After a good display this afternoon in Singapore, Arsene Wenger hailed the contribution of Jack Wilshere, but said competition for midfield places means he may have to play out wide at times next season.
Injury and absence have made it difficult to see where exactly the England man fits into the team, and the manager says that with the amount of options he has he may have to play from the right or the left.
But he did seem to rule out Wilshere playing deeper in the midfield in the way he’s been deployed by Roy Hodgson for England.
“For me he can play in all the offensive positions,” he said, “wide and central.
“I have so many good creative players. If you ask all of them where they want to play, they will always tell you central. Unfortunately some of them have to go wide as well.”
Wenger also wants Wilshere to put his injury problems behind him so he can finally reach his potential.
“He was injured last year early in the season and he missed five months. What you want at the top level today demands so much physically that to be out is a nightmare for the players.
“That’s what he needs – continuity. Already in the last two or three games of the season he has found his burst back with acceleration.”
And let’s hope that burst remains all bursty for the rest of the season – and that there is football analysis at its very best.
Wherever he plays this guy is gonna have a monster year.
I’m hoping both he and Ox have breakthrough seasons a la Ramsey 2013-14.
All depends on staying relatively injury-free.
Dearest Jack, may your burst always remain flourishingly bursty.
May the burst be with you.
“The burst remains all bursty” is literally better analysis then Jamie Redknapp has ever given.
Off topic, but I really do not like Jose Mourinho.
Who downvoted this? Get off this website!
Who downvoted this? Get off this website!
Who down voted this? Get off this website!
Who downvoted this? Get off this website!
It is about time this guy backs up his potential on the pitch and not just talk too much off it.
but when he talks, you can’t argue with what he says, even if it’s a little redundant.
On topic, Jack is back and has been from the last few games of last season where his speed running with the ball was immense and he didn’t run into anyone and fall over…..he is back imo
The last thing we want is for anything of Jack’s to burst… *wince*
With the injury behind him I think it is best of time we see the full potential of bursty Jack. the guy is just fearless.
He just say the truth by calling spurds shit
Hey Jack! Cut down to two packs a day….and you’ll be fine mate.
I love jack and thought he looked sharp last night but even against opposition of that quality he worried me.
He holds onto the ball until the last possible second! Sometimes that works but mostly he just gets crunched.
Most of their players looked like they weighed 30kg dripping wet with steel cap boots on, so he kept getting back up after the tackles, but I fear against burlier players he’s just constantly gonna get injured playing the way he does.
i think that’s very disrespectful to the singaporean players. singapore have – by all accounts – been fantastic hosts, so no need to disparage their players like that
I take your point but I was simply making mine, his style of play is what makes him unique but it is also his biggest down fall in some ways.
I agree it was in bad taste somewhat but their players aren’t brick shit houses that are likely to hurt jack the same way some of the defenders in the epl are
He basically said they looked small, which compared to the premier League defenders, they did. So he basically just stated a fact, with some exaggeration. Don’t see how he said anything insulting. Is it insulting to be smaller than premier League defenders?
I really love his style of play. Even when they don’t come off, those marauding runs usually make something happen, pulling defenders out of position.
Not sure how he’ll fair as wide player though.
He seems to me like the most natural replacement for Cazorla.
He’d need to change his playing style quite a bit to replace Cazorla.
A fully fit squad starting the season, it would be v.difficult to pick our strongest 11, the midfield and forward options are that good
I don’t see where Wenger says Wilshere may have to play wide. What Wenger is saying is what we already know from how he can play him, Jack can play wide if need be but his central position is a stronger suit for him driving from deep. What we also know is Wenger prefers (particularly offensive) players to be multi-roled and versatile. Thereby our CF role is covered by Giroud Welbeck but also Walcott + (possibly a new attacking/wide player) Akpom Our wide positions are covered by Alexis, Ox, but also Walcott, Santi, (as above new player who can combine… Read more »
I love jack and thought he looked sharp last night but even against opposition of that quality he worried me.
He holds onto the ball until the last possible second! Sometimes that works but mostly he just gets crunched.
Most of their players looked like they weighed 30kg, so he kept getting back up after the tackles, but I fear against burlier players he’s just constantly gonna get injured playing the way he does.
Fuckin phone looked like it didn’t send. Now I’m the asshole! Ignore me boys
I think you’ll find he addressed this. He was tired of hearing he should change his style and frankly so am I. He said he won’t change it, so there you go. I mean Messi, and I’m not saying he’s Messi, has a similar style but you don’t see anyone telling him to change it. The difference, I guess, is that Messi hasn’t been injured as much. But even more glaringly clear is the fact that referees in Spain protect him at least, but out here in the PL, they don’t give a shit especially about these Arsenal players. Fuck… Read more »
The difference may be that Messi hasn’t been injured as much……or the 91 goals he scored in a year
Only Arsene could stockpile central players and the have the audacity to claim they all want to play centrally! Big year for Jack, hope he gets some time in his best position.
Why does he have to play wide? Why does Ramsey when he hates it and doesn’t do it very well? Why not just rotate/rest the four-five obvious central midfielders so as to keep them on their toes and minimise the injury risk? Don’t we have enough players who actually thrive playing wide? What about Ox and Gnabry ? There’s even Wellington who’s at least got serious pace and dribbling skills (though possibly completely unsuited to English football as he falls down all the time). OK, so maybe Ox and Gnabry aren’t good enough for the really big games but if… Read more »
Excellent point. The only way to fully utilize this squad is to rotate with a regularity yet seen. I have made the same point myself – keep players fresh and engaged, all feeling they are contributing and responsible on a regular basis. At this point strength in depth should negate the idea of a ‘first eleven’. Grinding any player into the ground during this upcoming season would be ludicrous. The thing I find really odd about Wenger’s statement is Wilshere out wide would be at whose expense and for what valid reason? Wilshere plays as an AM but he has… Read more »
I know I’ll get thumbed down for saying this… But for me, playing central players out wide is the last remaining bugbear of the wobbly Wenger years. You know, the years where he persisted with deadwood (Denilson, Bendtner, etc.), sold established stars he could perhaps have been stricter with and forced to stay, didn’t do anything about our appalling defensive record against set pieces, and so on. It makes me mad when I see a line up with a player like Ramsey or Wilshere out wide, because against big teams it nearly always fails. I don’t think you can do… Read more »
It has it’s moments of success in big games.
The failures come when there is no width provided by the fullback in my opinion.
For example against Liverpool at home, Ramsey was wide right and we still managed to stretch them because Bellerin was overlapping. Pretty sure Rambo got an assist or two that day.
I don’t necessarily *love* the idea of CM’s playing wide but Wenger has said he likes playing CM’s out there because he feels they build their touch and ability to keep the ball in tight spaces.
Both Pires and Freddie were central midfielders who0 were converted. So its a custom carried over from our most successful years and hardly a recent phenomenon
wide right it is then. he can cut in and shoot or create one two’s. but still shouldn’t start ahead of the ox.
He is no winger wenger.
Yet he is a Wenger winger.
I’m expecting the burst, but hoping for the best.
If we could play with 16 players then we could have all our midfielders playing at once. No room to play in but baby steps and all.
I predicted this a few weeks ago and got negged for it. It was obvious. His strongest trait is his direct dribbling and now seems to have added more goal scoring. He’s basically strongest at the offensive third, and considering Ozil is now the dead cert no.10, it’s only logical for him to fit in, he plays wide. It least it means we don’t have that ill-fated 4-1-4-1 with Ozil out wide to accommodate Jack (I actually consider it the biggest reason for why we have a slow start. The only hope is that Jack plays on the left, with… Read more »
“I actually consider it the biggest reason for why we have a slow start.” THANK YOU !! This is my exact thought, but i have hardly read the same… Maybe some Arsenal fans are too British to admit Wilshere as n°10 was THE reason for the terrible start of last season? No offense, just a thought.
I despised that formation.
I still don’t understand why and how in the whole preseason, Wenger didn’t use that formation once, yet decided to try it out on the first game of the season and carried on till Jack got injured.
Wilshere’s never going to play on the left for a season. That’s Alexis’ spot.
It was the best of times, it was the.. Burst of times? You stupid monkey!
lisa needs braces
““I have so many good creative players. If you ask all of them where they want to play, they will always tell you central”
Well it doesn’t help that you keep buying Central Midfielders, Wenger. I swear he says this every season, yet never points out the fact he collects so many CMs.
Jack in front of Bellerin on the right? That could be fun.
Crossing my fingers for no burst-itis
Anyone liking RVP’s move to Turkey? Not sure how the little boy inside him is feeling now.
It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times
I remember last year people kept talking about how Özil is not a wide player, how he prefers to play centrally. The year before Cazorla played a whole bunch of games out wide. Everyone says they want to play centrally, and throughout the course of the game every wide player comes in centrally every once in a while. It’s football, not chess. Also, I don’t buy this whole Jack gets injured because he holds the ball. Cazorla holds the ball, too. And really, that kind of talk lifts the onus off the shitheels who foul and puts it on the… Read more »
One of my favourite Jack performances came when he played on the right wing, against Marseille two or three years ago. He scored twice in that game and the first one was an absolute beauty. I’ve no doubt he can play there, whether it’s a regular position for him is difficult to say. You have to wonder what would happen to Theo and the Ox.