Welcome to the second installment of Ready Or Not. Yesterday we took a look at Jay Emmanuel-Thomas – today is the turn of Jack Wilshere.
Fate has handed this blog a bonus – as I sit down to write it I’m digesting both a chicken dhansak and the news that Joe Cole has opted to sign for Liverpool. Of those, only the latter has any relevance – but it’s significant. Arsenal were definitely interested in Cole, but only at the right price – and, crucially, with the right length of contract.
Cole has decided to take the lucrative Liverpool offer, and who can blame him – his four-year deal will earn him almost £20m. For Arsenal, however, it may be a blessing in disguise. Cole and Wilshere are similar players – short, stocky and creative. The former Chelsea man’s absence from the squad will create a spot which Wilshere might just be primed to fill.
Jack spent the first half of last season wrapped up in cotton wool, making the odd Carling Cup appearance and a solitary cameo in the league. In January, he moved to Owen Coyle’s Bolton on loan – and if Coyle gets his way, he’ll be returning this season. Bolton originally deployed him as a drifting left-winger, but he ended the season partnering another youngster with Arsenal in his blood, Fabrice Muamba, in central midfield.
I spoke to boltonboris of The-Wanderer.co.uk to see just how he fared in his time ‘oop north’.
How big an impact did JW make at Bolton?
Not a huge one by any means, but he improved our passing game by always being available for a pass, using his intelligence and his obvious confidence.
What are his main strengths and weaknesses as a player?
He’s confident (as mentioned), he has a great low centre of gravity making him harder to shrug off the ball than you’d expect. He’s got good technique and an eye for a pass. One bad point is his tackling – they obviously don’t practice getting the ball off opponents legally at your training ground. With Arsenal players it’s usually either a horror tackle or a complete miss, and Wilshere’s no exception.
What is his best position?
Middle of a midfield five – not much defensive responsibility – just let him roam, looking for gaps. He’ll keep plugging away without always succeeding.
Which top flight players does he remind you of?
Scholes of yesteryear, popping up all over the place always wanting the ball and making late runs into the box. He’s nowhere near as gifted as Scholes mind, and despite his youth, I can’t see him getting to that standard (no bad thing – Scholes is one of the true greats).
Do you think he could make it at Arsenal?
Definitely – unless he gets back into training and snaps everyone in sight. “I learnt that off Super Kev Davies,” he’ll say. Wenger will be horrified and demand Diaby break his leg immediately.
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Gags aside, it’s clear Jack was well received up at Bolton. I’ve seen Wilshere play a fair few times both for us and Bolton, and I’d actually go further than boltonboris: he does have the potential to reach Scholes’ level. What he needs are the same opportunities that Scholes was afforded. He already has the ability. Could this be Jack’s year?
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*thanks to Tangodancer of the-wanders for the Wilshere/Coyle image.
jack is a superstar! Having already seen what he’s capable of,am pretty sure he will break in the first team.
we need to involve him this summer and autumn or let him go out on loan again.
tricky one as we are hoping to challenge for honours this year rather than bring young players through. dunno.
but by next year he should be a fixture in our starting xi. all the more so as cesc will probably leave next summer. but that is another story!!!
over to you, AW !
boltonboris more like bitterboris
ha! what a bitter twat
“One bad point is his tackling – they obviously don’t practice getting the ball off opponents legally at your training ground. With Arsenal players it’s usually either a horror tackle or a complete miss”
Oh the irony!!
Super Jack!
This lad will surely replace Cesc. I am already drooling over his partnership with Ramsey
I would be interested to know how far boltonboris had his tongue in his cheek when stating “With Arsenal players it’s usually either a horror tackle or a complete miss, and Wilshere’s no exception”. I would agree that Wilshere let’s his enthusiasm overcome his ability in tackle selection and execution, which is no excuse, but at least he can say he is still learning (unlike Kevin Davies or Paul Scholes, both mentioned in this piece and who are both terrible exponents of the tackle).
As for not being as gifted as Paul Scholes, whilst only time will really tell, you would have to be extremely narrow-minded not to think he at least shows the potential for being as good – nay, better. My immediate impressions of Wilshere, which have not been disappointed the more I have seen him in action, reminded me as much of a young Paul Gascoigne in terms of technical ability, reading of the game and vision. A much better standard to aspire to (to a point …).
absolutely keep him around and integrate like ramsey least season. i don’t see any reason why he can’t reach the heights of scholes – and to me its clear that our future is a wilshire, ramsey song triangle (a la barca) in years to come. imagine that quality when wilshire and song are 23/24 respectively with song at 28 odd …. all we need to do is convince cesc to stay for 2 good years ….
I think theres a pretty significant difference between being good enough to play for Arsenal and being ready to end preparation.
Jack’s got massive potential and with his young age on his side, I’d love to see him get more starts in a top-tier league before rushing him into our first-team.
More time at Bolton would do him well, and with Ramsey, Cesc, and Nasri as other world-class options in the creative midfield role, I’d think it would do well by our current members not to try to force him into any role yet.
Give him out on loan for one more year (or until January) and allow him to specialize. Finding a niche in the midfield is important, as echoed by Gilberto’s northern friend.
He could have played a role for us last season with all the injuries we had, so IMO we should keep him, there are plenty of opportunities to play him… e.g at home vs bottom half opposition, in any game we are leading by 2+ goals.
Not being negative but can you see Rosicky, Nasri, Arshavin and Walcott staying free of injury for a whole season? not gonna happen, Wiltshire will have plenty of opportunities if we suffer similar injuries.
I’m not an Arsenal fan but I look out for good English players, and I’m convinced that Wilshere is the most gifted English player since Gascoigne. I don’t think Scholes was innately anywhere near as gifted as Wilshere. He’s got great technique and crucially a good football brain – he’s a very clever player.
what a plonker that bolton character is. not nearly as talanted as scholes. PHA.
Hahah that Bolton fan is just too much. The reference to Scholes was hilarious and should immediately disqualify him from having opinions on football related matters. You couldn’t find 2 more different midfielders.
You should research your interviewees a bit better.
Jack is a future Ballon d’Or winner.
Just saw this yesterday,
http://desigunner.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/video-evidence-just-how-well-has-wilshere-developed-at-bolton/
On that evidence, boltonboris has no clue what he’s talking about. Jack can be far better than Scholes, much nearer Fabregas.
I am sure that Fabrice Muamba has Arsenal in his DNA!
Whilst we may disagree with boltonboris, he’s taken the time out the talk to us about one of our players.
Less of the name calling Gooners. Show your class
@gbh
Though I agree that it is rude to disparage him, don’t you think that his opinion was bit off?
Yes, saying that Jack is an equal to Scholes is bit rushed. However, I think it is safe to say that lot of other Bolton fans would disagree with rather lukewarm appreciation of Wilshere’s work.
He was a mid-season loan, and grabbed the starting spot immediately. Also, it is transparent to all that JW, along with C.Y. Lee, was their only flair players, to offer creative outlets should “aim at Davies” tactic stumbles.
At least this guy is consistent. He’s likening him to Scholes and saying he can’t tackle without fouling.
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Wow people are underrating scholes, sorry but Scholes was a much better player than Gascoigne both are or were should i say incredibly gifted players in their prime, but Scholes is on a different level. He has been called the best player in the world by many, Zidane, Davids, Keane, Beckham, Figo to name a few lets not kid ourselves if Wilshere gets to the level of Scholes he will be remembered as one of the greatest English players of the 21st century.
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Really interesting to look back at these now, Scholes doesn’t sound QUITE so ridiculous a comparison for an 18 year old at this point huh? My United mate is constantly making the comparison, thinks he’s gonna be a true great, which is high praise from a solid utder like he.
Incredible the step up he’s made, an I like his 100% Arsenal attitude, when a player of that talent, at that age, says he’d like to grow up to be captain, sounds like we’ve got our man huh?