Wilshere: Arsenal must become nastier

The England international, who is set to start against Switzerland at Wembley on Saturday, said: “It will be a disaster, 100 percent, if we don’t win a trophy next season. We know that. The fans feel it. We feel it. We just need to win a trophy."

Wilshere was one of few positives many Arsenal fans could take from a disappointing season which saw them dramatically lose to Birmingham City in the Carling Cup Final.

And the starlet believes the Gunners need to show more aggression and authority next season in order to take the next step and secure some silverware.

“We have to be more of a team, be more aggressive, show more authority and take control a bit more," he said. "You see other teams pressuring officials and sometimes I think, ‘We need to do it as well’. Manchester United are the best at it. They get round the referee all the time.

“I think sometimes we are a bit soft and naive, and some of our players would be the first to admit that. We’ve been too nice in defending. I’ve heard Bacary Sagna say this year that we’ve been too nice.

“We have to be a bit nastier, especially on set-pieces, because we’ve conceded too many goals from set-pieces.”

With transfer speculation surrounding several of Arsenal’s key players, particularly captain Cesc Fabregas, their task next season could be made all the more difficult.

Therefore, the passionate midfielder insists the club have to start being successful in order to keep their better players at Emirates Stadium.

“Arsenal’s a big club and we need to be winning trophies to help us keep our big players - sooner rather than later, too," he said.

“We know we need to keep up with the top four in terms of our spending this summer. We need to stay in the top four and push on for a trophy. We were so close this year.

“I hope we can keep Cesc Fabregas, for a start. He’s been a real example to me on and off the pitch.

“He’s our best player. In some of our games he has been our best player by a mile, and we need to keep our best players if we want to win things."

ByMiles Crallan

Gregg Davies

Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.