I am fairly sure that I was not the only Arsenal fan to be a little bit surprised to see the Gunners starting XI for the trip to face Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. My main surprise was to see both Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini on the team sheet, but then Jack Wilshere was suspended for that game after picking up five Premier League red cards.
But I expected Aaron Ramsey to come in for the England international midfielder and the fact that the young Welshman only came on for the last few minutes suggests to me that Arsene Wenger is being very cautious in bring Ramsey back into full action after his latest injury problem.
And I think there was quite a bit of caution in the manager’s approach to our last game as well after a stuttering start to the season. But with two wins on the spin, however lucky we were to get them, Arsenal and Wenger should be much more adventurous about a home game against Burnley, who are yet to register a win since being promoted from the Championship.
So surely that will mean that Wilshere will be back in the starting line-up on Saturday and the 22-year old is very keen to build on his much improved form this season, as he told Arsenal Player. Jack also spoke of his thoughts on how and why he has been getting back to the player that he once was and who had the Arsenal and England fans buzzing, revealing that he thinks his own pride played a big part in it.
Wilshere said, “I’ve been very pleased. I said at the start of the season that it was going to take me a few games to come back to the level I was at.
“When you miss time at this level you lose a bit of pace, a bit of form and it takes you time to get back. I’m very pleased.
“The main thing that got me back is my pride. I never wanted to stop – I was never satisfied with the level I was playing at.
“I always knew that I could come back to a level that I wanted to be at and be able to dominate games. I’m happy at the moment but I still think I can do a little bit better.
“I’ve said before that my goalscoring record has never been good enough and that I always want to add more goals.
“You look at the top midfielders in the world like Lampard and Gerrard who were getting 15 or 20 goals a season back in their day.
“I’m not saying I can get that many because they were specialists at that, but I could definitely get into double figures.”
A home game against the bottom club in the Premier League, whose confidence must be lower than a snake’s bellybutton, is just about the ideal opportunity for Jack to get closer to his scoring target. And it is also an opportunity for him to show the boss that he should be first choice every week, even when Ramsey is fully fit again. Do you think that Wilshere will continue to improve for Arsenal this season and do you think he will reach that magical 10 goal target?
And let the wilshere hate begin….
honestly tired of all the hate he gets.
OK Then.
Wack Wiltshire’s Arsenal stats this season.
Wack on the pitch: scored 6 conceded 15.
Wack NOT on the pitch: scored 17, conceded 2.
yeah because thats how you judge a players performance…
Well if a players presence in the field causes the team to lose points what better yardstick is there? You you are happy with Wack running around falling over, I am not.
Answer this: would Wack start at Chelsea, City or UTD?
Course not so why is he pulling on an arsenal shirt?
And why are you slating Wilshere? Even calling him names? 😐
It’s not hating, Quality players like Sanchez proves that he is simply not good enough to be an arsenal starter.
you have the right to think he is the greatest midfielder ever but preaching this denies you the right to campaign “wenger out”.
You can include giroud there as well.
I hope jack has a good game against burnley, and gets on the score sheet! Coyg!
Hope “prince podolski” starts!
“Arsene Wenger is being very cautious in bring Ramsey back into full action after his latest injury problem”
It’s not just about being cautious, it’s also a question of what exactly Ramsey brings to the team these days? His passing and shooting were off even before he got injured last season. He picked up some form to rifle us to FA cup glory but his worrying poor form continues. I don’t know what’s up. Hope he can rediscover himself soon, but at the moment I’d pick Wilshere and even Flamini ahead of him.
I can tell you whats up. Its Sanchez. He is not special in anything, but he was all over the pitch, everywhere you saw the ball, Ramsey was near. Now Sanchez is there, and Ramsey has to adabt as his current game is weak. Same goes for Wilsher.
WTF???
How fickle can Arsenal fans be!
Ramsey was amazing last season pre injury and the sole reason we were at the top of the table for so long.
He is being forced out of position in Wenger’s latest experiment and you are slating him!?!
Wise up.
Personally, I do think Ramsey should always be preferred to Wilshere in the Starting XI. He is more efficient in his efforts than Jack.
jesus…some people will never learn…. more efficient at what …his first touch is worse his passing is worse and his vision is worse…he works harder and he gets in to better scoring positions…though outclassed by sanchez now on both fronts …. wenger has to hope we are in top 6 by xmas then get ozil wishere sanchez and wellbeck working together which is set back by ozil injury…and bring in at least 2 quality defenders in the window…might get back to 2nd or third then and even have a better run in CL ….
Your 100% wrong Ramsey passing has been better than wilshire.
He also created more than twice as much chances than wilshire. And twice as much defensive actions.
The only thing wilshire has going for him is a slightly better tackle accuracy and shot accuracy (Ramsey shooting hasn’t been as good as last year)
Verdict Ramsey all day
Where did I slate Ramsey? I’m just stating the facts that’s all. We shouldn’t select players based on their names but on their form and Ramsey is painfully out of form at the moment. Quit your overreacting =/
What kind of of attitude us this mate? Why many of us behaving like this???
Cazorla was poor so he drops to the bench. In his place I’ll select Podolski. Welbeck has looked off the pace for a while, but who else have we got? Otherwise, I’ll start the same team that beat Sunderland against Burnley. I suspect Wenger will start Wilshere though.
i would not change the sunderland team, except for the injured would play bellerin instead of gibbs and use the late back line in the sunderland game.
I feel its good to experiment against the weaker teams, i dont see Burnley offering much in terms of competition so lets go and get 3 points and hope tams in front us drop some more points.
Hopefully we will get a better reaction from the team since they had one week rest
Iz it 5 red or 5 yellow he picked up to be suspended @ the article who so ever wrote it,& plz leave #jack u can’t blame him, put urself in jack shoes, what u would of told #AW u dont want to play because u sucks!! Of course not so leave him alone, in all I blame the #brainless #AW
That’s for all the #jack haters!!!
The English are funny, nothing gives them more joy then destroying their own. No wonder that they suck in the int, lvl. In Germany you dont see fans turn against players who play for the national team. Even if a player would come from the ranks of the oppesite most hatefull team.
Duh! Did the German fans not boo Ozil when he was having a streak of bad games?
You are exaggerating, he was not booed if you have watched the game (a friendly that is). Not saying people were happy.
If Jack starts the game we will not win
Ugh, please give Campbell or Poldi a start. And as long as a Wilshere/Ramsey midfielder is avoided idc who starts, just not both. But knowing Wenger, it will probably be both. Just please start rotating some players….
Lets play Wislhere Carzola, Rosicky, Ramsay Sanchez etc all in the same team….LB RB GK etc…there are so many positions available……
Thats what Wenger likes…play everyone altogether….