Jack Wilshere says he never gave up hope of earning a recall to the England national team after finally forcing his way back into the squad for the first time since Euro 2016.
The midfielder was overlooked by Gareth Southgate in the first half of the season with the Three Lions boss concerned by a lack of game time.
Recovering from a fractured leg sustained at the tail-end of last season – and with a history of injury setbacks on his CV – Arsene Wenger initially opted to limit Wilshere’s exposure to the Europa League and Carabao Cup. Since December however, the 26-year-old has featured much more prominently making 16 Premier League appearances.
“It’s always an honour to play for my country – I’ve said that many times,” Wilshere said when asked about the recall.
“I never gave up hope – I believed in myself and I believed in my ability. It was just about getting games in the Premier League, as the manager said. I’ve done that and now it’s down to me to repay him.”
He added: “There was always that little bit of hope that I’d get back in there. I put the pressure on earlier in the season and the manager made it clear what he wanted me to do.
“I’ve done that and it’s down to me to repay him and prove to everyone I can still perform at that level.”
Speaking after Arsenal secured safe passage to the quarter-finals of the Europa League, where they will play CSKA Moscow, Wilshere also touched on how he and his teammates have arrested the alarming downturn in form that saw them lose four games on the bounce.
“Everyone is giving a little bit more physically when things don’t go our way,” he noted after a third consecutive win for the Gunners.
“If you’re having a bad game, or things aren’t going your way, the one thing you can always promise is that you’ll run around.
“You have to give your all and I think we’re doing that. We had a few bad results and everyone had a good hard look at themselves, and we have responded.
“We have responded with three big performances and we have set the bar now. We need to do that week in, week out.”
A fantastic season for Jack,
hope he caps it by winning the Europa and having a good world cup
Then signing a new deal for The Arsenal!
Yeah exactly! The way he’s spoken regarding Wenger in this article, it seems like he’s still got massive respect for him and the club. Hopefully he’ll sign da ting!!
He is speaking about Southgate in this article not Wenger lol
Ahhh but of course..oops
I like the approach of drawing the team together to get solutions. It is a common Wenger approach. The team have seemed v united recently with good results.
It’s surely better than Maureen’s approach of telling everybody the club has always been shite and that he doesn’t understand why everybody is so angry about losing to a team with a negative goal difference in its own league.
Please stay mate
Still not convinced with Koscielny. He isn’t that great in finals and knockout rounds. IMO he is the weakest link in this team. Mustafi is playing with much more freedom without Kos as he gets to call the shots in defence. Let’s hope Kos is saving it for a set piece header against Atleti in the final. Kos needs to step up big time. Needs to start acting like a captain.
Kos played all of 10 mins yesterday and yet somehow you conjure this shocker of a piece in a Wilshere article ?? Get your bearings straight, mate.
Koscielny’s only problem is age.
Koscielny was immense in Milan too
Still not convinced, heh. What must he do..?
Completely disagreeing with you about Kos aside, I don’t think Mustafi playing with “freedom” is a desirable characteristic. Typically playing with freedom is a characteristic that’s better suited for wingers and strikers, as they can make mistakes further up the pitch. I personally like it when my CBs are strong and disciplined. But hey, if you like a CB that slides in to challenges when he could easily stay on his feet, Mustafi’s the best in the business!
Anyways, I really hope Jack stays fit and signs da ting.
Shere Willpower. Congrats Bro
He’s proving all the naysayers wrong, just a shame some fans on here are turning on him because of the contract situation. Hope he signs up sharpish.
Can’t see why he shouldn’t be critizised for the contract situation as he always says how much he loves the club, the club that stood by him through all the years where he’s hardly kicked a ball due to injuries, and now where he seems to be fit for more than 6 months in a row for the first time in years he’s giving interviews about how things have changed and that he don’t know what he will do. Why should I not critizise that? Basically he’s doing exactly what RvP has done with the exception that RvP’s last season… Read more »
If the reports are true and Wilshere is in fact being offered a pay cut at a time when the club is richer than ever before, then no, you can’t compare this RVP. It’s not in the same ballpark even.
The club doesn’t have unlimited funds. If we are going to pay our top players star wages then we have to draw the line somewhere on squad players wages. loose I know you think Jack is a star but clearly our contract negotiators disagree. if he wants a bigger contract he will either need to accept being a bench player at a top 5 club or dropping down to a more mid tier who might give him big wages b/c of his name and the fact no transfer fee is involved
Agree that our contract negotiators clearly don’t rate him (another reason why the RVP comparison is ridiculous). But I don’t know if they know what they’re talking about either. After all, they offered Ox 180k a week to stay as a RWB! More importantly, could we get someone at least as good as Jack on the wages on offer, and how much would the transfer fee be? IMO this is just 40m +£1 all over again from arguably one of the worst contract teams in the prem.
It appears Sven and sanhelli have taken over contracts and squad building this winter. Can’t blame them for stuff that happened before they got here loose
He is on more than 100.000 a week. He was one of the top earners at Arsenal for years now. He has hardly played during that time. If now he’s asked to pay a bit of that back by accepting a lesser salary but with bonus payments which could make him earn even more than now – if he actually plays football on a regular basis – this is everything but unfair. We paid him very well all the years. We gave him the number 10 and didn’t even take it away from him when he left for Bournemouth on… Read more »
It seems like some weight has lifted in midfield. The team plays freer and more fluently.
The defence, however, is still a basket case. So i think it’s too early to announce full healing. “We need to do that week in, week out”, as Wilshire says. And in the summer we need a new manager.
We need a new manager for sure! Wenger is done with new ideas, and the boys too, i think they are trying their best, but at the back of their minds, i think they wanna hear from a new competent manager! You wait and see, the next four games, you will see a throw in of towels wen we draw or lose one game!
I applaud the selection of Jack Wilshere but I wonder why Welbeck was chosen ahead of strikers like Calum Wilson who are having a better season. It really does become about WHO you play for, not what you do.
It might be the goal every 2 games he has for England and the fact that few strikers can actually outwork him
I would assume it’s more down to his versatility given England already has Kane starting & Vardy likely coming off the bench, Rashford, Sterling & Lingard on the wings. Welbeck’s best shot at making the squad might be down to the fact he can play any of the front 3
Also, Kane is not available for this round of internationals.
He does the link play in midfield very well. He has that short burst of paste to add some vertical threat and directness but he also knows when to hold. That area I’ve said many times is one of the most difficult to play in as it requires interpretation, knowing when to push forward and add weight up top or drop and cover. Good shot from range on the day too. Still work to be done in midfield (Granit for all the praise was too far away from Cahanogolou…of course the fault will no doubt be assigned as per usual… Read more »
I agree! Elneny should be treated as direct replacement for Xhaka, since Xhaka is supposed to be a defensive midfielder. A direct competition between them for place is the team will be good for improvement of both of them. As of now, Elneny always replaces Ramsey or Wilshere changing system from offensive mid to defensive mid.
So, our tactical response to four consecutive defeats was to “run araaaand a bit”? Good. Seems to be working.
You can repay the boss by signing that new deal, Jack.
Would be delighted if he committed. The midfield with him Ramsey and Xhaka all together of late has looked so much better. They seem to have finally hit the right balance and the positional interchanges with Ozil and Mkhitaryan are creating more unpredictability about our play.
Turnaround ? Just after 3 consecutive wins. We are so easy to please then.
Jack is born and bred in Arsenal colors, but the fact is playing for England is more important than playing for Arsenal to him. He didnt flinch when he packed his bags for Bournemouth when he was not guaranteed first choice in the team (this after getting back from horrendous series of injuries, for which we’ve been extremely supportive of and treated him very well and paid him very well during this time). Jack is a good player ,but unless we play a 451, with a 1 DM and 2 CMs, he’s never going to be guaranteed 1st team starting.