Arsenal: Jack Wilshere tugging at Arsene Wenger’s heartstrings

Arsenal’s diminutive loss to Watford was followed up by the orchestra of Jack Wilshere. Arsene Wenger has to be emotionally torn going into Everton.

If you watched Arsenal vs Red Star Belgrade from start to finish, you probably feel like a primped pooch. 84 minutes of complete and sheer boredom followed by about thirty seconds of unabashed brilliance, orchestrated, as the entire game had been, by Jack Wilshere.

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I’ve had three neutrals today ask me if I saw “the goal.” That’s all you need to say. Everyone already knows what it is. The goal was typical Wengerball, also known as the failed attempt by Arsene Wenger to build a team that could make every single goal look exactly like that one.

But when they do come off, it has to sound something like a symphony to the man who dreamed it could be a regular thing.

At this point, it still looks like Wenger may be clinging to the tactical belief that every goal can and should look like that one. The beautiful game revived. Of course, if there is still any belief in this, the Wenger has to know the key by now. And that key is Jack Wilshere.

Every single goal that has been scored like that one we saw in Serbia has had Jack Wilshere right in the middle of it. His flicks and jives are what make these goals possible. But not just possible, seemingly easy.

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That’s what makes them so beautiful. There is no individuality, no self-aggrandizing. It looks so simple and, most importantly, coordinated. Which is something the Gunners attack seems to lack at just about every other minute when they aren’t scoring goals like this.

Which makes me wonder if Wilshere might have pulled heavily enough on Wenger’s heartstrings to prompt a reversal of policy.

Wilshere has, until now, bee isolated solely to non-Premier League fixtures. He had a brief moment when he looked to be coming in against Watford to save the day, but that was quickly disposed of thanks to injury.

Getting stuck in the midweek rotation is not going to be easy to break, seeing as how Wilshere is already fragile enough and to risk him in the starting XI after he has played a full 90 minutes just a few days prior is a risk that Wenger is unlikely to take. He doesn’t like risks too much after all.

Next: Arsenal vs Red Star Belgrade Player Ratings

But if there were some way to get through to Wenger that something has to be done, this is it. Wilshere was the conductor of this match, no question about it. Every positive move went through him and the best goal of the season began with him piercing the Belgrade defense. This is how you get through to Le Prof, if ever such a thing could happen.