The media will build you up to break you down. A tiresome cliché, but that’s often how it works. Jack Wilshere most recently has been a victim of this circumstantial reporting.
There’s only so much the press can be blamed for this apparent double standard. The Englishman did have it coming after he smoked that solitary cigarette. Not much can defend their reasoning, but that’s part of the evolutionary process of modern media, and footballers should be well aware of that. Plus, being part of an England camp that includes hippy crack-happy Kyle Walker, there really isn’t much in the way of defence for Wilshere.
There was that window of opportunity to deflect that negative press – his reaction to it all. It’s a shame he left that window wide open and let his saving grace tumble out. ‘It was a dare’ – brave statement, perhaps, knowing what the world would say back to that.
Then he took to Twitter and posted a picture of Zinedine Zidane smoking. It’s symbolic of how this issue was always going to be blown out of proportion – but renders the defending statement almost irrelevant. That’s frighteningly irrational – considering he’s ‘England’s saviour’. As much as he might not like to be and probably shouldn’t be considered one – as with all footballers – he’s a role model. A very public figure.
All this has stripped away the regalia that the media dressed him up in, speaking so royally of his talent. There have been questions put forward about his performances over the last ten months or so, but this has sparked universal realisation that majority of people had put him on too high a pedestal.
It was only a matter of time until he lost his balance up at those dizzying heights.
Injury can, to a certain extent, provide itself as an explanation. He was out for close to a year and a half: incontrovertibly throwing away a lot of mental and physical energy. A formative process, nonetheless: a constructive hurdle of sorts?
In creeps the comparison to Aaron Ramsey. Laborious, yes, but the obvious and pertinent choice. Ramsey was excoriated by Arsenal fans and football fans alike. His performances during the beginning two thirds of the season warranted it. He was playing terribly. Misplacing passes, missing chances, failing to track runners. Yet now it comes with a resounding ease. The point being that it’s only up to the player to turn it all around. Your manager and teammates can guide you along the fragile bridge, but may struggle pull you up if you fall even further down.
‘I have many players of Wilshere’s ability in my B team’ – did Pep have a point that we all vehemently dismissed? Jack was probably the most technically gifted player amongst his compatriots in his age group, at the time. It was natural to expect big things of him. That’s also how few and far between players of his potential are produced in England. So, yes, maybe Guardiola did have a point that resonated beyond Wenger’s ‘lack of pressure to win titles’.
He could only live off potential for this limited time period; he needs to play well consistently to show he is more substance than substitute. That’s what role he’s been relegated to for now. And that’s exactly where this process takes a positive curve. Or it should do at least.
This is his defining point.
Wilshere now knows that he isn’t as treasured as he once was and needs to battle back. The reputation he was given was a garland around his neck. He needs to earn it. And the scenario couldn’t be more conducive to that. In a full-strength Arsenal squad he wouldn’t find his way onto the team sheet at the moment; neither will his name shout itself out off of Roy Hodgson’s clipboard.
It’s going to be procedural – starting from low enough for the reality of it hit home and high enough for it not to completely deter him off it all. He needs to redevelop his game. Being fearless in a tackle will win you fans – especially English ones – but not always the ball. He needs to mature as a footballer. Be appreciative of the tactical side of the game. Playing him wider than usual has exposed that contempt he treats that aspect of the game with. It could be a remoulding of him into a player that he may have taken even longer to become, had he continued on that same path.
This is by no means a suggestion that he’s a bad footballer. At all. There definitely was some sense in him being built up this big; if not entirely.
