Wilshere

Jack's lucky enough though. He's one of the players who'll be forgiven anything
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Its not about being forgiven.

Jack has shown in flashes that he hasn't lost his drive, speed or recovery. He made a goal saving tackle on Fellani when he tracked back yesterday.

That means the only thing he is lacking is consistency which comes from recovering his full fitness and improving understanding with his team mates.

Ramsey has lost his acceleration after injury. Thats the problem.

I don't want to judge him just now. I knew it will take time to get him to his best allthough time isnt what we have.

The fact is that it should be Wilshere or Arteta. Not Wilshere and Arteta.

That would give Jack plenty of time to recover and would also avoid Areta being worn down.

But Arsene sold Song without replacing. No idea why because Song still had 3 years left!

Still too early to say imo - after Christmas with the amount of games to play around then would be a better indication of how his progress has developed

Although personally I'm willing to write off this season for him performance-wise - just as long as he stays fit and is managed correctly

Jenius99 (U4918) posted 19 minutes ago

Jack's lucky enough though. He's one of the players who'll be forgiven anything
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Its not about being forgiven.

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It is though and comparisons with Ramsey are nothing to do with it.
The simple fact is, we have fan favourites and we have scape goats.
There are players at Arsenal who would be forgiven anything and Wilshere currently lies in that category.
At this point he could score an OG in hs next 5 games and it would be the 5th game before fans had a problem with him.
Like I say, it's a good thing and Jack's lucky to be in that position where he'll be given as much time as needed by the fans to recover his best form.

The simple fact is, we have fan favourites and we have scape goats.
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The implication of scape goats is that it is somehow unjustified. It is an easy excuse for non performing players to blame something other than their form.

Gilberto is a prime example of fan favorite who was a hero but never recovered his form after his back surgery. The fans were calling him out a year after the injury.

The crowd turns on players who do not perform. Nothing to do with scape goating. Players are earning obscene money and there is very little patience for weak minded, excuse making players.

You have to understand why players become favorites in the first place. Its is through performance. The time given to any player after injury is directly proportional to how much latitude they had before their injury. Jack will be given time as long as he shows that he still has the capability, albeit inconsistently. Rather because his performances were much higher before his injury compared to a player who may have just broken through to the first team, Jack has far greater expectation and greater hill to climb.

Sorry, but I have to disagree.
Players can be elevated or reduced for all sorts of reasons - not all based on their performance.
To take a very basic example. Walcott and Bendtner
For ages Theo was immune to criticism from Arsenal Supporters and it was nothing to do with his level of performance.
Now, that's not to denigrate Theo's attitude or work rate, but the fact was his performances over the years have hardly been stellar.
He has scored 52 goals in 236 games and there is a fairly strong fan movement now for him to play through the middle.
On the other hand, Nicklas Bendtner is something of a joke among large sections of our support and has been for some time.
BUT he is roughly the same age as Walcott and has 45 goals for us in 157 games. A lot more of which were sub appearances and many of which were played wide on the right.

As far as I can see the main difference was Theo was a young ENGLISH player and the only English player in the side and Bendtner is perceived to have something of an ego. Yet fans are currently clamouring for the less regular scorer to start up front for us and be handed a new and improved contract. ( negotiations on which he or his agents have actively dodged for quite some time )
But where are the calls for the young international CF with a better goals to games ratio to be recalled and given a run?

As far as I can see the main difference was Theo was a young ENGLISH player and the only English player in the side and Bendtner is perceived to have something of an ego.
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Theo Walcott has been inconsistent till last year. Then he started showing how important he is to the team. However there were games as I described above for Wilshere where he showed his potential. I can name if you like where he was outstanding against superb opposition at crucial times. QF of the Champions League against Liverpool and Barca. Cup final against Chelsea. Chelsea numerous times in the league. In fact Theo has always turned up in important games.

In fact I am not sure if you are based here BigIrish, but Walcott has been at the end harsh criticism from the media and the fanbase most of the time. In fact its only this year that he has started to change the mind of fans.

Bendtner on the other had used to have horrible games even in Carling Cup games. He has been hopeless in the team and added nothing in insignificant games let alone any significant ones. That bad touch against Barca that would have put us through was the last straw for Wenger. And his garbage performances everywhere he has gone since then has only underlined his lack of ability. Not one club has wanted to buy him. Juve want rid even when we are paying most of his wages on loan! Thats how bad its got for him.

I'm aware of the criticism Walcott's received in the papers, Match of the Day etc, but the point I'm making is that within the Arsenal support, he was afforded a hell of a lot of leeway. More than many of his performances would merit.
In fact, I would argue that the emergence of players like Gibbs, Chamberlain and Wilshere ( meaning a larger English contingent in the squad ) meant that criticism became a bit more commonplace and accepted from Arsenal fans over the last 2 years.
I respect your opinion and would LOVE it if players were rated / pilloried based solely on their performaces. But I do think other facotrs come into play. I also think players should be given a chance to shake those reputations. There are players who have a bad spell 3 seasons ago and despite strong performces for a long time any mistake they make is still jumped on while all the good work will be ignored.
Sol Campbell was a greta example. I don't how many times I read about a goal coming from an uncharacteristic Sol Campbell mistake over the years. How often does it have to happen before it stops being uncharacteristic.
On the other side you have David James, an admittedly error strewn wasteland of a keeper in his early days, but a guy who knuckled down and was brilliant for years at the top level. But as soon as a mistake was made out comes " Calamity James ".
Nothing to do with analysis of his consistent performance - just a buzzword to fall back on.

BIGIRISH

I don't disagree with you many factors do come in that form media meme incl, racial undertones, reporters closeness to clubs etc. And of course media coverage often goes someway to change fan reaction. Although I think Walcotts treatment since Sven picked him and Waddle labeled him football brainless is an example that breaks your argument.

But what I am referring to is that there is always fundamental reason to fan reaction. And its usually performance, not profile. I am a very harsh critic of Ramsey. But I wasn't so at the beginning. In fact in 2009 I described him as the Welsh Gerrard but with better passing qualities than the English one! So I understand when fans defend Aaron, especially after his broken leg. They overlook his poor performances, partly out of pity, and some out of hope that he can be what he was when we bought him without any real evidence. In fact thats why I prefer for him to go out on loan rather than being sold because of it.