Combative, technical and tasty, Jack hardly wasted a ball. His left foot is a magic chisel, an old-fashioned blade that creates angles, passes that surprise and please. Promising moments flow from that foot and just keep flowing. His left foot is a chance-machine, a conveyor belt.
I’d love to see Jack Wilshere’s pass-completion stats.
Brian Clough would have loved Wilshere. He’s as competitive as Archie Gemmill and as crafty as John Robertson. And he has what Cloughie’s sidekick Peter Taylor always looked for : the ability to pass under pressure. If a player couldn’t pass the ball under pressure, he wouldn’t play for Nottingham Forest.
What about this 3-0 win in the Carling Cup ?A comprehensive victory for a 19-year old team against Wigan’s strongest side, minus Heskey.
Fabianski made a fantastic double save at the death. He parried De Ridder’s shot and then got up to push Zaki’s second shot against the underside. The ball bounced down and was cleared. Fabianski is 23 and I’ve always thought he would become as good as Jerzy Dudek, who went to the same goalkeeping school in Poland.
Jay Simpson’s two goals were first-time finishes.
Jack Wilshere played him in for the first in 42 and Simpson got between Melchiot and Kirkland and nutmegged the keeper. Fast, direct, simple, deadly – an Ian Wright goal.
In 62, Vela’s sweetly-weighted pass set up Simpson for 2-0, and then Vela held off the beefy Titus Bramble and lifted a chip over the head of Chris Kirkland in 70. A typical goal by Vela and a typical Latin administering the coup de grace. His finishing is class and that’s the one thing you can teach. That finish was pure quality; Messi could not have done it better. Vela showed good strength beat Bramble on the third goal, and good pace to destroy the last defender in the counter-attack that set up Simpson’s second
Arsenal had eight teenagers in the starting eleven. Ramsey was very constructive, as you would expect. He had a rocketing free-kick clawed away by Kirkland.
In the next round of the Carling Cup, Arsenal might be playing Liverpool or Tottenham or even Man United.