Mediawatch: Wilshere to Palace…exclusively

Sarah Winterburn

Jack of all newspapers
Back page of The Sun: ‘Palace top choice for Wilshere loan move.’

Back page of the Daily Mail: ‘CRYSTAL PALACE are in advanced talks to land Jack Wilshere on loan.’

Back page of the Daily Express: ‘CRYSTAL PALACE hope to land Jack Wilshere on a season-long loan.’

Back page of the Daily Mirror: ‘JACK WILSHERE was last night set to join Crystal Palace on loan.’

Odd then that The Sun are calling the story an EXCLUSIVE. Not so odd that Chief Football Reporter and giddy Palace fan Neil Ashton calls it an ‘amazing’ move.

 

What a difference 12 hours make
The Sun’s
 Chief Football Reporter and giddy Palace fan Neil Ashton, published 10.32pm, Tuesday night, EXCLUSIVE: ‘Wilshere has also spoken with Watford and Bournemouth but his preferred choice appears to be Palace…the midfielder has interest from abroad – including AC Milan – but, because of his two young children, he would rather stay in London.’

The Sun’s Justin Allen, published 10.22am, Wednesday morning, EXCLUSIVE: ‘JACK WILSHERE has told pals he is leaning towards a loan move to Bournemouth – rather than Crystal Palace….a source told SunSport: “Jack really likes Eddie Howe. He was very impressed with him and has been making lots of phone calls to people about Bournemouth. He says he is leaning towards going there – rather than Palace.”

He’s terribly fickle, that Jack Wilshere.

 

Devil’s in the detail
According to The Sun’s Chief Football Reporter Ashton: ‘It has come to this because Wilshere has slipped so far down the pecking order at Arsenal he is now SIXTH-choice central midfielder. Mesut Ozil, Granit Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin are all ahead of him at the Emirates.’

Couple of things.

1) Not Chief Football Counter, are you.

2) You forgot Mohamed Elneny. So that makes him EIGHTH-choice central midfielder. No wonder he wants to join Crystal Palace Bournemouth.

 

Quantity surveyor

Couple of questions:

1) Is Arsene Wenger no longer a ‘football person’?

2) How on earth does being wanted by Crystal Palace and Bournemouth mean that he’s ‘top class’? Those two teams currently occupy 17th and 19th in the Premier League table. Even West Ham decided that he would not get in the team ahead of Mark Noble.

 

Check the times

 

No Don Dealio
Sky Sports
Transfer Centre headline, 18:54 on Thursday: ‘HART DEAL DONE’

Article starts with the words: ‘It’s done!’

First paragraph in full: ‘It’s done! Joe Hart has agreed to join Torino from Manchester City on loan, and the deal will be completed tomorrow morning.’

Not bloody done yet then, is it?

 

Missing an open Goal

Goal Sissoko

Well, he was a classy midfielder in his day. And not much older than Ryan Nelsen when Tottenham signed him on deadline day.

 

Unsurprising line of the day
‘We’ve had many a glass together…’ – Bryan Robson on Sam Allardyce in The Sun.

 

A different corner
Isn’t it nice that Wayne Rooney has decided when he will retire from international football? And isn’t it nice that Wayne Rooney has been absolved of all blame for what happened in France at Euro 2016?

Writes Matt Lawton in the Daily Mail:

‘He was brutal in his assessment of England’s mistakes in Nice, and brutally honest about one of the defining moments of the Euro 2016 tournament – the decision to make centre forward Harry Kane take the corners.’

Now then. We would have thought the defining moments of England’s campaign in Euro 2016 were their failure to beat Slovakia despite dominating the game and then their ridiculous collapse against Iceland in the second round. But no, let’s all concentrate on the corners. Because of course England scored a barrel-load of goals from corners once Rooney had taken over.

‘In the second group game against Wales, captain Rooney decided enough was enough and took it upon himself to take the corners and thrust Kane back into the penalty box.’

And thank God he did, because of course Kane then scored from a corner. What? He didn’t? You mean that England’s success or failure did not entirely depend on who took the corners?

‘Like most observers, Rooney saw no sense in having the Premier League’s most prolific striker outside the box.’

Yes. And how did the Premier League’s most prolific striker do inside the box? Oh. Still sh*t as it turns out.

Lawton then quotes Rooney as saying that Roy Hodgson had no issues with Rooney taking the corners and said nothing after the game.

‘At the time, Hodgson clearly did have an issue, and if nothing was said after the game then that is also fascinating. It might also explain what Rooney, on reflection, saw as the major problem during the Iceland game – a lack of concentration and of discipline.’

Mediawatch has read that paragraph several times and we are still none the wiser; is Lawton saying that Hodgson allowing England’s players to make in-game changes without getting visibly annoyed led to them then being awful against Iceland? So Kane taking corners in the opening match was actually ‘one of the defining moments of the Euro 2016 tournament’. Clearly it cost them the whole bloody trophy.

 

Walk the plank
And how do the Daily Mirror report the revelation that Wayne Rooney took over corners from Harry Kane, incurring the silent assumed wrath of Roy Hodgson?

‘MUTINY at the EUROS.’

For f***’s sake.

 

Recommended reading of the day
Michael Cox on the unnecessary changing of club colours

 

Thanks to today’s Mediawatch spotters Ian Watson, Michael Kavanagh and Dave Cropper. If you spot anything that belongs on this page, mail us at theeditor@football365.com putting ‘Mediawatch’ in the subject field.