Hatters boss wants to add more goal threat during transfer window

Luton boss Jack Wilshere is determined to add more goalscoring threat to his side during the January transfer window which opened for business yesterday.

The Hatters returned home pointless from their lengthy New Year’s Day trip to Exeter City, as despite scoring seven times in their previous two fixtures over the Christmas period, produced an absolutely toothless display in front of goal, as they had just seven shots all afternoon, with none on target, finishing with an xG (expected goals) of a mere 0.26.

The hosts meanwhile were able to fire 16 shots at James Shea’s goal, with five on target, claiming the points thanks to Pierce Sweeney’s curling strike early in the second period. They also hit the post and forced Shea into three other saves, as Town’s only moments to raise the pulses of those in the away end was when Jordan Clark fired over in the first period, with Shayden Morris shooting into the side-netting, while after the break, Clark thought he had at least tested Grecians keeper Joe Whitworth with a low drive only for a goal kick to be awarded.

After beating Leyton Orient 3-0 a few days beforehand, Wilshere had spoken of his plans for the upcoming window potentially changing, but it was laid bare at St James Park as yet again no Luton striker came remotely close to finding the target. It means that in the league, only Jerry Yates has been on target from open play, that when tapping home from a yard out against Huddersfield on November 25, as he and Nahki Wells’ other two goals have both come from the penalty spot.

With Lasse Nordas, Jacob Brown and Joe Gbode not scoring either, then a return of one goal from open play from a combined 61 appearances for any of Town’s strikers is simply not good enough, while with both Elijah Adebayo and Ali Al-Hamadi not yet over their injuries, then asked about his January shopping list, Luton having until February 2 to make extra additions, Wilshere said: “I think we definitely needed more threat, more threat on the goal.

"What I’ve learned about this league is it’s a completely different game away from home, especially as well because we are Luton and teams come to the Kenny and probably pay us a little bit more respect than if we were playing them at home and you need a different mindset. My thoughts haven’t changed on that, we’re pretty clear going into the window what we want, what we need and I just think if we analyse today, we definitely need more threat.

“I’m not sure (how quickly they will happen). This is my first window and I’m learning, I’m listening to the club, I’m listening to Powelly (Chris Powell, assistant) who has great experience of this time of year. Probably the earlier it can happen the better, so let’s see what the next few days, few weeks bring. Right now our focus is let’s recover, let’s see how everyone is tomorrow as we travel on Saturday to Doncaster, so nothing’s going to happen before then.”

At Exeter, Wilshere went with Yates upfront after Wells had started both matches during the festive celebrations, the summer signing restricted to just seven touches of the ball in the first half, one when coming deep to get possession, eventually being replaced on 62 minutes having finished with just 16 touches during that time. There were some sarcastic cheers from the 1,000-plus travelling contingent when he was substituted, as asked about his lack of an impact, Wilshere continued: “We lacked conviction in the final third and I think it was a decision making thing rather than anything

"It’s not Jerry’s fault because the ball needs to go into him or we need to receive it in pockets to feed him. He’s that type of player, slightly different to Nahki who will drop deep and try and get more touches of the ball, so I want to watch that back as there was something missing in the final third today. Whether that was an extra body we could have committed forward or whether it was just a lack of quality at times, probably a mixture of both, along with the decision making.”

Despite Luton’s lack of threat, they absolutely dominated the ball with 62 percent possession and completing 496 passes to the hosts’ 264, with an 86 percent success rate. They also had three players to manage over 100 touches of the ball too, Nigel Lonwijk with 106, Liam Walsh 103 and Mengi 101, but it didn’t lead to anything being created as they finished the game frustratingly passing from side to side during stoppage time despite needing a goal to rescue a point.

Asked about not being able to turn their authority into anything more meaningful, Wilshere added: “It’s disappointing especially after the way we started. What we need to do is recognise those moments where we are on top and momentum is with us. Of course you expect at times, being away from home being against a team that like to build momentum by playing a bit more direct that it will come, but when you do have it, you have to have a threat.

"You have to attack certain areas. There was a few times the ball went in the box, we didn’t have someone getting across the front post, we didn’t have numbers in the box so that is disappointing, especially after 4-0, 3-0 and having loads and loads of threat. It’s different away from home again but we still have to have some sort of threat.”