Jack Wilshere has stated that he is still battling to try and win his first-team place back at Arsenal, amidst speculation linking him with the exit door.
The 26 year-old is into the final season of his Gunners contract, and is believed to be eager to prove his fitness and worth to the team in order to attain a new one.
“Of course I want to be playing,” he said.
“It’s difficult when you play every three weeks.
“It’s the same as every player. I’m still determined to win my place back, I’m working hard and we’ll see what the future holds – if I can get in or I can’t.”
Wilshere has impressed when given the chance to feature for our side, mostly in the Europa League and Carabao Cup thus far.
The England international has been linked with a potential January move in order to gain regular action ahead of the World Cup competition in Russia next summer, but Arsene Wenger appears to be keen to bring Wilshere up to strength, and I believe he has a role to play in our first-team.
On from his future, the midfielder added that he felt his side played well enough to get something out of the game, refusing to blame the referee for granting the penalty which denied his side any points from the match-up.
He added: “To be honest with you I was a long way away from it.
“You can see why the ref gave it, it happened so quick.
“There are two players coming in to sandwich him and if he feels a touch he’s got every right to go down. We can’t blame the ref for that.
“When you lose any game, you’re frustrated.
“We thought we were in control in the first half, we felt like they wanted to sit back and then hurt us on the counter attack.
“I felt we dealt with that well in the first half but then they came out in the second half, they were sharp, we were trying to push.
“And a little lapse in concentration and they get the goal and then it’s difficult from then.”
How far is Jack Wilshere from a first-team role? Does Xhaka or Ramsey need to up their game to keep him out? Or will he find himself rotated between the places?
Pat J
Wilshere is playing well and more importantly he is keeping himself healthy. There was s moment after a rough tackle I thought not again when he stayed down.
He has that short acceleration and quick turn that allowed him to get past players in difficult situation back. I think he csn be played in epl games where the opponents will Park the bus as he has played deep-lying mid for England. He’s faster and can tackle unlike xhaka. Plus he can also do long passes like xhaka.
wilshire is a waste of time n money.he will never be upto per.25 year old already, combination of walcot and diaby.cant believe player of this quality r actually millionare!!!
At the moment I think ramsey is in great form and could be more effective for us. Arguable Xhaka could be the one that makes way for him considering some of his away performances but I think wenger would not play ramsey and wilshere together as that could leave us too exposed at the back. If he does intend to drop the swiss at some point then I guess he will go for coquelin or elneny rather than play two box-2-box men. But it is good to see him available for contention and also good that wenger has a bit of selection headache as well..
He doesn’t have enough creativity and skills to replace Sanchez’s or Ozil’s role for the first team. But he could compete with Xhaka and Ramsey.
If Xhaka or Ramsey is injured, he could get the chance to start, if Wenger doesn’t select Coquelin or Elneny ahead of him. The two deep midfielder positions in the 3-4-2-1 require hardworking, strong and mobile players, like Kante or Casemiro.
2 of Coquelin, El Neny , Xhaka and Wilshere should leave. If it were upto me then Coquelin and Wilshere it would be. Then El Neny and Xhaka the following season. These guys simply aren’t champions league or premier league winning quality. Especially Coquelin. He is a class below all the rest. However, with his new fat contract I fear it will be next to impossible to ship him out.
i like wilshere but i think he still have a little fitness issues.
Wilshere for all his injuries is far better than both Ramsey and Xhaka.I just don’t know the importance of Xhaka in the team if he can’t defend.He’s the real problem in the squad.Why do fans keep accepting mediocrity?Aren’t we tired?It’s painful seeing him play every match in our midfield then the same people who claim to love him would come and be making noise about how average he is after a bad match forgetting that he’s actually average.I’d easily play Maitland-Niles or Coquelin over Xhaka.They would provide more steel in the midfield.Is it going to take us four seasons to realize how average Xhaka is?The painful things is that by that time many trophies would’ve have by passed us.
I have to agree with Kev. Xhaka has had a year to adjust to the PL and IMO he still doesn’t warrant his price tag or starting role. You can’t have a player in his position who can’t tackle and has no closing speed. He is a good passer off the ball but that should be a bonus skill not his only skill as a DM.
IMO our central midfielders (Cop, Xhaka, Ramsey and Elneny) are our weakest link and tbh I prefer Elneny out of those and he is by no means a PL winning caliber player.
Last night showed he deserves a place in the starting eleven, BUT not in the no10/attacking role because he can’t score and is not creative as Ozil. He has to start the attack from defence and give the ball to Ozil who can create. Also Coquelin is a pure defensive midfielder who plays best just in front of the back four.
off topic: after last night I would sell El Neny because the talents are much better.. Maitland miles would give much more in a central role en Reis Nelsson has to be used as a winger.
Last night? Wilshere was rubbish last night, my friend.
you are 100% correct and if anyone says different they should go to spec savers. Everything broke down around him. Look…….. if he cant excel against a team at the foot of the German league ……well …….he wont do it in the premiership.
Jack took one touch too many in dangerous positions …. mental issue !
We’ve seen the best of Wilshere, I’m afraid. Fact of a matter is that he’s a very average football player. Perhaps even less than average when you consider his fitness and injury record. Sure, he can produce a moment of brilliance here and there but is it enough? Not in my book. He can’t stay healthy, and he can’t be consistently good. Time for Jackie boy to go…
Last night showed the paucity of real depth of talent . Only ones I would keep are NELSON, Maitland-Niles, Wilshere(but not on huge money)Welbeck, Ospina, and EDDIE. Plus sell asap the dreadful Walcott who is just dreadful and bone idle whenever he “plays”. We cant sell all the others at once , obviously, but all ,except on my list have proved not good enough. Coq, Elneny, Chambers and Holding would be my first to replace. Loads of our fans hype Holding but I see only a very raw , very limited though determined sub par defender with poor positional sense. I have never liked Merts , since all players need to be able to run, but Merts is three times the defender Holding and Chambers put together are.
Wilshere is not at the level of a team like Arsenal if we want to be seriously considered for
top tier.
He could do well in a middle table team as long as he mentally accepts that. he tries too hard and does not have the tactical sense of Ozil or the skill set to contribute.
As far as the rest I have to say the 11 that started vs Spurs + Iwobi and a couple youngsters that show some promise are the only ones to keep.
Paying wages like Walcott/Welbeck/Wilshere (see a W pattern here) is insane. if you combined the wage bill we pay for second tier footballers we could have signed Neymar.