Jack Wilshere Still Needs End Product to Become Arsenal Star

Jack Wilshere's return to first-team action was perhaps the most interesting aspect of Arsenal's recent 3-1 win away to Hull City in the Premier League. It says a lot that so much focus should be on Wilshere even amid one of the Gunners' best performances of this campaign, a match where Arsenal produced some of the most attractive football seen in England's top flight all season.

But Wilshere's return was significant because it was the first step in answering a pretty big, two-fold question. Does Wilshere still belong in the Arsenal starting 11, and if so, what's his best position?

The first part of that question doesn't justify the no-brainer response it once did. His litany of injuries, along with marquee new arrivals and the improvements made by others, have damaged Wilshere's status as the inevitable focal point of the team.

He seemed destined for that role after manager Arsene Wenger put him into the fray in 2010. An excellent debut season followed, but a lengthy ankle injury, one which still plagues the England international, cruelly derailed his development.

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Since then, there have been brief glimpses of Wilshere's undoubted brilliance, snatches of potential seen only amid a labyrinthian search for his best position.

Wilshere's efficiency in possession, particularly in short areas, seemed to make him an obvious fit for a deep role in the centre of midfield. Writing for Arseblog, Tim Stillman detailed how Wilshere thrived in this position during the 2010-11 campaign: "2010-11 was the closest Arsene came to cracking the code, as the youthful Jack Wilshere’s mix of tenacity and technique, as well as his ability to carry the ball, dovetailed beautifully with Song and Fabregas."

Wilshere's stint as a rarely-farther-than-the-halfway-line fulcrum of passing proved short-lived thanks to his injury woes. When he returned during the 2012-13 season, Wenger began to experiment with Wilshere as a classic No. 10.

It was a trial prompted by the player's growing skill in gliding past defenders with close control and a deceptively quick shift of pace. It's become the niche skill of Wilshere's game.

Few players in the sport, save for those the quality of its most dominant performer, Barcelona's Lionel Messi, carry the ball as effectively as Arsenal's young midfielder.

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Yet Wilshere's time in the central positions just off the front didn't last long. But it's why it was cut short that's significant.

Wilshere was moved out of the middle not because of injuries, but due to the lack of an end product that has plagued his development as much as a glass ankle. Simply put, Wilshere just doesn't create enough chances, provide enough assists or score enough goals:

Season	Games Started	Substitute Appearances	Goals	Assists
2010/11	46	6	2	9
2012/13	26	8	2	4
2013/14	35	12	5	4
2014/15	15	6	1	2 (Club level)

Among all of the statistics that serve to indict Wilshere's struggles in the final third, it's the lack of goals that's most troubling. For a player with a left foot most fellow pros should envy, Wilshere just has to score more.

He doesn't make good use of his shooting ability. That can be a product of playing for a manager who demands a collective approach to attacking.

Yet it's equally true that Wilshere rarely makes the most of his shots. Just like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, he often needs several chances to work the goalkeeper, let alone find the net.

In fairness though, Wilshere has never been the luckiest player in front of goal. Who can forget the stunning left-foot drive that smashed the top of the crossbar in the ill-fated League Cup final against Birmingham City in 2011? Then there was the thunderbolt curler that bounced off of the top corner of the goal frame during last season's 3-0 away win over Cardiff City.

The same season saw a delicate lob, an improvised moment of brilliant technique, drop onto the inside of the post and into the grateful hands of Southampton 'keeper Artur Boruc. For a lucky finisher, all three of those result in goals.

References to the 2013-14 season are telling because Wilshere spent most of that campaign beginning matches on the right side of a midfield five.

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It's no coincidence that Wilshere played that position during his most prolific campaign in front of goal. The same position represents his best means of getting back into the current Arsenal team on a regular basis.

Playing on the right naturally gives this gifted left-footer the option to check inside and create excellent angles for a shot. Writing for ESPN FC, Arseblog founder Andrew Mangan also noted how Wilshere gave the Gunners a more direct cutting edge than roving schemer Aaron Ramsey:

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When Wilshere came on he picked up where his fellow central midfielder left off. His runs were similarly positive and penetrating, but he added something different too. While Ramsey looks to find dangerous space created by the movement of others—Olivier Giroud in particular is excellent at pulling defenders out of position—Wilshere bursts through crowded areas to make space of his own.

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It's back to that ability running with the ball again. But while that's a skill that few in this Gunners squad— save for maybe Santi Cazorla—offer, it's what comes at the end of those runs that matters.

More specifically, it's what doesn't come at the end of them. Few midfielders in a top-flight division overhit intended through passes as often as Wilshere does.

He's usually guilty of waiting a second too long to make up his mind. Equally, the 23-year-old often doesn't see runners between the lines and instead settles for the safety of passing square.

The Telegraph's Thom Gibbs recently told B/R's Ryan Bailey how Wilshere has become guilty of overplaying and is losing some of the pace that previously set him apart:

In previous years, Wenger may have given Wilshere the time to hone his craft. He may have trusted that the same on-the-job training that helped Ramsey regain his confidence in front of goal would work for Wilshere.

But since the arrivals of playmakers the quality of Cazorla and Mesut Ozil, the Gunners don't need to wait for a player's development the way Wenger once did with Cesc Fabregas.

Matt Dunham/Associated Press

Ozil and Cazorla have made Arsenal a better team. At their best, each is classy and creative enough to justify the price of admission.

But their presence certainly demands consistent excellence from players who might not be ready for it. At the very least, those vying for playing time around Arsenal's two brilliant pass-masters must modify their games.

Wilshere is no exception, according to ex-Manchester United defender and current Eurosport blogger Paul Parker:

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But Cazorla has been consistently excellent. He doesn’t look a natural for that kind of role—he seems more of an advanced playmaker—but he makes Arsenal tick from deep and plays the ball around excellently. He will never be a Nemanja Matic-style player, but he can nick the ball away from opponents nonetheless. Coquelin, meanwhile, is nigh on untouchable after his unlikely resurgence, unless Arsene Wenger tries to upgrade by spending big on a tough-tackler.

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Even putting the positional debate aside, there's no obvious spot for Wilshere until he adds more end product. More goals and assists may force Wenger into fitting him into the team somehow, the way the Arsenal chief has done with Ramsey, wisely giving him a free role on the right.

Of course, the Catch-22 with Wilshere is always whether he'll stay fit long enough to add to his game on the pitch. Yet more ankle problems have kept him out since November this season.

His continued injury woes could strengthen the case for cashing in on Wilshere while he's still touted as a potential great. A sale becomes even more tempting when Premier League rival Manchester City may offer £30 million this summer, per the Mirror's Adrian Kajumba.

But B/R's James McNicholas isn't quite so sure. He rightly believes the succession of injuries makes it tough to properly evaluate Wilshere's progression.

He also thinks the brittle midfielder is rapidly approaching his last chance to prove himself:

Ironically, an injury to Ramsey, who might miss the upcoming game against Swansea City, per The Independent's Jack de Menezes, gives a fit-again Wilshere the opportunity he needs. It's one he must seize.

If he can't, his future in the deepest, most talented squad Wenger has had since "The Invincibles" will look very shaky.