Tag Archives: Jack Wilshere

5 good and 5 bad of Arsenals victory over Doncaster

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5 GOOD

  1. We won and are into the next round, where we host Norwich City
  2. 90 minutes for Alexis Sanchez. He should now be fit to start against WBA
  3. 90 minutes for Jack Wilshere. He continues his rehabilitation
  4. Ainsley Maitland-Niles has the pace and strength to be a Premier League player
  5. We kept a clean sheet (I am struggling for 5)

5 BAD

  1. Jack Wilshere tired dramatically in the second half. Not yet ready to start a Premier League game
  2. David Ospina’s kicking was atrocious and put us in danger. Could not get past the halfway line
  3. Way too much space between the defence and midfield
  4. Both Maitland-Niles and Reiss Nelson made key errors that could have cost goals. Were both playing out of position
  5. Olivier Giroud is not the man for games to expose lesser teams. He puts in the same level performance not matter the opponent

Keenos

What has happened to Arsenal’s British core?

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In December 2012, Arsene Wenger thought he had cracked it. That he had found his answer to Fergie’s Class of 92. Or the Arsenal of the late 80s / 90s. The Frenchman thought he had found and developed the future of Arsenal, the future of England.

They were known as ‘the British core’.

Five young British players. All signing long-term deals on the same day. Standing behind them a smiling Arsene Wenger. The quintent of talent he hoped would define the club’s future.

The future looked bright.

Five years and three FA Cups later the investment has not been the unilateral success Wenger had banked on.

So what has happened to Arsenal’s British core?

Aaron Ramsey

Two FA Cup final winning goals will forever give Aaron Ramsey his place in Arsenal history.

The Welshman is the only one of the five who can even be determined a relative success. But into his 10th season at the club, Ramsey has not delivered on his youthful promise on a consistent basis.

The sickening broken leg injury suffered at Stoke in 2010 delayed his progress. After joining as a pacey teenage winger from Cardiff, Ramsey developed into more of a central attacking midfielder.

In 2013-14 he was named the club’s Player of the Year. A return of 16 goals in 34 appearances hinted at a breakthrough year, and the unlocking of his vast potential.

It is fair to say, though, that in club colours he has not kicked on, despite being a key performer for an overachieving Wales side at Euro 2016.

Constant injury setbacks have disrupted his progress, so too the lack of a defined role at club level. With Wales he is the link between midfield and attack, at Arsenal he is just another given licence to roam with little responsibility.

Jack Wilshere

Sitting front and centre of the picture, there is no mistake that Jack Wilshere was the central pivot of the British core.

The great hope of both club and country, the young midfielder was fighting fit once again after an injury-ravaged 2011-12 season.

But ever since that first major injury, Wilshere has not been the same player who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Xavi and Andres Iniesta at the Nou Camp in the Champions League.

Injury has defined him. His loan spell at Bournemouth last year was only the second time in his career he had featured in more than 25 Premier League games.

In the three seasons prior to his temporary move to the Vitality Stadium, he had made just 19 league appearances.

The 25-year-old does not currently fit into Wenger’s first-team plans, and was recently sent off in an appearance for the Under 23s.

An England recall still seems a distant prospect, so too the possibility of a new contract to extend his stay with the Gunners beyond the end of this season.

Kieran Gibbs

The loss of Gael Clichy to Manchester City in 2011 was viewed as little more than a minor setback by Wenger.

In Kieran Gibbs the Arsenal boss felt he had a ready-made replacement to become the new first-choice.

His initial judgement proved astute. Gibbs provided the energy and pace demanded by the position.

Injuries — a constant theme here — prevented Gibbs from nailing down the spot. The signing of Nacho Monreal in January 2013 eventually relegated the England international to second-choice.

The 27-year-old has been little more than a bit-part player in recent seasons and could leave before the end of the window this week.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

The capture of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the summer of 2011 was seen a huge coup for Arsenal.

Wenger lavished £12m on an 18-year-old with enormous potential, a more muscular proposition than the last teenager they had acquired from Southampton — Theo Walcott.

The early promise of his debut season earned him an England call-up at Euro 2012 and hinted at a bright future. He was direct and dynamic with the ball, with searing pace to boot.

But, as ever, injuries have prevented Oxlade-Chamberlain from delivering on that potential thus far.

A return of only nine goals in 132 Premier League appearances is way down on expectations, but at 24 he is still well primed to develop further.

That he sees that next step up as away from Arsenal is damning for Wenger and his inability to extract the potential of his British core.

Carl Jenkinson

Plucked from the Charlton academy in the summer of 2011, many scratched their head when he signed. But he was young, English and Arsenal.

After just 62 largely fairly average appearances for the first-team, Jenkinson has just embarked on his third loan spell away from the club.

He did impress a few years ago when on loan at West Ham, which encouraged the Hammers to make a £10m, which ultimately fell through.

The 25-year-old’s career has nose-dived since the early promise and looks set to leave with little fanfare with the club struggling to find a buyer.

Keenos

 

Does Arsene Wenger have a transfer plan?

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The simple answer is NO.

It seemed so obvious to everyone at the beginning of the summer what The Arsenal transfer plan was. 

Get in a left back in Saed Kolasinac, sign Alexandre Lacazette. Secure a bit of magic in Thomas Lemar. And then either get in a new centre back or central midfielder. Maybe get a in a top young keeper to eventually take over from Petr Cech. 

Secure Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on new deals. 

Then release the dead wood.

Szczesny, Debuchy, Jenkinson, Chambers, Gibbs, Wilshere, Campbell, Perez and Sanogo. Maybe even Walcott and Coquelin if we got the right players in. 


Instead, we sit here going into the last week of the transfer window and our transfer plan has been exposed, in that we had no transfer plan. 

Kolasinac was a good early signing. But the only other deal we have done since is for Lacazette. Taking into account the Frenchman was about to join Atletico Madrid before their transfer ban, we got lucky with that one. 

We then spent the summer failing to sign Thomas Lemar. The deal seems to be dead and there seems not be be a back up plan. Weren’t we speaking to Riyad Mahrez’s people earlier in the summer? Or Julian Draxler? It is like we put all the eggs in the Thomas Lemar basket.

Meanwhile other potential targets are joining other clubs – such as Seri to Barcelona. It is becoming increasingly obvious that our transfer deals are done. 

And then we have the outgoings.

Debuchy, Chambers, Gibbs, Wilshere, Campbell and Perez are still out the club. Whilst we could only loan out Jenkinson. 

And we have ended up selling Gabriel. Whilst he has never quite settled in the UK, surely selling him was not part of the pre-season plan?

And then over the weekend, it seems like Oxlade-Chamberlain and Mustafi are ok their way out of the club. 

This was never the plan. To lose two senior centrebacks, leaving us to rely on Mertesacker, Holding and Chambers. 

There is still a week to go in the transfer window, but by tomorrow we could find ourselves with 3 points from 3 games. 

We are without a plan in the transfer market. We are underprepared once more for the season. And there is just one man to blame. Dithering Wenger. 

Keenos