Arsene Wenger says he’s had a word with Jack Wilshere about his latest ‘smoking’ indiscretion but says he’s not massively interested in the furore.
The England international was seen holding a shisha pipe on his girlfriend’s Instagram feed at the weekend leading to accusations in the press, in light of Wojciech Szczesny’s recent shower fag, of a ‘smoking culture at the club.
Dismissing such claims as nonsense, the boss highlighted Wilshere’s dedication to his wellbeing by revealing the player has worked hard to ensure he returns ahead of schedule from the ankle surgery that has sidelined him since November.
“I’ve spoken with him about that [smoking] and he’s not a smoker. He is of course sorry for what has happened. It’s down to him to master his life. He had the day off the next day and he went out to watch the Superbowl.
“When he’s here he has to follow the rules that we dictate here, when he’s out of his job it’s his own responsibility to behave like he wants to behave. I don’t think there’s any more to add on that. I believe his photo has been taken at half past 12 when he watched the Superbowl. I don’t know any more of what happened and it’s not of a big interest.
“You’re always worried for your players that they get what they don’t deserve,” added Wenger.
“I think I observe him well and he behaves in a very professional way, I must say. Every morning he’s certainly one of the first in and every afternoon certainly the last out. He works very hard, he’s gone through some bad spells in his career and always recovered. It would be wrong to give him that kind of reputation because he’s a serious player and he works very hard.
“You have been 23 as well. You need sometimes to relieve the pressure a bit. I think today it’s much more difficult because everywhere you go people make photos and a photo shows one second of your life. It doesn’t define who you are.”
Drawing attention to the regular attention he himself attracted while enjoying Brazilian beach life during the World Cup, Wenger accepted that there’s a need to be on guard given the technological onslaught of camera phones and alike.
“I believe you have to take that with a distance as well. I remember when I was in Brazil, I have been seen with some photos by people I didn’t even know were around me so you have to be very careful about that.
“I believe he works hard, he practices well, he’s ahead of schedule in his training, he’s two weeks ahead, and you don’t do that if you are not serious. As I told you, he is first in, last out, and he works very hard to get there. I am not worried at all about that.”
So another storm in a teapot. In fairness if this is the big issue of the day going into a north London derby you can only assume that things are going well at the Arsenal.
Wilshere’s response yesterday was to post a picture of himself wearing a Bane mask and doing lots of fast running.
The intensity of his workout made Arseblog News break out into a sweat…but that could have been the crack we were smoking.
Wenger is such a bro.
That’s why the players throughout his coaching career love him. Disciplined, commands your respect and got your back.
you have to admire the way he protects the players…he has exceptional top top quality on that front.
The mental strength he displays with the press day after day is a sign of his class.
You know what they say; form is temporary…
Class is little-bit permanent?
In all honesty, it must take legitimate mental strength to not flip your lid in front of all those damn “journalists”
yeah absolutely. if I were in Wilshere’s position, I’d be very careful not to let him down now.
Absolutely agree. Storm in a teapot sums it up nicely, Wenger knows it and does what any good manager would do; shut the media down.
First In, Last Out
Sounds like an accounting method
Used to be my favourite player. Now he’s an absolute idiot. I mean you make a mistake one time, maybe twice but three times is a joke
When I look back on my 20’s I cringe. You do stupid things on a regular basis. You think you know it all. But I expect you were 100% perfect.
Wilshere has been with the club since he was 9 or something stupid, the guy gives 100% on the pitch and is super talented. Give him some respect ffs.
I agree 100%. And I will go as far to say Jack having a few smokes may be a minor mistake, but on a very personal level and with nothing to do with the club. If he wants to occasionally smoke hookah in his personal time, and the club doesn’t think that would affect his performance, then he should do what he fucking wants and not need to apologize for it. I thought his last smoking “fiasco’ did not require that over-the-top apology about how he has kids and wants to be a good role model or what not. He… Read more »
It is no coincidence we are playing the best football of the season without Jack Wilshere. If some other team is willing to pay GBP20-25mm for our self-proclaimed ‘future captain of the England team’ then he should be sold. Sometimes less is more. Look how much better Chelsea are after getting rid of David Luiz. I believe the rise of Coq and Bellerin has excited all Arsenal fans. Letting Wilshere leave in the Summer so he can go worry about his image elsewhere, will allow the likes of Zelalem or Crawley a chance to show what they can do in… Read more »
Disagree about Jack. Though I certainly agree that many Arsenal supporters are being excited by the rise of the Coq.
Yes .We have Cazorla,Ozil and Rosicky,we don’t need him.We still want him stay just because we love him,not because of his performance……………………..
Surely wrt David Luiz less is actually less..? He was/is a terrible defender and it’s no surprise that Chelski are better off without him. Less crappy defenders = less goals conceded, no?
puff in, puff out. Wilshere is a serious ho :d
Glad to hear it.
Now get fit, be back to your best and shut these people up!
Has the chance to be fantastic but gives the impression that he doesn’t give a toss when he appears in the press like this. Difficult – he has lots of money, attention that I’m not sure I could cope with.
Hope he can master himself and come back stronger over the next years, will be an top, top player if so.
And by the way some of the press are w*nkers who love to get us supporters going.
If you are pictured smoking you better be home grown. Third time and it’s just a storm in a teacup and all that but if you are Moroccan then you are this you are that …
The difference between the two is that the Moroccan was taken out of the team on top of his game because a better or in form player was around and for Jack a better player or one in better form will have to be taken out of the team when he returns
I prefer home grown but Moroccan is a good smoke too in fairness….hang on, am I getting the wrong end of the stick ?
His maturity or lack of it shows in his game on the pitch. He needs to engage his brain more often, less brawn.
Is the Bane mask to avoid an accidental, involuntary smoke?
Could it not be the exact opposite? And could you imagine Bane with JW’s voice?!
No its a hands-free shisha
they all have to wear them when szcz is about
A sort of anti-smoking chastity belt for the face? LOL
It’s more a deterrent, so it gives him an idea of what his voice will sound like if he continues to smoke.
Wilshere has to be careful. He is a real talent but football at the top demands more than just talent. Diacipline is the watchword. I hope he lives up to what we saw on that night about 4 years ago at the Emirates when he singlehandedly bossed the midfield against leading lights like Xavi and Iniesta. I really hope so.
Wenger is right but it doesn’t change wilsheres situation. He’s an incredibly talented player who people have seen not develop in the wah he should have (due to injuries which are no fault of his own for the most part). Every time he pops up with something like this it just reminds everyone of how he’s failing to live up to his potential and makes it seem like he himself isn’t taking that seriously enough. It’s up to him to make nonsense of that and I hope he does.
Why do you know it does not change W10 situation ?? I think Wenger will project every players in front of media but in the place where have only him and W10, he will explain for him and ask him not to do it again.
If I am Wilshere, if someone protects me, I will try my best to give him back my best. Its the best way to do in this situation.
The man is Arsenal through and through. Anyone fan who’s got influenced by the media has unintentionally contributed to their sensationalist tendencies.
* Any fan
Wil-shisha a chav….get rid.
There’s already crazy competition in midfield, this behaviour won’t make it any easier for him to retain his place with the form of the other lads. I like Wilshere but he needs to prove his worth for sure.
I’d love to see a video like that of Alexis. Then again, I guess it’d be hard to record footage, what with all the steam that rises from his sweat.
I guess the Daily Mail is full of comments from failed useless on Benefits parents wailing about Wilshere being a role model who fail to realise that that is their job, not Jack Wilshere’s.
When I was in the military the people who smoked where generally fitter, faster and had more endurance than the non smokers who were a bunch of wimps (this was in 1976 when there were more smokers than today)
Comment: This is why Wenger’s players respect him so much, he shields then even if he knows they were wrong, but Jack needs to sit the f*ck up though
I really like Jack and want him to succeed because he’s a proper Arsenal boy but it doesn’t seem like we play very well when he’s in the side. In fact, I’m embarrassed to admit that when I beard he was coming back my innital reaction was “Oh ffs!” :/
I generally prefer all our players to be injury free, and Wilshere is no exception, but I have to admit I don’t like the idea of Wenger squeezing him into the starting 11 no matter what. Cazorla’s probably the one to go, and that’s just madness given how well he’s playing.
Agreed. Jack has to earn his place in any starting 11. Otherwise I will be seriously pissed off at loosing a more focused player…. We will see.
maybe he’s first in, last out, then that means that Alexis never leaves?
What a fall from grace Wilshere has had. All i can remember from his performances are the countless times he dives and his embarrassing play acting. He resorts to cheating and simulation and his gameplay revolves around it. Multiple times caught smoking and drinking. Poor image. He is far too soft to be a central midfielder. Coquelin and Rambo have endless work rates and never give up hustling. And he is definitely not good enough to be a playmaker when we have Ozil and Cazorla to choose from. Can’t see any circumstance that would get into the first team. Unless… Read more »
Hats off to Wenger, a lot of managers would of slaughtered Wilshere due to the media pressure and coverge, not ours. Let’s not forget Adams, worse than Wilshere in terms of his lifestyle, and Mr Arsenal didn’t do too bad with his winners medals did he? Le Proffessor knows how to handle his players. Anyone who disagrees with how he handled this situation go and join the ‘everyone hates us’ campaign in Fulham.
Adams was a central defender and only had to do short sprints here and there. Fitness was rarely an issue. Only goalkeepers run less than central defenders. Can you imagine Adams trying to play like Rosicky in his mid-30s? How about playing like Alexis? Cazorla? Adams wouldn’t last 20 minutes in the shoes of those players. Wilshere should use players like that as examples, not Adams, and they don’t seem to have too many “lifestyle issues”. As for Wenger handling his players – it only works if the player is willing to listen. Adams listened. Bendtner didn’t. Let’s hope Wilshere… Read more »
Not really the point I was making.. He shouldn’t use an arsenal legend and all time great who suffered from similar media pressure and came out the other side with a premier league winners medal as an example to improve his off the field attitude? Ok. Bendtner, self proclaimed lord? Awful example sorry pal.
Give the kid a fucking break. He’s 23, hyped up needlessly by the fucking media as England’s saviour, only to shoot him down the very second he loses form. And to add to this our fucking fan base also heap unnecessary pressure on his career, which is stalling not even because of anything of his own fault. Most of it stem from injuries, rather unfortunate ones I must say. And you lot are playing saint over a social smoke? I can tell you half of us don’t even have control of our lives at a later age, and here we… Read more »
He is ALREADY 23 and has been praised for years as the England saviour and what has he done? Being a burden to the team at the start of the season! When he was out or leaving the pitch, the team was lookin better! He was taking the n10 role while creating nothing (the sooo bad Özil was easily leading the key passes charts!), scoring nothing. Wilshere has the attitude of an arrogant mediocre player. If England wants a saviour, let’s consider Walcott or Ox!
I agree. Wilshere’s first instinct is to go to ground or to score the goal of the season via the most intricate passing move.
Players like Welbeck, Ox etc run themselves into the ground and have had much more success. Hard work pays off.
https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/wilshere.jpg
errr… have you maybe thought about it, it might not have been his fault… at the start of the season, we were without our established CB pair… maybe it was more down to that, than wilsheres involvement… not to mention, how great he was for England, when he was playing the deep lying playmaker role, which suits him very well IMO… he could play against weaker sides as a DM, or against stronger teams with Coquelin as the other midfielder, wouldn’t it be good?
The wins with/without argument is so stupid it’s not even wrong. You think we wouldn’t have smashed Villa if Wilshere was in the side? Conversely, do you think taking Wilshere out of the team would have helped against Dortmund or Chelsea away
Yes, I do. The team plays more coherently as a team without him in it, imo. An unpopular view but hey ….
he tanked that chance against chelsea. but i totally agree these stats are pointless. If they had some meaningful disaggregation of position or midfield numbers, that might be worth a look. stats in general can be very misleading and not really a reliable metric unless you take in other factors in football.
So according to Arsene all of his players are the first in and last out, he says the same about all
Whenever somebody is talking about professionalism of a player he uses phrase “first in, last out”. Every single one of them is arriving first and leaving last? It makes you wonder if footballers ever leave training ground at all.
His behavior obviously doesn’t have much of an impact on his footballing skills, but I do question his judgement – he knows full well how much of a mess it always turns into.
He needs to grow up! And show some maturity both on and off the pitch, imo..
have you seen how haggard and puffy he looks?
This is the problem, he puts himself in silly positions. As for the ‘he’s only 23’ argument – there are hundreds of other players around the leagues who are 23 or less not caught in compromising situations. Whenever Wilshere is discussed it seems sad that one night in Barcelona from years ago has to be referred to as his justification. No other player would be extended this pass. The talent is there but he has a routine at Arsenal. He forces plays which are invariably about Wilshere, not so much the team. He is pet of Wenger, feels entitled so… Read more »
I used to really like Jack when he owned the same BBQ as me – a nice little number from B&Q with integrated bin and bottle opener. But last year he clearly thought he was better than the “common fan” by upgrading to a much larger brick and gas BBQ. So fuck him.
Nearly spat my tea over my laptop!
Well done! 🙂 🙂
People smoke ffs. The press wanna leave the guy alone.
I started smoking at 13 and at 15 i was fit enough to race in an international road race. So what he likes a fag theres plenty of good sportsmen and women that do.
Im sure when he comes back from this injury hell be fitter and stonger than before. Go on jack ya little gooner we love ya.
WIlshere has incredible natural talent, that’s plain to see. I think it’s fair to suspect his mentality though, he seems to have a very angry temprament which gets him into lots of trouble on the pitch. He also hangs onto possession too long for my liking – a better player will always try to release the ball asap but that’s just imo. Hard to know what will become of Jack but it’s natural to fear his career will not be as successful as it might have been considering his ability. Naturally I hope I’m wrong.
I don’t know about you, but I’m blaming Chamakh’s shisha smokin’ peer pressure on this one. Him and that lazy fat ass Taarabt.
The bane mask is to protect him from the black lung lol
I read it as “a serious poo”
There seems to be an expectation, and at times demand that every player be a paragon of virtue and a perfect entity striving towards optimal performance. Unfortunately since players are also human they have flaws, a fact which seems to escape many people so eager to cast the first stone. It’s a bit much when people who are older, who grew up without the superhuman expectations of competitive football and lad culture, and whose every move isn’t scrutinized wax eloquent about Jack’s lack of professionalism. Certainly it is easy to claim that since he is getting paid millions to be… Read more »
“… how many of us have optimized every second of our lives towards meeting the expectations of our profession?”
Well, I’m reading this while at work …
And how about the simple idea you undertsand you have a high profile so you do some ‘questionable’ things in private?
If you can’t grasp that you are either dense and do not care or want to get caught.
Oddly, as I have noted hundreds of yound professionals do understand the priveleged position they are in and behave accordingly – no one is demanding anything of Jack which is not expected from thousands of other professionals across the leagues.
when you have a career blighted by so many injuries, it’s not always easy. i think the boy is really serious about his football. to me, he breathes and lives arsenal. at least when he’s on the field. on any given day, there’s no one prouder than him to be playing for arsenal.
I’m not saying i condone his actions, but to question his professionalism is utter shite. he might be earning millions, but as some people think, money isn’t everything. i just wish the lad well, get back, and show what you’re made of. c’mon jack.
i rate wilshere at the bottom of our midfield options – ox, ozil, cazorla, ramsey, coq, ros, sanchez, walcott, even gnabry . the worst thing about jack is he’s arsenal through and through so everyone believes he should walk into a starting 11 even though he produces very little and the team plays better without him. it’s at the point where it seems even jack is taking his place for granted. there is too much competition for places in this team and there are guys who are better than jack that clearly want it more. when he comes back i’d… Read more »
I don’t think he walks into our XI. He’s got a lot of work to do before that happens. It’s just people like me remember fondly the 16/17 year old who dominated games for us against opposition of barcelona calibre even. We want him back. Arsene knows he is worth waiting for.
So how come chamakh was cricitized for smoking shisha despite doing it “when he was out of the job”?
If scz was the one in wilshere’s place, would wenger be this lenient? ?
I like wilshere and all, but wenger is contradicting himself here. Smoking at the showers or at a party is the same thing.
Personally I think if you’re last name isn’t zidane, you have no excuse to be smoking as a pro athlete.
a photo shows one second of your life. It doesn’t define who you are.”
after a few years we can surely collect some of his quotes
and call them
A lesson in Wengerism
And up at anfield they now know what were smoking down here.
If Coquelin is anything to go by, one should never write off young players. 23yrs is a critical age where top level players either translate experience into practice successfully or stay stagnated. The likes of Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott and Ramsey all suffered a bit of stick when younger as their game was not complete. They all came good at around the same age, 23yrs. We have currently Welbeck, Coquelin, Ox, Campbell and Jack around this age.This is not coincidence. Wenger has ensured a spread of experience players (Giroud, Koscielny, Rosicky, Per, Monreal, Debuchy Flamini, Arteta), players in their prime (Santi,… Read more »
I couldn’t care less about his smoking and the media should stop picking on him.
What I do care about is the way dribbles into people and falls over!