Bendtner could be Arsenal's Rooney, if they had a winger like Valencia
Written by Mark Brus on Thursday, March 4, 2010
Nicklas Bendtner has scored two outstanding headers in the space of a few days.
He scored a goal that no other Arsenal player could have scored, a crucial equaliser against Stoke, backing away from the ball and getting the perfect mixture of placement and power onto it, guiding it into the corner. There was absolutely no saving it, and he scored an almost identical goal for Denmark last night, once again right in the corner leaving the goalkeeper with no chance.
I criticised Wenger's decision not to sign a striker in January, and although it remains a risky move, Bendtner's headers could be crucial in this season's title race.
Rooney's headers have given Man Utd an extra dimension this season. The fact that he can now score all kinds of goals for them has kept them in the title race.
Unfortunately for us, United have the excellent Antonio Valencia, who is perfect for the new-look Rooney. Valencia is a no-nonsense winger who has set up the vast majority of Rooney's goals this season.
Bendtner has shown how lethal he can be, but Arsenal don't have a player like Valencia who will give him that kind of service regularly enough. Fabregas' cross in the Stoke game was a good one, but not the kind of ball he'll be playing very often.
Eboue did well to set up Bendtner's goal against Sunderland and provides the kind of wing play that none of our other players do. He's far from perfect, but he might be important to getting the best out of our Danish striker.
Rosicky also has a decent cross on him, setting up Diaby's winner against Liverpool. It's our more experienced and more direct players that will make the difference. Hopefully we'll see more of Diaby, Eboue and Rosicky than Denilson, Nasri and Walcott.
In other news, I've been pleased with the anger of Arsenal's fans in the wake of the Ramsey incident. Days have passed and it still hasn't dropped, which is really important. We can't complain enough about the disgraceful treatment we receive, especially when you look at the reactions of certain morons who call themselves journalists.
The likes of Stan Collymore, Tony Cascarino and Lou Mecari, who ignore the important issues and choose to exaggerate Wenger's reactions and pick on stuff he never actually said, should hang their heads in shame. They're part of the reason this injury happened and will happen again.
This anger has brought Arsenal fans together. Hopefully it can have a similar effect on the players. I often feel like we don't hate our opposition enough, but why not when they clearly think so little of us?
The fighting spirit shown at Stoke was very moving. Let's hope the victimisation can inspire us to the title.
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