Andersen desperate to face old side Barnsley as Wilshere admits Town are suited to playing away
Defender had a fine spell at Oakwell earlier in his career
Luton defender Mads Andersen is determined to shake off a knock picked up against Rotherham United at the weekend and make a first return to his former side Barnsley this afternoon, as manager Jack Wilshere believes the Hatters are currently suited better to playing away from home.
The 27-year-old had his first taste of English football when moving to the Tykes in 2019, snapped up for a reported fee of £900,000 from Danish side AC Horsens. He went on to have a superb four years in Yorkshire, playing 175 times and scoring six goals, named in the League One Team of the Year in his last season, while also winning the club’s 2022-23 Player of the Season award as well.
Andersen then moved to Kenilworth Road in July 2023 when Town were preparing for life in the Premier League, but has unfortunately struggled with injuries since, playing just 33 times, although he is already up to 14 appearances with 13 starts this term, his highest since arriving in Bedfordshire. Having started Wilshere’s first league game against Mansfield, the centre half was then on the bench for the trip to Northampton, but has forced his way back into the side again, beginning the last two games against Stockport County and Rotherham United.
Despite struggling with a minor niggle in the build-up to today’s contest, the Dane is now desperate for a first return to his old stomping ground, as the Hatters chief said: “I’ve probably seen that a little bit in Mads this week, he got a little bit of a knock from the game last week, but speaking to him and seeing if he was ready, he definitely wanted to make it clear to me that he was. He’s one of the leaders for us at the back, he sets the level for us when it comes to defending, he’s really good at setting the line and keeping a high line, so he’s a big player for us.”
With Town suffering defeat during Wilshere’s opening game in charge, they recovered by putting four successives victories on the board, two of them in the league and two in the cups. Although that winning run was ended by a drab goalless draw against Rotherham United last weekend, the outcome means Luton head into this afternoon’s game sitting eighth in the table, just five points off top, with a win potentially lifting them back into the play-off places.
Having secured one point from two home games under Wilshere, including that contest with the Millers, who made their intentions known about settling for a draw from very early on, then on the road Town have claimed a maximum six from six, as the new manager believes that being away from Kenilworth Road is probably slightly more beneficial at the moment.
Speaking yesterday, he continued: “What we’ve done up to now is put ourselves in a position where we can push on, and we have to. We’re five unbeaten, but only three of them are in the league, we know that and we want to keep that run going in the league. We want to build a little bit more momentum in the league and we’ll start with tomorrow. We know that probably going away from home suits us a little bit more at the moment, we’re excited, we’re ready for it.”
Although Barnsley struggled for form in the league recently, going five games without a win, they did triumph in their last contest, a 2-1 success at Doncaster Rovers as they are 13th, albeit having played two matches less than Town. With three wins, one draw and two defeats on home soil so far, Wilshere is definitely anticipating more of a threat from the hosts than they faced the previous week.
He added: “There will be occasions where we go away from home and we will face that (a low block) as well, just because of the way we want to play and the quality of players we have have, but I expect it to be more of an open game. I know how Barnsley play, I really like the way they play actually. They’re good, they like to play football in the right way in my opinion, but we’re still going there with the intention that we want to win this game.”