Saturday afternoon’s lunchtime kick off between West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa may have been Jay Simpson’s first Premier League start, but the 20-year-old striker looked the business straight from kick off.
West Brom went on the lose the game through two goals that really should have been defended better, but it was the Arsenal loanee who stood out among a few million pounds worth of talent.
It’s obvious that there are things to work on. Pass timing, first touch and positioning all need a little a little fine tuning, yet his quick feet, raw pace and bulky physique offered Albion a real threat up front.
Not only were the watching fans impressed, but his new manager was quick to pick out one of the main positives from the encounter – his new striker.
“I think it says a lot when our best player today was a 20-year-old boy on loan from Arsenal. He’s what we’ve been looking for this season, some real quality in the final third.”
It only looks like a matter of time before goals come for the young marksman, and after penning a new contract a month ago, it would put him in a fine position to try and make a push into Arsène Wenger’s plans.
Match Of The Day pundit Alan Hansen also highlighted Jay as one of WBA’s shining lights – Gooners will hope that Hansen will be saying the same when he returns to Arsenal – and on yesterday’s showing, there’s no reason why not.
Article By – J.Sanderson
some of us africano gooners never really get tha chance to watch the lower team matches, so from a trully appreciative fan thanx for tha news
He was written off by quite a few ‘fans’ on here and on other blogs. I hope he does really well and comes back and gets a chance next season.
He wasn’t that good in the 2nd half – seem to fade away… but was brilliant for the first 30-35 minutes
He is better than Bendtner.
He looked real lively. But as you mentioned just needs to work on a few things and he will become better and better.
He still had a really good turn in the corner, and cut inside and could have scored. Villa pushed on more second half so it’s obvious that he didnt see much of the ball.
Promising signs and i think he can be a useful asset.
We have a lot of quality upfront, good on jay, good luck to him, though it would be nice to loan out some quality centre backs and defensive mids and hear the same things eg nordveit and coquelin.
all in all well done jay, goals will come soon
I agree with you guys, I’ve seen the match and he will be a great asset after this spell with West Brom.
Here is a 20 minute highlight of the game so you can see him in all his glory. And AaronFC I definitely agree that he’s better than Bendtner. Bad feet = Not a long career at the Arsenal.
http://www.sundaymercury.net/midlands-sport/west-bromwich-albion-fc/west-brom-news/2009/01/10/west-brom-can-help-me-be-a-better-player-for-arsenal-says-jay-simpson-66331-22665593/2/
read this interview
I am pleased that he’s had a good start. Too many were quick to write him off just because he might be a late developer. I’m glad Wenger is giving him more time to prove himself and I hope he makes it.
He’ll still never make it at the Arse, but all the best to him nonetheless. A good loan spell will stick a couple of million quid on his transfer value.
Right on cue, some other ‘expert’ knows Jay won’t make it at the Arse!
Personally, I don’t see him being a first team regular for us but I would very much like him to stay because of his love for the club. Darren Fletcher has been a loyal servant to Mr. Ferguson for a long time without ever really playing much. At the beginning of this season he was their best player. We need those types around here too. Fletcher would die for United and he is my favorite United player because he gives his all. Simpson can very well be that for us. I can’t see him ever taking players like Dudu, RvP, Theo or Vela out of the team but he can give us power and maybe most importantly, loyalty.
i really hope he makes it
Jay Simpson will be sold to another English Premier League club sooner or later.
Jay could be great players it was best for him to go on loan to west brom he will alot because every game will be a must win.
Just a couple of Things:
1) To the guy that says Fletcher never plays 4 united, well look at the stats, he has played in all the big 4 matches so far this season and last, except for 1.
2) Simpson has only played League 1(where he did great) football, Reserve football and Carling cup (2/3 games 2 goals). so to play against good defenders like Laursen, Davis, also ppl like reo coker, barry and sidwell he has done great.
3)He is better than bendtner (who is also a good player). Idiots on this site saying he cant make it, if he was forign or bought in by Wenger then ud all be raving about him
Jay reminds me a lot of Kevin Campbell…. big strong striker who isn’t as flash as a lot of the others….. good luck making a career from yourself Jay.
i hope he does brilliantly i really do, but lets face it, he’s never going to be a world class player. he’ll have 2-3 good/productive seasons then slowly fade like many other overly hyped english strikers have done
francis Jeffers
Alan Smith
michael Bridges
neil mellor
Defoe?
Darius Vassell
Darren Byfield
Luke Moore
Bent?
he’s got to go out again next year tho.i wouldn’t want to see him in the reserves again.he’s been very patient so far and hopefully by the end of next season we will ha a real option to adebayor in the hard working,speedy and strong SIMPSON.
OH OH OH then we can sell bentner.
vela,simpson,rvp,adebayor and eduardo.
talk about different kinds of strikers
To all fellow gooners, if you were at the game saturday what does Wenger see in Bendtner,eboue and song (although he didn’t play) – in my opinion these guys are not arsenal players, thinking of the strikers and midfielders we have over the years these are just stop gaps, we just paly the board from left to right and right to left.
Have you noticed how many empty seats there are at games now, if they do not buy some proven players such as Owen, Arteta, Barry or Alonso we will struggle to finish fourth and lose the CL money as well as playing in front of 50,000 which will cost them over £500k per game, which will then cost in excess of £25m in a season so get signg Mr W. On the simpson front one question I would like to ask is why did he not play at Burnley?? Madness
I couldn’t wait to watch the game and see jay up agianst some premiership oppo. Great start, looked quality and cut above. He did make a couple of mistakes, no suprisingly as it was his first game, but he got caught a couple of times because he had no outlet to pass to. I hope the breaks go his way and he nets a few, I would love to see him play for Arsenal, he is good enough and i would be gutted if we sell him and he goes on to prove how good he is with another club.
i actualy think this is a good player with qualaties that we lack at this timw with theo out while bentner may have more natural talent jay looks better at this stage of there development the differnce being bentner has had more chances to show wot he is about and has not realy took them.
He is really good
Hello Jamie!
Have you heard anything about a Hungarian starlet, Máté Tóth? I have read in a Hungarian newspaper that he is on his way to Gunners – but it is just a trial period. I am trying to get some more details.
Athlon you was faster, this is my question too:)
Are you a Hungarian as well?? :D
yes/igen:)
Why do all the threads on here become a place for Bendtner haters to moan about our Great Dane. Why can’t you leave the kid alone. He scored 9 goals last season and has scored 6 so far this term. He might not be the finished article yet but if you tried to watch his game instead of crying your eyes out because of misplaced passes, you would see his potential. Just look at all the important goals he has scored for us: Winners against Everton, Tottenham, Bolton and Dynamo Kyiv as well as very important equalizers against Liverpool and Villa. Get of the lad’s back for a moment will you.
Ps. To Jay. I wasn’t saying that Fletcher did not play this season. I said he hadn’t played very much for the last 8 years. As I said, this season he has blossomed and has been one of United’s best players.
I get the feeling that some of you guys are really negative to some of our players are expecting at least 6 messi’s. I will try to reason some of my arguments.
Bendtner is a young player that has had an slightly easy start to his career which has left him big-head but he ain’t got no-one that would tell him to stop being so cocky and when playing to do the simple things more often. Now to his positives, when he is confident and in form , I believe his touch and passing is better then Adebayor and his finishing is as good as Adebayor.
Jay Simpsons , i can’t believe how quick some people are to criticise; i have only seen him recently as i didn’t really following him but everytime i have seen he does something that none of the our other strikers do. That is forcing the opposing defenders onto the back foot, too often do we playing in front of the defence and just tries to play the perfect through ball.
“What does Wenger see in Bendtner” .. Im definetly no Bendtner fan, theres really something about that guy i dont like and i actually think he is surplass to requirements looking at the strikers at our disposal (Vela,Eduardo are just to months away from surpassing him in the on the bench). But he did get us 3points and he really is only 20 years old so lets be objective here and give the guy a break (at least til next outing).
Id really like too see Jay given the same Shot as Bendtner in our team and if he performs for WBA he will be.
bendtner is about as good as adebayor was at his age. give him a chance.
Bendtners attitude and work rate stinks. I have been to a fair few games where he runs him self into trouble or miss controls the ball then just gets in a gay huff instead of working to win the ball back
C’mon what’s wrong with people?
Everybody’s screaming after local lads/homegrown players in our team. And now when Simpson playes well people’s sayin’: well he won’t make it anyway. Encourage the lad, he’s done well everytime he’d played senior football so lets see what happens.
Remember that Bendtner is young, and shows promise, Adebayor was hardly mr. magnificent back when he was Bendtner’s age, and only really properly flourished at 23, and i wouldent be suprised if Bendtner follows suit, and may even end up being a better player than Adebayor.
As for Simpson, well i doubted him as a future Arsenal player as i know alot of others did but thats probably to his advantage. Alot of people go on about over hyped young english strikers who ultimatly dissapoint. Well hes hardly over-hyped. However hes got pace, power and skill, and if he can bring that into his game with a degree of consistancy he could be fantastic, but im still not convinced he can. I hope he proves my doubts unfounded though because not only is he highly impressive when at his best hes also an Arsenal man and from everything i know about him and from interviews hes given im pretty sure hes a really nice lad aswell, eager to impress in the game for all the right reasons, which is quite rare these days.
Btw. Bendtner has scored 7 goals for us this season and is the only player who has scored in all competitions. Take it as you wish, slaughter him if you really want to slaughter somebody but the fact remains: Nick has a far better understanding of the game, has a better foot (Dynamo Kyiv finish, West Ham pass) and is a very superior header of the ball than Adebayor. If Nick can improve his work-rate, composure, awareness and concentration, a few mental things like that than he can be an Arsenal legend. I will defend this kid to the end and one day when Nick scored 15 goals in a season and made 18 assists, you will look pretty stupid to write him off.
Plus, I really believe that the future of Arsenal is with 4-2-3-1 as Wilshere will force us into that. And in that style, Nick is very suitable as a lone striker with young Jack just off him.
I couldent agree more stone. I meen the thing to consider is what are Bendtners weeknesses, and when you think about it hes good at dribbling, got a great pass, great ball control, decent pace, great strength, awesome in the air, good finish. Perhaps only his first touch and work rate let him down at times. A players first touch is something that improves with experiance and training, and as he gains in confidance his work rate will hopefully improve with it as i recon its more a case of nervs than arrogance.
If you doubt Bendtner watch him play for Denmark because he always lets it all out for them. Not to mention we’ve already seen him and Vela have a great natural understanding when they play together, which could be extremely important for the future.
Guys lets not go over the top – no way Simprson is BETTER than Bendtner right now. Why are we kidding.
The only thing that is holding Bendtner back right now is the three inches above his eyes and below his skull. All the rest is ready – he is big, has the touch, can head the ball, pass it and shoot. But he has no work ethic on the field and he isnt hungry.
Simpson has the hunger, but if a youngster has come through the ranks at Arsenal we should be concerned that at age 20 or 21 his STILL has not mastered first touch. Same as we should be concerned that a kid from our youth team has the stinking attitude that Big Nik has.
Nonetheless if you held a public auction for these two players the difference in price would be staggering. So there is no point kidding yourself that Simpson is better than Bendtner. I hope he can be, but given their natural base talent that could only happen if Bendtner remains a self-obsessed fool.
I am amazed with it. It is a good thing for my research. Thanks