Highlights of Jack Wilshere's performance against finally became available over the Interwebs yesterday, and your intrepid reporter watched them, and jotted down some notations. I would've done a full report, but given that there's only about 10 minutes of highlights as opposed to a full 90 minutes, such a report would be partially inaccurate at best.
- The last couple of times I've seen Ignasi Miquel in the U-21s, he's hit a poor backpass that led to a penalty, and fell over to let in Vellios on Monday. He's also been very solid for the first team when called upon, and impressively won the ball back and strode forward in Vermaelen fashion on Monday. He probably needs a loan, but with Squillaci our fifth choice, one can see why Wenger is hesitant to let him go out on loan.
- Thomas Eisfeld can't stop scoring. He added two goals on Monday to take his tally to 4, and scored a couple of times during the Asia Tour. The timing of his runs, as Terry Burton alluded to in his post-match interview, is a tremendous quality, and he's shown to be a very good finisher. The first goal came from a run to the far post, the second, a diagonal run to the near post, showing he can vary the type of runs he makes. He's in Arsenal's squad for the Champions League match later today, and, given his run of form, it's hardly surprising.
- In the absence of Kieran Gibbs, the fact that Jernade Meade was called up to training on Tuesday is interesting. Like Gibbs, Meade is a converted out-and-out winger, meaning his supporting runs, unlike Andre Santos, will be nearer the touchline. With Podolski struggling because of Santos' tendencies to come inside, Meade could find himself tested in the Capital One Cup next week, to see if he's up for it, defensively. He'd also make Cazorla the second shortest on the team, as Meade stands at a giant 5'3.
- Jack Wilshere is looking sharper and sharper. He showed off his full range of passes against Everton, with two outstanding diagonals for Jernade Meade (who he struck up a very good partnership with) from deep, and an excellent little through ball for Thomas Eisfeld's goal. Interestingly, the through pass came from the right hand side, where Wilshere played when he first broke into the Carling Cup team in 2008. With Arsenal perhaps missing a little bit of creativity and balance, one wonders if Wilshere could be eased back into the team on the flanks, before being deployed in a more central role.