Jack Wilshere had publicly addressed his regrets in the days leading up to this fixture. At The Grove in Watford he had mulled over those ankle injuries which have so often tripped up his progress, his mind drifting from months spent anchored in the treatment room to the times he had been outed, often on social media, with a cigarette in hand. Memories of “mistakes on a night out” clearly still grate though performances like this will help them fade. England will go into the summer lull with the Arsenal midfielder’s brilliance seared on the brain.
The national team, probably more even than Wilshere’s club side given the number of attack-minded creators lured to the Emirates Stadium by Arsène Wenger, are desperate for the 23-year-old to thrive at this level. Successive managers have enjoyed flashes of his natural talent, Fabio Capello benefiting from his injury-free presence five times while Roy Hodgson has pondered how best to eke out the player’s best. This was only his 28th cap as he approaches the fifth anniversary of his debut. If the frustration has been his fitness, this display offered confirmation of just how much he still offers. Admittedly Slovenia are a team ranked 48th in the world in a qualifying group England have all but won, and far greater tests await. But Wilshere is learning, adapting, improving. His goals after the interval at the Stozice stadium were reward for all those hours of painstaking rehabilitation.
He deserved his change of fortune because Wilshere alone had injected energy into England’s depressingly lacklustre display in Dublin a week previously, and he had maintained that busy approach here. He set the tone, snapping at opponents when possession had been surrendered, but more pertinently clipping neat, close passes to team-mates to set in motion the visitors’ forays upfield. Those down England’s left side caught the eye for long periods in Ljubljana, with Fabian Delph, Kieran Gibbs and a revived Raheem Sterling scuttling forward in neat interchanges, but Wilshere was always free and ready to receive at their backs if the moves faltered. There were tackles, interceptions and much-needed accuracy in the passing: he offered reassurance even when England lacked bite.
What ensued after the interval was a reminder that while the midfielder has embraced the demands of the deeper role in which he has been employed for his country more recently, his best work is invariably still conjured in the attacking third of the pitch. Those two finishes proved as much. He ventured untracked into the pocket of space just outside the area to dispatch Adam Lallana’s lay-offs, the first through Samir Handanovic’s desperate touch and the second, after a wonderfully slick move, so cleanly the goalkeeper stood no chance at all. “They weren’t just any old goals from Jack,” said Hodgson. “Neither of them was a tap-in. Both were fantastic and Jack took over the midfield in the second half. That was good to see.”
His last goal for his country had come at under-17 level, back when talk of his talent was starting to filter through. “It’s obviously nice to get my first [senior] goals for England, they have been a long time coming,” he offered at pitch-side in the aftermath, the travelling support still bouncing with glee behind the netting at the far end.
“I probably wouldn’t have had a shot for the second one if I hadn’t already scored, but after I’d scored one I had more confidence. I have said that I need to score more goals, it is something I need to add to my game, something Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes have all done for England.”
Those are the talents by which Wilshere, quite rightly, should measure himself. He had managed only two goals through another interrupted domestic campaign, the second a strike just as stunning against West Bromwich Albion on the Premier League’s final afternoon, and he must maintain that threat. The competition at club level next season will arguably be fiercer for him than it is with England, with whom he is starting to feel an automatic selection when fit and firing.
Where once he clung to that impressive performance against Brazil at Wembley in February 2013, now this should become his benchmark display. There is considerable improvement to be made across this lineup, not least perhaps finding a balance in midfield which could see a more naturally defensive-minded player shield the back line. But Wilshere feels integral. “If we can keep him fit and he can get plenty of Premier League matches and international matches under his belt,” added Hodgson, “at his young age we think we’ve got a good player going forward.”
The elder statesman ended up winning this game, Wayne Rooney drawing the focus four minutes from time with his 48th international goal, but Hodgson will edge into the closed season clutching plenty of younger positives.
Sterling, a year on from his eye-catching display against the Azzurri in Manaus, was back to his pesky best here as if inviting that improved bid nearer £40m from Manchester City for his services. Miso Brecko, a 31-year-old right-back from Cologne, was left isolated and discomforted too often, and when England’s tempo was at its most upbeat then Sterling was involved, with Delph aggressive and impressive at his back.
But it still required Wilshere’s intervention to kick-start this display and inject proper belief into the team’s approach. He departed Slovenia with no regrets at all.
