Villa Preview: Bentdner, Walcott or Ade on his own? 29 February, 2008
Posted by lasagnechef in Premiership.trackback
With Eduardo’s season over and van Persie still stuck in that constant state of ‘a couple of weeks away’ we need to find a partner for Adebayor. Bendtner has hardly proved himself this season, he’s scored a couple in his few appearances but nothing extra special and Walcott only scored his first ever Premiership goal last weekend.
Both players have good points and bad points. Bendtner is incredible in the air; boot a ball up field and you can bet he’ll be there to take it under control or head it on. However you could argue this is part of Adebayor’s game. Manu has an incredible leap, as does Bendtner and I think it’s a case of anything Nicklas can do, Ade can do better.
Theo is a different species to Bendtner. He’s incredibly quick and skilful who can cause a lot of problems running at defences. The Adebayor/Walcott partnership has a lot of potential (as does a Bendtner/Walcott partnership but Adebayor will play), it’s the typical tall and strong plus quick and short strike force.
There’s a difference between the two youngsters though that will decide who will play tomorrow. It’s mainly an issue of confidence and match experience. Bendtner has proved on many occasions both here and at Birmingham that if you give him the ball somewhere near the box, he might have a chance at scoring. However with Theo I still don’t feel confident that he has a good chance of scoring. He’s known to lose the ball and before that weekend he looked scared to have a shot for himself.
Walcott seems to lack match confidence whereas Bendtner is overflowing with it to the extent that he’s maybe a bit too cocky. Theo has said this week that those couple of goals last weekend have given him that confidence but there will only be one way to find out if they actually have.
With Diaby now fit we can afford to play Theo up front; we can have Abou on the left and Hleb on the right. With Eboue suspended and Rosicky injured we’ve had to play Walcott on the wing but now Arsene’s got a decision to make.
The other option would be to have Adebayor play on him own. I suspect Wenger will be very tempted with this one but I’d prefer it if he went for a 4-4-2. I think Ade needs someone to support him and deflect defenders attention onto another striker. I personally would go for just him up front but I won’t be very surprised if I see it happen tomorrow.
We can also play Hleb behind Adebayor with Walcott and Diaby on the wings. Wow we have so many options for once! I think it’ll be Theo or Bendtner partnering Adebayor though. I have a feeling it might be the Englishman. Not really sure why, I can just see him being a real nuisance for tomorrow’s visitors.
Just to confirm my team…
Almunia
Sagna – Senderos – Gallas (c) – Clichy
Hleb – Fabregas – Flamini – Diaby
Walcott – Adebayor
Tomorrow is a massive game. Last week we lost our heads due to that horrible injury, I have no doubt that we would’ve won comfortably if it weren’t for that. So we need to clear our heads of Eduardo now, get on with our game and give everything we have.
Aston Villa are a great side and are more than capable of coming to Ashburton Grove and drawing, or even winning. So we’re going to need to play to the top of our ability. I think that they’re going to score, so that striker decision is quite an important one.
It’s bound to be a good game, it’s not on TV in England though so you lot who aren’t going are going to have to find an internet stream or find a pub with the dodgy channels. I’ll do the match report early on Sunday then a Milan preview later that day as in the morning I’m off to Milan! Speak to you then.
Bentner’s scoring record is not better than Walcott’s this season. I think Bentner has quality and would eventually come through but I have to say his actual goalscoring impact for us this season is underwhelming.
Still I agree he should start. But then so should Walcott on the left perhaps.
I have the same feeling that Walcott could be a menace up top with ade but i recon the prof will opt for hleb behind ade. Ill be happy with that though because hleb is outstanding in that role. If this is the case then walcott may start on the wing with diaby on the other.
What are the stats for walcott and bentner ole gunner? my impression was that bentner was on top in that one (relative to starts) but you are right – they have both been underwhelming!! Maybe walcott is turning the corner though.
3 – 1 to the arse. Come on u reds!!!
totally agree with the team. 2-1 to the arsenal tomorow, ade and hleb to score
ps why has the whole blog changed round?
Off topic:
ITV have decided to show AC Mila vs Arsenal on ITV4 whilst showing Manchester United vs Lyon on ITV1. This is about the 4,000th time that they have shown the Mancs in preference to us, and it has pissed me off so much that I sent the following message to the relavant email address (dutyoffice@itv.com):
Dear Sirs,
I would like to formally complain about your decision to air the Arsenal vs AC Milan footbal match on your minority channel, ITV4. You have obviously decided that, in whatever circumstances, it is always better to show ANY match involving Manchester United on your mainstream channel ITV1, and that Arsenal’s games, whatever the opponent, are intrinsically less important.
I would be grateful if you would confirm this as your corporate policy, such that the broad brotherhood of Arsenal fans can then commence to boycott your channels.
I would also like to point out in support of this being an utterly ridiculous scheduling decision, that the same publication that gave me the information, the respected Radio Times, chose to focus three paragraphs on previewing the Arsenal game and only one on previewing the much less interesting Manchester United game.
It is difficult to conceive of a more important Arsenal match than a finely balanced tie against the reigning European champions. Although perhaps we could expect to see an Arsenal game on ITV1 just as long as Arsenal draw Manchester United in the next round!
I am aware that this is not the first occasion of such scheduling decisions, and that similar complaints have been received by your organisation on many occasions in the past.
I request a formal reply and look forward to your response.
Yours,
xxxxxx
Could I please ask all righteous (or riotous) Arsenal fans to consider making an identical or similar complaint, and can I ask the blog-master to consider taking up the above as a really bloody annoying ongoing issue that questions should be asked about. Cheers.
WTF has happened to the blog. Change it back plz!
Walcott deserves a start upfront I think. Bendtner and Adebayor are similar and they really need to like each other alot for them to work together which they dont. I am abit dissapointed with Ade’s teamplay since he has become the main striker. He plays for himself abit too much for my liking. I hope that Walcott continues scoring
I did some research about Arsenal yesterday and found out something unique. Arsenal has played 44 games this season (all competition) and the record is this:
30 wins, 10 draws, 4 defeats, 90 goals scored, 36 goals conceaded.
If you look at Arsenal’s 2003/2004 season after they had played 44 games the record was this:
30 wins, 10 draws, 4 defeats, 90 goals scored, 36 goals conceaded…
It’s almost scary…
If someone don’t believe me, please look it out and you will find out i’m right!
By the way, except from the 2003/2004 season Arsenal has never produced more points up to this point in a season since the 3 point system was introduced!
Come on you Gooners!
Well done MJC
I had the same team as you chef
will be in Milan too, am getting really excited… …but villa first
my name is nini abdi and i spots arsenal iam the in the united state and i want to play arsenal when i grow up why did wacott dont play the frist game
why did wacott dont play