FanView: Why Out-of-Touch Jack Wilshere is Foolish to Blame Ref for Wembley Embarrassment
If Jack Wilshere thought that his own personal performance during the Carabao Cup final would be enough to excuse his embarrasing Instagram explantion post, he is sorely mistaken.
Arsenal were utterly shambolic against Manchester City on Sunday, but the midfielder was the only man in red at least trying to make something happen and trying not to roll over. Actually, that's probably not the best phrase to use when one remembers his dive under pressure from Fernandinho.
He was the best of a bad bunch and on Monday, Wilshere chose to break his silence over the abysmal outing by the team by taking to Instagram to partly blame referee Craig Pawson for the team's shortcomings.
In his post, Wilshere correctly acknowledges that City are a good team and they were worth their victory on the day. What was absolutely incorrect of him to do though, at a point where fans are still reeling from the gutless display, was offer excuses.
Wilshere thinks there was a foul on Shkodran Mustafi for the first goal - perhaps maybe in Spain or Italy. He also thinks there was an offside on the Vincent Kompany second - that's clutching at straws. And finally, he thought Fernandinho should have been sent off because Wilshere tried to cheat - Really?
It has to be massively disappointing and frustrating for Arsenal fans to see the mentality of the club's failing manager so deeply ingrained into his players. Make no bones about it, Wilshere's post is an absolute reflection of Arsene Wenger and his continual desire to seek out excuses for his side to deflect from the mediocrity.
What would have been best is for Wilshere or any of those players not to say anything at all, but if they were truly hell-bent on speaking out, then acknowledge that there was no fight and that it was unacceptable, leaving any excuses out of it.
Honesty always sits better than anything else when it comes to appeasing football fans, and one would expect Wilshere to be taking on that role; and he almost did, but his words have been sabotaged by the ingrained excuse.
This tiresome episode comes shortly after Hector Bellerin's comments about Arsenal FanTV, which again showed disrespect to the paying fan. The paying fan that forks out more money than anyone else in Europe for a season ticket at the Emirates and is therefore allowed to say whatever they want when the team is underperforming.
Wilshere's post is an insult to the fans who yet again paid huge amounts expecting to see their team put up a fight - to do that the very next day is a total fob-off and a simply foolish decision that could impact his fan-favourite status.