Arsenal fans are very rarely backwards in coming forwards with our opinions on anything to do with our club, be it the way the club is run from the top down by silent Stan Kroenke, the wisdom of keeping Arsene Wenger as the manager, the performances of each individual player or even the price of a pie and a pint at the Emirates Stadium on matchday.
Sometimes we get things wrong, of course, and there may be a fair few Gooners out there today who have changed their tune about the England international star Jack Wilshere, who looked to be heading out of the club during the summer transfer window, with many of us not too bothered after his long history of injury problems, off field antics and lack of progression from being a promising teenage sensation.
It may still turn out that the old problems return to plague Wilshere and hold his playing career back, but right now things are looking up for him after he impressed against Doncaster in his first competitive start for Arsenal in well over a year.
Jack’s return was probably the biggest talking point of our Carabao Cup tie but Arsene Wenger was quick to play down the importance of it, suggesting that it is early days yet and reminding us that this was not a game with the intensity and quality you expect in the Premier League every week, Arsenal.com reports.
Wenger said, “I wanted to leave him on to give him 90 minutes and overall I think it was an ideal game for him tonight to gain confidence and fitness. We’ll see after that how he will respond, normally he’s alright after a game.
“Well I think you have to put this game into perspective as well – it has not exactly the intensity of a Premier League game, but it’s important for him to build him up gradually.
“I don’t know, I go game by game and we play next week three games, Monday, Thursday, Sunday before the international break, so I will have to make decisions to balance the team and to see who I play and when.
“For me he is available now to play and the decision I have to make is when to play him, but I think this kind of game in its 90 minutes at that intensity repeated and then he will soon be back. You see that in his movement it is natural and after that everybody is looking at him because of course everybody expects him to come back to his best and I wish that as well.”
So it seems as though Wilshere will not be a first team regular with Arsenal again just yet, and perhaps not for some time. Do you think that this cautious approach from the boss is the right way to deal with Wilshere? It is not as if Arsenal are playing so well that we don’t need a player of his quality. How would you handle him?
Bob.