If you type into Google ‘Jack Wilshere’ then on the news section you will find that there is over 600 news sources telling you about Jack Wilshere’s display for England against Brazil.

Now in the UK we are very quick to overreact and pile pressure onto our young footballers, so its not entirely surprising to see all the plaudits going Jack’s way.

But can we just let the boy find his own way in the footballing world without trying to fast track him into being labelled a world beater at the age of just 21!

He did have a fine game against Brazil but Brazil are no longer the force they once were.

They are currently 18th in the Fifa world rankings, thats their lowest position ever. They find themselves lying behind the likes of Greece, Ecuador, Switzerland and the Ivory Coast.

Now these rankings aren’t gospel and are often criticised but it shows you that Brazil have fallen from the heights they had in the 90s and in 2002.

England are sixth in those rankings and were at home, so should have been favourites for this game on that basis.

Yes we, as the British public, think that those yellow and green strips with blue shorts are somewhat magical and almost unbeatable but the truth is I wasn’t shocked by the 2-1 win for England as Brazil are trying to invent or discover themselves again.

With that being said, Jack was impressive. He has been since he broke into the Arsenal first team at the age of 16, back in 2008. He is an intelligent footballer who can spot a pass, run all day, make a tackle and radiates passion.

His performance against Barcelona in the Gunners 2-1 win at the Emirates in 2011 rightly won him a lot of praise as he bested the likes of Xavi, Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta. His composure on the ball was fantastic.

So yes he is developing into a fine footballer and has the potential to be a fantastic player but I believe we need to let him breathe so that he can reach that potential.

Overreacting to this performance in a friendly against a mediocre Brazil side isn’t really going help him.

Does he really need to have the pressure thrown on him that Paul Gascoigne had back in 1990?

Look at the papers and he is being compared to Gazza, Iniesta and Paul Scholes. They have also assessed his performance and comparing it to Brazilians own golden boy Neymar.

Instead of labelling him the next this or that, can’t the press and the public just let Jack be himself and appreciate what he gives them now and not get too caught up on what he can do in the next five years.

Why are we always in such a rush to see what happens next.

Wilshere also shared the Wembley pitch with former world player of the year Ronaldinho. Now 32, the Brazilian star wasn’t the player he once was. His penalty miss was poor, he was slow and misplaced quite a few passes. Since he left Barca at the age of 27, he has never been the same player. He peaked early and has been off the boil ever since. That shows you what may happen to Jack if you give him so much hype and give him too much too soon.

I am not really interested in going the other way either.

Jamie Redknapp has came out in his newspaper column saying Wilshere needs to ditch the hard tackling and concentrate on becoming more like Iniesta.

At 21, Wilshere is developing into a good footballer. No offence to Jamie but Jack doesn’t need to hear his advice. He is better developing his own game and style. If he needs to learn then he has a great coach in Arsene Wenger, who brought through Cesc Fabregas and Patrick Vieira, making them world stars.

We only have one Andres Iniesta and only need one. I don’t want Jack to become more like Iniesta or anyone else for that matter, I want him to shine as Jack Wilshere.

He does have a British style with his no nonsense tackling style and his passion (just look at how he got into Michael Owen’s face as he protect teammate Mikel Arteta against Stoke). Redknapp wants to curb this and wants him to adopt the style of Spain’s Iniesta who likes to intercept the ball rather than tackle.

Now why try and change the mindset of a player who is more comfortable going in for a slide tackle and who can perform that move quite successfully. If you take that out his game then you may lose the passion that drives him on in games.

He still has the guile and the skill when he is on the ball, so let him carry on with the tackles as he thrives when he makes those challenges.

As a player he impresses me as much off the pitch as he does on it. He remains calm and knows he still needs to improve. He has the belief in his own ability that he can be one of the best and that is admirable as he continues to try and improve himself as a player every time he steps onto the park.  He doesn’t seem to be effected by the hype and long may that continue.

Perfection cannot be created. The future can’t come any sooner, no matter how much the press want it to all happen yesterday.

At the moment Jack Wilshere is a very exciting prospect. But as a professional footballer he still hasn’t won a major trophy, he hasn’t represented England in a major tournament, he still has less than ten international caps and has already had a serious injury.

Lets quell all the hype and just enjoy him on a game to game basis. Let him develop in his own time  and please let him be his own man and not the next whoever.

Posted on February 7th, 2013 by scott
Filed under: Article