Luton chief thrilled to see his Hatters side press to impress against Wycombe

Luton boss Jack Wilshere was hugely satisfied with the way in which his side’s pressing worked to a tee as they forced a whole host of errors from opponents Wycombe Wanderers during their thumping 4-0 victory at Kenilworth Road on Boxing Day.

After Gideon Kodua had given the hosts the lead with just seven minutes gone courtesy of an error from Chairboys keeper Will Norris, the on-loan West Ham youngster then pressurised defender Anders Hagelskjaer into a terrible blunder just before half time, seeing an ill-judged backpass elude his goalkeeper which allowed the attacker to nip in and run the ball over the line to double his tally and make it 2-0.

After the break, Jordan Clark rifled in a third, before yet another good press from substitute Shayden Morris saw the winner make the most of Taylor Allen’s poor pass out from the back, going clean through to beat Norris and seal a commanding victory. Speaking about his side’s intent in the final third, Wilshere said: “Our press has been outstanding. It’s hard when you’re a centre back and you constantly feel that you haven’t got time on the ball or when someone makes a pass to the other centre back, the next guy’s going and it’s not just a little jog it’s full gas and you’re going, you’re in their face.

"When I first came here I recognised that the high press was really good, they just weren’t maximising the moments. We spoke a lot about that, about how you can and I remember it was Jurgen Klopp saying sometimes the high press is the best playmaker in the world. You can win the ball back high when the opposition’s stretched and we’re doing really well with that, so I’m really happy. It was actually, when we were analysing, quite a hard one to do as I watched their game against Bolton and watched their game against Plymouth and if you allow them time on the ball, they get five, six players on your last line and then they have the quality.

"The goalie’s outstanding with his feet and he can put balls into the last line and they have loads of numbers there, so we had to get the balance right of getting the press, committing enough numbers to the press and also pressing the goalie, but not leaving ourselves exposed and underloaded at the back. I thought we didn’t always get it right, there were a few times in the first half where they got out of our press and managed to play longer balls from higher up, but I was happy as it was an unusual one and the players executed what we were talking about.”

With Town 3-0 to the good, Wilshere was able to rotate his players during the second period in a bid to keep legs fresh before tonight’s home clash with Leyton Orient, bringing on Morris as part of a double switch. The summer signing from Aberdeen was quickly involved with his third goal since arriving, although a first in the league, as Wilshere praised the way in which he is taking on board the instructions given to him, plus his response to not being in the starting XI.

He continued: “It’s the press, mistakes are a consequence of getting the press right and it’s nice to see. I’m guilty of when I was a player and being told I’m not playing of maybe switching off in that moment where the manager’s saying what they want. But I think we tried to get the message across that we’re going to need everyone and sometimes players won’t be in the squad and then they will be, playing the next game.

"If we try and create that development culture, everyone has to be on board with it and that was an area we identified Shayden could, number one, be a threat for us because of his pace and his speed, but also probably an area where he needed to develop. You can see he’s taking it on board and I thought his timing to press was outstanding. By the time the player receives and puts his head up, Shayden’s there and he has nowhere to go. I didn’t know he had that left foot finish, so I’m happy for him.”

Town didn’t have it all their own way when it came to their press though, as for a 10 minute spell after the break, they had to dig in slightly as Wycombe enjoyed their best spell of pressure, although the closest they came was a shot blocked away by Teden Mengi. Wilshere knows that will happen at this level though, adding: “It was a good finish and we’re going to have to accept that at times, this is the league.

"I think naturally when a team goes in two-nil down at half time there is going to be a little bit of reaction, the manager’s going to try and do something, change something tactically or just try and give them some energy and I think he did that and there definitely was a bit more energy from them.

"But I’ve spoken about it before, suffering and defending your box, being tighter in those moments, because eventually we have quality on the pitch and it will come back around and if we don’t then we’ve got players on the bench who can come on and help us. I’m starting to like us in those moments, how we come out of those moments and we need to keep going with that.”