Just what the Arsenal World needs to hear, Jack Wilshere, the future Mr Arsenal has said he wants the captains armband off Cesc Fabregas one day. Cesc may have flown the nest by the time he’s ready but it shows our player is only think about Arsenal and why wouldn’t he.
It seems that Fabregas is our young Englishman’s role model in football and hopes to follow in his footsteps by leading from the top.
He’s great to me, always has been, he’s been there before. I think he looks at me and thinks, ‘Yeah, I’ve done that’.
From when I was 16 he was automatically someone to look up to, especially being the type of player I am and the position I play in. He’s a great leader and I want to be like that when I’m older. It’s always been part of my game, and that’s my aim really, to be Arsenal captain one day.
A part of Jack’s game in his younger days was a bit on the naughty side, often his on field ‘aggression’ would see him take an early bath but now he believes that this part of his game is in the past, well, since his sending off earlier this season..
When I was younger I kept getting sins bins or red cards and (former head of youth development) Liam Brady would rightly have a go at me. If I got kicked then my head would go a bit, and instead of getting back at my opponent football-wise I’d retaliate straight away. But I got to 16 and thought ‘I can’t keep doing this’. Getting sent off and missing the rest of a game just wasn’t good. I knew I had to curb it.
So, finally an English, London born and bred player who will hopefully follow in the footsteps of Tony Adams and become our Mr Arsenal. If he does and I don’t doubt for one minute he will, we are in for a long time of watching this lad in an Arsenal shirt… Happy days!
As much as Cesc is his idol, we all know that since Big Tony retired, Wengers captain appointments have been somewhat strange. Paddy was the obvious choice to replace Adams but it seems that both Cesc and Henry before him were given the armband in attempt to stop them leaving. Jack Wilshere will no doubt be our future captain but that will be on merit alone.
For all the criticism he receives on the pitch, Cesc must being getting something right off the field, he’s helping Jack and no doubt he’s helping the other younger players coming through too.
Talking of Cesc, is he right to be saying this after our defeat to Manchester United?
The difference on the night against United was that we were scared of losing but they were not scared of winning,
that was the big difference that played in our heads. Sometimes we seem scared of losing these big games. We don’t really go for it and we’re tempted to drop back and see what the opposition will do.We look to see if we are capable of beating them by what they are doing and how good they are on the day instead of us going forward causing them problems and dominating the game ourselves. They have a belief that comes from not losing at all this season. That gives you a lot of help mentally. I am realising more and more that football is about confidence and mentality. Sometimes you do the right thing, but if people tell you it is not right, you start believing it, even though you were right at first.
We have already played all the games against the rest of the top four sides away from home. They have all got to come to the Emirates and we know that we can beat anyone at home. That gives us morale and confidence.
Ok, so he’s right, the players do need to sort their heads out and overcome any gremlins that are sitting inside them but surely that’s something to be done behind closed doors. How Cesc can suggest that we can beat anyone at home is beyond me, has he seen our results this season? Why does he feel the need to speak out, why confirm what so many in the media suggest, why show our hand to all our opponents? We have a dreadful record these days against the Chavs, Mancs and lately and even the Spuds, Newcastle and WBA have got one over us at home but let’s not broadcast or confirm what they are saying, let’s get it sorted out and fast.
Time to call in a shrink?
Yes, I mean that. In the ‘real world’ hundreds and thousands of people face phobias, mental issues and fears during their lives and as time has gone on many now seek professional help to overcome such problems. If our inability to conquer the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United are really in the players’ minds then why not seek help?
It’s not a weakness, it takes a stronger person to seek help than it does to bury ones head in the sand and right now, I think Arsene Wenger is doing the latter! I’m not talking about shipping the players off one by one to The Priory, why not get a few group sessions going at training, find out whats at the root of the problem and overcome it?
Talking of Wenger, he seems to have done a bit of a U-turn, he’s suggested that he will now spend a few pence in the January window, if a player is available for the right price and he will bring something to the current side. He does then go on to say he will never buy elite stars, so anyone expecting Torres to be playing in an Arsenal shirt next year, don’t hold your breath. ( sorry agag)
Finally, seems we are not the only ‘bottlers’ in the Premier League, Everton blew Manchester City’s chances of being top over the Festive period with a 2-1 victory at Eastlands and the victors were down to ten men for the last thirty minutes!
What a funny old season this is so far…..
i’m gonna do this Le Grove style: first?
off to read the post 😀
Morning all…
Hi DK 😆
Hello!
I must say i cannot agree with the spuds record!
they’ve beaten us 2-3 times the last couple of years, whereas we’ve beaten them almost everytime we played them in the league for the last 7-8 years! although it hurts to see them beat us, even if they are a much smaller club. as for cesc, is he challenging the players to do better on monday and beat chelski?
Morning.cesc is right.something is just not right mentally.
I’m getting tired of us being scared of them.. not long ago, we would be looking forward to these games, because we knew we would be victorious.. 🙁
Wenger lives in his own little bubble I’m afraid. All thus team needs is one or two experienced heads, preferably over 4 foot in height and 8 stone and we’d be in with a chance.
Oh, morning!!
DK, thats what i mean, ‘and recently’ 😉
Hi KT and Rocastle…
Cesc is right but is he right to be shouting from the rooftops??
Rocastle, hopefully thats what wenger has in mind for january but right now i wouldn’t be against them trying other methods…
Good morning.
I was drawn to this headline naturally rico.
“Time to call in a shrink?”
Would you like a post about shrinks, I am self taught,and that’s a fact 🙂
Jack is coming out with all the right vibes but I am not so sure about Cesc.To wear the armband is a huge privilage at The Arsenal, and he should lead by example himself, and by that i mean vocally, as there is no doubt in his footballing skills.
When we played Fulham, they had a corner and Jack was covering the near post and it was him and him alone screaming at Song to drop deeper into the penalty area.
it’s a bit early for jack to be captain,but quite honestly who have we got to give the rest a kick up the arsenal when needed.
morning kelsey, i’m saying nowt 😉
the way jack is learning it won’t be too long before he’s leading this bunch 🙂
As a professional sportsman myself know the value of getting it settled between the ears before you can accomplish on the field.
A sports psychologist is a hugely important tool in pro sport. It is VERY rare for a sportsman to naturally have the tools to cope with the stress and anxiety.
It’s quite amazing to see how good Jack is, even though he’s only 18. Incredible!
But am I the only one thinking, that cesc has never been the same since this summer? i’m conviced his mind is already in shiny Spain. IMO, barca are trying to play mind games with us, by declaring their interest in Denilson.. i mean, with their midfield, what would they need Denilson for?
Hi Dom, I know many in solo sport have a sports psychologist as part of their team but not sure many team sports do… but if it could help this menatl block we have at the moment, it can only be a good thing
Why not try Hypnosis on the team? “Song you are NOT an attacking midfielder! stay back and protect the back 4”, or “Harry Redknapp, buy Almunia from Arsenal for 30 million pounds, as you have bought their other rejects in the past”
LoL
😆 DK
But i guess the Song thing is wishful thinking 😆
anyway i’m off to class, hope you all have a good day!
cheers
I have to go off for a couple of hours too, back after lunch…
Got to the posts late this morning, quite a surprise, a shrink for the club, well shrinks didn’t help Besty nor Gazza and not a lot of other players either, big Tone had his probs too but he saw the light didn’t need a shrink though just a bollocking from Wenger and he saw the light, he realised if he got rid of the lush slut girlfriend he had he could go on to be a proper pro, players today have far to much to soon nothing has any meaning to them its all to easy,they haven’t got the same commitment that passed players had although well paid not to the level it is now, these young players Know nothing about saving up for something and appreciating the things they buy, so you wont get the same commitment from them on the field, you speak of Jack, looks like he could turn out a goodun but already linked to night clubs and fights over pretty girls, his eighteen and your talking about him as a future captain, leave it out, you have to earn the armband and the respect that comes with it,the boy cannot even go out and come home without a fight and you say yes because he has stated that’s what he wants, he cannot even secure his regular spot in the team yet, i am bewildered
Well it confuses me as well. Nobody is telling Wenger to sign a £30mil player , he just needs to add 2 strong players to the team right now.
CB & DM
He doesn’t need to break the bank for that, he is indeed living in is own bubble.
SteveP , Wilshere probably gave that interview over a bottle of Bubbly in a west end Night club.
Wenger would have laughed it up,he has no clue what might happen or who will come in , in the next 5 years.
Gibson might all of a sudden hit form and challenge everybody in the midfield. Look at Nasri this season and we have had him for 3years now. Surprise surprise.
Wilshere should forget captainship for now and play football.
Hear Hear SB http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=7611079341221333844&searchType=CURRENT
Have a look at this SB an idea on that couple of players
bad link SteveP !
Sorry mate
morning all. my views on this have not changed since yesterday – our side lacks confidence and belief against the top two. and now, when we come up against adversity, there is a “here we go again” mentality….
Wenger should just have a plan B when things are not going as planned.
You can tell from the guy’s faces that they have lost hope before the Manure Utd game even ended because they have tried all they were told and it is not yielding any result.
Therefore no plan B the players were just running down the clock thinking of what to do next after the game.
agreed sd. i suspect he consciously drills our players to stick with our style, our “principles”, regardless of the situation. no plan b – if things are going bad, just try and continue to impose our play on other teams. how long before many of our players start losing belief in our style and “principles” – if many have not already done so?
I think most of them have already lost the believe , that is why we have being playing very slowly recently.
Just compare the way we play now to the way we played in 2008 , teams used to be very scared to play us they just seat back and expect a mistake from us.
you may well be right. certainly our slow-it-down play is nothing like what it was a couple of years ago. if we have some players that don’t believe in what we are doing – or arsene – we are not going to accomplish anything.
Especially when we break nowadays nothing seems to be happening at the end of it.
walcott is always in no man’s land this days and losing Flamini and Adebayo didn’t do us well.(they can run)
Charmakh doesn’t look like a runner , if i were wenger i would tell him to forget defending and just stick with the opponent’s defenders and wait for Walcott and Nasri to bring the ball.
Even Walcott has slowed his speed nowadays.
RICO CHECK YOUR MAIL.
SD I have e-mailed rico a post discussing your point at 12:56
The trouble we have SD is that we get to their box and play square balls until they lose it, and in all fairness to Chamakh the balls he has had to run on he has scored, i think he comes deep just to get a touch of the ball, if there is something Cesc does better than anybody when his fit is his passing between defenders but when he is not there all we get are square balls
Top English Premier League TV pundit and journalist Andy Gray has sensationally remarked that Barcelona’s World Player of the Year Lionel Messi would struggle to cope with the rigours of the English Premier League, and believes he could not cut it away at Stoke City.
The Sky Sports host, who enjoyed spells with Aston Villa and Everton during his playing career, was discussing the 2010 Ballon d’Or nominees during Monday evening’s broadcast of Manchester City versus Everton.
When asked by co-presenter Richard Keys whether he felt Messi and Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo would be capable of scoring so prolifically in England, Gray stated his belief that the Argentine would “struggle in a cold night at the Britiannia Stadium”, referring to the home of top-flight side Stoke City. He added that “Barcelona would struggle in the EPL as they’ve never played the likes of Stoke.”
The 55-year-old also claimed that La Liga, when compared to its English equivalent, did not have the same depth of quality, hinting that Ronaldo and Messi would labour to score as consistently, despite the former scoring 31 goals in 34 matches for Manchester United in the 2007-08 season.
Furthermore, on Ronaldo, Gray criticised the decision to omit the Portuguese from the final of the Ballon d’Or, but added that he “would not be the player that he is today had he not played in English football”.
Gray’s remarks have caused quite a stir around the world, and the SKY pundit has been heavily criticised on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Now a days when i watch Arsenal games i always have my laptop with me doing other this, especially when they start the square ball thing, it is becoming tedious and boring now a days.
I just scream ; shoot, cross or pass or send the ball back to the goal keeper .It is frustrating when we are attacking and someone decides not to pass to the obvious Sagna or Clicchy or Charmarkh that have freed themselves.
But for some reason the ball will be played square to Song and Song to Nasri again and Nasri will now look for Arshavin who as gone to the far left earlier to receive the first pass but back to Song again but Sagna has being marked and therefore had to free himself again to maybe get a cross if Walcott is there to help to deceive.
You see I have probably bored you already, now imagine watching it.
Afraid to say , we are running the risk of becoming boring but thanks to the fact that we are still scoring fantastic goals.(Stuffs of Archives.)
It is still a wonder or i should say miracle that we are second, i dont know how Wenger does it.
Wilshere could do worse than to choose to emulate Cesc. 🙂 Oh, but I am an unrestrained fangirl. Now if only Cesc would finally get the stains out of his head. 😉
And Balotelli will be introduced to Wilshere soon enough. We beat the moneybags away, and we’ll beat them at home.
KT, Andy Gray is embarrassing. I don’t like any of the stains but even a blind man would see Messi plays the most sublime football.
SD, I couldn’t agree more with your 1:52. 🙁
rico, where are you?
But SD, as to your ultimate sentence, surely the boys deserve some credit for that? 😉 Our away form has been good, now if only our home form were sorted out. 🙂
Hi agag.Andy Gray has just embarassed himself.
Andy Gray must have taken contraindicated medication and now he’s spouting gibberish. Really embarrassing, that 🙂
Anyone see Balotelli’s quotes?he has just won the Golden boy award narrowly beating wilshere.he has claimed he doesn’t know who wilshere is and that only messi is better than him in the world…him and city are a perfect match made in heaven.
Yes, that’s in my 2:08, KT. I echo Erick, he really should’ve been baptized Crapotelli.
All mouth!
k-tr7 , it is true he might not know who Wilshere is considering he just arrived from Italy and got injured earlier on.
Then again going by his quote saying he is second to Messi then again i my earlier sentence might just not count because he just showed a level of naivety that solidifies why Man City might buy him.
They (man city) have no clue what is going on around them either, to be honest.
Did he (Crapotelli)even make the Fifa list at all.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he said he doesn’t know pele or maradonna…
Luckily enough I have seen some truly great players in my lifetime.Cruyff,Best,Maradonna,Greaves and Messi, just to name a few,and all of them were slightly built in their prime.Gert Muller the german Centre forward was by no means tall.
So size isn’t everything.Messi is truly world class when he makes the difficult easy.it is a natural football brain,something that can’t be taught.
Oh No , i just read the Balotelli comment, damn .
Oh he is going to know Wilshere alright and he is going to get a red card for honours as well.
Oh how Macini would have wished he had not said that.
Balotelli is in trouble now, Wilshere must be fuming right now.
All his statements were cocky all through how his team mates deals with him baffles me.
He will know Wilshere.
Nope, he didn’t, SD. 🙂
Kelsey that football brain cannot be taught.we are lucky to have several of our players with it.Aw even said football is a science in cesc’s brain and you can’t teach that.messi has it but CR7 doesn’t.
When rico talks about shrinks,I look at Cesc’s body language and all is not right.Have we got a hugely talented player who is naturally homesick,having lived in London since he was 16 and though if it wasnot for his upmost respect for Wenger wouldn’t be here today.he would be mad not only to play for his local team,but a team that appears to be going from strength to strength.if he would get automatic first team selection is another thing,so to sum it up we have a player who has divided loyalties and for that reason alone mentally he can’t give 100%.
many may disagree with me, yet I don’t see the situation changing unless barca offer the right money.
it’s unique.We have a player who at 23 is nowhere near his prime as of yet,been with us for nearly 7 years,yet we are going to lose him sooner rather than later.
Kelsley , thanks at least we can get away from the Balotelli’s debate.
I have noticed Cesc’s body language as well and it is not good. Then again it might just be our subconscious playing us mainly because of the Barcelona situation during the summer.
The thing is i suspect he might not be fully fit and also he might be worried Barcelona might never be able to afford him (£450mil debt 🙂 )
But why should players use us to train really (Evra’s words) he couldn’t break into the first team in Barcelona nd i suspect that had he stayed he will still be on the bench and no where near this good.
So now he is a star he wants to go to Barca , that is not just fair and i think with all we have invested in him and all he has become he is worth at least £50mil.
Dilemma i will say but players again are funny people , he might be putting on the body language for Wenger to have pity on him and decide that his mind is not with Arsenal anymore then Wenger could let him leave for £27mil.
We have being and might still be treated unfairly , why footballers cant remain professional still baffles me.
It is work Cesc and not a team park living.
Boo, at last i have returned, snow, more snow and too many cars on the road!!
Rico have you got my e-mail?
Just seen it KT – thank you, you around tomorrow? If so I’ll post it then…
Rico i’ll be around.i’ll write more especially about our defense.i’ll try to do it weekly.
I’ll focus on Vermaelen next time.he may be a potential weak point against barça.
Thanks KT… plenty of time for barca, it’s not until Feb 😉 however, feel free to bombard me with posts 🙂
kelsey, re your earlier abot cesc and his body language, you have hit the nail on the head, its all very wrong. Is this what is filtering through the players? If the captain can’t look interested how can he expect the others to?
just looking back at some of todays comments, i can feel myself starting to warm towards Andy Gray 😉
Cesc is disillusioned with Arsne Wengers dream he has asked in the past for players of quality to move our club to victory,he knows the club is ready now everything is in place but Wenger waits for the time he believes will be right.Cesc is depressed he wants it now and his depression is running through the entire team. Cesc realises that Barcelona’s team does not need him, he understands he probably wouldn’t get into their team,he feels he is a winner but cannot win anything with the present team, that has affected his mindset and that has affected his form and fitness he has never been more down than he is now,he struggles to play in our team, if Wenger doesn’t get the purse open soon we will be out of the Champions League next year and that would definitely finish Cesc off.
Steve, i don’t think it matters what our club does, cesc just wants to go home and play for his home club, unlucky for him though they cannot afford him 😉
however, forget cesc, i think majority of fans are getting fed up with us not buy a few players who have the ability to make us winners again….
cesc is replaceable, fans are not…..
Well, Cesc is under contract, and by the looks of it, AW will hold him to the terms and conditions that he signed. 🙂 …Or otherwise sell him only if the price is right. And because the stains have been annoying beyond possible belief, I’d peg his selling price over market value.
He hasn’t been in form and he knows it; and he can begin to do something about it against the chavs.
Oh and rico, you would agree, Andy Gray can be such a doughnut. 🙂
They said that about Henry and we got Bentner, i dred to see what we will get next then
I see our next captain has found a bit of trouble with his ride home from a night club, £50 grand a week but a cab fare is just to much, unbelievable sounds like another Pennant
Boo, agag, did you like your special mention today 😆
Whats that all about Steve??
Our Jack in the sun Had a barney sunday night on the way home from a night club him and his drunken mates and the cabbie reported him at the local nick watch this space
Careful, rico. You might give Torres a complex, and that might put him off signing for us. 🙂 Haha. 🙂
What’s Wilshere done now? He seems to get involved in all sorts of silly and unsavory things. Someone sit this boy down please, and sort him out. 😛
what an idiot, still, just hope he grows out of all this fast….
agag, trust me, i’d love to see him in red and white, he’d look so cute 😉
Nightynight, everyone! 🙂 rico, just you wait, we’ll get him yet. 🙂
Well, we’ve already had a preview of him in red. And it suits him perfectly… now for the white sleeves. 😀
i hope you are right agag, i really do 🙂
and yes, a red shirt looks so much better with a flash of white in the sleeve 😉 😉
nighty night, rest well agag
I’m off for the day all, be good, stay safe and catch up tomorrow…
Nighty night
I will say good night but before I go i hold out little hope of any big money signing after wenger’s latest interview.
he sais yet again club stability comes before trophies and we will have to live with that for a number of years.
The russian has aincreased his stake or will in the next few days.something surely has to give.to buy the club would cost 692 million.
new post up…