Stand up and be counted

Arsenal fans worst fear was confirmed earlier today.

Wilshere has officially been Vermaelen’ed. Who was in turn Rosicky’d last season. The cycle goes on and it could be endless if we tried to remember all of the residents of the Arsenal med room.

Jack will have surgery on Monday effectively ruling him out until at least January if we are realistic. Let’s not kid ourselves; this injury leaves a gaping hole in about the L1 to L3 area of the spine of this team. Not something that this team can cope with while Vermaelen is out.

It is abundantly clear that The Verminator is the rock at the back and the stabilizing force. The defense has only looked stable when he has been in, saving the day and performing admirably.

Arsenal can’t succeed without Vermaelen, not with the current squad. Life without Jack? That’s tough, but before Jack there was another promising British midfielder making his mark at the club. Front and center Aaron, your time has come.
On deadline day we had plenty of action, but only one of those late signings was of the caliber to merit an unquestionable starting place, and that signing was Mikel Arteta. Everyone was previewing their new strongest XI and nearly none included Aaron Ramsey. It was his spot in the midfield that had been usurped. In his absence, Aaron had been leapfrogged by Jack as the bright new hope. Wilshere’s great season made people forget the hype as Aaron sat on the sidelines.

Here is your chance Aaron, grab it. I see Ramsey as a box to box midfielder with a great engine. The only player I could compare him to is Stevie G, all the skill yet he can speak English too! But the surging runs forward finding that incisive pass impress me more than his linguistic skills.

The boy has something about him. He is a leader.

The youngest ever captain of Wales at the age of 20, a lot of pressure for such a young man. Aaron appears to have some of those intangibles, leadership qualities one doesn’t usually see at such a young age and Arsene and Gary Speed seem to agree. His progress was stunted by the horrible injury sustained at Stoke, but he has come back and shown some of what he is capable of.

Scoring the winner against United was huge for him last season. It was the icing on the cake, the announcement of his return.

Aaron is still a young player, and young players lack consistency. No one likes to criticize the golden boy, Jack, but he had subpar games last season and that is normal for young players. Developing consistency takes time, but the time is now for Aaron and he needs to seize this chance; establishing himself as a permanent member of the first XI should be his priority.

We have all seen what Aaron is capable of, and he looks like he can be a world beater. It is time to grab your chance, prove turning down United was the right decision. Stand up Aaron and show the Premier League who they are dealing with.
This means no good halves, we need talismanic displays. No going anonymous when the going gets tough, I believe Aaron has it in him. His place was taken; this is his chance to reclaim it. Remind the fans why we were so devastated when Shawcross scythed him down, and realize the potential we know he has. He has had his niggles, as is typical coming back from injury, but we don’t want him to be a Diaby (Who?) and miss a month after every match played.

The opportunity is there, go seize it.

The fate of the Arsenal season depends on it.