Actually, no it cannot. It's the sort of thing that will never be proven either way because you can't play the same game twice using Welbeck and then someone else in his place to make a quantifiable comparison... rendering this a rather pointless to and fro, but entertaining nonethelessJesus - you don't get the point I'm making. I'm saying that your argument is being ridiculous simplified. My point is that he is making a measurable difference, this can be seen and proven.

Here is the crux. I'm saying that Welbeck as a striker is likely to make little difference to how successful we will likely be as a team (which is... finish 4th and get KO'd out the CL by the first good team). I'm not debating that every now and then he will make contributions in particular games that other players might not make. But my point is this... do his contributions matter if all they do is help us achieve something we could have achieved anyway using someone else who could have contributed in a different way, albeit just as well and just as enough to get us 4th and knocked out the CL?I've also never claimed that we'll win the Prem or the CL. That doesn't mean that none of our best players are making a difference, that's a nonsense argument.
Our goal being what exactly...? To challenge for the title and champions league? Watching us this season, what are doing differently to last year that is putting us closer to anything other than a lower points per game ratio?I do feel though that Welbeck is improving our team, and is better than our other options - Sanogo and Podolski (thank you for reminding me that we had him as an option), and as such is getting us closer to our goal.


