Jack Wilshere and our future midfield

[Dr Singh]

The signing of Ozil has had many fantastic knock on effects for Arsenal Football Club.

One topic of interest is how the signing of Ozil may indeed completely divert the career path of Jack Wilshere.

Up til this point, many people have debated where they'd like to see Wilshere deployed and how he should best be utilized and groomed. He's always seemed like a natural number 10 given his technical ability, and could have been a valuable asset given his tenacity and aggression from the front. He's also shown himself to be more than capable when used in a deeper role, particularly with his exploits against Barcelona on the big stage.

Given that Ozil is only 24, and clearly light years ahead of any other number 10 on the planet, I think it's fair to say that Jack's development will finally take a certain pathway, and he will be groomed into a deeper midfielder. One could argue that Ozil could be an ideal role model for Jack, but long term it would make more sense for him to focus on developing his game to play a position where he can actually play 90 minutes every week.

Right now I'd say our best balanced midfield double pivot would in fact be Ramsey + Either Arteta or Flamini. Ramsey has proven himself to be a key man in our midfield over the last 6 months, and the natural defensive instincts of Arteta and Flamini best solidify the pivot. Long term I can see Wilshere and Ramsey developing as our double pivot, simply because that's the only position available to Jack in our team, and he's too talented and driven to not make it. Our current selection of 4 is actually ideal with two highly talented individuals competing with two more experienced and very professional players.

If that's the case, then perhaps it's easy to see why we didn't go for another CM over summer? If we did sign someone like Bender or Gustavo, then where would that leave Jack? I'm sure many feel he's a better option than Ramsey long term, but certainly not with Ramsey performing as he is currently.

I have no problem talent wise with a long term pairing of Wilshere and Ramsey. They are both individually fantastic options and have a strong work ethic. With experience they will develop a sound relationship and hopefully achieve a good balance. The obvious glaring deficiency in their pairing would be the lack of size and physical presence between them, but does that even matter anymore in this day and age?

How would you like to see our midfield develop, not only this season but with the next season in mind? With names like Khedira, Pogba, Gundogan and Bender still being thrown around, what would you be hoping for?

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I had to think to myself which Singh you were until I looked at your post count, lol.

I think your hypothesis on Ozil's influence is logical and I'm hoping that the pressure on him eases a little and he is allowed to develop his game surrounded by talents and out of the spot light a little. The press on England will periodically dig him out when the national team is lacklustre so its good if he can escape it whilst playing for us.

Hopefully, the more he acknowledges the strength of ability around him, the more he will stop trying to force the issue when he plays or do too much.

[JonasTC]

I think when people were screaming for a CM in the transfer window, they didnt expect Ramsey to come out guns blazing and Flamini actually doing a decent job from day 1.

Wilshere just needs to play a season without getting injuried all the time and then im sure we'll see the guy from the barca game back

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I'm sure he is intelligent enough and has enough ability to hone his skills with game time in the team and patience as you say Jonas. Towards the end of 2012 people were raving about Wilshere in the Arsenal team and I particularly remember John Cross Opining that he thinks that Wilshere is even better than he was before his injury.

[Özil's Panoramic View]

Made the point a few days back that Wilshere will have to become Ozil's understudy. And, I think it's already playing out, as Jack's game certainly improved vs the Mackems over the weekend.

Apart from an early attempt to force his way through, he otherwise looked a bit settled, linking up with Ozil and making a few passes instead of his usual propensity to hang onto the ball too long.

[Nayan]

our best results came from a 4-4-1-1. Flat back four, then two powerful midfielders flanked by wingers, and then bergkamp +1 as a withdrawn striker/playmaker plus a runner.

There is no reason why the middle of the park could be (say) wilshere and ramsey behind Ozil. And those three wont always be available at the same time anyway

[LDG]

I'm not so sure that Jack is the cesc/ozil type of ball player anyway.

What he has, is balance, touch and hustle. He gets stuck in, brings the ball away, drives forward, sets the tempo and pings passes out. Whilst he can spot a pass, he's the engine in the midfield, as opposed to Ozil, who would be your no.10, creating the chances and being artistic.

Both Rmasey and Wilshire are reasonably similar, and that is why I think the pair will eventually be the "double pivot" behind Ozil.

[Nayan]

lets face it, if it werent for ramsey's excellent start this term, nobody would be putting him in the same bracket as wilshere nnd Ozil, and the talk would be on whom we shuld buy to eventually take over from arteta as the anchorman.

Instead we may now be looking at the english and welsh captaincy contenders doing one stays/one goes behind Ozil, and can pick from rossicky, Arteta, Flamini when we need to tinker.

Not sure why Diaby and denchpong are still in the squad to be honest

[LDG]

lets face it, if it werent for ramsey's excellent start this term, nobody would be putting him in the same bracket as wilshere nnd Ozil, and the talk would be on whom we shuld buy to eventually take over from arteta as the anchorman.

Instead we may now be looking at the english and welsh captaincy contenders doing one stays/one goes behind Ozil, and can pick from rossicky, Arteta, Flamini when we need to tinker.

Not sure why Diaby and denchpong are still in the squad to be honest

Pretty much.

Exciting times.

And of course, you need that depth in midfield too. So having Tets, Flams and Tom is not bad back up!

[JonasTC]

lets face it, if it werent for ramsey's excellent start this term, nobody would be putting him in the same bracket as wilshere nnd Ozil, and the talk would be on whom we shuld buy to eventually take over from arteta as the anchorman.

Instead we may now be looking at the english and welsh captaincy contenders doing one stays/one goes behind Ozil, and can pick from rossicky, Arteta, Flamini when we need to tinker.

Not sure why Diaby and denchpong are still in the squad to be honest

Diaby is a gonna be a monster if he can ever stay fit, so i understand why Wenger let him stick around, it was the same with RVP. Luckily Diaby is not a cunt, so he would hopefully stay, frimpong has no future here, should be sent out on loan in january and give him 6 months to prove himself in another premier league club.