I remember a few years ago, Wenger spoke about building his next side around a core of English/British players and at the time, it made sense. But looking at our first team right now, only Ramsey makes the cut time and time again. Gibbs has fallen behind Monreal, who is now our regular left back, Chambers is behind Bellerin and Debuchy for that right back spot and behind Mert,Kos and Gabriel for a spot as a CB. Wilshere is forever injured, Walcott is a weird one, Wenger only seems to start him in certain games, while the OX has never got a proper run in the first team and has been again benched after the return of Alexis. How many of these players are going to actually develope and stake a claim as first choice in their respective positions? At the moment, I can only see the OX going on and doing that, while the others continue to be nothing more than squad players.
The English core are still young, Monreal won't be around forever, Wilshere is a permacrock but still has the talent to cut it in midfield once Cazorla disappears, Chamberlain will get more game time for sure but needs to improve defensively... Chambers is still developing and will hopefully be a good replacement for Mertescielny once they move on. Don't forget Jenkinson on loan as well.
Don't really see it as a big problem, all of those English players are still young and have time to develop. Wilshere is a concern because of his injuries, but I still feel that he can become one of the best midfielders, if he can get a sustained run in the team. Ox has come on tremendously and looks really dangerous every time he plays, he needs to improve on his finishing, but he's only just turned 22. Walcott I agree needs more games, but it's testament to the strength we have that he's kept out of the first XI, but he'll get his chance this season. Gibbs is a bit of a disappointment, he looked like that place was his a couple of seasons ago, but again I suppose we should be pleased that Monreal has come on so much and developed into a really solid LB. Chambers, he has plenty of time, but he isn't a RB.
I think if you look at them, Gibbs has had lots of injury problems, but strangely hasn't kicked on since his last injury (a while ago), but Oxo, Walcott and Wilshere have all have major injury problems, and are obviously restricted by the amount of competition. I don't think Chambers was seen as a 1st team player (or at least not for a few seasons), but I think he suffers from Wenger's tendency to play the same CB pairing for every single game of the season. I really hope the Oxo breaks in to the team this season, and hopefully Walcott will have a major impact linking up with Sanchez, Ozil and Giroud or Oxo. But it isn't surprising that none are where we expected after their injury setbacks.
Either that or Wenger should have built the team round a Welsh core instead... (Bale, Ramsey, Williams...)
The injuries have been a big problem, with Wilshere, Walcott and Gibbs suffering the most. Their quality is not in question, but not being able to play for the majority of games, especially when they are young and developing is a big problem. Wenger is trying to give them every chance, but if they continue with their poor injury record, Wenger will be forced to buy foreign again.
Very true - though if that happens it creates problems down the line as we'll be restricted in future transfers by the HG rule - one of the reasons I feel Wenger wanted to sell Ospina and keep Chesney. It'll be a big shame if Wilshere in particular doesn't reach his potential, especially after Diaby
It's simple, they're just not as good as the players ahead of them. Who would start Walcott ahead of Sanchez? You can maybe make an argument for playing Wilshere instead of Ramsey who happens to be British, but ahead of Cazorla or Ozil? And let's say we buy a world class striker in Benzema, who in their right mind would start Welbeck ahead of Benzema? Heck forget about Benzema, Welbeck has not even justified starting ahead of Giroud. So that's what it comes down to, it's what Wenger always says, if you're good you play, it doesn't matter what nationality you are, it's the skill that matters, and skill wise the continental players we have are better than the English. Bellerin is another great example, while Chambers was great when he came in, just compare that to Bellerin's progress.
Wenger keeps throwing them back in when they're not fit. How many times have one of them come back from an injury quickly and then been crocked again? He's far too impatient with fitness issues.
Erm no not really, a player like Gibbs was never rushed back, he just gets injured, the same with the OX. Our English players are never being rushed back from injury.
I don't recall many of our players being rushed back, especially the Brit ones. Walcott, Wilshere and Gibbs are proven injury prone. It's either our training regime is a load of pants and needs to be adjusted according to each player or our diets in the UK are poor.... please log in to view this image
http://metro.co.uk/2015/08/13/jack-...enal-injury-return-ahead-of-schedule-5340406/ That's from this week. It's happened repeatedly. Players are supposed to be out for months on end, come back early and then get injured again. I suspect that it's the training regime, as Lazarus suggests. When was the last time that you had everybody fit?
About 1 week before the season kicked off, coincidentally, right after Diaby left us... The other problem is that players have taken their opportunities when they've come along. Monreal is getting stronger and stronger at LB and can you really take out Santi for Jack were he fit? Hell no. All mentioned players have real talent so I hope they can make it, only thing in their favour is time.
First of all, the diagnosis from Arsenal was never 3 months, that was what the tabloids were saying, Wenger said Wilshere would be out for around 4 weeks, and that time frame is still being sticked to. Here is the official news from Arsenal: http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150806/jack-wilshere-injures-his-left-fibula It was always a matter of weeks, not months. Secondly, let's assume someone is scheduled to be out for 10 weeks, but comes back in 5-6, that has nothing to do with rushing the player, but the player simply healing quicker than expected. If a player is fit again and medical reports show he is cleared, then why shouldnt he come back? Should we just keep them out for the sake of keeping them out because we said 10 weeks but in reality he's already fit and ready to go? And anyways that's not even the case here, because Wilshere is right on schedule, that is, Arsenal's own schedule, not the ones that tabloids made up saying he will be out for 2-3 months.
Given the amount of problems that you have with injuries, don't you think that your medical team is getting some of these estimates wrong? If they're undercutting everyone else's normal suggestions for the amount of time that these things take to heal, then it seems a little odd. When they come back and then go back out again, it suggests that there's been a mistake somewhere down the line. Wilshere, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Gibbs all seem to be talented players, but they've all missed big chunks of their careers already. Is that a coincidence? What do you put it down to? Welbeck missed a few games here and there for Utd, but never to the extent that he has at Arsenal.
Not Jack for Santi, but Jack for Ramsey? If J There definitely is something that needs to be looked at, but it's definitely not rushing players, we don't rush players back. We have had players out for a year missing an entire season. Just look at Walcott last year, he came back after almost a year, and we barely played him because Wenger didn't want to rush him back into the starting 11 too quickly because he had just come back.
Present crop of English players with Arsenal are very poor compared with Graham's golden crop - Adams, Rocastle, Thomas, Davis and Merson. Mind you the English players at other clubs are equally poor when compared to those that I've mentioned.
I wouldn't go as far as poor, but the overall quality that Arsenal has from yesteryear has certainly reduced. For starters, we are missing a top defense that we had since Graham's days. Other than Wilshere, do we have anyone else coming through our youth academy? So far only Gibbs and Wilshere has made it, sort of.
