Wilshere's New Role

Jack Wilshere had been the surprise of the season, especially in the Premier League. According to Opta Sports, he has the second highest pass completion in the League (86.7%), and is an important feature for Arsenal this season, helping them secure vital wins with his pinpoint passing. His role in the Arsenal team is usually high up the pitch, but Fabio Capello insists Wilshere will be better playing in a holding midfield role, a position famously used by Claude Makelele.

This decision has raised a few eyebrows across the country, since players in the holding midfield role are usually tall and powerful, and they have to make a lot of tackles. Wilshere is not the biggest of players, and his role in the Arsenal team does not make him have win balls in the middle of the park so often, as those jobs are for Diaby and Song, so for Capello to play him in that position for the first time away to Denmark was sure to be interesting.

Capello's England has lacked a holding midfielder for a long time. Gareth Barry has played there but failed in catastrophic fashion against Germany's Ozil, who ripped England to shreds in South Africa. Since that heavy defeat, the England manager has decided that if he can't find a 'Makelele' type player, then he was going to have to create one, as he did tih young Wilshere.

Fabio has spoken to the media a month beforehand and told them about his plans for Wilshere, and he did talk to the player himself. Wilshere had a great game against Denmark, playing in the first half only. He won almost all of his tackles, and he made 27 successful passes out of 29, feeding Darren Bent amazing through balls.

It is still too early to tell whether Wilshere will be England's key to success through that holding midfield role, but one thing is for sure, the young Gunner is ready to play anywhere and against anyone for the sake of the England shirt.