Wilshere admits 'honest chat' will be had as he hopes Barnsley disgrace serves as a 'wake-up call'

Luton boss Jack Wilshere stated his players would be in for an ‘honest chat’ after their disgraceful 5-0 defeat at the hands of Barnsley on Saturday as he hopes the manner of the loss serves as a ‘wake-up call’ rather than shatters the confidence within Town’s squad.

The visitors had gone into the contest full of belief, unbeaten in five games in all competitions and having kept three successive clean sheets as well. However they looked a shell of the side who had managed to do that, with little of the spirit displayed when triumphing 3-0 at league leaders Stockport County, Vimal Yogathan hitting the woodwork early on and then falling behind on just seven minutes when Zack Nelson’s pass was intercepted by Reyes Cleary who within seconds was latching on to David Keillor-Dunn’s pass and lobbing Josh Keeley.

It was Keeley himself who had a hand in the second goal, when his dinked pass was cut out by an opposition player, with Cleary allowed to cross by Izzy Jones, Patrick Kelly beating Kal Naismith to double the hosts’ lead. An unmarked Keillor-Dunn sidefooted wide, with Yogathan denied by the frame of the goal again, as the hosts created a number of good opportunities, but Town’s hopes of changing ends just two behind were ended by Luca Connell on the stroke of half time as curled in a free kick to make it 3-0.

The second period saw Town cut open twice more, Gideon Kodua putting through his own net and then Keillor-Dunn completing the rout with 15 minutes still to play, easily getting the better of Naismith and then sending Keeley the wrong way. It saw the visiting players booed off by the travelling supporters who had remained at Oakwell, as although Wilshere didn’t criticise his players’ attitude after the contest, admitted they would be having some stern words at The Brache with just a few days day to prepare for tomorrow’s home match against Huddersfield Town.

The Town chief also hopes that it doesn’t fracture Luton’s confidence which had been showing signs of improving from the fragile nature he inherited from previous manager Matt Bloomfield, as speaking after the game, he said: “Since I’ve been in, honestly I can’t question the players attitude. People may not want to hear it right now, but you walk in that dressing room and the players are hands on their knees, hands on their faces. We had a really honest chat in there and we’re going to have a really honest chat in the morning, but I will say since I’ve come in the players have been excellent.

"Their attitude, their energy, their willingness to compete, to fight in training and in games and a bad day, but we also have a game Tuesday which I think is a good thing. We need to get straight back out there, we need to look in the mirror, see if we’re happy with ourselves, with our performances and go again. Since I’ve come in we’ve been working on their confidence and belief, when something like this happens it can go one or two ways in my opinion.

"It can either completely shatter your confidence and belief, or it’s a wake-up call, it’s a little bit of an, ‘okay we’ve done well to get up to here and done well to get ourselves back up the league and back into contention with some good performances and good results’. It’s not easy this league and sometimes tactics and how we play doesn’t really matter. I’ve said that since the beginning, since I’ve come in, it’s just about fight, just about suffering, and I’ve been happy with how we’ve suffered up until now, but we didn’t suffer well today.

“It’s the second defeat we’ve had, but obviously the first defeat (2-0 to Mansfield) didn’t feel like this. I think you do (learn more about your players), you do when it’s happening, but probably more when you watch it back. You see the body language, the belief, but it's been outstanding up until now. We’re going to have to learn from this and then write it off and go again.”

All of Barnsley’s goals, particularly in the first period, came from errors made by the Hatters, with possession coughed up and then the Tykes having no trouble in making their way up the field to pierce Town’s virtually non-existent resistance as the soft underbelly that the Hatters have been showing for quite some time now, resurfaced in all its horror. With Luton committing to more of a possession based game, actually having 68.6 percent of the ball at Oakwell, although it only led to seven shots and two on target.

Barnsley able to have double those attempts, scoring four of their five on five on target, but Wilshere won’t be about to start abandoning his principles after such a thrashing, as he continued: “I think that’s learning for the players as listen, especially from the first half as in my opinion, they weren’t three goals better than us in the first half. Second half we lacked a little bit of intensity, we tried to force it too much through the middle, gave the ball away and then they transitioned on us, but in the first half, the learning is that and to keep doing it as well. Just because they score and the context of the game is slightly different now, we still have to keep doing what we believe in, and that will be the learning."

Barnsley’s dangerman for the entire contest was Cleary who finished with a goal and two assists to his name from a very fruitful 78 minutes on the pitch as he gave Izzy Jones, deployed as a wingback once more, a torrid afternoon, so much so that he was removed at the break. However, Wilshere didn’t think that not having a recognised right back available played too much of a part on the day, saying: “If I actually broke it down in the squad and said who’s our best one v one defender, Izzy would be up there in the top three

"Cleary was good today. I think probably you see how many times we arrived in dangerous situations, probably the same as them in the first half, but we didn’t make the right decision or we gave the ball away. I don’t think it’s a squad thing, I think we’re okay, but we have to do certain things better of course.”

Having been 2-0 behind, any faint hopes Luton might have hit back after the break evaporated when Connell curled his set-piece over the wall and beyond a helpless Keeley just before the referee’s whistle brought a halt to the opening 45 minutes. Wilshere responded by making three changes at the break, bringing Milli Alli, Hakeem Odoffin and Jerry Yates on, but it didn’t alter the course of proceedings, Luton shipping a further two goals during that second period. On his changes and the manner of Barnsley’s third, the boss added: “It’s not a good time to concede.

"It’s completely different if you go in at two-nil but even still, the message would have been the same if it was two-nil or three-nil, we have to do better and we have to have more intensity, but if we get the next goal let’s see what happens. Unfortunately we didn’t. It’s tough (coming on at 3-0 down) and there’s a lot of things that come into it at that point. We’ve got a three game week, we’re still trying to get something out of the game. I’ve said it all along and you’ve seen the results we’ve had, subs make an impact and subs change the game. Sometimes I know it’s frustrating for the players, I’ve been there when you’re on the bench, but if you can flip that mentality a little bit then we’ll be okay.”