Jack Wilshere is not even good enough to get on West Ham’s bench based on his current form, according to Football.London journalist Sam Inkersole.
The £100,000-a-week midfielder [Spotrac] started the season in the Hammers’ starting 11, but has not featured in the Premier League since the second game of the new campaign.
And Inkersole has questioned whether he deserves a spot in the match day squad at the moment.
Writing in a piece in which he named his strongest West Ham starting lineup, he said: “Where things get tough though is on the bench and who the manager can have to bring on and change the game. You can only have seven and fitting them all in is a tough ask.
“Jack Wilshere, on paper, gets in but on current form, does not.”
OPINION
Once upon a time, it would have been inconceivable that a player like Wilshere could be left out of West Ham’s starting 11, let alone their match day 18, but you can understand where Inkersole is coming from on this one. Wilshere has not been at his best so far this season, and definitely felt like something of a square peg in a round hole when he was called upon to deputise for the absent Mark Noble in the opening stages of the campaign. The midfielder made just 0.5 successful tackles per game and contributed very little else during his two appearances in the league so far this term, as per Whoscored. Things weren’t much better on the front foot, and Wilshere failed to record a single shot on goal, key pass, or successful dribble in either of his two matches, and it has been no surprise to see him ousted by Manuel Pellegrini. On his day, Wilshere is sublime, but increasingly, it is simply not his day.