Less than 12 hours had passed since Roy Keane’s scathing criticism of Jack Wilshere when Arsene Wenger responded.
Keane, as he has been known to do, went in two-footed on Wilshere following Arsenal’s shock defeat to Swedish minnows Ostersund on Thursday night.
The Gunners survived an unexpected scare at the Emirates and were made to thank their lucky stars for the three away goals they’d scored a week earlier.
But the return leg performance left a lot to be desired and in his analysis of the game, ITV pundit Keane described Wilshere as “probably the most overrated player on the planet.”
Wenger doesn’t have much time to pick up the confidence of his players, with the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City set to take place on Sunday afternoon.
The morning after the return leg defeat to Ostersund, the Arsenal manager conceded that Wilshere, who was named captain for the match, did not have his best game at the Emirates but insisted that Keane should know that no player is capable of delivering perfect performances all the time.
“It’s very difficult to hear,” Wenger said on Friday morning. “I rate Wilshere very highly. You can have opinions. Jack was in the team last night but did not perform particularly well.
“It was certainly not one of his best performances. Roy Keane knows that it can happen to anybody.”
