Is Jack Wilshere talking himself out of a job?

Jack Wilshere is out injured at the moment but is expected to return to the Arsenal squad in a couple of weeks. The terrier has been playing as a defensive midfielder for England although Arsene Wenger considers him to be more of an attacking force in the Premiership. The Gunners already have a plethora of midfielders though and Jack may find it much harder to get some games when he returns, and one of those positions seems to be certain to be Francis Coquelin’s to lose while he stays fit.

And Jack seems very happy that the Frenchman has made the defensive midfield position his own. “I’ve played with Francis in midfield since I was 15,” Wilshere said in the Star.

“I used to wind him up by saying, ‘Listen, you do all the dirty work and the tackling and then let me have the ball!’ But the thing is, he loves that side of it.

“He’s really good at it, he’s tenacious, the way he always goes after the ball. Not everyone has that ability to win the ball back and to be aggressive.

“I thought it was strange how he didn’t break through before because I’ve always felt that he could be the one to play in that position for us.

“I think there’s much more to come from him as well. He’s a great defensive midfielder, but going forward he was always a threat in the youth team. I think he can score goals too.”

Coquelin is yet to score for Arsenal, and to be fair the fans don’t really want to see him bombing forward when his job is to protect the Gunners defence, but if he DID start scoring goals as well it wouldn’t take long for him to catch Jack Wilshere’s underwhelming total of just five League goals for the Gunners in his whole career!

So that is one position that Jack is unlikely to be returning to, but who on earth could Wenger drop to fit Wilshere back in the starting XI?

Tags Coquelin Wilshere

22 Comments

  1. The simple fact is that Wilshere is not good enough to be in Arsenal’s starting 11. When the squad is healthy, he would struggle to make the top 18 but for the favoritism displayed by Wenger.

    1. Don’t judge him until he’s played a while injury free

      Silly pointing out his goal tally I can name a few midfield legends who didn’t score a lot

      1. Who would you put on the bench to make room for him? Carzola? Ozil? Ramsey? He’s not as good as any of them. If fact, he’s not as good as Rosicky. The OP seems to think he could play CDM but try to imagine Wilshere doing the dirty work Coq is doing. Won’t happen.

  2. Remember when Man City supposedly wanted to spend 40m pounds on Jack Wilshere a few years ago?

  3. Honestly, as much as i love that guy, Henru sucks as a pundit.
    He should leave the spot as early as possible.

    1. If that is how you truly feel then im afraid your beyond mental help. He literally brings something new to the table without scapegoating managers/players all the time. He makes Carragher sound like a child when it comes to football knowledge, not the hardest thing to do granted

  4. Am really glad Jack made such glowing comments about Coquelin, it shows there is a bond between our boys who came through the ranks, which i think is great for team spirit. As For Jacks position in the team when he is back from injury, i think he has to be patient on the bench for a while, avoid injury and his opportunity will surely come for him to make his come back and when he gets that break he should learn to keep his discipline and stop loosing the ball in critical areas of the midfield. If he does this i think Jack will be just fine. I believe the lad has great potentia,l all he needs is to keep his head and fine-tune his game.

    1. Don’t talk crap by tarring all english players with the same brush.

      Is the Ox average? How about Walcott..Sterling..Terry…Cahill..etc etcetera..

      1. @ name above!!! All Fu*king average players. Apart from Rooney, Owen, David Beckham, Lampard, Alan Shearer and who else do we have????

    2. English players are average??? Just want to point something out to you:
      Peter Shilton, Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Glenn Hoddle, Paul Gascoigne, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Sol Campbell, Tony Adams, Alan Shearer, Gary Linekar, Wayne Rooney
      You know who these players are yer? Ermm all English, and could probably name another 50 top top players. Idiot

      1. Please name another 50.

        How many English players would make the top 10 best footballers to have played the game?
        NONE

        1. You absolute idiot. So in your mind just because you don’t think any English players make the all time best 11, you conclude that ALL English players average? You are thick as fcuk.
          So does that mean if Alan Shearer (all time bpl goalscorer) isn’t picked infront of Henry/Messi/Ronaldo he is average?
          What about if Xavi and Iniesta aren’t picked infront of Zidane and Pirlo, does that mean they are average too?
          What about if Buffon/Toldo aren’t picked infront of Schmeichael they are also average?
          What about if Ashley Cole wasn’t picked infront of Roberto Carlos, does that meake him average too?

          Your an idiot

  5. English players(in the modern game)are wel behind technically,they are jst overrated by their own media like BBC etc..take a look at Barkley last season,jst because he ws having a great season,he was termed €40m???.dz term wat has he done? Wilshere also,gud season nd then d next their shit..Agbolahor,Barry, etc…The truth is that English dnt knw d basics of football,imediatly they brk tru,the media overates them(Harry Kane)..dz is y England havnt won the world cup since 1966..even Ferguson acknowleged dz wen he said,’until England produce technically gifted playerz lyk the Brazillians,they wil neva win the world cup..take a look at all the successful big teams in England,their main man or rather orchestra is always foreign.Arsenal.Pires’04,Fabregas,Ozil..Chelsea,ballack,deco,mata,hazard,fab..united,Mata,Ronaldo..City Silva,Toure,nasri etc..facts#

  6. Jack will never be a defensive midfielder. He will always be a B2B. He’ll get down and dirty but his biggest strength is turning defense into attack in the same way Rambo does. They are good at breaking the lines – that is cutting through a midfield line or defensive line. That is their jobs.

    Really Jack’s competition will be Rambo. They will rotate. Saying Jack couldn’t be great though is ignoring his abilities. He NEEDS to stay fit and be part of the squad for some time instead of getting injured when he finds form. Consistency for a player is huge. Look at Van Persie and how long it took for him to finally come out shining due to injuries. Jack could actually benefit from not being top dog – it’ll take him longer to return into the first team and means he’ll gradually earn that place, along with developing his game. At least I hope this is the case.

    Anyone knocking Jack as not “technically gifted” however, has clearly not paid attention to how he plays. He is massively gifted at turning the ball and opening his body to create space. This is HUGELY useful. He can work on his passing and the pace of his game, but much like Ramsey, it will only come with consistency of performance. Trust me, he has more to offer.

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