Jack Wilshere says it’s horrible when the character of the team is questioned, and says that the only answer is on the pitch, but also that the comments made by Troy Deeney following the 2-1 defeat to Watford last weekend were not justified.
In a post-game interview the Watford striker accused Arsenal of having no ‘cojones’ (balls), which was hard to argue with on the day, but then there were no Arsenal players doing likewise when Deeney and chums got turned over 3-0 at home last season.
The comments struck a nerve with the England international ahead of tomorrow’s game with Red Star Belgrade in the Europa League.
“As a player if your attitude is questioned, it’s horrible”, said Wilshere. “I look around this team and you can’t question our character.
“People try to put us down, they always have. I don’t think the comments were justified. When we look back at the game we look back at ourselves and what we did wrong. I don’t think we can look back and question our character.
“We did certain things wrong but we certainly didn’t want to let the lead slip. We will move on.
“We have a game tomorrow and another big game at the weekend and we have seen with this team that the players can bounce back quick – and we will do that.”
Whatever anyone thinks of Deeney’s comments, Wilshere’s response is the right one. Similar to Per Mertesacker earlier in the week, they say they don’t pay any heed, but you can be sure what the Watford man said will have stung.
Earlier Arsene Wenger revealed that Mathieu Debuchy is in line to start his first game of the season, having lasted just 16 minutes in his last game before injury ruled him out for the remainder of last season.
“He has not played for a long time because every time he is close to come back he is injured again,” said the manager.
“Hopefully he gets through. He certainly starts.”
Hope they are stung and respond. We need it.
Troy Deeney admitted he liked the Arsenal of old (Bergkamp, Viera, etc.) and even his kid is a gooner.
But he is employed at another club and has a job to do, so he does it.
He was also spot-on with his analysis. Not sure everyone on that team is willing to get stuck in.
It was spot on, but the worst part was it was coming from a player that couldn’t even make the bench at Arsenal. He wouldn’t say such a thing against Chelsea or united because he knows he’d probably get it pretty hard the next time they face each other. He said those comments about Arsenal knowing full well that we won’t do anything about it, and that he’ll probably bully our defenders again the next time we face each other.
I disagree with that, Deeney has a really similar scoring record to Theo Walcott, who we’ve given shit loads of games to. And he’s been playing at Watford with nowhere near the same quality of midfielders that Theo has. If you gave me the choice of having Walcott, or Troy Deeney, I genuinely would rather have Deeney – as at least he has a bit about him. He doesn’t bottle challenges or headers. He’s an old school centre forward with a decent goal scoring record and a bit of mettle, and thats not to be sniffed at in my opinion,… Read more »
Does Deeney usually play as a winger?
If not, then he really shouldn’t be compared to Theo who does usually play as a winger…
Arsenal have an extremely fluid front three, especially over the seasons when Walcott’s featured heavily. He has also actually played a lot through the middle as striker, agreed, not exclusively, but a fair amount. Enough to categorise him as a forward instead of just a winger.
So I think the comparison is fair.
@And Mack Just to clarify further – my initial point was I just disagreed with the point made that Deeney wasn’t good enough to get on the Arsenal bench.. because I definitely think he is good enough. We’ve had Bendtner and Chamakh as strikers in years not too far gone. And if you want an even fairer comparison since you had such a problem with me highlighting an Arsenal player who is probably one of the biggest underachieving players in the history of the club. Deeney only scored 2 Premier League goals less than Giroud last season… Is he that… Read more »
I’m not defending Theo, just pointing out that he shouldn’t be used in this comparison. He has been a CF some time back, but he’s predominantly a winger.
Deeney is predominantly a CF (or one of a front 2), so definately not a fair comparison….
@Iamagoober, That second paragraph is the nonsense you get when you listen to the British media today. Troy deeney is not half the goal scorer Lucas Perez is so let’s not get carried away with the has something about him nonsense. He’s a bottom 10 striker that has to be aggressive to compensate for a lack of quality. I’d rather have a striker that knows how to play football. And believe it or not, I’d take Theo over this fat cunt. If he has the same goal scoring record as the inconsistent Theo who plays as a winger than that’s… Read more »
Yes. I’m still rankled by the “men vs boys” comments Patrice Evra used to trot out. I can’t say any from our team stood up to him on those comments.
Feeney clearly brings his A game Vs the Arsenal. Imagine there is a lot of banter on these lines in Deeney household.
I only hope the team is stung enough to react long enough rather than one or two games. There is a clear pattern in the Emirates era.
Ozil was particularly culpable in terms of a player not willing to get stuck in, imo.
Yeah but Deeney was specifically talking about Per. Our big fuck off central defender.
Mertesacker won 13 aerial duels against Watford. Deeney winning his first header was not the reason we lost.
Yeah, and the goalkeeper had NO shots on goal!
I think Troy Deeney’s comments will do us more good than harm. In fact it was FAT Sam who said last year after our defeat to Crystal Palace that it’s easy to get in behind the Arsenal defence with fullbacks so high up the pitch. He basically said we are tactically naive and next thing you know Wenger started 5 at the back and we have been using that ever since.
I do expect a strong reaction from this team but the fundamental problem is none of them are pro active.
And yet, here we are, making the same mistakes again.
So I wouldn’t put your trust that things will change. Seldom has over the past 7 years tactically.
It’s not Troy Deeney’s place to discuss other teams, that really lacks class. Whenever we smash teams like Watford we always give them the benefit of the old “… are a quality side with some great players”. It’s not something I think any of our players would do, regardless of how they felt. The fact he’s right is nether here nor there. Save it for the years commentating on Ukrainian League 2 games Troy.
And what has this’guy and his team won so far? World Cup? Cups? PL? Copa America?
As a proud Ukrainian I find an idea of Troy commentating on our glorious second league games for years quite offensive
Yeah let’s have no sportsmen with an opinion. Get a grip
Sportsmen don’t go out there and ‘give em a kick and see who’s up for it’. Pie-stuffed thugs and abusive drunkards do that.
Hmmmmm, maybe we need to buy some pie-stuffed thugs instead of ‘sportsmen’ with no will to win
Completely agree with you Mein Bergkampf. You would never find an Arsenal player firing remarks as Deeney did. Gunners are built on class and it’s made clear by Wenger that his team no matter what position they are in will hold himself in the highest regard possible. Deeney’s words were definitely right on the money. Show some class and remember what you uttered when the Gunners win next time they meet Watford. Ozil is definitely blessed with immense talent but he is a lazy player. There’s a reason he’s not called up for the German national team. Bench him Wenger… Read more »
“There’s a reason he’s not called up for the German national team.” Seriously? Except for the World Cup and the European Championship?
Disrespect isn’t just words. If you read anything about Leicester’s title win you will see one of the things that fired them up for the last couple of months was all the celebratory photos on social media from our dressing room after we beat them with Welbeck’s late header : they viewed that as hugely disrespectful – that our guys assumed they were going to be champions & that Leicester were finished……
Exactly. If someone is going insult my team, it has to be me, not that fat piece of shit.
I wouldn’t go with “unjustified” – heaven knows we sometimes go out of our way to justify any criticism – but “undignified” maybe, coming from a fellow pro and all that.
So what of aw saying look where kante went as the reason we didn’t sign him. Referring he went there for the money.
We had plenty of chances to sign kante and didn’t. To infer he is money orientated is unfair. Most likely he saw a manager who was on the decline so rightly went elsewhere
Duh, it’s only bad when it’s against arsenal. Like referee decisions and the media’s comments.
100% agree Donald’s Trump. You forgot injuries though – no other team gets them either….
I’m still waiting for one of you three clowns to point out specifically where I said Arsenal were the embodiment of perfection.
Clowns. Lovely stuff eddymc2. That’s reasoned debate for you. For the record, I wasn’t commenting on what you said : I was more acknowledging the comment I specifically responded to which I fully agree with…reading it back I’m unsure that those comments were really replying to you either.
Then don’t piggyback, if you’re not responding to something I said. That goes for all three of you.
Calm down ffs. I responded to you perfectly reasonably, despite your clown comment.
Sign jack up and make him the Captain. He has more balls than the rest of them put together. They wouldn’t get away with that shit if he was on the pitch as captain.
So many balls that he left to Bournemouth because he didn’t want to fight for his place.
Really? What exactly has he contributed more of?
I actually agree with this. Jack needs to keep healthy, however.
Who cares about what some Treeney guy has to say…
Has Jack signed dat thing? Somebody give him that thing so he can sign dat thing. Of the three running contracts, he’s the only one with team contribution.
When is this team contribution you mention? I like jack but let’s be honest he’s barely played for the last few years and Ozil and Sanchez have contributed more goals, assists, passes, miles ran.
So much revisionism here
unfortunately i think jack is only speaking for himself because lets be honest a lot of his team mates are soft.
No balls… which was hard to argue against on the day… the problem is with this cheap deflating reporting… try getting behind the team…arseblog used to make me laugh now it’s a home for would be managers/ owners
I love jack but if he really is looking around and not questioning our character I suggest he has another quick look.
Why doesn’t someone ask a direct question like “so, if you cannot question the character or effort of the players, then why did Xhaka just stand there and watch for that entire time until they scored”?
Because he was picking his bogey, unfortunately the goal went in before he had a chance to eat it.
Crazy idea. Jack for next Arsenal captain. I think this is exactly what we need, love and pride for The Arsenal.
Wilshere becoming an irreplaceable CM captain for us is the stuff of my dreams. He is this generation’s Mr Arsenal. Would love to see how the captaincy influences his character. Passion for Arsenal isn’t lacking. Would be great to see how he behaves as a leader.
The manner in which the English media have celebrated Troy Deeney as some kind of hero sums up what English football is about I’m afraid. He can’t play for shit but he gets stuck in and kicks people to see if they’re up for it.
To me it’s not even that they appreciate what he’s saying or approve of his tactics. It’s just he’s criticizing Arsenal so they’re all in, the wankers.
Where has he been celebrated as a hero? Provide a link, no such thing has happened, they’ve just reported what he’s said.
Deeney said he went onto the pitch and looked to hit the first person which just shows he had no intention to play football. Its not about balls, its about playing football. I’m sure the likes of Per and Holding could beat Deeney up, but they were trying to play football. And its a lot harder for defenders, if they do what Deeney said and aimed to hit him once he got on, you can bet he would flop and we would concede a free kick in a dangerous position. balls my arse. i’ve played against strikers like deeney and… Read more »
Costa is just as physical and far better technically than Deeney with far more sly tricks up his sleeve, but BFG and Holding had him in their pocket in the cup final, I don’t think the reason we lost is as simple as Troy Deeney coming on and throwing himself into challenges.
Disagree with Wilshere here. There is a desire problem at the club and his time in the senior team has long suffered from this problem. Still, really like Wilshere and its probably the right thing to say. Hope he does the full 90 tomorrow.
Deeney was spot on, like it or not
A blunt object like that is never spot on.
The way we play, we invite these sort of criticism.
No point exhibiting fight for a short duration and then succumb to an implosion after another. Lets get some consistency here.
I mean Watford aren’t even better than some of the Europa teams we are facing. Why are we intent on making them look better than they are? Typical.
I dont understand why Deeney would say that to be honest. You can be assured enxt time the 2 teams meet, Arsenal will make it their mission to set things straight and likely wallop them.
Lol, because arsenal always learn their lesson!
Next time, always next time..
If they do get stuck into Deeney then we can expect to finish with less than 11 players on the pitch…
in this league if you dont put away your chances you just know you will pay for it. that is when the team needs to man up and fight for everything, close players down, etc.
what was wenger doing but sitting on his hands.
he needs to be on the touchline urging his players on.
hate deeney but cant fault what he said. its happens too often to just dismiss away.
No matter what Denney said if Arsenal did the same we would never finish a game with 11 men we are refereed differently just look at our bookings and sendings off compared to what other teams get away with.
I think we do remarkably well considering the inconsistencies of referees
I can easily recall many an Arsenal team, Wenger teams at that, who periodically went down to 10 men, but had the determination and togetherness to close ranks and still win the game, even at Anfield for example when Giovanni Van Bronckhost was harshly red carded and we still beat them, won the Double that year as well, those teams had character, this team lacks it.
Yep. Unfortunately we’ve also had teams that collapse when a player is sent off (often the same teams that won similar games).
You’re right, but that’s more of a recent trend, the teams Wenger had at his disposal earlier in his reign were more resilient and more likely to cope going down to 10 men, that’s when we were constantly being penalised and reminded of how many red cards yadda yadda yadda.
if i was a professional player I would have gone on tv and ripped sweeny off for all the prior patings we gave them. My point is why are we trying to be so nice and diplomatic the whole time?
Fuck it, a footballer actually said something that means something in a post-match interview for once.
I’d take that over, “well, y’know, all credit to the lads really, we all pulled together, been working hard in training, and we stayed focused and eventually managed to get three points” any day of the week.
Look on the bright side Jack.
We can improve, but Deeney will always look like a Lystrosaurus.
He took the piss out of the team. I think they deserved to hear it, regardless from another professional or not. Look, we do all do the same. When one of our lads dives, he’s earning a foul, proper like – the other team does it, they’re diving cunts. Double standards. I’m glad he said this. It’s obviously gnawing at the team. Good. Maybe they can springboard from this, instead of Arsene’s usual pregame cuppa and cuddle.