Arseblog News – the Arsenal news site
Positives have been few and far between for Arsenal supporters since the start of 2013 with draws against Southampton and Swansea, coupled with Sunday’s defeat to City, hardly what the doctor ordered ahead of further difficult fixtures this month.
In fact with Mikel Arteta out injured and no sign of new players being drafted in during the transfer window it’s pretty much all doom and gloom at the Emirates right now.
It’s lucky therefore that we supporters can cling to the rambunctious spirit and wagging tongue of little Jack Wilshere. Arsenal’s outstanding player against City, the 21-year-old appears to be closing in on top form following his lengthy spell on the treatment table; a state of affairs not lost on his teammates and manager.
Speaking to Arsenal.com after the 2-0 defeat at the weekend, captain Thomas Vermaelen praised the diminutive England international’s credentials:
“He is a world-class midfielder and he can only get better because he is young, coming back from more than a year out with injury. So I am very confident he will come back really strong.
“You can see that since he came back he is growing and growing. And I think at the moment he is at a good level.”
Arsene Wenger also reserved praise for his homegrown protégé while recognising that such is his influence in games that opponents often find themselves using illegal means to stop him.
“He [Wilshere] has a game that provokes tackles: he’s incisive, he goes forward. But you could see he has found a burst when he’s on the ball that is very interesting.”
While Wilshere’s not exactly been charged with carrying Arsenal on his own in recent weeks there has been a great deal of pressure on him in light of Santi Cazorla’s fatigued performances, Diaby’s fitness unreliability and the inconsistency of Ramsey, Chamberlain and Coquelin. He’s dealt with it well thus far, but now that Arteta is injured even more of the burden will fall on his young shoulders.
Assuming there won’t be any new arrivals, Wilshere really needs his teammates to step up and take responsibility for their respective performances while the boss also needs to ensure that he doesn’t reach the fabled injury red zone. How many times can a man keep getting up unscathed from kicks to his ankles?
Arseblog News hopes it’s a lot but even we recognise Jack’s not invincible.
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He’s young, he’s talented. Did I mention, he’s young, and he’s talented?
You forgot young and talented.
If we talk him up to much Wenger will sell him,
in that case he’s doing ok-ish :p
There is no if in here. If he can Wenger would sell him. Jack however would never play for anyone else. I hope so.
I don’t think Wenger will sell him. Though I’m finding Wenger increasingly hard to fathom, the one thing that does seem clear is that he never wants to sell the best players and goes into denial when they say they are intending to leave: Hleb and Flamini are staying (even after they had left for a medical); Cesc is staying; Nasri is staying; Van Persie is staying, and the signing of Podolski is to complement not to replace him; Walcott has nearly, nearly, nearly signed a new contract.
I don’t think Wenger is deliberately taking the piss when he utters this nonsense; I think he’s deceiving himself and trying to keep his own spirits up. But as I say, I’m finding him more and more difficult to interpret. Perhaps he’s had it up to here with the conditions under which he is working and has decided to quit, or perhaps he’s lost his marbles completely?
Kroenke, however, and the various suits who are serving him are a different matter entirely. Their mind-set is formed by the conditions in the US where what happens on the pitch doesn’t affect the profits that much. TV revenues are what matter, and irrespective of where we finish in the league those revenues will keep going up and up.
Difficult times ahead, I’m afraid, especially for young and loyal talents like Wilshere. He deserves better than to have to have to carry the team, giving his all twice a week, risking his own long-term fitness in the process. I don’t think he’ll consider leaving for a year or two, but having thought a lot about what’s happened at the club in recent years, I’ve reached the point where I believe that he should.
Perhaps we could do something about this. Something more effective than grumbling on fan sites and Twitter, or walking around for ten minutes with a banner before one game a season, or shouting rudely at Hill-Wood and Gazidis at the annual fan do. But will we? Doubt it. I think we’ll carry on as we’ve always done, buying Gazidis’ beautiful bi-annual speech about the superior morality of the Arsenal narrative/vision/way, and the outstanding performance of our boys in the commercial department, and the imminent arrival of salvation in the form of FFP.
Honest question. Why don’t fans in the UK boycott a game just to show them what it means to play in front of an empty stadium?
Cos it probably won’t change a thing!
Oh I think it COULD work. A total return of season tickets and an empty stadium (which doesn’t look nice on TV) ought to work nicely if continued for as long as it took, but the fans have to be unified, resolute and intelligent – which football fans mostly are not.
Arsenal fans aren’t even agreed about the source of the problem let alone the solution. Do they want Wenger sacked, or Kroenke to sell, or, as the AST keep mildly and sensibly suggesting for Kroenke to cooperate with Usmanov for the good of the club?
This I think would be the best course that’s open to us right now. Two owners combining not just gives us double the resources in terms of money and commercial areas of influence – with the two of them commercially we’d virtually cover the globe – but more important it gives us some much-needed safety. Two owners is the nearest thing we can now have to an old-fashioned board who are acting as custodians for future generations. Two owners provides a check on the possible greed or stupidity of one of them, should he lose his marbles or his money. Kroenke can’t do a Glazer and syphon off our money to prop other parts of his empire if Usmanov has access to the accounts and a seat on the board. This, I imagine, is why he’s so opposed to this sensible course of action which would increase both his share values and his revenues – a course which Gazidis dismisses on the grounds that it would create disagreeable disharmony. You bet.
He’s not invincible?!
Relax, of course he is!
Will be a real shame if we don’t make the best use of a talent like Wilshere. Should not repeat the same mistake we did with Cesc
We have had a discussion about Wilshere’s various “spats” with team mates in the last days.
Everyone who has played football on a serious level know that is a good thing. Winning mentality =|= Whining.
Whilst it’s great to see someone playing with heart and soul and love for the club even after earning a new contract, I am concerned that this youngman is put under more pressure, risking further injuries and burnout. This happened in 2010-2011 season and happend when Fabregas was here. It’s great so see young, talented players given games after game to improve, there needs to be a balance. That brings me back to same recurring point, lack of quality team mates to complement these talented individuals is a recurring theme. Few good players don’t make a championship winning team and I wonder how long it will take for young Jack to realize that may be he made a mistake signing a new contract
There’s no doubt. Get the Coq out. More. Ramsey. And what about Rosicky?! Can’t believe he doesn’t rotate. Stop trying to fit square pegs in round holes. Can’t help thinking it was simpler & easier when one player (who can do his best job in a position) does a job in that position. I miss Gilberto
wilshere is class hes always had the power of driving forward if we remember when he was 16 playing on the left wing and just behind the striker. he always has the class of pushing forward. hes noticed hinself that cazorla of any other midfielder for that matter does not make the runs i.to those gaps. so forces himself to do there jobs as well as his. he only helps back because he is still in the old habbit when alex song was at arsenal so that he would allow song to push forward while he covers.
He’s our engine, the effort he puts in is just tremendous. He doesn’t switch off no matter the type of opposition, always plays with a cause, for arsenals cause. Wish the others around him do the same.
Diame incoming. Should take the pressure off Jack a little.
You mean the West Ham Diame? The one who is right now in the middle of long term injury? Who buys injured player in winter? Makes no sense to me. Even though he’s looks like a proper player.
Yeah that Diame. He was on their bench last game, due to start against United in the next. He’ll be watched very intently during this game. This is just about the only rumour worth listening to, the Utd game will be key however.
You were right – apologies. I missed the fact he made it to the bench last week. Last I remember he was due to be back in a few months.
I love this kid lets invest around him while we can or I feel he will end up like Cesc and win silverware elsewhere.
I swear if the board sell jack i will….i will….well i dont quite know yet but if they dare sell jack….
Jack is a great player but I hope he doesn’t get injured and burn out again because if he goes out in the next couple of weeks I can’t santi (as much as I love him) doing the same job. I’d say here that we’ve got to learn for previous mistakes but lets be honest, we don’t. We’re still selling our big players to rival clubs
So why don’t we start building a team around him as what we did with Cesc now that we all know he has Arsenal DNA?
great idea! we should sign our other talented, young, british players on a long term!
Wilshere is the heart and soul of this club… He may just heal my heart from the cesc breakup…
Cesc wilshere diame….. Ok with that?
Did anyone else notice in the City match that Walcott went over to take a freekick but Wilshere ushered him away in the last 20 minutes to take it himself. As walcott walked away he mouthed “fuck off jack” over his shoulder with his tail between his legs – I liked that.
Interesting point about the FK’s there. Wilshere took a couple of beauty’s, really dangerous left-footers. It really is about time someone told Walcott that he isn’t Henry, he shouldn’t really be taking any set pieces. Where’s the management of these situations?
Cazorla took most of Malaga’s direct free kicks and scored a fair few, why the fuck is he not taking more? Just seems that small thing like this can win games, and we never have any kind of plan, whoever has the biggest ego takes the kick. I can’t remember the last time I felt we posed a threat from a corner.
Don’t know if they showed it on the box, but on one occasion where we gave away a corner, he was also giving Vermaelen all sorts of shit about not passing the ball out quick enough.
TV5 was having a proper go back but Jack wouldn’t have it, just kept on his case.
We need more of that. Players actually giving a shit.
Theo should be about 4th in the free kick pecking order or preferably not on the fucking list at all. Cazorla, Jack and Podolski need to be up there. I remember Podolski scored a screamer against Southampton I think it was in the 6-1 game. Whatever happened after that game?
“Thanks Lukas, great goal. Now that you have scored one we will let Theo take all free kicks until one somehow goes in. And then we move over to the next person.” — I mean WTF. I feel like eating my hair when I see Theo standing over a FK. I dont mean offense to him. Decent player and all that but stay away from the effing free kicks.
and though he didn’t play against citeh, let’s not forget that arteta can deliver good set pieces too. and if we want to go for real power there’s also vermaelen (though he lacks poldi’s precision)
One great player a team dose not make
Love Jack but we need to invest in real quality and real Experience to develop all of our young squads skills.
Not that m’villa is that old but i thought we were all over him in the summer, looks like he is going to the R’s….
play rosicky and he will make all the players around him better than they actually are.
Apparantly Gervinho scored twice for Ivory Coast, one from the penalty spot.
Who would have thought that?
People who had watched him play in France?
That may be true, abit suprised considering his recent form tho. However i hope this will get his confidence back and maybe he will rediscover his form from Lille.
Nothing we say as fans matters, wenger will never change, the board will continue to hide behind the manager, probably in a year or two Jack will seek for pastures new, whereas wenger made it clear he will stay , as diaby is like a new player alongside rosicky etc. wenger has not yet found the quality player he is looking for or maybe why not turn giroud into a goal keeper , maybe not …
wenger”the market is very competative”, that is why i sold our best player to our closes rival, wenger “rvp will win man u the title, yes i knew it”…..blah ,blah ,bla, in a nutshell this is the same story , the manager has been telling us for the past 7yrs. The first 4 years it was ok and cool , but now many are becoming anxious, needy , fans fighting amongst each other, all for the sake of one man and one board whom have lost the” winning mentality”, while the football world is growing daily, so what did they do, they pushed UEFA for FFP, ,the manager and board hoping for a miracle ,an owner who owns 60% living far away , he is called silent stan. blah blah blah….
For me , i knew we won’t do well, instead of adding to our squad , wenger and his goonies continue the same trend. How do you expect to win when every season a new captain, a new striker, a new midfield , a new defender, players wanting to leave , who do you blame.?? At first I blamed the players now i don’t, the players had the right to leave, why won’t you, if your manager continues to use a tactic that has been found out , you see best players leaving winning titles else where( been paid more) , no investment on new players instead the manager buys squillaci, claiming he is the new tony adams, ,our defence and attack don’t function well cos the midfield is not balanced , too many similar players playing there, no enforcer, then you might say we have le coq and frimpong, i will say we have to change our mentality. Charging fans lots of money to watch average players whom are trying their best due to the pressure the manager has put on them as from the fans, some might say am deluded or in wenger we trust etc but once the ref blows the whistle for the kick off , your heart is pacing, you begin to see that something needs to give at Arsenal or we just accept it ,shut up and move forward, then at the final whistle from the ref you realize you been here before.
Spot on mate! Whoever has given a thumbs down to this comment should pls and pls explain why . What has been said wrong that we all don’t know about already? why do some of us fans keep living in denial whenever anyone says the hard truth about Mr Wenger and The Board. We remain like this complaining season in season out and the trend continues. We need to first accept the truth about our club,Wenger,Board and players at this club. The fact is too many things are wrong and we keep repeating things that haven’t worked for years. I believe if this whole shit was happening to Man U,Chelshit or Man City their fans would have taken a hard stand to this. But what do we have here,we pay(highest ticket prices) to watch crap football and get beaten at home while the managers and owners smile to the bank annually. Lets try to boycott some matches the next 2 or 3 matches as a sign to see if the pressure wouldn’t be on Wenger and his board to buy players this window. Sad sad sad!!!
Gervinho: I want to be Arsenal’s greatest
player
http://m.goal.com/s/en-gb/news/3672028 wish it was rvp,Cesc or Nasri saying this..gervinho really
why oh why are you reading goal.com?
QPR are showing more ambition than us in the transfer window. Not sure there’s much else to say.
So are Newcastle, so are Spurs.
The mad thing is, we genuinely *do* have quite a lot of money to spend. In a press conference a few months back Wenger claimed that Arsenal – along with several other clubs – had met the release clause for Hazard (32 million I think), but that they ultimately couldn’t compete with Chelsea’s salary offer.
Fair enough, but to me this shows that we *are* fairly loaded – that it’s not just PR spin when Wenger and others say that there’s money to spend (unless he constructed a bizarre and elaborate lie). So bloody hell, spend it!
No, you’re right, there really is money, plenty according to the AST. We should have spent it – spent it ambitiously, I mean, on (say) Mata, not dilly-dallied and then frittered it away on weird panic buys like Santos and Park – the summer we lost Cesc, Nasri and Clichy. Had we done so, we’d still have Van Persie. Failing that, we should have spent it the following summer. Now isn’t a good time – Wenger is right about that – except, if we don’t spend now given our tattered, tired and underperforming squad, I think we are probably fucked.
c’mon Arsene! inject some stem cells into your blood stream or something! QPR and Newcastle are going after tons of players. there is not one single headline about you in the transfer rumours this morning!
Harry Redknapp doesn’t even speak French (he can barely speak English FFS!) and he’s racking up the frequent-flyer miles jetting off to nick your country’s best players!!!
@ Arseblog
Inconsistent Coquelin? Sure if not being allowed to step on the pitch means that.
Coq started 6 or 7 games this season, was used as a sub in at least ten others. Not all of them were perfect if my (notes enhanced) memory is right.
I might be mad but, are players like for example Felipe Melo from Galatasaray not be welcome in midfield? A proper horse lunged powerhouse who can kick a ball alright, fit, experienced and i’m sure not to expensive. Could even get both him and Diame for that type of $$$. Only brainstorming here.
Dutch press linking us with Diame, Milito and Valbuena. Valbuena is a great lil’ player, box to box pitbull.
What frustates me really is that fucking sp*ds are being linked with e.g. Leandro Damiao from Internacional (who (already) is gonna be a beast of a nr. 9) and we being linked with fucking Milito. That hurts man. Rather Cardozo from Benfica or sum like that, Jovetic etc etc. Pleaaaaase Wenger, make a move man!
C’monnn the Arsenal!!
Wilshere is proof that we are one injury away from finishing 8th.
The situation with Wilshire is massively important in relation to the future of our club. If we are to get out of this shit and build another title-winning side then Jack will surely be part of the revival.
When the new manager comes in (after The Nutty Professor is either sacked at the end of this season or simply walks away), he must make Wilshire the focal point of the dynamic new team and squad that he will have to create. After offloading the deadwood, Jack, and about six others will form the core of the side which will bring us back the glory days. Four or five top-quality signings could then put us in business.
Sadly, the danger is that the board and our ranch-owing billionaire Yank will not be able to resist the temptation to sell our best player to the highest bidder. This absolutely must not be allowed to happen.
What’s with the ranch mate? Would you rather he own a proper castle with a dragon and a moat? He’s rich, he bought a ranch with some cows. What the fuck does that have to do with football? Do you think roman abromabitch lives in a tiny flat next to the Chelsea ground? Maybe shake Monsieur lives in a tent in the 6 yard box at the middle east lands.
Gervinho did some pre-season training at Kroenke’s ranch…apparently neither the cow’s arse, nor the banjo were harmed.
Yeah, yeah, I’ll get my coat.
What the fuck does Kroenke’s ranch have to do with football? Ok, I’ll explain it very simply for you.
Unlike Roman Abramovich, who has ploughed more than HALF A BILLION pounds of HIS OWN MONEY into Chelsea, Sam Kroenke has not invested a single penny of his own cash into our club. After buying the majority of shares in Arsenal, he has absolutely refused to speculate a dime of his THREE BILLION DOLLAR fortune in trying to make us champions. Instead, he has seen his fortune massively increase as the share value of the club has shot up since he bought it.
At the moment, we are desperate for new players. If we don’t sign a quality striker and a couple of decent others then I honestly think we will not finish in the top four.
So, instead of making money available for the signings, he has gone out and spent MORE THAN 100 MILLION POUNDS on a nice new ranch. And when you bear in mind that at the last Shareholders’ meeting he refused to rule out actually taking money out of the club, Kroenke appears to me to be a piss-taking, greedy, blood-sucking parasite who clearly doesn’t give a shit whether or not we are successful on the pitch.
And that’s what the ‘fucking ranch’ has to do with football.
OK?
No I fully understand he bought a ranch and you’d prefer that he spend some of his money investing into the squad. I would as well. BUT, even if he did cough up some of his own coin, would you trust Arsene and Ivan to actually spend it and not just fuck it up? I wouldn’t. I mean if we bought messi tommorow, Wengers crazy ass would have him playing left back by Sunday , saying some shit like ” he’s quick and reads the game well, so it’s a natural fit as a full back, plus we don’t want to stop theo’s progress as a forward”.
My point was, who gives a shit if the guy owns a ranch, we have money to be spent and the wack job calling the shots won’t even spend that. Would you give some of your own money to Arsene to spend on players? Fuck no, not the Arsene of 2013.
And p.s. I agree with everything you said, I just wanted to point out that if I was in Stan’s shoes, I wouldn’t give Arsene any of my coin. And I don’t think we’re going to finish fourth even with three new signings.
I want klopp or Lowe.
At least both invest some cash into improving their teams regardless of their living conditions!!!
And they expect results too, like most owners or shareholders!!!
Totally agree that Wenger should go – I’ve said so a million times on this website. And i agree with you – I wouldn’t give him a penny to spend; he’s bonkers and past it. But this just stresses where we are at the moment. If Kroenke gave a damn then he would have sacked Wenger long ago.
I think the ranch is irrelevant. Kroenke isn’t particularly rich – like the Glazers he’s just comfortably off with personal wealth of only around 1-2bn, compared to Usmanov’s 18bn, Abramovich’s 14bn, or the Mansours 20bn. But anyway, it was never Kroenke’s intention to invest what little money he has in the club; he’s here to take money out of it if/when there is some to take. Thank your lucky stars he’s still only taking his salary and expenses and hasn’t needed us to buy his ranch for him – or, worse, done a Glazer using Arsenal to buy himself a few extra ice hockey teams.
Not sure were your getting your info from Miranda. Sounds like a bit of bullshit to me. Our very own silent Stan is not only independently rich, but also happens to be married to the heiress of the mega conglomerate Wal-Mart. They’re loaded.
Frog, the info on owners’ personal wealth comes from Forbes, the most reliable and up-to-date source, though I’ve not checked it particularly recently. Check it yourself. I expect you’ll find Usmanov is still number 1 in Russia and about 20 in the world. Abramovich is around number 4 in Russia. Kroenke and the Glazers are way, way poorer, at around 1-2bn last time I looked, as I said.
Like I’ve said before, I like football. I could give two shits about which wanker has 15 billion and which wanker has 2 billion. they can all kiss my arse. Wenger out. Half our problem solved.
Frog, don’t know why I bother as you sound determined to believe to believe in Kroenke great wealth, but there’s the link if you’d like to check it.
http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/
Usmanov is 28 in the world with 18bn, as I said. Abramovich is 68. Kroenke doesn’t even figure in the top 100, probably not in the top 500, but I couldn’t be bothered keep scrolling down their list.
I don’t understand why you bother either. I just said I could care less about how much money these wankers have. But hey, thanks for posting a link that I won’t click on. Congratulations!!!!!! Youre rite!!
Every Gooner’s heart stops when some oaf crunches into our Jack, and Man City clearly made it a tactic on Sunday to rotationally foul him as often as possible. It didn’t help that Mike “Hopper” Dean didn’t clamp down on it once it became evident, and allowed them all kick the lad. I know Jack’s a pretty strong lad, but the accumulated kicking is bound to catch up with him at some point. Seeing as he’s the “Future of Engerland”, you’d think the FA would lay down the law to refs that he’s to be protected. I doubt they’d let him get kicked around so much if he was Old Whiskey Nose’s player.
Giroud
Cesc
Cazorla Arteta Wilshere
Diame
Hows that eh? Awsome?
Actually , it sounds like we’d have 6 guys running into each other in the middle of the pitch, zero width and an average height of 5’3″. It’s shit if ask me.
Please come back cesc….. And fuck off wenger…. U lying cunt!!!!! Liarrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!
” like the Glazers he’s just comfortably off with personal wealth of only around 1-2bn”
Comfortably off, 1-2bn,
i’ll say that again
Comfortably off, 1-2bn?!?
1-2bn counts as comfortably off?,
that’s right all those millionaires are now middle class or working class, lol
Ya I was been polite and not destroying Miranda for that shit. There’s was also a pretty lame line along the lines of ” he’s 15 billion POORER”. Heh