If you’ve step foot in the Football Transfer Tavern in recent weeks, you would’ve been physically unable to avoid utterances of the name ‘Jack Wilshere’ with the Arsenal star having made the news for both good and bad reasons of late.
Showcasing his best talents yesterday in a 3-2 victory for England over Slovenia in Ljubljana, bagging two expertly finished strikes, the Arsenal midfielder flourished in something of a new role experienced under Roy Hodgson on international duty for the Three Lions.
Playing in a much deeper role as the midfield pivot as opposed to further forward in Arsene Wenger’s plans, it seems Wilshere is thriving on breaking up the play with tenacity while dictating the play with his passing ability that has always been the most impressive element of his playing style.
A few of our Tottenham supporting regulars take this moment to claim this is all well and good against Slovenia but they are quickly shot down by Gooners who remember Wilshere’s fantastic performance against Brazil at Wembley a few seasons back.
Having of course won a second successive FA Cup with Arsenal this past season, there are no longer any excuses why Arsene Wenger’s team shouldn’t be getting closer to Chelsea in realistically battling for the biggest domestic prize of all – the Premier League title.
Wenger will of course be strengthening but our Arsenal fans jibe this probably won’t be until August at the very earliest so with plenty of time on their hands, they have listed five reasons why man of the moment Wilshere can be key to a potential Gunners title triumph next season in 2015/16.
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Click on Arsene Wenger below to reveal the 5 reasons Jack Wilshere can be key to Arsenal’s title challenge next season.
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He is now more versatile than ever before
As briefly discussed at the outset, Roy Hodgson has uncovered a new role for Wilshere in his England team where the Arsenal man has flourished in more of an anchor-type midfield role.
On the one hand, you fear for Wilshere and the potential injuries that could be incurred in this role as ultimately, it is in the engine room where most tackles fly about but on the other, Wilshere boasts tenacity in abundance and is far more dynamic in winning the ball back here and restarting the play than some of his other team-mates.
This hasn’t gone unnoticed by Hodgson who seems to be getting the most out of Wilshere in the position.
But what of Arsenal?
It must be acknowledged that Arsene Wenger stumbled across a winning formula in pairing Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla as Arsenal’s two deepest lying midfielders in the second half of 2014/15 and you’d imagine that he wouldn’t be keen on breaking that successful partnership up so soon.
That’s all well and good but out of the last seemingly gazillion seasons, have Arsenal ever really got through a campaign on four fronts without suffering long-term injuries?
If a Cazorla or Coquelin was out for any length of time, Wenger is now able to throw Wilshere into the role as it is now becoming unavoidable to realise his worth in the position and this is a credit to England if anything.
He is adding more goals to his game
A quick glance at Jack Wilshere’s Wikipedia page tells you straight away that he is anything but a goalscorer with just six goals scored in 100 Premier League appearances for Arsenal alongside two goals for England.
Nevertheless, having hit three worldies at the tail end of the season including the one against West Bromwich Albion and the two registered yesterday for England, Gunners fans would’ve enjoyed seeing their homegrown talent find the back of the net.
In his post-game interview with ITVs Gabriel Clarke, Wilshere openly admitted that he wants to be scoring far more goals to emulate the likes of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard who have of course now departed the international scene.
While you’d imagine Wilshere won’t be adorning the Golden Boot charts any time soon, his willingness to shoot from distance is refreshing to see for Arsenal fans who have become so used to seeing their side try to walk the ball into the net against opponents who arrive at Emirates Stadium to park the bus.
Boasting a powerful left footed strike as showcased yesterday, these goals will give Wilshere so much more belief in front of goal next season, no matter where he is deployed.
His injury troubles have to change some time, don’t they?
The many sceptics of Jack Wilshere claim he is never ever going to realise his potential, simply due to the fact that injury troubles have somewhat blighted his progress to date.
They also pose the question whether the Gunners star has ever really improved since that breakthrough appearance against Barcelona in the Champions League where he didn’t look out of place against the likes of Xavi and Andres Iniesta back in 2011.
At the end of the day however, his injury troubles have to change at some time, don’t they?
While it would be foolish to claim that Wilshere will be changing his game (he has openly admitted he won’t be!), he is now far more aware of times in a game whereby he must pull out for the sake of potentially injuring himself.
His injury setbacks would’ve taught him a lot and while you could imagine he may suffer another unfortunate recurrence sometime soon, perhaps 2015/16 will be the season in which he stays more relatively injury free?
Although not injury based, his Arsenal team-mate Aaron Ramsey has proved that remarkable turnarounds are indeed possible going from the Emirates boo boy to a vital cog in Wenger’s recent FA Cup successes.
Wilshere of course boasts the ability to become as indispensable as the Welshman, as showcased yesterday afternoon in Slovenia.
Public criticism obviously doesn’t faze him
Certainly after England’s dour 0-0 friendly with the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, we spoke about Raheem Sterling and how his whole contractual situation at Liverpool will require a thick skinned attitude from the player to navigate through the process without his form taking a nosedive.
Sterling performed far better away in Slovenia whereby criticism wasn’t nearly as intense as it was at the Aviva Stadium and this theme has got us thinking about Jack Wilshere himself.
Having of course just received an FA charge for his “what do you think of Tottenham? S***” end-of-season rant at Tottenham during Arsenal’s FA Cup trophy parade, it hasn’t been too long before he’s been writing positive headlines again and this seems to be a mark of the player.
Seemingly not fazed by public criticism, Wilshere doesn’t lack in confidence and it is this type of attitude that separates successful players from the rest – those that are able to block out all of the noise while producing the goods on the pitch and letting their feet do the talking.
Wilshere is likely to potentially cause further negative headlines in his professional career, after all that’s just his character but at the same time, you can bet your bottom dollar that positive stories won’t be that far around the corner either!
Winning mentality now stronger than previously
It mustn’t be forgotten that Jack Wilshere broke into an Arsenal side that was ultimately under-achieving and still is according to several hardened Gooners despite scooping the FA Cup for two seasons in a row now.
Nevertheless, Wenger has ultimately brought himself far more time in the Gunners hotseat having steered his team to these Wembley triumphs and mentally, Arsenal will be far better off for having enjoyed such experiences.
Our resident Gooners often talk about ‘mentality’ when referencing their team and it seems that if they get this in check, anything is possible.
We’re talking about the Stoke City away kind of games and the switching off that occurred in the Champions League against Monaco.
These are the kind of mental lapses that Arsenal often suffer against what is really, inferior opposition.
However, with their form having proved excellent in the second half of 2014/15, Gunners fans know their side can go on long unbeaten runs; it’ll just be a case of starting much faster next term and sustaining such form all of the way through until the end – easier said than done of course.
Wilshere, along with many of his other Arsenal team-mates will boast much more of a winning mentality next term than they did previously.
