It's not enough stealing my jokes - now Nick Helm's too?!
Do you like being wrong? I like being wrong. Do you like being wrong? I like being wrong. Love being wrong. Love it. Yeah. It’s great being wrong, isn’t it? Yeah … I like being wrong. Really like being wrong. Really, love being wrong. Yeah. Yeah. Love IT! Yeah, really, REALLY love, love, LOVE being wrong. Yeah … you know the best thing about being wrong? The best thing about being wrong? Yeah, the BEST thing about being wrong? The best thing about being wrong is when your friends remind you, you were wrong. Yeah, LOVE being reminded when I was wrong. BEST THING! LOVE BEING WRONG!!
Unsurprisingly, I have been wrong a few times and – by no means a comprehensive list – here’s a few things I’ve got wrong in recent years: thinking that signing Teddy Sheringham wouldn’t altogether be a good idea; asserting that Zoran Tosic was going to be The Answer; believing Tim Howard was The Answer; presuming Carrick didn’t know the question; suggesting Fletcher would never be good enough; trusting Rooney was not the sort to hand in a transfer request; arguing SAF was possibly senile.
When we shipped Danny Welbeck off to Sunderland in 2010, I thought we were witnessing the death throes of his United career, just another promising youth product who hadn’t quite made it. I was surprised when we recalled him to the squad for the current season, instead of lining the deep pockets of the chronically short-armed Glazer family by cashing in our asset. With Rooney, Berbatov, Chicha and possibly Michael Owen ahead of him, I thought he’d struggle to make an impact. I thought his move back to us said more about the transfer funds available, than SAF’s faith in Welbeck’s ability. I was wrong.
The cast of Dallas looked familiar
Welbeck has been, to my mind, one of the success stories of this sick and twisted imposter of a season. I no longer see him as a stop gap, but an integral attacking force who has earned his position above others in the striking hierarchy. I definitely now see him as a United player, but having said that, I also see a player going through an identity crisis of sorts, a crisis which could prove detrimental to his burgeoning career.
When Welbeck was punished by SAF for what amounted to ‘showing off’ a bit, he heeded the warning to some extent and allowed himself to be reined in a little. However, I’m not sure this entirely addressed the issue. Danny Welbeck is a product of a generation who’s football education is so immersed in the celebrity culture of the game, that aping his ‘heroes’ posturing in the playground may have ultimately shaped his own footballing identity. Welbeck, in the aforementioned incident, for me, was behaving in a way he thought a footballer should. His innate footballing brain (whether we truly believe in such a thing) corrupted by what he had learned. He has matured into a talented and technically gifted player, but I feel he’s been stripped of his own nature. His decision making in games, at times, appears to lack a clear inclination and his finishing tends to lack instinct. It could be that this is also why he hasn’t yet discovered which position suits him best. It’s apparent he is not your classic number nine or ten, and although positions are far more fluid now, it is still considered important to specialise in at least one. At the moment he’s neither, he’s a forward in the broadest sense.
Can I decide later?
In impersonating others, he’s neglected to serve his own ego. Danny Welbeck is doing a very good impression of someone about to become a very good footballer, but he needs to connect with the real Danny Welbeck before he can actually become one. Unless he’s just as in the dark about it himself, he needs to work out who he is, and soon. After all, there isn’t mushroom in the top teams for players who aren’t so sure of their place.
