Arsene Wenger has revealed the latest team news ahead of tomorrow night’s Champions League clash with Monaco.
And the only bad news is that Jack Wilshere is a doubt, having been ‘rested’ in training today according to Arsene Wenger. The midfielder had made the bench for the trip to Selhurst Park and was expected to be part of the squad for the game against the French side, but will most likely miss out.
However, the manager insists there has been no setback, and expects him to ‘certainly’ be involved for the weekend when Arsenal face Everton at the Emirates.
Other than that there are no fresh injuries to worry about with everyone involved against Crystal Palace at the weekend available for selection.
17 year old Pole Krystian Bielik trained with the first team squad this morning.
Typical Arsenal:
>Ready on the weekend
>No setback during the 3/4 days that separate the two games
>Not ready for second game.
If it wasn’t supremely annoying, I would laugh, not that Jack was likely to start anyway.
Aren’t you a cheery chap?
Probably came across wrong haha; by no means a criticism of Jack or the Arsenal staff, but rather just baffled about how someone can be available, and then otherwise without a setback. Cheers x
Show some respect, do you know how hard the bench is?!?
Forever COYG!!!
K
Slow news day?
Monaco simply isn’t the match for Jack to knock off some rust.
They found a tobacco smell on his breath?
Haha! I just watched the press conference on the website, and I swear when they were asking him why Wilshere won’t be involved it sounded like he said “He was wasted” and I was like ‘As if Jack going out on the smash is just an accepted thing now hahah!’
All being well he’ll be back for Everton though, hopefully Ramsey or the Ox too!
Funny how the injury gods slumber in 2nd half of the season. The only sacrifice they seem to require at this point is poor old Diaby.
But why always Arsenal?
oh no, so we’re going to have to rely on santi, alexis, ozil, etc?
*sad face*
*Evil Smile*
Rubs the big fat chin 🙂
LETS PLAY ROSICKY AND CAZORLA WITH WELLBECK AND SANCHEZ AND A REST FOR MESUT
Yeah, and let’s see Monaco grabbing the next round!
I liked it simply because you capitalized the whole thing. I have no idea why you did that but it was nice. I don’t know why. It just was. In the future though, typing in small would suffice nicely.
I thumbed this up in the belief that it was sarcastic. I hope it was…
He needs all the rest he can get Everton should be a good fixture for him to return…
Uhmm…how about we secure 3rd place first, than yeah we can unleash young Jack.
in my opinion w have really missed a wilshere or ramsey, yes we have a lot of attacking midfielders but we really lack the box to box type, someone to link defense to attack, tomas could do it but in my opinion he is too light weight, wilshere did it superbly along side alex, hope to have him soon coz i think thats the reason our attack seemed so disjointed the past few games
I agree, we miss Jack, a player who doesn’t goal, doesn’t assist, doesn’t create, loses balls and is selfish. That’s the way to fight for the 4th place at best.
The start of the season with him as n°10 instead of Mesut and Caz was more than brilliant and we’ve truly been s*** without him lately.
Don’t know what’s worse, the fact that you’ve turned on our best academy prospect for years or the fact that you actually just said “doesn’t goal”.
Second thoughts, I do.
“Doesn’t goal”?
That’s a paddlin’
“n°10”?
Oh, you better believe that’s a paddlin’
Blogs loves a Simpsons reference
I think he had a mental image of podiuming with that abuse of the language, he really thought he would medal it
he rarely goals though 🙂 but personally i think we miss Arteta or Ox a little bit more, Jack’s form has not been quite up to Arsenal standards lately me thinks
I think you’re probably right. We miss Arteta & the pre-injury version of the Ox more than we do Wilshere, but Wilshere was starting to gain form this season before he got injured. I’m disappointed that he got hurt because I had hoped that he would build into the form that saw him bossing Barca’s midfield in the Champions League a few seasons ago. Oh well. Now he can start to rebuild again until the end of this season, only to get injured again in some meaningless international friendly over the summer just to start the whole process over again… Read more »
“Doesn’t goal” I’m in stitches. HAHAHA!
No need to be so facetious, he’s been struggling but a player with his talent is a usfeul thing to have, especially against a team like Monaco that will defend deep.
Loved Jack when he first came through, but here is a sobering stat for a bloke who wears the No 10 for Arsenal.
134 Senior game for us, Bolton & England…..6 goals!
Some context anyone?
Santi – 132 games , 27 goals
Rambo – 210 games, 33 goals
Jack should be nowhere near the 1st team at the moment, we need to get more out of him I’m afraid..
Stats show a glaring flaw there, true. He should have many more than that. But really, jack has something to give the team that no other player in the squad does. Well some do, but not as well.
Arsene likes jack because of the penetration he brings, box to box and through defenses. That aggressiveness in the middle, and we’ve really missed that especially with some of the bus parks we’ve played in.
….and we’ll get that by not playing him?
Exactly, he needs to play for sure… And I have no doubt he’s going to put in some great performances now he’s back. Better even just to leave this argument. He’ll sort it where it counts.
Also incorrect. He has 11 goals.
Not hugely more than you said but if you’re going to damn a bloke with statistics, at least get them right 😉
For whatever reason, injuries or? Jack has not really developed his game. Too much play with the heart and not enough cerebral maturity, ie; reading the game and using the space or otherwise around him, imo. He is mostly frustrating to watch and can be the weakest link, rather too often.
Jesus this is a ridiculous stat to break out.
Do you know how many goals Xavi scored for Barcelona in his first 125 games?
13! 13 goals. He must have been rubbish too.
In fact, I’m wrong on that. he scored 10 goals in his fist 152 games so there we go…
Xabi Alonso for Real Madrid: 236 games, 6 goals
Xavi Hernandez for Spain: 133 games, 12 goals
Patrick Vieira for France: 107 games, 6 goals
Tony Kroos for Bayern Munich: 130 games, 13 goals
Statistics do show that we have higher winning percentages when whilshere doesn’t play- injured or not.
Statistics show a lot of things though. For example, every game we’ve won against Barcelona in the last 5 years involved Wilshere playing an integral part, or was it the 2-2 where he played Xavi/Iniesta off the park?
Gareth Bale never won a game for something like his first 19 games for Tottenham, I don’t think he’s a bad player though; probably not 80m worth, but good.
By that fact alone, we should bring back Arshavin.
That is disingenuous, the stats don’t take into account the quality or nature of the opposition. Wilshere helps, full stop. good at taking the ball forward quickly decent passer and allows for greater rotation.
The stone Builderarch rejected…
…or was that Aaron?
You never know with masons.
I guess the ozil bashing train has passed and the wilshere one has arrived. Who will they target next after wilshere…alexis maybe? these guys have no class.
Wilshere has been in decline since his breakthrough season.
He has resorted to embarrassing play acting and diving EVERY single time a player touches him. And that mentality/attitude is EXACTLY why he will never succeed, especially in one of the toughest positions, centre mid.
Coquelin provides such a stark contrast to Wilshere when he plays. You can see how much determination and passion he has. Never gives up, gets stuck in and believes in his own ability, rather than cheating.
Kind of reminds me of Wilshere when he played with the attitude of a life long Arsenal Fan.
I think you mean teams have resorted to embarrassing thuggery when facing Wilshere, by kicking him every time he gets the ball. He is coming back from a broken ankle, given to him by Manc cunt Paddy McNair, who got nowhere near the ball and slid straight into Wilshere’s ankle. And it wasn’t even a foul. You should be angry with cunts like McNair.
Just because Wilshere isn’t playing as well as he can right now doesn’t mean he cheats or that he’s lost his passion for the club. Cunt.
Tomas would kick wilshere and Ramsey’s arises put together. And stop banging on about jack 6yrs ago. One good game doesn’t make you Messi. Chamakh’s had 2 good games so he must maradonna
Sad part is TR will probably be the first to be sacrificed when both are available.
Arteta, Jack & Ramsey out.
When was the last time we missed 3 key midfielders for a champions league fixture and didn’t fear the worst?
Love the squad depth!
There’s something very depressing about certain fans wishing injuries on their own players that they supposedly support. If some of you had even the slightest knowledge about football, you will realise that someone in the mould of Jack or Rambo is what we’re missing right now to play with our defensive midfielder.
I think this second half of the season will be interesting for young jack as you kinda get the feeling he is up against it with the competition for places – is it too soon to say it is sink or swim time for jack?
Totally agree. Jack has his moments but they are few and far between.
Everyone would be happier if he showed more consistency than histrionics.
As you note, the competition for places is now stiff and Jack has to earn his place. The latter half of the season will underline his progress or lack thereof…but the strength in depth will ensure out of form ‘favorites’ will become a luxury Arsenal do not need to indulge.
I think he gets a little more leeway due to his injury issues, if he was constantly playing and showing no progress then I reckon he’d be close to his way out already. I still don’t know about whether his mentality is progressing well enough though, maybe everything is being blown out of proportion but it seems like he’s fighting frustration on the pitch and that might indicate something else. Then again, Suarez bites people and Costa would do anything to an opponent to get an advantage, and it doesn’t harm their ability to play, so a bit of spikiness… Read more »
Jack off, Coq in!
Where’s that damn coat?
In order to start to be able to rotate some of the key attacking players during the upcoming hectic stretch we need to get Wilshere and Chamberlin fit at a minimum. The only rotation in midfield and forward I see Wenger doing is bringing Walcott in for Welbeck at times. He is back to seemingly not wanting to start Rosicky when Carzola and Ozil are available, but hopefully he will give him a run as a starter in one of the upcoming matches.
Win or lose,I am not giving my jack and coke a miss.That being said Ooooosssssppeeennaaa needs to calm his ass and we will win this..I see an Akpom goal somewhere..Alexis too! COYG!
My crush over Wilshere is over. He is always a phenomenon when he is injured. He is not the saviour and he will only disrupt the current rythm this team is just like when he created confusion in team selection when he played.
He is the Cesc Fabregase problem of Barcelona at Arsenal.
We’ve played better this season without Wilshere in the team and that’s a fact.
This is not due to Jack.
It has everything to do with stability across the back 4.
We did not have that first half of season.
Jack scored some great goals for us this season.
He is an asset driving forward. He has to take a page from what Santi does and perform the same function in his won way.
Your sort of comment is the same sort of rubbish spewed against say Santi before he found form again.
Utter nonsense. Fact.
i believe jack has scored one and assisted one in the prem. he didn’t exactly light it up when he had the chance.
It’s hard to take a page from Santi when you are so very 1 footed. Maybe a page from Rosicky perhaps.
Our form improved just before Christmas.
To put that all on one player is insanity.
Probably risky to have introduced Jack against Monaco even if it is a home game.
This is a very important game and should not be taken lightly. Best to play with players already in sync with the team. The more familiarity the better.
Next game against Everton can also be a tricky one. With Rosicky or Santi available to slot next to or around Coquelin (or Flamini), we should be sufficient till maybe the game against Newcastle.
Hopefully we get Ox back soon as well as well.
Some people really need to use their heads over their hearts regarding Wilshire.He got injured because he over ran the ball as he always does instead of passing the ball simply.
Tbh I think that, of our attack minded English players, the ox is the best prospect followed by welbeck – not sure who would come third and forth between Walcott and Wilshire but I think both have not lived up to their potential!!! I guess the best way of looking at it would be to compare them with players in the same position at chavski, oil Barron city, manure and liverbore – would Walcott or Wilshire get into either of those squads?
If u gonna look at stats for creative midfielders surely assists would be a better method, not that jack would fair much better with those numbers either.
Not bashing just saying I think any gooner who claims to be pleased with his development so far would be lying – and since he’s been out Santi has been one of our best players, just saying 😀
Not Jack bashing but Jack needs to up his game soon. He must gain the trust of his fellow players in our build up play. he loses the ball a lot when teams play tight. when he is given space and time he looks special. He brings other qualities to the team. He can still pick out a pass at long range. But when he does burst into or around the box he runs out of ideas. And isnt santi taking up his slot? As all players he is a confidence player and likes to be the main man which… Read more »
I have always been a big fan of Wilshere. Always plays with a lot of heart. Hates to lose. Never backs down. Incredible burst of speed. Gives his everything every single match. No way does he deserve any sort of bashing.
I think stats are interesting but by no means perfect. One will always find some stats to support a certain point of view. In that way stats are quite dangerous and should be carefully analysed and taken into consideration. And whilst I think Jack hasn’t set the world on fire with his displays so far, it seems to be a common “Arsenal-fan trait” to at least bash and blame one player per week. Suggestions like ” its his own fault for being injured” and “he dwells too much on the ball” are frankly retarded. Wilshere is all about ball retention,… Read more »