Funny thing is with all players fit. I think Wellback plays RWF ahead of either. Not my choice but I think thats what Wenger will do.
I have to disagree - I think Welbeck was lucky to start half as many games as he did last season. IMO he's not a patch on either Oxo or Walcott in the RWF position, nowhere near Sanchez (and Santi/Ozil if they start in that position) at LWF or Giroud at Striker.
Well the fact remains when we had Walcott and Wellbeck fit together for a brief period last Season - He was starting Wellbeck. I would probably choose Walcott because of his finishing but Wellbeck works harder and gives us more physicality. I'm a big critic of the OX. Undeniable talent but for me is massively underperforming. His final ball wether it be a shot to pass is missing. This is why he has such poor goals/assist stats.
Unsurprisingly, I disagree with everything you have just said. As usual. Welbeck was starting ahead of Walcott because Walcott had not played any professional football for over an ENTIRE YEAR. And Wenger initially planned on easing him in. People keep forgetting this. I'm frankly quite surprised you're not a huge fan of Ox because, even though I accept he needs to improve his goals and assists, he still puts in plenty of quality crosses, he still has incredible acceleration and speed, he is a great dribbler and he is vital in our transition from defence to attack because he carries the ball forward so well. You need to analyse the influence he has on games, rather than just simplistically looking at statistics. Let's not forget that he is still only 21 years old.
Perhaps, we will have to wait and see. I certainly think Wellbeck will get a lot more game time than many people are thinking as he's a player who if he can improve his goalscoring can make a big impact. Don't forget when Walcott returned form injury for the second time, he had 3-4 games but was then replaced by Ramsey on the right wing. Which again leads me to think Wenger is looking for more industry out wide. The Ox has great potential but the fact he doesn't seem to be improving when it comes to goals/assists is becoming a problem. 2011-12 Apps 26 Goals 4 2012 -13 Apps 33 Goals 2 2013 -14 Apps 20 Goals 3 2014 - 15 Apps 37 Goals 3 He's young for sure and can improve but his end product is FAR worse than Walcott's ever was and yet hasn't received any of the critiscm Theo did.
I have to say I hope Welbeck doesn't start more games, while his attitude and work rate are great, I find he loses the ball a lot, his technique, movement and touch are all poor and because of this chances are missed regularly. Then his scoring rate is the poorest of all our options except maybe Oxo, but then Oxo does a huge amount of work up and down the flank, cuts in well, links up with others, is improving his crossing and looked very, very good before his injury. I also don't think Oxo is anywhere near as attacking as Theo or Welbeck and as such doesn't start as high up the pitch but as a result does more defensive work and more work starting plays in the central part of the pitch.
That's a big 'if'. I still don't understand why you think he will. If he played under one of the best managers of all time, with one of the most successful sides in Europe of all time, up until the age of 23 and he struggled to score more than 12 goals in a single season, I can't understand why you're so confident he'll suddenly develop a knack for goalscoring with us. He isn't a natural goalscorer and actually had one of the worst conversion rates in the league last season, according to The Guardian. He has plenty of chances last season and although he did score some important goals for us, on the whole, he wasn't very useful. Wenger saw him play and noticed that he was avoiding contact and was anxious about being tackled, so he dropped him because he wasn't physically up to scratch and so gave him a bit more time to get up to the required level after having not played any professional football at the top level for over a year. Ramsey played out wide because Chamberlain and Welbeck were injured, so he improvised. Given the choice, Wenger would most definitely prefer Walcott to Welbeck out wide, that is not even up for debate. See my previous response to this with regards to the influence he has on our team and how much more of a threat we are with him in the side. Again, you're just looking at pure numbers here.
Most strikers start to get good numbers from the age of 26-31. It can take time to build efficiency and I do still think Wellbeck has the potential to do just that. Like you said he scored some important goals last Season and in a handful of games he was excellent. We are going to have to disagree on his 'usefulness.' Wellback may well be the best athlete in our side. (one of the best in the EPL) He's fast, very strong and has a good 'engine'. You can't make that argument for Oxo and say Wellbeck does'nt get enough goals? It doesn't make sense. Maybe you are just looking at the numbers. After all I said it was Wellbecks physicality and workmate that Wenger seems to favour. Like i tried to explain. Im not saying I would choose Wellback ahead of Walcott (I'm a fan of both) - I'm just stating I think Wenger might.
I think if you take out the bungled goal against Man U in the cup and the hat trick against Gala, then Welbeck hasn't scored much at all and has an appalling record. Which would be fine if he created a lot of chances as he's played out wide, but he doesn't create many chances and instead loses the ball in key positions instead. He's an ok option to have in the squad as he's industrious, but is nowhere near Oxo or Walcott in my opinion.
But I can see why your saying that Wenger would choose Welbeck over Walcott, especially based on last year. I just feel, like BrunelGooner, that he was bringing on Walcott slowly to ensure he was over his injuries and was strong enough to cope with the physicality and tackles. The end of the season seemed to indicate that he's over this. While Oxo was playing in the position at the start of the season until injury, so you'd imagine that one or the other would take over the position at the start of this season - without injury and a good pre-season of course.
There is just as much evidence showing players getting good numbers from the ages of 21-25 too. This works both ways. The point here though is that he has played at the top level his entire career and has not been good enough to break into the United side the whole time he was there. He is 24 years old, 25 in November, and has shown no signs of improvement throughout his career. Do you not understand why United fans weren't bothered to see the back of him? You would expect most attacking players playing in the top division to have the attributes listed above. The criteria you mention here is meaningless, in my opinion. Are you kidding me? Ox is not a striker, Welbeck has said countless times his preferred position is up front. Of course I can make that argument. And as @Smirnoffpriest mentioned in an earlier post, Ox spends a lot of time doing defensive work, supporting the fullbacks and also spends a lot of time in the centre of the pitch trying to distribute the ball and spread play. Welbeck plays a lot further up the field and as I mentioned, had one of the worst conversion rates in the division last season which says to me he is getting chances but is not taking them. I will be more than happy to provide a link to support this, if you want me to. And I've already explained to you why I think this is not correct.
