Arsenal: Danny Welbeck becoming the greatest misuse of all time

Arsene Wenger is known for playing guys out of position, but Danny Welbeck’s Arsenal career may be ending in the greatest misuse of all time.

Arsenal purchased Danny Welbeck to be a striker. There was a good deal of optimism, seeing as how he was an immensely athletic player who had only ever really lacked an opportunity to excel up front. Hell, he was great up front for England.

Here we are, nearly four years later, and not only has he proven he can never be a striker, but he has proven that he can never really be anything. And it sucks to say that, because it’s impossible not to like Welbeck as a person. But that has nothing to do with how terrible he is playing for the first team.

The two players that sit in behind the striker in the 3-4-2-1 are supposed to be the catalyst of the attacks. They are supposed to create the chances. It had been Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil in those roles. They remain the top two creators on the team, with 3.4 and 2.7 chances created per match.

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The next closest is Alex Iwobi at 1.5. Oh, and Danny Welbeck? 0.6.

In the past two matches, with Welbeck sitting behind Lacazette and alongside a struggling Iwobi, Welbeck has created zero chances in 180 minutes. What’s more shocking there, the zero chances or the fact that he was not subbed off despite his inadequacies?

You can say that Welbeck is actually a second striker alongside Lacazette. But he hasn’t scored. And he’s only had one shot on goal. Plus, if you look at the heat map from either game, and from every other game, he has been playing the exact role that he is listed at in the formation.

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Which means the only explanation is that we have no option, so we are using a man who has absolutely no facilities with which to make this role work.

Those creative attacking midfielders are supposed to be avenues that the attack can drive down, but Welbeck is turning into a wall for his side of the pitch. He has no creative instincts. He has no sort of passing nous. He is not meant for this position. He should be just as out of the picture in this formation as Theo Walcott is.

The problem is that we don’t have anyone else. We are literally starting players in positions that they are terrible at because we have nobody else.

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Oh, and the transfer window is open. Food for thought.