Jack Wilshere is that kind of player

From Goodplaya at the Emirates

Jack Wilshere is exactly that kind of player.

We had all, if we’re honest, seen it coming. Before long one of his tackles was going to earn him a red card.

But make no mistake, when I say “that kind of player” I am not using the definition employed by the woeful apologists for bad tackling. I am not defining it as an issue of whether or not someone deliberately goes out to hurt another player.

Of course nobody consistently goes out to do that. That definition is a deliberate distraction.

What I mean by that kind of player is reckless. And Wilshere, like many of those who have broken limbs with their tackling, has at times been reckless this season. He goes in unnecessarily hard and risks serious contact with a player.

We should be big enough and honest enough to admit it – unlike the pathetic apologists (and that includes you Birmingham) who excuse these things as “clumsy”. They rarely are.

And when others try to brand Wilshere’s tackle as an example of hypocritical Arsenal, we should throw back in their faces the fact that we and our manager are making no excuses.

And we should remind people this was Arsenal’s first red card for violent conduct in two and a half years – around 140 games.

The apologists will tell you that tackles like Wilshere’s are the unfortunate inevitability of the great desire to win that makes him such a wonderful prospect and a joy to watch, which he undoubtedly is.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Take Cesc Fabregas. He put in some eye watering challenges at the start of his Arsenal career (a home FA Cup tie in January 2006 springs to mind). And yet in the past three or so I don’t think he has had a bad one to his name.

Has it diminished his will to win or toughness in the tackle? Of course not.

The challenge for Wilshere is to learn the lesson of his captain. There is a clear difference between hard and reckless and we as Gooners, more than anyone, should be wise enough to realise it.

As for the game, it was frankly a little poor. More tomorrow.

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