Born in Stevenage in 1992 Jack Wilshere’s football began at Luton. he wasn’t there very long, a couple of months I believe before he joined Arsenal 2001. He would become captain of the under 16’s in 2007 and in the same year made his England debut, for the under 17’s. The following year he played his first game for the Arsenal reserves but a call up to the first team came during that year as well – scoring during a game which he made his first start. January 2009, the most important date, Jack Wilshere signed his first professional contract, the first of many we all hope. This year has seen him become a regular for the first team and he now represents England, both the under 21’s and the ‘Big Boys’
Not bad for an 18 yr old, eh?
What’s great about Jack Wilshere, other than his fine array of footballing skills is he was free. He’s an Englishman, he’s played for no other club but Arsenal, he’s ours and hopefully he’ll always be ours. Arsene Wenger didn’t go and scout him somewhere abroad and then have to spend silly money in order to get this wonderfully talented young player.
Over the last few seasons we have all watched him develop through the youth, reserves and now the first team. We’ve ranted on about how special this kid was and is and cried out for Wenger to give this young one a chance. Now he has and I’m sure he has not looked back. (wish he would do the same with Chesney)
Arsene Wenger since his arrival in English Football has maintained tha his goal was to bring his young English players through the Academy – again, we all knew they were there but Jack is the first to burst onto the scene, by all accounts there are a few more to follow. Henri Lansbury is one, he’s in around the first team and it won’t be too long before he’s playing in the same Arsenal side which boasts Theo Walcott and Wilshere. There are more to follow in their footsteps over the coming season, bringing with them a few overseas talented younger players too.
So Chelsea, you can have all your money right now but one day you will have to replace your ageing old bunch and that will come at a cost! If Roman gets bored, it could come a one heck of a cost!!
Back to Jack, I read a lovely article about our little 5′ 7″ midfielder yesterday and I’ve re-printed the comments from Liam Brady and Owen Coyle….
Jack was described as being a player with control, skill, vision, speed and strength. An ability to read the game, beat a man, find the killer pass and drop back to defend. Fearless, mature, dedicated and hungry.
Liam Brady –
You’ve got to be of a very high technical standard to reach Arsene’s first team, regardless of your nationality, We’ve had plenty of English lads who have hit the crossbar but that’s not good enough.
How many English players have broken through at the other leading Premier League clubs in the last 10 years The bar has been raised by the foreign players and it’s extremely difficult to reach that level. Jack Wilshere is different to most other English boys. He is highly technical – and that should be the target. Arsenal have a regime which is all about technique and that helps the likes of Jack come through. Perhaps if other English clubs thought similarly we would have more technical players.We have an abundance of strong, forceful, determined and aggressive players, but technical ones? No. It’s countries like Spain and the Netherlands who are producing those.
Even from those early days he showed tremendous determination to make it. He always turned up early for training and matches. He was always ‘up for it.
We’ve had a few good players at the academy and David Bentley is one who springs to mind. He was also exceptionally skilful. But Jack had a style of his own and, aside from skill, he was hugely dedicated. From what I’ve seen over the years, that is such a vital ingredient. We always had high hopes for him but we really started to get excited once he hit 13 or 14.
Owen Coyle who had the pleasure of Wilshere’s services last season for a few months –
Jack is a very gifted player with so much natural ability, allied to that, he has a really good temperament and a burning desire to be an Arsenal player. He drives with the ball, commits defenders and that can give you a four-versus-three or five-versus-four four scenario, which results in goals. He is the type of player who can make the difference between you winning and losing games. You could see that in the way he set up Arsenal’s opening goal against Partizan Belgrade. If Lionel Messi had executed that piece of skill, everybody would have been raving about it. This season he’s ready, he’s starting to move through the gears.
It’s great news for Arsenal and England, less so for their opponents. On his first day of training my captain Kevin Davies was very physical with him, but Jack didn’t complain and got on with it and wasn’t intimidated. He had instant control, a good football brain, a lovely left foot and he could beat people.
Liam Brady –
We did have a few problems with him over his temper, for a couple of seasons, it was an issue we had to work hard to iron out. If he was on the receiving end of a foul, he would often react and try to take retribution in the next tackle. He was struggling to get the better of that situation but now he appears to have it under control. It made me chuckle watching some of the tackles he got hit with at Tottenham and Partizan. For a split second I thought ‘oh no’ but he kept calm and his reaction was wonderful.
Jack has shown everyone that if you’re good enough then you’re old enough to make it at the very highest level, I expect him to be an England international who goes on to play scores of games for his country and to be a leader of an Arsenal team that wins many trophies.Injuries allowing, he is going to be at the top end of the football spectrum for a long time. We’re in for a good future watching Jack Wilshere. He’s going to be a huge player for Arsenal and England over the next 10 years and hopefully beyond.
The above comments really do Jack Wilshere justice, but just as the article did at the end, I have the same question in my mind.
If we had a fully fit midfield – Ramsey, AA, Diaby, Cesc, Nasri, Rosicky, Denilson, Song and Eboue, would Wenger still play Jack Wilshere??
I would and I am sure most, if not all Arsenal fans would, but would Wenger – I guess it won’t be too long before we find out….
Morning….
Morning Rico,
Where have you been hiding?
Nice piece indeed and I just pray that his feet remain firmly on the ground and don’t go down the route of some of our Engand players have, making front pages rather than the back pages….
Morning Mustang, great to see you again and thanks re the post..
Been hiding here, HH has been up for about a month now, some days are busier than others but its still all early days… I thought I emailed you re it.. 🙁
Hows you??
I would be really sad if Jack were to be cast aside when we have a full midfield to choose from.
But Jack needs to be used wisely too, his bones will still be growing and i don’t think much of him being selected for both the under 21’s and the big boys this coming international break..
Kevin Davies was very physical with him on his first day of training? What a surprise!
I think he should be in the team a lot this season but we cannot expect an 18 year old to play every game. He should play no more than half and that would be massive progress from last season.
Hi Nick, yes, very little surprise re Davies…
No way should he play a whole season, we have enough injuries to contend with, he has a long future ahead of him but don’t want him to just be cast aside in prefernce to the Eboues and diaby’s of this world… 😉
Morning all.if jack makes ramsey-esque progress then he is going to be fine.whats interesting to see though is that he is the closest we have to cesc since both mozart and nasri are more orthodox no.10s.
AA has created 3.33 chances a game in the league according to the guardian.it is the highest of all PL players.he may look lazy but he is absolute magic in the final third.
Morning KTR7, I think Jack has progressed further already, but yes, i can see him playing the ‘cesc’ role one day, hopefully for his country only which would mean Cesc is still wearing a Arsenal shirt…
Pity he couldn’t score with all of them KT 😉
Dont think anyone doubts that on his day he is awesome, but like a few of the other players, he doesn’t seem to ‘always turn up’….
Gibbs is now out for three games, wonder if Wenger is just keeping him away from England…?
Morning Rico,
A really, really nice read. 🙂
It makes a change from all the moaning and negative toughts that are still swirling around the Gunners.
I still feel it is 11 v 11 at Chelsea and if we are true to ourselves we have the skill and ability to beat the lardy butts! 🙂
Rico if anyone is able to destroy the chavs its AA.he has said he isn’t playing at his best so expect more especially in terms of finishing.am also starting to worry about gibbs too…
Morning KT,
If anyone had spotted a nice piece of statistical data it would be you. well done. 🙂
AA is magical in the last third and every time he has the ball around the penalty area, I am expecting something to happen.
Gibbs had that suspected metatarsal injury and I suspect he has bruised that foot again.
he really needs to rest the foot otherwise the injury will keep recurring.
Morning RA.AA will have to be the ‘go to guy’ in the final third in captain marvel’s absence.the game in Belgrade showed he is charging.
Morning RA, thanks 🙂
I honestly believe we will get something form the game on sunday..
Gibbs shouldn’t have played in the week, school boy error Arsene…
KT, I am not doubting or questioning your view on Arshavin, honest 🙂
He is one of our best players, if he is up for the game on sunday he could destroy the chavs, but, he isn’t always up for a game…
they don’t get much bigger tha this one, if he wants to be one of the greats, this is the kind of game he needs to shine in, so many of our ‘big’ players have gone missing is this kind of game in the past….
we cannot afford that from anyone on sunday…
Off for a bit before the rain comes …
Rico,
As it is not going to rain until tomorrow, are we likely to see you before then. 🙂
Unless you want me to start singing to myself, I think someone had better show up. 🙂
O.K. then …. Booby dooby dooby do, there is something on my shoe,
Dubby dubby dubby dum your face looks just like a bum.
Would you like me to continue? 🙂
Boo RA 😆
Yes Please 🙂
Hi Rico,
I have heard a lot about how the Chavs will overpower us, but I choose to beg to disagree.
Brains beat brawn and skill will beat their lardy butts.
All in favour say “aye”! AYE!! 🙂
My post is ready rico.you’ll receive it in a couple of minutes…
RA, i don’t think they will, Squilli and Kos will keep out Dogbreath and we just need a solid game in the midfield – Song needs to keep his defensive hat on 😉
‘AYE’ 🙂
Ok, KT, thanks, I’ll let you know when its arrived safely…
Rico,
You seem to appear everywhere on the Arsenal Blogosphere!!! I thought Avenell was your turf?
Anyhows, Jack is quite simply gonna be awesome, however I hope he doesnt play 250 games by age 22 like Cesc did.
Hi gambon – I left avenell road a few months back and decided to go it alone with Highbury House…
We don’t need him burned out, your spot on, but on the other hand i would hate him to just be on the bench when others who are not as good as him keep getting their chance…
I agree Rico
Him and Rambo should rotate the secondary DM position, which will give them 25 games each per year.
rico have you got it?
Do you think they are defensive enough gambon? personally i think we still need a good old fashioned DM to rotate with Song and let Wilshere and Ramsey create the play like cesc does –
I remebre the wolves game when diaby and ramsey played in the centre, we were dreadful. then diaby went off, song came on and we romped home…
song has been a bit off the last few days and i think that is down to who is alongside him – i wouldn’t mind seeing jack there and push nasri out to the right…
Safe and sound KT, many thanks 🙂
RICO right regarding the wolves game.Song is our only dm plain and simple.
So why does wenger persist with plating denilson there… thats whats crazy KT 🙁
It’s a balance between playing wee Jack on a regular basis and not over using him. He has taken a fair few kicks already and I wince whenever he is hauled down because skillful players are not and never will be protected from the thugery in the English game.
DEnilson has not been my favourite player. He has had some ropey performances. Perhaps last season he was suffering from the effects of serious injury?
However against Partisan he was excellent I thought and offered the team some defensive dicipline. Hope he keepes that level up if he plays tomorrow.
I think Wilshere will play tomorrow. The fact he got taken off early kind of confirmed that to me anyway.
Sorry guys, door bell 🙁
Denilson has certainly improved this season, over last.
However, it would be a mistake to keep writing Diaby off.
He is inconsistent but it has to be remembered that he had that appalling leg injury, which was career threatening, followed by a series of follow up problelms.
He will come good again, in my opinion. Hope so anyway! 🙂
Spot on Mustang… You watch him get targeted tomorrow too, by Terry!
Hi Sid, that was the best Denilson has played in a long while, yep the penalty was a muck up, but he definately put in a good shift and in a horrid arena ..
Hi Guys nice piece Rico and Ramsey and Jack are cm I also want to say Denilson has been impressive
Hi Rico
Yeah here’s to many more good games from him. As long as the midfield track runners and help the defence we will be a lot more solid IMO.
Hi Erick, how’s things? Denilson has been better since he returned from injury, he looks a bit sharper…
Sid, thats one thing about jack, he’s prepared to track back a bit a put a tackle in – i think coyle is right when he says he has no fear, just what we need…
Just hope he isn’t another victim of a horror tackle…
Can’t wait for tomorrow guys Come on Arsenal
Neither can i Erick, 3 points at the bridge will we tip top…
2 seasons ago we had decent results against the top 4 but were inconsistent when we played the smaller teams like Stoke etc. Last season we beat most of the small teams but had a shite record vs the chavs and mancs!
Hopefully we can have some kind of happy medium this year! (the WBA game being a bad day at the office!)
I’m hoping that the WBA will be the only real blip Sid, sometimes we all need a kick in the pants to remind us that ‘things’ cannot and must not be taken for granted – we came back well in the CL with a good performance.
The defence were all over the place though in that game and i put that down to a rusty Djourou, in the first half he was woeful. Second half though he settled and appeared more calm and confident.
Sunderland have hit the post!
Rico I thought Djourou is simply playing himself back into form. He has been out for so long it isnt surprising he had a few wobbles. I thought he did really well as did Squillaci considering it was a make shift back 4.
I cant really remember many chances for the home team really? Apart from one chance when Denilson did that great tackle
Tiny totts down the road are behind to villa at home.welcome to CL.
Afternoon peeps.
Confession…got a bit of a man crush on jack wilshere. I’m a red blooded heterosexual male. But yes. He makes spit run down my chin…(football wise)
There I said it.
Sid, i didn’t mean to sound harsh on Djourou, it is going to take him a whil, second half i thought he was so much better and you are right, only his second time of playing alongside Squillaci, can’t be easy, what is good though is he’s back from injury and now we have four good/very good CH’s…
😆 KT re the Tiny Totts …
Rocastle, that’s a corker of a comment to come in with… 🙂
You old dribbler you 🙂
Haha you know me already!!
The mancs have struggled so ear at sunderland.they have only 1 shot which is off target.
Rico
Yeah I didnt think you were being that harsh! Its great to have Johan back and I am more than happy with the 4 CBs we have now.
Squillaci said last week he was good ij the air and is a threat from set pieces and he showed that Tuesday night! Here’s to him doing it tomorrow!
Rocastle, seems so 😉
KT, I want Sunderland to batter them 🙂
Both Squilli and Kos need to be at their best, if they are and i expect them to be, Drog won’t get a sniff.
Clichy concerns me a bit, but he is due a good game…
Roll on 4pm I say 🙂
I was hoping Gibbs would get an extended run in the team. Gutted for him that he is injured.
However, Clichy has it in him to play well consistently.
Cany wait til tomorrow!
I think most are gutted for Gibbs Sid, he should be back after the break though. I often think wenger keeps them out to prevent them from going away with their country…
Cesc, TV, Theo and Nik, i won’t be surprised if they are all back for the B’ham game ….
We have got a very good squad when everyone’s fit dont we! Although thats never happened has it!
I am praying for Fabianski to play a blinder tomorrow. Please please please!
No, how many have we got out?? No-one suffers like us…
Sack the physio 😉
Hopefully this will get better with the GPS thingy…
He’s going to need to, mind you, they all are..
Fear not. Fabianskis the best keeper in the world, did you not see him the other night?!
I’m hoping he could maybe, just maybe have a ‘theo moment’ I said all summer that all theo needed was one goal, one man of the match, one cameo like the Liverpool game. And he’ll explode. He did. Maybe fabs just a confidence player like ‘theo ???
Now if you’ll all excuse me I have to go and clutch at some straws….and get my dribble bib ready for tomorrow!!
Guys and Gals, time for me to go for the day, see you all bright an early for a pre match post by KTR7,
Enjoy the rest of your saturday, be good and stay safe…
Bye for now….
Sunderland have held utd to a nil nil draw.utd are lucky they didn’t lose.
Rocastle, you leave with a dribble 😉 see you tomorrow hopefully 🙂
KT, mancs are always lucky….
really gone now……
I find it rude not to leave without a little dribble rico… Be good.
Mañana …..
Rico,
Typical, leave me on my own. Oh well, see you tomorrow. 🙂
Morning all, anyone up and about on this horrid rainy day, mind you, seeing the dippers in the bottom three brightens my morning 🙂
New one up