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The original was posted on /r/soccer by /u/Sparky-moon on 2026-04-05 12:42:18+00:00.
Original Title: Wilshere on England career and Roy Hodgson: “Arguably, I shouldn’t have been in those squads, but he trusted me. Sometimes I look back and think of what might have been. But I have really good memories of scoring two goals [against Slovenia]; of having a run in the team as a No 6. I loved that.”
Wilshere would not play another competitive game for 16 months after that day at Wembley in June 2011. History records that in 2011-12, when he should have emerged as one of the pre-eminent midfielders in Europe, ready to lead England in the summer at Euro 2012, not a single minute was added to his professional tally. Things would never be the same again.
“I didn’t know at the time [in June 2011],” he says. “And sometimes I think, ‘That was the last time when I was actually really, really free as a player’.”
“I look back on my England career and those 34 caps could easily have been 75 – even if you cut down half the injuries,” he says. “I look back with pride. I went to the World Cup [in 2014] and I went to the Euros [in 2016]. Probably didn’t get the best out of me because both were off the back of a season with bad injuries, but I had a coach in Roy Hodgson who I really liked.
“Arguably, I shouldn’t have been in those squads, but he trusted me. Sometimes I look back and think of what might have been. But I have really good memories of scoring two goals [against Slovenia in June 2015]; of having a run in the team as a No 6. I loved that. So, yeah, frustrating, but also really proud.”