Adaptable Wilshere makes encouraging start

He may not have done it exactly in the way that was anticipated but, on his first start for his country, Jack Wilshere still demonstrated just how adaptable he is during the first half of England's 2-1 friendly win over Denmark.

Following pre-match comments from coach Fabio Capello comparing him to, among other world stars, Claude Makelele, it was expected that the 19-year-old Arsenal star would be employed predominantly as a holding midfielder in Copenhagen.

Although Wilshere did have more defensive responsibilities than he is normally given by the Gunners, in many ways he operated as an orthodox midfielder during his 45 minutes on the pitch against the Danes.

And he did an extremely disciplined job. More than half of his 35 touches were in the Danish half - and he certainly did not function as an out-and-out anchorman

After the game, Wilshere reflected on his display. "It was quite similar to my role at Arsenal but just not going forward as much," he said. "I spoke to the boss [Capello] before the game and he said he wants to play me there - and I'll play anywhere for my country."

It might have been a similar role for Wilshere but there were still several unfamiliar elements for him to deal with. For his club, in Arsene Wenger's preferred shape of a 4-2-3-1, Wilshere often sits deep. But the presence of Alex Song alongside him means he has the licence to roam further forward - where he links up so well with the likes of Cesc Fabregas on the edge of the opposition area.

For his country, Wilshere lined up alongside captain Frank Lampard in central midfield as part of a 4-4-2 formation at the Parken Stadium and accepted that his main job was to stifle opposition attacks, not support those of his own team.

Defensively, it was a far from flawless set-up, allowing Denmark's Christian Eriksen to exploit the space between England's back four and midfield in what was an extremely open first half. But, once we accept his job was not to nullify Eriksen by following him everywhere, we can see that Wilshere not only did what was asked of him in his new position, he did it extremely well.

He saw far less of the ball than he would expect to when playing for Arsenal and made most of his passes further up the pitch. But he was still as assured in possession, successful with 27 out of 29 passes on Wednesday, compared, for example, with 40 out of 49 in Saturday's 4-4 Premier League draw with Newcastle.

He also made three tackles, as many as any other England player. And although he was more conservative than Lampard when it came to taking his turn going forward, he also made a few of his trademark surges and demonstrated his vision by pinging precise passes out to the wings, the areas that were the source of most of England's attacks.

"I wouldn't say he was playing as a holding midfielder, more a normal midfielder," former England boss Graham Taylor told BBC Radio 5 live. "He defended when he had to and got forward when that was possible."

Wilshere did exactly that to play his part in England's first goal, showing off the defensive and offensive sides to his game, as well as his discipline and ability to work in tandem with Lampard.

After breaking up a Denmark attack on the edge of his own area, Wilshere followed play forward down the right before finding Ashley Cole on the left from the halfway line with a raking diagonal ball.

Cole, Wayne Rooney and Theo Walcott combined to continue a move that switched back across to the opposite wing, before Darren Bent finished it off from close range. Notably, though, it was Lampard, who had covered Wilshere during the build-up, who burst into the six-yard box as Bent scored. Wilshere, suppressing the attacking instincts we know he has, had slotted back in behind Lampard and was patrolling the halfway l

That is not the only reason Wilshire was rightly proud of his display. His precise distribution - his only two misplaced passes came on the edge of the Danish area - helped produce a much improved passing performance by England in comparison to their last outing, a friendly defeat by France in November. At Wembley on that night, England's central midfielders completed 93 out of 123 passes. In Copenhagen, the completion rate was a far-more pleasing 127 out of 142, albeit against inferior opposition.

"What Jack did very well was keep the ball moving," added Taylor. "He had such a good body shape when he went back to get the ball off the defenders - he was always in the right position and direction to move the ball on with only one or two touches.

"His sort of crisp passing was part of what made this a better England performance than against France. England were moving the ball around a lot quicker this time."

In fairness, it was a similar story after the break against Denmark, when Capello replaced Wilshere and Lampatrd with Scott Parker and Gareth Barry and switched from 4-4-2 to a 4-2-3-1 formation. Ashley Young, another substitute, brought zip to England's attacks behind Bent, although it should be taken into consideration that a series of changes by Denmark meant they were no longer offering the same threat.

So, what did we learn about Wilshere? Mostly that we now know he has the discipline and versatility to perform outside of Arsenal's formidable framework.