Jack Wilshere: Undeserved Criticism Must Stop

Following Arsenal’s disappointing defeat against Chelsea, Arsenal fans played their usual blame game (as all responsible fans do) and pointed towards Arsene Wenger first and foremost. That comes as no surprise.

What surprised me is who they pointed to next: Jack Wilshere.

Seeing Jack Wilshere completely change his game in the second half is one of the most important improvements I’ve seen

I’ll admit, Jack Wilshere had a borderline terrible first half. But his second half was spectacular. He was an absolute wizard on the ball and made me almost completely forget his first-half mishaps.

Here’s some comparisons via Squawka.

Wilshere may have started the game awfully, but he finished the game by outperforming Cesc Fabregas and Oscar, both of whom were lauded all game for their play.

It should be an incredibly welcome sign that Wilshere was able to go into the half-time locker room and completely reevaluate his play and come out as a dominating force.

Not so long ago, he was much more self-destructive to the point where, if he was having a bad game, he’d continue trying way too hard and drilling himself into the ground. Not anymore.

What we saw from Wilshere in the second half was what we’ve been expecting of him for his entire career. He was intelligent on and off the ball, he was maintaining possession and not over-thinking himself. I saw him dribble past many a defender and I’m still getting warm and fuzzies over the dummy pass he let go through to Santi Cazorla.