Written by Mean Lean on Saturday, 13 November 2010 13:05

When I switched on my computer last night to write a quick blog, I didn't really have the time to read around and gather all the news before I said my part, so I missed out a few important things which I suppose is quite handy for me this afternoon as I now have some content to discuss.

I somehow managed to miss Nicklas Bendtner's supposed frustrated outburst to the Danish media. Apparently he wants to be a first team starter on a regular basis and is in the shape of his life. Basically he wants to be a Bacary Sagna, Alex Song, Cesc Fabregas and a Samir Nasri. When they are fit, in a big game then they start. Nicklas Bendtner is not in that category and he wants to be.

I would say at this stage, when all of our players are fit and on form Bendtner is third choice and it is hard to argue any different. As much as we want Bendtner to remain patient and wait for his chance because he will get opportunities at different stages to stake his claim, I can totally see where he is coming from.

He is at the age where he should be improving and developing. The only way he can do that is to string 15 games together. The only reason why he managed his fantastic goal per game ratio at the end of last season was because we had no other players to call on in his position. With Chamakh further advanced in his development and gives the team something that Bendtner does not. Van Persie will always be technically head and shoulders above Bendtner but Bendtner could be a very efficient striker. A striker who loves scoring goals. Probably more goal hungry than any other player in our squad.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out, especially when we have Jay Emmanuel-Thomas supposedly 'banging on the door with both hands'

Is there room for Bendtner and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas in this squad? Does one of them have to leave to allow the other to progress in their career? Essentially they are all fighting for the same central striking role in the 4-3-3. I haven't even considered Carlos Vela in all of this so I am sure something will have to give by the end of the season.

Potentially I love the look of JET, I think he has more in his locker than Bendtner but he has never delivered at the highest level due to his age and his lack of games. Bendtner has scored some big goals for Arsenal and would continue to do so with more games under his belt. Wherever Bendtner ends up he will become a top player, he will score plenty of goals, some very good goals. His first touch will improve and his link up play will shine through but the question is where will he be given the chance to progress.

This is one of the very few problems we could have with developing so many players at the same time. Not all of them will be allowed to progress and develop how they should at our club because we already have so much quality and talent.

I would say that even many of those who have not made the grade at Arsenal could have been much better players if they were given a first team spot at 17/18 and then played 15 games in a row surrounded by our best players. As crazy as this sounds but if Mark Randall managed to break through a few years ago and was kept in the team then who is to say that he wouldn't have had an England cap by now.

Players can look well short of the required level one minute and then after a season of football they could be one of the most important players in the squad. I present you Mr Alex Dimitri Song Billong.

Anyway, I am veering off of my original point but I shall move onto our other striking option. Marouane Chamakh.
Arsene Wenger spoke very highly of his contribution so far and called him decisive.

His performances have tailed off slightly from his start to the season but that is understandable, especially when you watch the amount of ground he covers. It is quite amazing really. His link up play is fantastic. His touch and control is probably in between Van Persie and Bendtner, in fact much of his game is a little in between the two. 8 goals from 17 games (not starting in all) is fantastic for a player who isn't naturally an out and out goal scorer. It is more than we could have asked for.

I am still intrigued to know what will happen when both Van Persie and Chamakh are both fully fit at the same time. Van Persie has to start and Chamakh cannot be dropped, both lose plenty of their effectiveness in wide areas so let us see what unfolds.

Another topic I missed yesterday was that of Thomas Vermaelen. His injury problem continues and Arsene does not know what the problem is. It is so bloody annoying as it happened on International duty and now we have to suffer for it.

I miss Vermaelen, I miss his distribution, I miss his thunderous attempts on goal and want him back playing for us ASAP. At the same time I have to applaud our other center backs who have come in and for the most part have done what has been asked of them. Arsene has also said that he might look to the January window for a fourth center back if Vermaelen's situation isn't resolved. I would much rather we just had our player back to be honest.

Let us pray and cross toes and all that kind of stuff that his problems will be pinpointed and fixed sharpish and we do not get another Rosicky situation on our hands.

That is about that, kids calling for lunch and so on, back tomorrow for some pre match stuff, in the meantime.

COME ON THE VILLA!

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Comments (16)

• 13-Nov-2010 14:08 | | hmr  - feel it for bendtner
  

  bendtner is a quality player and arsene and arsenal are in a very puzzling position.
  It would be awful if bendtner left for another premierleague and became their main man, top striker, goalscorer etc. - because that is what will happen.
  Some Arsenal fans don't like and think he's crap but their wrong.
  As crazy as it sounds I think Arsenal DO have too many TOP QUALITY players - when you've got players like denilson - you're alright, because they don't have big egos and can sit on the bench.
  Something has to give. Maybe sell Chamakh at the end of the season......

• 13-Nov-2010 14:28 | | Sobin the gooner
  

  My 11 for everton
  
  fabianski
  sagna squil djou clich song
  walcott fabregar nasr vanpersie chamakh 4-1-3-2

• 13-Nov-2010 14:30 | | Bala
  

  Villa are doing a great job for us.Same pls Sunderland but we have to win our match first otherwise all these will go waste

• 13-Nov-2010 14:40 | | MeanLean
  

  Bala, I have to blame you for this
  
  How on earth can the Mancs play so badly get 2 down and then come back?

• 13-Nov-2010 14:46 | | Bala
  

  I was just going to type the same.Surely I m to blame

• 13-Nov-2010 15:32 | | Ole Gunner
  

  I'm not sure JET is fighting for the same central striking role. Even for the reserves he's playing out wide on the right.

• 13-Nov-2010 15:54 | | MeanLean
  

  I hear you Ole, he has played both centrally and in the wide right positions in the reserves depending on the personnel around him but I would imagine that Wenger would see his long term future in the middle and probably as a striker.

• 13-Nov-2010 16:09 | | Ole Gunner
  

  He's played almost exclusively on the right of attack. Will Arsene let Bendtner go for JET? That would be a big call. Maybe if JET scored 20 goals for the first team this season! Or maybe if someone offered £25M for Nick.
  
  Everyone is getting carried away with JET. You too ML.
  
  I love the boy, you know I've been on here a couple of years arguing his case. I think he'll do well for us.
  
  But it's a big step up from the Reserves to the first team. You haven't made that step up until you actually do. Much as JET is clearly better than Reserve level now, he still hasn't proven himself at senior levels like Bendtner.
  
  In that sense it's an insult to Bendtner to compare them. Afterall, Bendtner and Lupoli scored by the bucketload at Reserve level too.

• 13-Nov-2010 16:30 | | MeanLean
  

  I agree that there is a gap and difference between Bendtner who has proved his worth and JET who is still playing reserve football. I did state the difference in the article.
  
  But as with most young players they are going to need chances to prove that they can score 15-20 goals in the first team. I do not want Bendtner to leave the club, I would be more than happy if he would stay and fight for his place but I am not sure that he will be patient enough to get ahead of both Van Persie and Chamakh.
  
  From what Bendtner has said, he wants to be first choice, he wants to play first on the list when everyone is fit and can we do that? Will he ever get to that stage at Arsenal? I am not so sure.
  
  I may well be over-hyping JET, just as I did with Wilshere but I am only going by my opinion and view on how good they could become. I am no expert and have got many many things wrong in the past but I believe he could make an impact for us going by the pre season and his reserve form.
  
  Ideally Bendtner will stay and fight for his place and JET gets games at Arsenal from the bench or goes on loan for 6 months.

• 13-Nov-2010 17:07 | | Ole Gunner
  

  JET will get his chances. I sure hope he will. Bendtner will get games aplenty so his comments were really poor.
  
  Bendtner doesn't have to be first choice. Berbatov isn't a guaranteed starter for Man who. Kalou isn't at Chelsea. Robinho isn't a guaranteed starter at AC Milan. Milito isn't guaranteed at Inter. etc.
  
  But Bendtner can start 30 games a season for Arsenal. He really doesn't need more than that, if he's consistent. Given the kind of luck we've had with injuries, he can be sure of playing enough games as our main striker.
  
  Bendtner has a contract. I hope we hold him to it. Otherwise, maybe he can go back to Birmingham where he'll be guaranteed first choice. But if he aspires higher than that, then he will have no such guarantees at Chelsea, at Man United, at Inter, at AC Milan, at Real Madrid, at Barcelona, at Bayern Munich. At no top club, and not even at small clubs like tottenham will he be guaranteed starts.
  
  If he doesn't understand that he's about to commit Flamini-Hleb-Diarra type hara kiri.
  
  Now, the Bendtner situation has nothing to do with JET though. JET's case is different. Even if he didn't any one individual out of Bendtner, Vela, Theo, Nasri, Eboue, Rosicky, RVP to contend with, Arsenal would have other players of similar quality.
  
  JET will at some point get more and more first team appearances. When that happens he will have to take them, just as Bendtner did 3 seasons ago now.
  
  As our favourite manager often says, they (footballers) live in a competitive world. Personally, I hope that the players we see in the first team are the ones who come out ahead in that competitive process.

• 13-Nov-2010 19:54 | | Domhuaille MacMathghamhna  - Embarassement of choices?
  

  Well lads ARsenal do seem to have an embarassement of choices in many key positions this season but do they really? Lets look at what they have in the 3 key positions:
  
  Strikers - Bendtner,RVP,Chamakh,JET
  Bendtner has proven he is EPL capable, RVP is out injured so often that he actually hasn't proven he is robust enough to play a full EPL season, Chamakh has proven in 11 games that he is definitely an EPL striker and JET hasn't proven anything so far. That gives us 2 strikers for a 40+ season including CL,cup and EPL games. Every top team has at least 3 steady,reliable and robust strikers regardless of the formation the manager uses. Therefore we are short of at least 1 striker and with any serious injury to one of the available 3, we would be short 2.....
  MIDFIELD - Wilshere,Cesc,Song,Nasri,Rosicky,Denilson, Ramsey.
  Wilshere is top class,Cesc is world class, song is EPL class,Nasri is top class, rosicky is EPL class,Denilson is EPL class and Ramsey is top class.......This is the area we need the least strengthening in...in fact we have the best combination of talent and skill in the world other than Barca...but we are very close to them and our collective midfield is younger..that is why Barca want Cesc and you can bet a few others as well!
  Back Four - Sagna,Clichy,Gibbs,Djourou,Vermaelen,Squillaci, Kos, Eboue,Traore.
  Sagna is world class,Clichy is top class, Gibbs is top class, Djourou is above average, Vermaelen is world class, Squillaci is EPL class, Kos is EPL class,Eboue is average, Traore is below average. If Vermaelen is out for the season then we definitely need another EPL class central defender but that is all.
  
  So if we look at the situation as it is now, without looking at people like Arshavin,Vela,Diaby and Walcott....then we are in great shape,provided two things happen: no serious injuries to key players and our top performers return to excellent form or just return, then we are great!

• 13-Nov-2010 20:32 | | afc
  

  I don't really like bentner I think he's slow, he always seems to drag he's shots, he never seems to win headed balls, he's ball control is poor, he can't hold the ball up, he dresses like a c u next Tuesday . Did I mention he's slow and to cocky

• 13-Nov-2010 22:39 | | MeanLean
  

  As ever Ole, you make a lot of sense.
  
  If Bendtner wants to be at a top side then he has to live with big players fighting for first team places.
  
  I could well be wrong but I do not see JET competing long term for a wide spot against the likes of Nasri, Walcott et al. I believe he is playing wide to develop his game. In pre season he featured as a striker, perhaps Wenger saw something that wasn't quite right and now he is in the reserves developing that side of his game although he was often a wide player before his pre season fun in the first team.
  
  I do admit that I like the idea of our youth system growing together in our first team. The idea of Jack, Gibbs and JET all starters in the next few years would be great.

• 13-Nov-2010 22:40 | | Stroller  - What !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  

  Sell Chamakh ? I don't think that Bendner is crap by a long way, but when has he put in a sequence that comes to close to Chamakh's so far? Wenger won't be swayed by blackmail, so Bendner has to take the opportunities that do come his way, and compete for more games.
  
  If he carries on moaning then he will be leaving in the summer. Probably to a club like Birmingham where he was out on loan and seemed to fit in well.

• 14-Nov-2010 05:17 | | Rosicknote  - In my language, bala means bad luck
  

  Try google translate English > malay

• 16-Nov-2010 20:05 | | ras judah  - The Egotistical Bendtner or Bighead
  

  The egotistical Bendtner, has not been miss at all this season, ever since he stoped RVP goalbound shot aginst liverpool in CL semi, i don't think he's Arsenal Quality at all.to come out and say what he said is just pure arragancy, and a disruption in the squad thats why he was not in the squad against everton, the boss won't stand for that, he wil be sold to the highest bidder, what nicky needs to do is Shut Up! and train harder on he's reflexes and shooting, after all, to be a GUNNER you have to be able to fire your GUN (shoot) on target (the goal) all we see most of the time is your head in your hands!!! Missed again! gone in january.

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