Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere has pleaded with the fans to keep faith in the players and get behind the team even when times are hard.
The Gunners are yet to sign any big-name players this summer and the majority of Arsenal fans are not happy with how the club are being run by Arsene Wenger and the club’s board.
Ivan Gazidis promised the fans big spending over the summer and the club were linked with numerous big names, but none of them materialised to anything formal.
To add further pain to the Arsenal fans, they lost 3-1 at home to Aston Villa yesterday on the opening day of the season.
Speaking to the club’s official website, Wilshere admitted that he understands why the fans are annoyed, but he hopes that they can keep the faith and keep the support even through hard times.
“It is understandable,” said the midfielder. “People pay their money and we have to put in a better performance in order to win games. We want to win trophies so the message is – stick with us, it is a long season.
“Villa are a tough team but we are not happy with our performance. We have to look at ourselves and pick ourselves up for the [Champions League] qualifier in the week.”
The midfielder also weighed in on the unfortunate red card for defender Laurent Koscielny and the Englishman revealed that he thought the Frenchman got the ball.
“From my perspective it was a good tackle,” said Wilshere. “He got the ball. But the referee is the one with the whistle and he has to make the big decision. I am sure they will even themselves out over the season.
“Of course the red card did not help. At 2-1 we were still in the game but then we gave away a cheap goal.
“We felt good going into today and we started well but we dropped the level when we should have maintained it.
“Still, it is a long season and we will have to go again now.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
