Danny Welbeck says the arrival of Alex Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang provides extra motivation for him to succeed at Arsenal and insists that competition for places does not intimidate him.
It looked like Welbeck might become a periphery figure again when hip and groin injuries took their toll in September and October but following the sales of Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez and the injury to Lacazette, the striker has become an important figure in the squad.
There remain questions about the former Manchester United man’s long-term future at the Emirates – his contract is up in the summer of 2019 – but for now, he’s content with his lot.
“It’s competition and I embrace it,” Welbeck said. “Ever since I was a young kid, I’ve been playing for an academy with scouts all over the world that are looking for top players to come in.
“You have competition throughout your whole life and it only makes you better. That competitive edge gives you extra motivation.
“Obviously the injuries have derailed me in the past, but it’s gone now and there’s nothing I can do about it.
“My mindset’s just focused on looking forward, bettering myself, getting on the pitch, on the training pitch, doing what I can do to improve myself.
“When I get on that pitch, I want to make an impact. That’s all I can say.”
Having done well in the San Siro last week (and with other options thin on the ground) Welbeck is expected to lead the line on Thursday when AC Milan visit the Emirates. Let’s hope he can add some goals to the energy he showed against the Italians.
Good attitude.
More shooting/scoring practice please, a career average of a goal every 5 games needs improvement.
Sometimes I’m really wondering, if they actually let him practice shooting. I mean, everything he does on the pitch apart from shooting is so good for the team. But it doesn’t look like the coaching staff really stresses this weakness of him How come?
I like Danny, I definitely think his poor finishing record is a confidence thing, because when he first arrived at Arsenal I seem to remember him being okay at finding the back of the net. I don’t specifically remember him being as awful as he has been recently. Obviously his fitness has been a huge factor, maybe you could say that being fairly versatile has hurt him as well. As when he has been given games its often been out wide. So the pressure is really on him to get a few goals in this period where Lacazette is out… Read more »
Check out his scoring record on Wikipedia, consistently one goal in 4 or 5 games, regardless of where he has been playing.
Everything else is great about him, he could be a monster if he could score more.
Yeah fair enough, the stats don’t lie, although they don’t always tell the full story as well. Danny just does something.. I don’t know what it is, or if its quantifiable, but whatever he does, he does it well. Call it chaos theory if you will.. As an example that game against City in the FA Cup, he was top drawer that day. I cant remember what he did specifically, other than just using his physicality to bully the City players around. He had that moment when he chased that nothing ball down the right hand side, he forced the… Read more »
Just less of the kicking the ground and more of the kicking the ball. He will improve very rapidly.
“Less the kicking the ground and more kicking the ball.”
Summed up perfectly there.
Happy for him to keep on keeping on, ground-kicking, goal-bundling, slip-sliding away. Never before has a player brought me so often to tears of laughter. It really is uncanny!
Oh come on! Theo was much funnier.
Sorry I have to disagree with you on this. Danny is a striker. His main role in the team is to score goals. He has to know how to perform his primary function, otherwise, he stands irrelevant in his position. He has to score goals consistently or change his role. To what exactly, I don’t know. But I don’t see why we should be patient with him. I think Joel Campbell had far greater end product.
Unfortunately to achieve something as a team we need players to score goals. If a striker provides “something” that isn’t goals then they’re demonstrably not good at what they’re paid to do. If he can’t score, but contributes with strength, then put him in midfield. If not then send him to a team that he can contribute. That’s not anything personal against him – if he turns his stats around then great! He’s a good personality to have in the club. But if he doesn’t then he needs to move for himself and the club. It’s nice to be nice,… Read more »
All that talent.. and in the decisive tenth of a second, he’s uncertain or panics. Maybe it is a personality thing – some people are not born strikers. On all accounts, he’s now got very few matches to prove can really score. Lacacette is soon back, Auba is finding his form and the hugely talented Eddy waits on the bench..
Its a confidence thing, his personality is strong
makes me wonder sometimes if he’s intimidated by the goal post or rather the goal keepers from the opposite end. All good stuff but no good ending counts for nothing.
Some things you just have or you don’t. Can’t blame the coaching team.
Where I blame them is his positioning and movement.
When he’s playing wide, he can use those “attributes”. When he’s the nine, don’t let him do the hustling and all. A guy of his size and speed, all he has is to watch what other nines do. How they move without the ball and not get tempted to abandoned his position to “work hard for the team”
Ive read separately that Danny is a beast in the gym, to keep his main strength, his physicality, strong, and that the players have more freedom to spend extra time in the gym vs technical training, and that technical training is kept to strict limits to avoid overloading injury prone players. Seems a bit odd, but suppose that supervised weight training is controlled and less likely to lead to injury or inflammation, but planting, cutting, and kicking put more stress on joints and thus are limited. I imagine he has a strict therapy routine at least an hour per day…… Read more »
Welbeck is an extremely talented player who works his socks off on the pitch. His only problem is that he can’t strike the ball for nuts.. which is the most important quality that a striker must possess.
Welbeck iş average. He can’t cross, can’t finish and doesn’t create a lot of chances for his team mates.
Him and Iwobi should hang back after training for shooting practice.
Great attitude from Welbeck. I’ve always liked him. Now to find a pair of proper shooting boots..
Coach him to strike the ball at the corner flag and watch the ball fly into the top corner of the net !!
Our net or theirs?
I thought he had one of his best games in an Arsenal shirt in Milano, the fact that it was as a striker rather than wide midfielder could have had something to do with that.
As soon as Lacazette is fit again he’ll be shunted out wide once more. I’m not that that is wrong, it’s just what it is.
Niggling injuries, not having a run of games in his best position, have all contributed to his current form/lack of goals. Would love to see him score the decider against Milan this week.
I totally disagree. That’s not his best position. Even Sir Alex who knew him best always shuntred him wide where he can run and work his ass off. Players like Chicharito and even Macheda were preferred to him for a reason. Also when he signed for us Giroud was out with a broken ankle! So he played in what you believe is his best position and at the end of the season with around the same number of games he had a grand total of 5 league goals compared to Giroud’s 16. That has nothing to do with niggling injuries… Read more »
Thumbs down. Your avie is “gooner” yet you refer to that red nosed, cheating git SAF as “sir alex.” On an Arsenal thread no less – without even mocking or quoting that fecker. Talk about kicking the ground with the open goal begging!
Your Adebayor description also fits Walcott pretty well too
Danny’s a great athlete booming with a positive attitude and having said so he would greatly benefit from the additional shooting exercises ( the way Cantona did at ManU )
He’s an odd one for me. He’s scored a decent amount at Utd, and England. However, he often seems like he’s actually never seen a football, let alone kicked one. Let alone in the Premier League.
who are thoese guys with a down votes – could it be other teams supporters ? that’s crazy
Well said Danny.
That shot with his left foot on Sunday was surprisingly good.
Anyone else think Maitland-Niles is being carefully prepared as the Vieira replacement we’ve all been waiting for ?
He’s a fine back up for us. As we all know not the most prolific scorer but more time on the pitch will see him improve. More to that he’s hopefully unlikely to get ideas above his station and as such will be happy to remain here as the back up we need him to be.
I like Danny, as a person. But as a footballer he falls well short of AFC quality. Can someone tell me the last time he did something of relevance? The goal against LC two years ago and the FA Cup goal against MU. Otherwise, he’s one that needs the door this summer.
He’s like a latter day Perry Groves – can’t question the attitude and work rate, occasionally influences games, but overall falls a bit short.
After 3 everyone……..”Danny Welbs, is no.1……”
Danny reminds me of Emile Heskey. A decent forward who rarely scores. Sad but true
Honestly I don’t care if he scores his every goal from now to the end of his career in the most welbeck of fashions..toe pokes, off his backside or any other creative manner. As long as he scores goals. Will make for a great career highlights…every goal is a highlight!
Getting 100k plus week with only bench warming job seems a pretty damn sweet deal.of course he is relishing it.we had sanogo in the team for that chaos job.and he only cost us 30k a week.people still crucified that “waste” of money..he wont be a monster,thinking he doesn’t practice shooting etc is ridiculous.he does,he just isn’t good enough.he cant dribble.pace isn’t great.link up isn’t great either.potential to be a “monster”…FFS!!! Rid of him in the summer or turn into a RB.He can be one in valencia/young mould.but 0 potential or output as a striker…
He isn’t a good striker but he has pace and link up play to be fair.
He’s an Emile Heskey type of striker. Great work rate. Commitment. Not many goals. Donkeyesque moments. I like Danny.
He might not score much at the moment but the team does function with him up top. He works his socks off and gives the opposition a hard time.
Good attitude. Solid player. Needs finesse in front of goal at club level. Looked different when playing and scoring(!) For England.
Why are people caling him a solid player?? He’s just not very good and if we hadn’t sold Giroud he wouldn’t be starting recently.
Reminds me Giroud, Eduardo, does his job even on the bench hes determined to make things happen. Team first
Crazy legs.