Wilshere’s wide role at Arsenal will help him like Ramsey

In the last couple of Arsenal games, away to Sunderland and Marseille, the inclusion of Mesut Ozil and the injuries to Santi Cazorla, Tomas Rosicky and Lukas Podolski have forced Arsene Wenger to play Jack Wilshere in a wider role than he is used to on the left. While he is left-footed, this is not Jack’s natural position, but Wenger has been explaining the reasoning behind it. He told Arsenal player, “Jack is always willing to sacrifice himself for the team, and that is absolutely fantastic. “It is not his best position, we all know that. But he has a lot of freedom to move inside and he plays a little bit in the Cazorla role. He does that well. “I think he will benefit from that transitional period there and physically he will become much stronger. He needs that. “Overall he is very disciplined as well. He can do the physical job on the flanks. It’s the hardest job today in the modern game and he does that very well. I’m very pleased with his performances.” I think part of the reason for Wenger’s comments are to keep Jack’s spirits up. Yes he will do anything for Arsenal, but he would still rather do it from the middle. Also, while he is getting back to his best, Wenger is trying to keep his confidence high and reminding him that, if he is finding things a bit hard, there is good reason for it. Another player who was used out of position on the flanks last season, due to injuries and squad problems, was Aaron Ramsey. He was also trying to get back into form at the time, and struggled at times out wide, but it seems to have done wonders for the Welshman. It is hard, but helps you get fitter and stronger, while learning different aspects of the game. Also, you can be a bit more adventurous and try more, like dribbling past players, without worrying too much about conceding scoring opportunities if you lose the ball. Hopefully, a bit of time out wide will ultimately help young Jack become a better player, but for now I am just glad we have got him to fill in there.