Should Arsene Wenger Use Jack Wilshere in Defence-Minded Arsenal Role?

Arsenal’s need for a defensive midfielder is longstanding. Ever since the departure of Gilberto Silva in 2008, the Gunners have lacked someone with the necessary positional nous and physical power to protect their back four.

Many Arsenal fans hope that Arsene Wenger will amend the situation in January. However, it seems Jack Wilshere believes he could provide the Gunners boss with a short-term fix.

It’s a role he is now playing regularly at international level. Since the World Cup, Wilshere has replaced Steven Gerrard at the base of the England midfield. Roy Hodgson and Gary Neville have advised Wilshere to study tapes of Andrea Pirlo to understand his role as the deep-lying pivot of the England midfield.

Scott Heppell/Associated Press

The results have been good. Wilshere’s new position has seen him produce his best performances in an England shirt. It’s not restricting his creativity either: Against Scotland, he produced a stunning 40-yard pass to create the opening goal for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Wilshere is enjoying the role, and he seems interested in the possibility of playing there at club level. In the wake of the Scotland match, he told Matt Law of The Telegraph: 

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The main thing is the coaches are getting their points across in terms of what they want me to do, not just over here but when we’re away from here. We’re working on it, because I don’t play that role for my club, but I am really enjoying it.

I enjoy my role for Arsenal as well because I can get a bit further forward, but I wouldn’t mind to play the holding role for Arsenal ... I’ve already spoken to the manager about it, and he doesn’t see me playing that role just yet.

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In some ways, Wenger’s reluctance to try Wilshere out as his holding midfielder is surprising: The Frenchman is a stated fan of internal solutions. If he can convert an existing member of his squad to suit his purposes, he’d rather do that than enter the transfer market.

This is, after all, the same man who opted to enter the season with Nacho Monreal as his reserve centre-back rather than bring in an experienced defender. 

Wenger himself seems to have changed his mind on Wilshere’s best position. Speaking to ESPN in November of 2013, he said:

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His best position is as a deep-lying midfielder, where he can be a distributor. He has a good burst and vision.

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However, just 10 months later, he told the same website:

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Jack was always a boy who was at his most dangerous in the final third. That's why I prefer him to play higher up the pitch: One of his qualities is penetrating in the final third.

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Perhaps the change of mind comes from wanting to protect Wilshere’s brittle body. Defensive midfield is one of the most combative areas of the park, and Wilshere is brave but not brawny. It’s a huge risk to ask a highly injury-prone player to play in that zone.

Clive Rose/Getty Images

We also know little about Wilshere’s defensive abilities. He likes to tackle, but his positional awareness has rarely been tested at international level.

England’s Euro 2016 qualification campaign has been something of a procession to date. Until Wilshere comes up against a top-class opponent, we won’t be able to assess how much security he offers in the holding role. Playing him as the sole defensive midfielder could see his limitations exposed. He has the enthusiasm, though not necessarily the expertise.

His ideal position at present is probably as one of two deeper-lying midfielders, playing alongside someone like Arteta or Mathieu Flamini. That way the responsibility for ball-winning is not entirely his, and he has license to break forward when it suits him.

However, he can still get on the ball deep and instigate passing moves from the back. With Aaron Ramsey struggling for form, Wilshere could find himself playing in just such a position this weekend against Manchester United.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and will be following the club from a London base throughout the 2014/15 season. Follow him on Twitter here.