Before he had even turned up for pre-season training with Arsenal this summer, Jack Wilshere was under pressure. From the media mainly, who seemed to want to lay a lot of the blame for another woeful display in a tournament from the England side at his feet, despite him hardly featuring for Roy Hodgson’s team in Brazil. Then we had the smoking pictures and everyone wanted a pop at our young midfielder.
But fair play to Jack, he took it on the chin and accepted that he needed to prove himself all over again. He did claim that all of his injury problems had not helped but he knew the only way to prove his critics wrong was to perform well on a regular basis for Arsenal and that he needed to get fit and stay fit in order to do that. He has certainly done that to some extent.
Wilshere himself, in an Arsenal.com report, has explained that it needs him a good few games to get up to speed and that he does feel that we are now starting to see the best of him again.
Jack said, “I feel good and I’m always looking to improve, no matter what. For a player of my age, I’ve missed a lot of football so I’m just trying to play as much as I can, train as much as I can and I’ve always said that when I get fully fit you’ll see the best of me.
“I said at the start of the season that it was going to take some time to get back to my best. Ever since my first injury, it’s always taken a run of games – probably between five and 10 – to get back to my best.
“Some players are different, some players come back and are at their best straight away. But some need a run of games and I’m one of those players.”
Wilshere is definitely on the comeback trail and we are seeing much better performances from him, but I still don’t think we are seeing the best of him. That will take a bit more time, but he does look like he will continue to score goals like he did last season, with the five he got in all competitions matching the whole of his previous career.
His stats show that his shots per game and shooting accuracy are better than ever, probably because of the confidence that last season’s goals gave him. But he still loses the ball a bit too often and does not blast past players with the ease he did as a teenager. But that will come as his confidence, match sharpness and all-round game continues to grow.
Do you think there is more to come from Wilshere?