Arsenal and England international midfielder Jack Wilshere has recently spoke about the reason his club are now more dangerous as a team going into the new season. He references the quality of the team going forward and the desire to press to get the ball back as a main reason for that newfound hunger and clinical instinct in the squad: “We worked a lot on the first five seconds when we lose the ball.
“If we can win the ball back in the opposition’s half where, most of the time, when we win it we’ve got the players up front and the quality in midfield to find them…then we’re always going to look dangerous.”
He went on to lament the fact that the club started slowly but finished strong when it was too late to make a push for the Premier League title last season, telling Arsenal.com: “We didn’t start the season well last year but the way we finished it…if we had played the whole season like that then we could have been champions.
If we continue our form from the end of last season when we dominated games with our possession, and we won the ball back in better positions high up the pitch, then we’ve got a real chance.”
The English midfielder thinks that Petr Cech will have a positive impact on the north Londoners this season. He has the ambition to win the League this season, and thinks a new, world class keeper will be the difference in this year’s finish in the table to the one of last year: “We want to win the league, of course we do.
“We feel we’ve been together a few years now, we’ve brought in world-class players who have had time to settle, we’ve added a world-class keeper with all of his experience, he’s been there and he’s done it, he’s won everything.So we really feel we’re in a strong position.”
Wilshere also had some words about his health, which has not been too dependable over the course of his career. Last season would have been a standout one for him had it not been for yet another ankle injury that kept him out of action for multiple weeks. He said: “Having a full season on the pitch is the priority, and I think the best way to give yourself the best opportunity to do that is by getting a good pre-season in.
“It is a good base and it helps you start the season well.”
As said before, when on the pitch last season, Wilshere was usually stellar, and that made both the fans and himself happy: “I was happy with my form at the end of last season, I think I needed it for my head, going into next season.
“I missed a lot of football and when you’re on the sidelines watching the team do well, sometimes it’s hard because you want to come back and play.
I came back and I was happy with my form, I was a bit disappointed that the break came when it did. I only had three weeks off and then I was straight back into it so I’m really looking forward to the season.”
A good start to the season could see Wilshere finally grow into the crucial role Arsenal supporters have been hoping he would assume since he stepped into the first team set-up as a teenager. He sees the potential in the club, and the perfect pre-season record confirms that this is a very good team, and if they can carry that in to competitive fixtures, it will be a campaign more exciting than any an Arsenal supporter has seen in years.
If he can stay healthy, this could be a huge season for the energetic, aggressive midfielder, so if he does go injury-free, expect nothing short of class from Jack Wilshere and more pressing, dangerous play from the team as a whole.
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