Who should Arsenal start in attack against Villa?
Along with the mercurial Jack Wilshire, Carlos Vela remains the stand-out individual from Tuesday night’s Carling Cup win.
The Mexican hitman had whetted our appetites already with his fine performance against Sheffield United, and it seems only a matter of time before he is considered a regular in the first team squad.
One report today from someone at Osasuna said he has to work on his consistency, and I noted a significant drop in his involvement after he missed a great chance midway through the first half, denied by Chris Kirkland as he tried to go round the Wigan goalkeeper.
But the way he took his goal in the second half was actually quite predictable, given that he did something similar against the Blades, and it underlines what a special player we have on our hands.
No wonder Arsène Wenger thinks he is such a prospect.
Continues to Poll...
On reflection, although I still think Nic Bendtner could have done more with the chances he had against M*nure last Saturday, I agree that he did cause some problems and held the ball up pretty well.
It’s arguable whether Manu Adebayor would have done much better, given how much his form dropped in recent weeks – and the break for injury will hopefully re-ignite that determination in him that we saw when he first arrived.
Vela has already shown in cameos that he has what it takes to cope in the Premier League, though Wenger is notoriously slow in giving young prodigies too many opportunities.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Wenger reverts to the formation we used last weekend, with Bendtner being supported by Abou Diaby.
But Aston Villa have lost their last two Premier League games and, with John Carew struggling, may use Gabriel Agbonlahor as a lone striker with Ashley Young playing a supporting role.
The best way to counter that would be to attack and keep the Villa midfield and defence pinned back.
I would love Wenger to be brave and give Vela a starting berth alongside Bendtner, but I can’t see it happening.
Sadly, despite scoring two goals, I don’t think Jay Simpson has a future at Arsenal. He took his chances well and has the pace and strength to make a great career for himself.
Maybe he has the same prospects as Bendtner but I have a strong feeling that Wenger doesn’t fancy him. He hasn’t even featured on the bench for us this season and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Carling Cup simply serves as a shop window for him.
Remember Anthony Stokes scoring goals every week when he went on loan to Scotland? He was quickly shipped out to Sunderland. Scotland isn’t the same as England and Simpson was player of the Year when he played for Millwall last season, but I don’t think Wenger is convinced.
Remember, Simpson only got his chance because Adebayor and RvP are out, meaning added game time for Bendtner. When Eduardo is back as well in a month, is he going to be happy as sixth choice striker behind Vela as well?
Who do you think should start in attack against Villa?
DA
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Reader Comments (9)
rubbish
Ray Wilkins got anything to say today about weakened teams in carling Cup????
LOL
I don't think your comment on Jay was kind even if it is true. A young man has just scored 2 goals for the club he's grown to support what do you think his actions would be? Of course he'll lay hands on all news items and search out websites about the match as the excitement grows and deepens. What do you think will be his reaction when he comes across your comments?
Do unto others as you would have them do to you!!
If Jay Simpson playes 25 times for the first team, I'll run naked round the Emirates concourses.
Vela MUST start on Saturday....
Bendtner is a great player.
In two years he will be better than Ade and will fit into two styles of play;
A: Short passing game
B: Cross and Hope game
He is arsenal's future along with Vela and the rest of those wonderkids.
I dont agree with your views on either Bendtner or Simpson. That Bendtner missed 2 glorious chances is a function of his rare participation. How many times does he start? That is enough to unsettle him. He misses less than Ade who's a regular. As of Simpson not being the choice of Wenger, its wrong because we need different strikers who can fit different teams formations and style. Remember the time when Manure had Andy Cole ,Dwight Yorke, Sheringham and Solskaer?
Why cant we have these players competing for positions wghich heighten the performance as players have to be at their top to get a look in. Simpson is the king of predator we need. He is not fussy as long as the ball goes in the net, he does'nt care how it got there. Then you have Edouardo who is a good finisher to add to Bedtner and Ade who have size and strength to overwhelm opponents.
What should not be missed is that we might not have won with Ade and Van Persie in the team last weekend you know. That win was a result of a different formation and manpower on hands which were ready to work for each other to thwart Manure. Even Denilson was defending and negating Anderson and Carrick's balls.
Bentender looked like a deer in headlights against Man U - was awful and Ade works 10 times harder than him ! with vela dudu and eventually walcott all lookin to lead the line up front soon i dont think bentebder has a chance unless he shows us what he can do against Villa .
jay simpson looks like hel be a pretty good premier league striker, but i agree probably not for us
hes extremely fast and strong and technically pretty good except his first touch isnt quite good enough for our first team
still if he takes his 1st team chances that well, hel have to be given a chance. remember that shot off the bar too, very van persie-esque
I thought the young team that played on Tuesday were great. They showed our first team that they need to be more direct. I loved the directness of Simpson, Ramsey, Wilshire and Gibbs. Our first team play with caution and usually give the other team time to get back behind the ball.
I think Simpson should have a future at arsenal. His directness was fantastic. he needs to build himself up, both physically and mentally and should be in with a challenge of our first teamers.
Personally, I would play him before RVP as a striker, as he seems to know where the goal is, unlike RVP. I know I am alone on this.
Also on the subject of RVP - let Ramsey, Cesc, Nasri and vela take the free kicks in preference of him. His set piece taking has not been good this year.