Arsene Wenger has admitted he only selected Danny Welbeck in the squad for yesterday’s game after being impressed by the striker in his last two training sessions.
The Arsenal manager had earmarked the FA Cup clash with Hull for his long-awaited comeback, but after watching him train decided to put him in the squad for the 2-1 win over Leicester yesterday.
“On Friday morning I was not convinced that I would include him in the squad, because I planned to play him next week,” he said.
“I was going to give him one more week training, but his last two training sessions were so convincing that I decided to include him.”
As ever, Wenger preferred to turn the focus on the player when it was put to him that it was a good decision to put him in the squad.
“It was a great decision because Danny Welbeck is a great player,” he said, “and you never know in our job if somebody else had come on would he have scored or not. But everybody is extremely happy for him, because he has been out for 10 months, that is an eternity for a player.
“We work very hard, our medical team, our fitness team, to bring him back so strong. Let’s not forget he has not played one minute for us, he has just played 45 minutes in the under-21s.”
Another run-out this weekend in the cup against Hull and he’ll be ready to get that hat-trick against Barcelona.
No pressure.
Thank heaven Arsene did pick him for the squad and bring him on.
I was in the upper tier and nearly ended up in the lower tier. The celebrations when he scored the winner were unbelievable…..
COYG
Welbz is dat guy who has Joel Campbell wondering how he lost his place.
Welbeck has a great habit of scoring important goals for us. It is really good to have him back. As blogs mentioned, our bench has been very defence heavy for sometime so it is good to have some decent attacking options.
I wish my foresight was half as good as my hindsight. I’d be better at stuff.
Lots of firepower and competition upfront, something we have been missing. Should lead to more goals.
If we can keep the intensity of yesterday through the rest of the season we have a chance. Sp*rs are looking good currently and Leicester have an easier run-in but we are a better team with more depth and more winners in it.
Let’s support them totally and keep hoping.
I think from watching the games this season we should have realised that there is no such thing as an easy run in. Any team is capable of springing a suprise
Spot on, the fact that it’s Leicesters run in that we are talking about when discussing the title challenge, says it all
Also who noticed Giroud push walcott to the ground after the equaliser. Poor theo went flying 4-5 meters. Strange celebration, that. 😛
I always notice that Giroud is “rough” during celebrations… He can hold a player with his strong arms and he’ll remain stuck in there despite his desire to run across the pitch to the corner flag. Ask Alexis!
When you have to deal with players like Huth and Morgan, you need to be rough.
Haha, exactly. I remember when he scored his first BPL goal for us and ran to podolski to celebrate. Poldi’s face pretty much said “DUDE NO NO!!! STOP STOP!”
I actually had a pretty good laugh at that one, especially when watching the replay after we won.
Also. is it my imagination or did Welbeck really bulk up during his time off? Just look at his arms when he is running to the corner to celebrate his winner.
What a game though! It’s Tuesday and I’m still feeling high from it!
Wenger knows.
Today would have been very different had he not picked him. I wouldn’t have been in a fairytale for one.
Had he not scored the winner, I’m sure people would be complaining about how “useless” Welbeck is. People would have only remembered his missed chance when Giroud headed him the ball. Football is a sport where details can change everything so much, so fast.
Yeah that’s because people are so quick to jump to conclusions. Scoring the winner won’t change his ability as a footballer, but it will definitely improve his confidence.
That guy again, isn’t it?
FUCKINGGETTHEFUCKIN!!!!!!!
Never In Doubt… COYG No…?
Proud to be an Arsenal fan. Just goes to show the things a manager considers when making decisions that we “wanna be managers” never consider. Fit, Sick,Attitude,other players on our team, other teams players, form… As I said before we need to watch out for Spurs, they realize building a new stadium will hurt them for 10 years like it has us. They may be thinking now or never as players.
Someone has stolen Coquelin’s motorbike.