Wilshere determined to make Luton the 'fittest team in the league'

Luton boss Jack Wilshere has set his sights on turning Town into the ‘fittest team in the league’ as he bids to win promotion back to the Championship this season.

The former England and Arsenal star was appointed in his first senior managerial role at Kenilworth Road earlier this month, as although they lost 2-0 to Mansfield during his first match in charge, has masterminded the Hatters to successive victories over Northampton Town and Brighton & Hove Albion U21s in the past week.

He did so when making nine changes against the young Seagulls on Tuesday night, getting valuable minutes into players such as Mads Andersen, Jerry Yates, Hakeem Odoffin and Liam Walsh. With Odoffin and Walsh back following injury, with Izzy Jones also available once more, then it leaves the quintet of Ali Al-Hamad, Shayden Morris, Joe Johnson, Reuell Walters and Jacob Brown who are closing in on a return to first team football, and only just Elijah Adebayo and Shandon Baptiste who are out for a lengthier period.

Wilshere is looking to get his full squad together as soon as possible and make them one of the most durable and athletic in the division, as the Town chief said: “I’ve said it to the boys, I want us to be the fittest team in the league and for us to get there we’ve got to use all the players we’ve got as we’ve got to get there in a safe way and not pick up injuries. I think you can always improve that, it’s the environment you set and the players in my opinion don’t have a bar.

“We have to keep pushing the bar, we have to keep finding if we can push more. Of course in a safe way, as we understand that the priority is player availability and that’s something that probably takes a little bit longer to get in because they’ve been working in a way for however long they’ve been working in that way. To try and change things like that, there is some top work that goes on here as well.

"I remember from my time when I came back last time, I mentioned it before, the fitness side of things and the intensity side of things was something I couldn’t cope with, so we have to keep pushing that and I think you can control that. You can't always control whether you're going to have a good game with the ball, you might make a mistake, but the one thing you can control is you're going to work harder than your direct opposition and that’s something we’re trying to add.”

Although Wilshere doesn’t have a six week period of pre-season to really get the work into his players, he has to do so during the rigours of a League One campaign. It’s something he will take into consideration when searching for his goal, continuing: “It was a good time for me to come in as we had a week of training, then we had another week of training. Okay this week has been a lot of games, but also that is the league and that is the demands that we have to make sure the players are capable of doing. We have to experience the games as well, but when we can in training, try to push, try to see how much the players can do in a safe way.”

Speaking to the players, then it’s clear another thing that the new boss has driven up during his brief time in Bedfordshire so far is the intensity in training, something that summer signing Hakeem Odoffin referenced having made his debut in Saturday’s 1-0 success at Sixfields. It’s an aspect that Wilshere believes is essential to getting the team to deliver on the pitch, as he added: “With the performance team here and Michael (Amoah, head of physical performance), we work closely together and I want him to tell me that stuff. I want him to be on the side in training, driving it, pushing it, setting the time we train for, as my experience as a coach and how I’ve tried to act as a coach from when I first started, was bringing everyone together.

"Michael knows much more about that world than I do, so I’d be crazy not to use his expertise and try to get everyone to believe in it, and we are, because although you can push and try to do more in training, that takes time, but one thing you can do is demand that when you are doing the drills, that there is intensity there. I always think, a coach said it to me, that training should feel harder than games. Of course it’s not always the case, but if you try and have that as the general rule, I think you’ll be in a good place.”