WTTGT Writer: David McManus
Nicklas Bendtner’s deadline day switch to Sunderland prompted relief amongst the Wearside faithful – and the Arsenal faithful for that matter.
That is of course judging by some of the comments posted across various websites by Gunners’ fans, most of which read along the lines of ‘you have never been good enough’ – but perhaps not quite as polite as that.
But 300 miles or so up north, the switch was received well with fans hoping the big Dane could recapture the form that kept him at Arsenal for so long.
However, first impressions were not great. In Saturday’s home defeat to Chelsea, Bendtner – like the rest of Sunderland’s team – looked lethargic and uninterested at times.
The ball would often not stick, and what should be a routine control of the ball for a player of his ability became a difficult task to complete.
A slightly mistimed header 12 minutes into the game, that would have certainly beat Petr Cech had it been on target, summed up Bendtner’s afternoon on Wearside.
That said, he’s likely to be nursing a sore neck this morning after spending much of the afternoon gazing up in the air through no fault of his own, after many of his new team-mates insisted on playing the long ball rather than along the ground.
Therefore, it would be harsh to pinpoint his ineffective performance solely on himself, as Wes Brown aside, you would have thought Sam Allardyce had given the pre-match team talk in the Sunderland dressing room.
Bendtner has clearly got the ability, or Wenger would have offloaded him a long time ago.
But first impressions of his opening 90 minutes in a red and white striped shirt showed signs of perhaps why he didn’t make the cut in North London.
By no means is he getting wrote off already – that would just be stupid.
And if Sunderland play the ball on the deck instead of hoofing it long, and give him a partner up front, I think he will prove to be a success during his loan spell.
But for now the jury remains out – and will remain out for a few weeks as it would be harsh to judge otherwise – and let’s see how he fares next week going up against the bully boys that are Stoke City.
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The guy can't win. For Arsenal he wasn't getting picked because of his attitude and now at Sunderland where he's picked every game, he still can't show what he can do because his current team are Long Ball merchants.