Where Does Wilshere Fit In The Arsenal XI?

It is often claimed that the stock of a player is never higher than when he is out injured, with salvation expected to follow his return as a matter of course. This a process with which Jack Wilshere is all too familiar; fevered expectation followed by lengthy spells of inertia caused by injury. He is a player who exists largely in-potentia; the promise of what he might produce in future greater than the memories he has provided so far. Wilshere gave an interview earlier this week outlining his desire to return for Arsenal’s festive fixtures, but keen to stress that he will not rush back and put his body at risk.

I sense a greater degree of realism among the Arsenal fan base when it comes to Wilshere, regarding the type of impact we can expect him to make should he stay fit for the second half of the season. The phrase ‘now or never’ has even been used to describe Wilshere’s situation at Arsenal. This seems a touch hyperbolic, but it would appear that a majority of fans are not treating Wilshere’s imminent comeback as messianic. A fit and firing Wilshere would be an added bonus to Arsenal’s title challenge, rather than the factor on which the whole season rests.

There are also fears that Wilshere could struggle to break into the first XI, given the success of Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin as a central midfield partnership and the way in which Mesut Özil has flourished in the No.10 position. Two responses immediately spring to mind to allay such worries. Firstly, the number of games Arsenal play coupled with our much maligned injury record, indicate that Wilshere will get ample opportunity. Should Arsenal find themselves in the Europa League, this would bring about increased opportunity for rotation. Moreover, the emergence of Coquelin, Nacho Monreal and Hector Bellerin are apt reminders to supporters that the sands of football can shift very quickly and unpredictably so.

Whether or not Wilshere can nail down one of the ‘premier’ positions within the team, No.10 or central midfield, remains to be seen. During his first full season as a regular first teamer, 2010/11, it seemed as if Wilshere was destined to do so, that he was the player who would be handed the keys to the Arsenal team. Things have changed a great deal since then. However highly you rate Wilshere, the thought of him dislodging Özil from the No.10 position is out of the question, at least in the short to medium term.

Further back in the team, I harboured suspicions during the summer that this will be Santi Cazorla’s last season at Arsenal. Cazorla has just past 30 years of age, typically the stage at which Arsene Wenger becomes a touch more scrupulous in his evaluation of players. Rumours that Cazorla would like to finish his career in Spain have been persistent for quite a while. The way in which he was shifted to the left flank against Chelsea in the Community Shield and against West Ham on the opening day of Arsenal’s Premier League season (so that Aaron Ramsey could be accommodated centrally) seemed to confirm these suspicions.

However following that first game debacle against West Ham, Cazorla was reinstated to the central role in which he finished last season and he has stayed there ever since. His ability to wriggle out of pressure when an opponent tries to press Arsenal has become invaluable, alongside his vision and much acclaimed ambidexterity. When ill health hampered Cazorla against Spurs, the team struggled to find a convincing answer to Tottenham’s fierce pressing and hunting of the ball in central areas. This is the role that Jack Wilshere should be trying to make his own within this Arsenal team; for all of his perceived faults or limitations, his ability to receive the ball while marked and dribble through pressure is a rare talent, especially for a central midfielder.

Furthermore I suspect that in an ideal world, Arsene Wenger would love to get Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere into the same central midfield. This pairing would provide Wenger with a degree of ‘ideological’ vindication; two technically adept, British midfield players who received their footballing education at Arsenal (perhaps ‘graduation’ is a more accurate term in Ramsey’s case, who was bought from Cardiff City). If you wished to indulge in gallows humour, you could even point to both players’ injury records as further proof of their Arsenal authenticity. To have two ‘home grown’, gifted players in the middle of the park would epitomise what Wenger’s work over many years has been aimed at, both in terms of recruitment and style of play.

Wenger’s desire to get these two into the same starting XI was clear at the beginning of last season, when he adopted a 4-1-4-1 with Özil on the left flank to accommodate Ramsey and Wilshere centrally. As stated, Özil is now firmly established in a central role behind the striker in what is more or less a 4-2-3-1. A Ramsey-Wilshere axis behind Özil would appear to lack positional discipline and therefore defensive assurance, qualities that Francis Coquelin has provided in abundance. Personally, against inferior opponents at least, I think the axis could work if given time.

However, in order to make this system function and secure enough defensively one, if not both, of Ramsey and Wilshere would have to curtail their natural game. Ramsey would have to be more selective about making runs past the strikers and Wilshere would have to be more selective about when to dribble with the ball and when to play a simple pass. You might not see the best of either player. A diamond with Coquelin at the base, Özil at the tip and Ramsey-Wilshere in between appears an interesting solution. The fact it has never been tried however, suggests that the manager has his doubts, and given that he observes the players every day I trust those doubts to be legitimate.

All of which leaves two positions for Jack Wilshere to target following his return: Santi Cazorla’s role in central midfield or Aaron Ramsey’s role on the right. Given Cazorla’s age, his spot alongside Francis Coquelin appears to be the one that Wilshere could soon move into seamlessly. Though Ramsey has done a fine job on the right flank, and the team have missed him when he has been absent, games against deep lying defences might suit a dribbler on the right who can break defensive lines. Wilshere could find himself competing with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for this role, should Arsenal want a ball carrier on their right hand side.

As ever though, discussion of Wilshere must conclude with a caveat: if he can stay fit.

http://twitter.com/zeqiridan Tell us what you think! If you agree, or have a different view, please leave a comment in the comments section or why not write a response or your own article on YouWrite?

Think you know Arsenal? Test your Arsenal knowledge on our trivia page and see if you can beat the top score.

Don't forget to like us on Facebook, add us to your G+ circle and follow us on Twitter.