other words: I’m very happy we signed Welbeck. So far, he’s contributed in every match he’s played for us, even when he hasn’t scored. Given… Read more »
Welbeck is already using Henry as inspiration. He said so in an interview years ago, 2009 or some such thing. They have similar qualities, so the comparison makes a lot of sense. However, I agree with Wenger when he tones it down a bit, as Henry is the best player the Premiership has ever seen. Expecting Welbeck to copy that over night is bound to backfire. That being said.. it really is an exciting prospect isn’t it? Wenger trying to create another Henry? We haven’t had a striker with this kind of raw potential in quite some time, so I’m… Read more »
The pace is what strikes me most (plus similar height)
We haven’t had the luxury of this sort of pace (and technical skill) right up front for quite a while.
Gives the midfielders options to go direct/break quicker.
@faboulos…..no dilemma there mate, just watch the game.
If we lose, we lose…it won’t be the end of the world.
Welbeck can be the new Kevin Campbell
His ball retention and ability to get out of tight spots while retaining the ball is invaluable. He can also beat a player by himself and manipulate space for himself with a bit of pace or trickery. Has the potential to be far more devastating than Giroud. Hes not there yet..But can Wenger apply polish to this diamond in the dirt.
He hasn’t done so in a while maybe its time.
Koscielny was a diamond Wenger worked on recently. Per he rehabilitated. Also Ramsey’s potential was fully realized in recent season only. Wenger has a number of projects concurrent. Gnabry, Bellerin, Chambers, all lined up for great things but first they get basics right with the first team. Down the line Zelalem project still on going. There is still Sanogo. Campbell is also being groomed. That in part is what is so exciting about following the Arsenal. Our answers do not come from open market alone. We grow our own or bring in hidden gems to polish. That is why despite… Read more »
Did I mention Akpom?:D
Physically and in height, they are similarly built, lean and quick player. Welbeck also tends toward the left side and technically (whilst not Henry), he is very well schooled (thank you United) What I really like about him is he is a thinking player. He is always trying to work out positions to capitalize on the other side. The hardwork is an added bonus. We have a reasonable forward line in Giroud, Welbeck and young Sanogo developing. Plus we have quasi-strikers in Podolski and Campbell Then we have a secondary attacking line of Alexis, Walcott, Ox and young Gnabry. Whilst… Read more »
Even with Welbeck developing, we need to be on the look out for potential alternatives up front before Giroud returns.
Sanogo is one that must continue development. Likely he should get a nod for tomorrow’s game. Also a possibility maybe a Podolski/Alexis rotating partnership or Joel Campbell (another that we must assess quickly and give time)
We musn’t (touch wood) let any knock to Welbeck derail our present course.
If this lad can improve his finishing, he’ll go on to be a top striker….
Gervinho is a riddle wrapped inside an enigma, surrounded by a forehead.