Another Unsung Hero In Danny Welbeck

Daniel Nii Tackie Mensah better known as Danny Welbeck is a player who divides opinion, perhaps more than other United player apart from maybe Michael Carrick and Johnny Evans. Many people, Man United fans especially, give the little lad a lot of stick for his low scoring stats with the knowledge that his main position is a striker, whose main task in the field is of course scoring. At first we should point out the fact that he has not been afforded enough game time with which he can be on scoring spree and even when he has Sir Alex Ferguson has been playing him out wide. He deserves some of the stick because this season he has been quite poor in his finishing and when you compare him to Javier Hernandez, another forward who hasn't had enough game time but has always scored more than enough whenever given the chance you will definitely be right in blaming him.

One thing I feel we should all do is appreciate what he offers in each and every time Sir Alex gives him some minutes on the field, especially from the start. In doing that you need to look at what he does best and his main strengths are as a player. Welbz has a very good close ball control and he rarely loses ball that is played to his feet, he is also ver good at screening the ball, he has enough strength to guard the ball and he is also fairly good at skipping past players with the ball. Danny Welbeck is good on air, cast your thoughts back to that goal against Real Madrid (although he should do that a little often). Other than that, his close control makes him very good on one-two's and he is also very clever in positioning himself off the ball.

One quality in Danny's game that Sir Alex Ferguson values more than most is his work rate. Danny is a tireless work horse that will run, run and run without tiring and he is always willing to work hard for the team. Work ethic is a feature that was probably created for Manchester United and it is a reason why luxury players like Dimitar Berbatov, as good as he was, and Kiko Macheda have always found life at Old Trafford very hard. 

Technically, Danny Welbeck has always offered something very positive for Man United whenever he plays, his ball possession and dribbling and clever runs always draws attention from opposing defenders and in that creating very good space that is always exploited by other players. In games that Man United defend deep and look to catch the opposition on the counter, Sir Alex likes to deploy Welbz specifically to hold the ball up for others to run into positions and he does that very well. Welbeck is always looking to run and offer some important defensive cover and he is a good transition player, in the sense that he will always be the player that Michael Carrick will pick a pass to while United are on a transition from defence to attack, before he holds it up for RVP to look for dangerous positions to slot into.

For those who question his goalscoring capabilities, his England games will stand as enough proof that he has some goals in him and some wonderful ones too (obviously I am talking about that back heel flick against Sweden) and Roy Hodgson has always deployed him as a central striker alongside Wayne Rooney, Jermaine Defoe and Andy Carrol among a few and he has always linked up very well with all those players.

Where I find the criticism he faces as a bit unfair is the fact that many people are forgetting that he is only maturing and he can always get better with time and more games. For me he has shown enough to merit a place in a Man United  team and I strongly believe that he will prove his doubters wrong in the same way that Johhny Evans and Michael Carrick proved.

Writer: Geoffrey Lea @geoffiejeff