Nicklas Bendtner

I speak here as a minority in the view that Nicklas Bendtner deserves another shot at the club.

When he arrived as a youngster, big things were expected from him after a successful loan spell at Birmingham. Since then he has frequently been on the fringes of the first team, often pitching in with quite a few match winning goals when we still played 442.

The time came when Wenger changed things drastically he decided to switch to a 433 formation to suit our illustrious captain Fabregas. Some feel this has lead to the downfall of players such as Eduardo, Vela & Bendtner himself. All three of these players had something in common: they were all suited to 442, the very same formation we were crying out for not too long ago.

During this period, Bendter was still on the fringes of the first team getting sporadic chances as the main ST. He struggled with some of the skills required such as good first touch & control. In the 2009-10 was the only time he got a proper run in the first team due to an injury, I remember this period fondly. In my eyes, he stepped up to the plate and scored some important goals to keep our title hopes alive, he finished that season strongly even if we didnt.

After the world cup, he was out injured for 4months and it was fairly downhill from there. He wasn't match fit, and was frustratingly deployed out on the right-wing which in my eyes did his career no good at all. His performances were not the same compared to 6months previously when he was the main striker. The 2010/11 season will always be remembered for THAT miss against Barca which is unfair.

As to why I think we should keep him? His size and stature for a player of 24 is immense, it's often documented that players like Drogba didn't hit their peak until their late 20s. If you compare him to Robin Van Persie, they're about as similar as chalk and cheese. He's excellent in the air, he can bully defenders, his shooting ability is pretty decent when on form. Given the way we play, I think we need a big, tall centre-forward for when we need something different when thing's aren't going our way. Like times when we need a goal in the last minute from a corner (currently, only Vermaelen & Koscielny are our main threats from set pieces).

Eventually Robin will get injured and we need someone who can play as the main striker, Podolski is a winger and Chamakh has no confidence left. Bendtner has the mentality to let his mistakes roll off his back when things aren't going so well. It's a refreshing change considering most of our players are ''confidence players''.

If we buy no new strikers in the summer (other than Podolski and i doubt Wenger will), Bendtner should be our back-up striker after Van Persie, he's a much better option than Chamakh. Give him time, keep him away from the wings and I reckon he'll deliver the goods.


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