Luton chief knows Johnson has found it tough to miss on Town squad

Hatters boss Jack Wilshere admitted it has been difficult for young defender Joe Johnson to not get a regular chance in the first team so far this season.

The 20-year-old, who made 18 appearances in League One last term, with three cup outings as well, had become something of a first team regular under Wilshere, starting 10 league games in a row from the Boxing Day clash against Wycombe Wanderers onwards, missing one, and then recalled for the next four, before only beginning twice in the last nine fixtures.

Johnson then began the current campaign by being named on the bench for the Carabao Cup first round match at Gillingham before being dropped from the squad at Reading, although was back on the bench against Notts County. He went on to start the second round tie at Premier League giants Chelsea, getting the whole 90 minutes at Stamford Bridge, as up against the likes of Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Estêvão, he and the rest of the Hatters’ back-line put in a fine performance during the 90 minutes in West London, the visitors producing an excellent defensive rearguard effort to keep their hosts out for large periods.

Johnson was then in the squad once more at Mansfield, entering the fray at the break with his side already 3-0 down after a disastrous first period, as they conceded twice more early in the second on their way to an embarrassing 5-2 defeat. However, despite making changes to his side and altering his defensive line-up following the trip to the One Call Stadium, the Luton academy graduate has not been involved in squad for the matches against Stockport County and Leyton Orient, Mads Andersen preferred to drop into the back three alongside George Johnston and Hakeem Odoffin.

Asked whether his absence was down to an injury or purely a selection-based reason, Wilshere said: “That was a selection thing and it’s been tough for JJ, hard for JJ, as the hardest part of my job is picking a team, but probably a little bit harder is picking the squad as you can only pick six outfield players for the bench. They all probably have an argument that they deserve to be in that squad, but I have to make the decisions.

"It’s been tough for JJ. He’s trained well, he’s still a young player and needs to understand that when you’re not in the team, you need to train hard, train well, which he has, so if he is called upon he’ll be ready. Me and JJ talk a lot, he comes to see me a lot which I like, and we’ve had those conversations. He knows what he needs to do, he knows that he needs to keep training to stay ready, and be patient and wait for his chance as it will come.”