Wednesday night’s friendly between England and Scotland proved to be an entertaining clash with England coming out the victors 3-2.
The obvious headline from the game is Rickie Lambert’s game winning goal with his first touch in international football but Danny Welbeck’s performance also provided some food for thought ahead of the new domestic season.
Welbeck’s display, which earned him the man of the match award, was certainly the best I have seen him play, and his goal was crucial as it helped England equalise.
I have made no secret in the fact that I think all the hype surrounding Welbeck is unwarranted and he is just a little overrated. For example, he scored one goal for Manchester United in the league last season and he made the shortlist for the PFA Young Player of the Year award. One goal.
In fact, Welbeck has scored more frequently for his country than he has his club. Still, the Manchester born striker is only 22 years old and this very well could be the season that he silences his critics with a 15 goal 10 assist campaign.
The potential is there but if it is another one goal season in which people applaud him for his work rate than I will remain unconvinced. A striker is judged on his goal return and not by the amount of ground he is able to cover in 90 minutes.
Anyway, I like to be proved wrong and if Welbeck can do that this season than I will gladly write a post on how much of an improvement he has made, and if he plays close to how he did against Scotland than that will certainly be the case.
If it is more of this, though, then Welbeck may go down as one of the most overrated players to have ever graced the Premier League.