Why Bendtner’s time at Arsenal is coming to an end

We’d always been accused of being light weights, so a towering Viking was a welcome addition and because of his height, he also gave us another option on the pitch as what’s now so well documented amongst football pundits, that we’re a side who don’t like to head the ball. It became apparent that Wenger followed this trend with the signings of Abou Diaby (okay, he’s not a striker but he is quite a physical force) and Emmanuel Adebayor.

Since Bendtner’s winning goal against Spurs at the Emirates (in the 2007/08 season), he’s broken into the first team and, to his credit, stayed there. I remember there were always questions marks over him amongst fans, but I’ll admit I used to defend him. Yes, he squandered chances; yes, he wasn’t very good at beating players one on one; yes, he should be better in the air for a man of his height, but he was always ‘involved’ in the match, whether he came off the bench for the last five minutes or he started. He’d always have a shot or a tussle or a flick on and there’d be a chance and sometimes a goal because of it.

I didn’t disagree with fans who said his finishing is poor and that he needs six or so chances before he slots one in, but I was of the opinion that he could work on his finishing and couple that with his drive to succeed on the pitch; potentially, he was looking quite promising.

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Now, for the majority of the last decade, our team was based around a formation and set up in order for Thierry Henry to score as many goals as he could, with a very impressive supportive cast. 4-4-2 was the formation and our left side truly destroyed teams. As the years rolled on, the emergence of Cesc Fabregas came about and it seemed we had a genuine world class prospect on our hands.

It turned out – according to Wenger – that Cesc couldn’t gel with Patrick Vieira on the pitch so, subsequently, Vieira was sold off, for a decent figure in order to give Cesc the room to excel. It then turned out that Cesc couldn’t play 4-4-2 very well either – or at least, that formation didn’t bring out he best in him – so, Wenger switched the formation to 4-3-3, or 4- 2- 3- 1; the media call it the ‘Barcelona formation’ – whatever.

Anyway, the point I’m making is, as Wenger tampered with the set up and built a side around Cesc Fabregas and chose a formation to suit him, Bendtner is often played out of position in the games that matter. It’s of no real consequence scoring a hat trick against Leyton Orient in the FA cup when you can finish or even get in a position to score against Sunderland. Robin van Persie is always going to have the central role up front, so Wenger plays Bendtner on the right side of attack, where he looks clumsy and awkward.

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