After a few years of disappointment, for both Arsenal and England, and with a few pieces of bad publicity following him around, the young Gunner Jack Wilshere has admitted that this season is an absolutely huge one for him. It is no exaggeration to say that the next nine months or so could make or break his career at Arsenal, with the club.
With the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Abou Diaby, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Santi Cazorla, Tomas Rosicky, Mesut Ozil and the promising young players like Gedion Zelalem pushing on, Wilshere needs to stamp his authority on the club this season and start to show some of the brilliant play that made him such a teenage sensation.
And it looks to me as though he is starting to find his form again. Against Besiktas last night, in a very tough and competitive midfield, Jack produced some good stuff. He still lost the ball at times, but not nearly as much as he has been doing. He also gave the Gunners a real spark with his powerful and mazy running, with signs that his old burst of pace is getting back to what it was.
Just as important, for me, was his attitude, which showed the fighting qualities and determination that a great central midfielder needs. It is still early days in the season, of course, and it is important for the 22-year old to stay fit and injury free, but as long as Arsene Wenger does not overplay him, I reckon that we could soon see the old magic back with Jack.
With Ozil back, Wenger could rest him this weekend and have him ready to replace the suspended Ramsey on Wednesday, when he could be vital in seeing Arsenal into the next round. Do you think Wilshere is getting ready to prove his critics wrong?
Jack will more than likely blossom into the face of EPL at some point, but patience is crucial! It would be great to get an injury free season from him as well as a few more goals. I reckon another couple of seasons and he will be our new king!
Shit, damn shit. Why do we think we have a chance to win the league this year? Arsenal has not streghen the squad. Wenger just replaced Fabianski – Ospina, Bentner – Cambell , TV5 – Chambers. Meaning we have added just 1 player in Alexis. Think about it. How many injuries do we already have in the squad? Shame AW does not see that. Suporting Arsenal is like a horny man without a hole to stick it into
You’re deluded. How many people should Arsenal sign in a window? Are you a frustrated Spurs fan? Arsene hasn’t lost anybody for two summers now. Ospina is a top goalie. He’s better then the previous option. Debuchy is proven and younger the Sagna. Sanchez is world class. Chambers has already done more this season then TV5 all of last season.
Arsenal have improved greatly this window. The fact you can’t see it is your problem. Plastic fan…
we have def strengthened the squad with better players yes, but i can see where @truth10 is coming from depth wise. With injuries to Gibbs and Arteta, we are seeing glimpses of what we had to deal with last season and that’s scary. If we are seriously talking about winning the league this year we cannot afford be stuck in a similar situation again.
still not enough….we need a backup for Gibbs, kos and Per…not to mention a DM and striker which we have been calling for years
Gibbs – monreal, kos – manolas(imminent), per (chambers)… Rubber fan!
OK Bomber, First of all stop calling people you dont agree with names, he can be just as solid or a better fn then any of us.
Second, he has a very valid point. We let two good players that did not need replacement this season and replaced them for 15 million pounds that we really did not need to spend. Look I like Ospina and Debuchy and they can be upgrades to the players we LOST ON FREE TRANSFER but they would not be necessary transfers if Wenger would have been smart about the players we lost and had not waited until the last year of their contracts to offer them a new contract.
Callum Chambers looks very good for a 19 year old RB playing as a CB, we will have to wait a few more months too really have a judgement on the kid. But so far at a cost of an extra 1M then Vermaelen he looks like a good buy.
So we have Sanchez who is a fantastic player and one of our greatest transfers but that is it, that is the only real transfer we have. Everything else is replacement for what we should not have lost.
Now, we need two more players and that is the honest truth. So lets stop playing around with this or that. We get two kick a$$ players or we are 4th again.
Why do you say chambers is a Rb?
He played most of his career at Dm for southampton youth sides, then most of his england youth career at Cb. However, when making the breakthrough to Southampton first team he came in as cover for Nathan clyne who was injured.
In any case it’s quite usual for young dm’s or cb’s to come into the first team at Rb. Coquelin done it and many years back so did Martin keown and before him Stewart Robson. I recall many others doing a similar thing.
I want the Jack of 2011 against Barcelona back. He was a beaaast! Too bad his smoking habits got the better of him. This season is make or break for his career, he better not f#ck around.
BTW, Giroud is so shit it’s not even funny. Do you honestly think we can win the PL with Giroud as our leading striker?
Lol heck, I can’t wait for Alexis and Theo to play together.
Sanchez- Addition
Ospina- Replacement
Debuchy- Replacement
Chambers- Replacement
Before Fabianski, Sagna, and Verm left, we needed a striker (optained), a DMF (pending), and another CB (pending). So Arsene your ass up and start signing.
#Confident
#coyg
Agree. 3 players away from being title contenders.
I would settle for 2 if Sanchez and Campbell are actually used as strikers. But as I have said, if Arsene has no intention of playing either Sanchez or Walcott through the middle, he still needs another striker to replace Giroud.
they will not be used as strikers…so spend big and sign 1
Nobody hopes so more than him, Rambo has progressed, Ox is making strides…only he is stuttering and Arsenal can’t wait for a player to stutter 2 years to fulfill potential. Dan Crowley/Zelalem will eventually start knocking.
Not saying it’s all or bust, but if he wants to be a central figure he needs to put in some serious performances this year.
wish the lad well.
Jack has several big problems with his game right now. I think it is too much to expect him to fix all of it right away, but he has to show significant improvement this year of he is likely done here.
Some of his injury issues, perhaps the majority of them, are down to his play style. He invites challenges and then goes down easily, but occasionally he is really caught, and this style of play is going to keep him on the injury list too often.
He has no hold up play to speak of. For a player that makes tough tackles and seems to have decent strength, he becomes a pushover when anyone comes in to challenge for the ball. His upper body strength is lacking and he doesn’t seem to have any clue that you can shield the ball and players have to foul you or make exceptional plays to get it off you.
His passing. It’s bad. Really bad. He doesn’t seem to have much of an understanding with the other players and it shows when he passes way behind, way in front, or into spaces where no one is making runs. I understand Alexis is new, but everyone else he has been practicing and playing with for at least 2 years. He also seems to lose composure easily when under pressure and send the ball away.
Defensive awareness. This is something I have spoken about at length before. He cannot be allowed to play as a DM until he sorts this out. He either has no awareness for the situations he needs to sit farther back in or he doesn’t care. He runs forward and abandons the shape of the team and leaves huge gaps for teams to counter in. This, combined with his poor retention, is something that has cost us a fair number of goals over the past couple years. Sure, there should be someone covering, but if he goes forward when there isn’t another player back in a holding position it really hurts the team more than having an extra midfielder in attack.
Temper. It has been better, but there is still an occasional outburst. Between this and his off the field issues, I think it is no coincidence that he is seen to have an attitude issue. Flamini has that rage mode in him, but he is smart enough to be able to tone it down if he absolutely needs to. Jack has not shown that. He gets frustrated and makes more mistakes.
All these are big issues he has to sort through. Most of them are mental issues. Some of the skill issues are likely partly due to timing, as evidenced by the fact that 3 years ago those parts of his game were better than they are now. Ramsey had this same issue for a long time after his injuries, and when he solved it, it was like a switch turned very suddenly. I have no doubt Jack will get the timing back and improve his passing eventually as long as he gets decent playing time.
No one has doubted his talent. No one is still doubting it. However, he and most others are realizing that he is running out of time to fully utilize it. Most of the best players were already among the best at their position at Jack’s age. The fact that he isn’t there can be partially attributed to injury, but it is also very possible that he just isn’t ever going to get there. I for one will not be expecting too much from him. If he finally turns into the player we have been hoping he would this season, we should count it as a bonus.
Just don’t expect it.
I really think getting caught smoking again scared Jack sh*tless. He seems (as far as I can tell) more focused on playing better and more confident with the ball especially against Bestiskas. And the use of the outside of his foot is filthy – I freaking love it. I think if he keeps his head in the game and away from Joe Hart’s, he will only continue to improve.
awawy from Hart and into Balotelli….
Does any one know just how old is HAYDEN,I.MIQAUL,MARTINEZ AND AS WELL WHO/WHAT IS THE NAME OF LEFTBACK AT THE UNDER 18 / 19 IS HE ANY GOOD. PS JUST A CONCERNED GOONER ABOUT THE BALANCE OF THE AGE AT THE BACK AND OF THE TEAM GOING FORWARD
INFORMATION ON THE YEAR THEY WERE BORN WOULD BE NICE CANT SEEM TO FIND IT RIGHT NOW THOUGH ANYONE?
Arsenal.com go to Teams, go to the player profile and you’ll see their age.
Hayden March 95
Miquel september 92
Martinez september 92
Ormonde-ottewill December 95
Can’t see how this helps, but in future go to arsenal.com or Wikipedia or any other website listing the teams,btransfermarkt, premier league, uefa.com etc etc
To me a quality player’s
game by game form line
should be Good, good, average, rest, good,
brilliant good average, rest, good, outstanding, good, good,rest.
No more than 3-4 Arsenal players come any where close.
Jack like the other 24 Arsenal squad members is more like.
Good, average, poor, injured, poor, good, average,
injured, good, poor injured.
Overcoming injury and getting who we have performing up to standard
is even more important than any new addition.
Sanchez, Ozil, Ramsey and Koscielny are World Class
Theo, Cazorla, Per, can have WC games and are generally Very good
Debuchy, Gibbs, Rosicky, Wilshire, Podolski, Scezny and Ospina are all good players.
Ox, Gnabry, Campbell have all shown a lot of promise and can be very good players this year if given a chance
Sanogo, Ryo, Coquelin, Zelalem all need to go out on loan
Flamini, Arteta, Giroud are average players who are subs at best.
Diaby is always hurt.
That pretty much is Arsenal.
Forgot Chambers in there who is also a promising player that needs to play games.
Shortest players in the league and short on players.Arsene must be buying players by the kilo.
Is Wenger right?
Apart from the 70cm high trophy
for winning, if you get 4th you get everything
the EPL winner gets but at a much cheaper entry fee.
You play every team in the league home
and away your teams on TV every week
big crowds all the trappings of a big FC
without the pressure of actually having to win anything.
Then you can save money for the owner
by having no real superstars
so no huge wages + even have 13
average players on low wages
5 of whom are usually injured
and 8 who play one game in 3
mostly from the bench.
Don’t blame Giroud ,
this is his limited abilities , he can’t do more ..
I just blame Wenger .. he didn’t bring a world class since RVP left
You can’t start a season in this league with Mr Giroud and Mr Sonogoals as your two strikers, that’s mental! Can Arsene not see the problem with that?
wow! still no answer hey am not saying I want them to be first choose right now I know for some unreasonable opinions most don’t like I.MIQUAL BUT HEY.
Galatasaray are in negotiations with Arsenal over the signing of Podolski he has offers from Turkey, Spain, BuLi + MLS. Agent confirms interest. Wenger apparently prepared to let him go
way 2 go wenger sell a striker who is a better finisher yet keep that clueless giroud in our squad GENIUS
or we could just trust podosky and colgn links at the end of his contract with us
There is an option of signing Radamel Falcao on loan, but he does not seem that keen on Liverpool. However Monaco do want him out wenger get him
do you know the ages of hayden,i.miqual,martinez and the name and age of under 18/19 LB
hayden is 19 miquel/martinez both 21 Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill is the lb he is 18 years old
Just get a TOP cdm and back up cb wenger and I will be very happy. I think we are asking for too much when we say we need cdm, cb, lw and striker. I can’t see us signing more than 2 players
Striker is more important ,
if the result of last match was 1-1 , it would have been better than 0-0..
Wilshere is not good enough to be in the starting 11 and Wenger needs to stop playing him just to avoid hurting his feelings. The talent is there but make him earn his spot. He has a long way to go before doing that. Sit him on the bench for a while and then when he does play you will see better results.