Absolute non-sense. There's been an anti- Wilshere narrative going around for far too long in the press, much like there was with Walcott (which ironically seems to have disapated now he plays for Everton). He's an exellent player and useful squad member.
Arsene Wenger sides over the past 10-12 years have often been combated by sitting deep and counter attacking. You cant always play through these kinds of sides. Sometimes you need players who can carry the ball and pass. To put it simply Wilshere gives us that. (Carzorla of course could do that too)
He also has shown on multiple occassions this Seasons when the side is playing like **** - he still puts in a decent shift. I can think of 6-7 times this Season where Wilshere has looked like the only player giving the requitred level of perfortmance. He certainly doesnt deserve criticism for this Season. The guy is a gooner through and through and we always get commitment from him.
If he can stay fit he's going to improve, the guy has had alot of time on the sidelines and as far as I'm concerned he's already a better player than Elneny or Xhaka.
Sorry Bear, but I think you're well wide off the mark here.
If there is one player in our team who has been a 'Media Darling', it's Jack. How many times have you seen people say he's the solution to England's midfield, he can be the next Scholes, Gerrard et al, he can be captain of both club and country etc?
It was only when he had a distinctly average spell at Bournemouth where people have started to alter their opinions of him. But even then, when he was playing in our Europa League group fixtures and admittedly looked a cut above the opposition, commentators and football fans alike were calling for Southgate to re-introduce him to the England squad. Despite barely playing in the league at all and taking into account the substandard opposition we faced.
Wilshere is good at winning fouls and his dribbling is decent, but that's literally all he contributes to the team. And even when he does win fouls, how often is it because he doesn't release the ball earlier and tries to dance his way through the opposition without looking up?
Injuries or not, we can't afford to be sentimental over a player who is now 26 years old. These are meant to be his best years and he has very little to show for i t.
I wouldn't mind him as a squad player if he was willing to take a pay cut, but it appears he's not willing to do so. In which case, I am happy for him to leave.
Since you're quite a big stats person, let's look at Wilshere's.
He's played 1116 minutes in the league this season. He's attempted 1.6 tackles per game, successfully completed 0.8 tackles per game (so only 50% successful at winning a tackle basically), 0.5 interceptions per game, 0.3 clearances per game, 0.4 passes blocked per game, 0.7 shots per game, 1.2 unsuccessful touches per game, 1.2 dispossessions per game...
To be fair, the number of fouls won, his passing and dribbling figures, as expected, are better. However, if you compare these to any of the other central midfielders he's allegedly in the same bracket as, you'll see how poorly these statistics truly reflect on him.
I even checked his stats in the Europa and they're only mildly better than that.
The fact he may be better than Xhaka and Elneny says absolutely nothing about how good he is and, if anything, highlights just how poor our central midfield options are at the moment. Elneny at least harries the opposition and presses very well, whilst keeping midfield ticking over. And he has more of a presence than Wilshere does in our midfield.
So to reiterate, I'd only keep him if he's willing to accept he wouldn't be an immediate starter and is willing to take a slash in wages. Otherwise, bye bye Jack.
