Wilshere had no idea who would be fit for Wycombe clash as Covid sweeps through Luton squad
Hatters boss discusses selection issues ahead of Boxing Day contest
Luton boss Jack Wilshere has revealed he wasn’t sure what side he was going to be able to put out against Wycombe Wanderers on Boxing Day due to a Covid infection sweeping through the Town squad at the moment.
The Hatters chief has had a number of players unavailable for selection recently, including Lasse Nordas, Christ Makosso and Reuell Walters, while centre half Teden Mengi, who gave a towering display in what was a crushing 4-0 triumph at Kenilworth Road, had been a doubt right up until the morning of the game.
Speaking afterwards about just what the club are doing to try and limit the spread of the virus, Wilshere said: “There’s been some illness which is annoying and you know what it’s like as well, there’s probably more to come, so that’s why it’s important that everyone makes sure they stay ready. It’s that dreaded word (Covid).
"We’re doing all the usual things as you can imagine, no shaking hands, don’t spend too much time with each other, that’s hard as we always are together, but there’s different protocols now and probably some players in there do have Covid as well, but they just have no symptoms. It’s when you’re feeling better (you can play). There was talk earlier on Monday about how many is it if they have it, is the game called off and it’s not like that anymore, so you could have seen an U21 team out there!
"We have to be careful, we have to wash our hands, we have to make sure we try to do everything we can, but also sometimes we know if we’re going to get it, that’s going to happen. That was my message to the players on Christmas Eve, I can’t tell you the team, I can’t tell you the squad now as anything can happen overnight. You might come down with it, you might come down with it, it was difficult, but I think the players understood it. Everyone came in today, hungry and ready to go and then I had some decisions to make around the squad but some of them were taken out of my hands.
"Christ was ill, it was literally Teden and Christ were ill, and yesterday Christ was playing as Teden was worse, and then Christ went worse overnight, Teden got a little bit better and Teden was outstanding. Lasse was ill, that’s the reason Lasse wasn’t in, so hopefully no more. I praised the players afterwards, but I said to them, you have to recover, you have to do whatever it takes. Get yourself to the training ground, we’ve got some unbelievable recovery systems there, so go there, do what it takes, make sure you’re sleeping, make sure you’re spending time with your families, that’s important.”
Despite the illness, Wilshere might also find himself in the position where he also has a few more options available to him when the O’s are in town, as he continued: “There’s a couple of players back on pitch. Izzy’s (Jones) back on pitch, maybe too soon, we’ll have to see how he is over the weekend. Reuell picked up a slight injury and then got ill, so he missed a few days and it probably set him back a little bit, but I think he’ll be ready to train now, Jake’s (Richards) a little bit further away because he was ill.”
With Town easing past Wycombe on Boxing Day, leading 3-0 in the 70th minute, Wilshere, who had already taken off Lamine Fanne and Nahki Wells by that point, was able to give both Mengi and the impressive Cohen Bramall a breather, while skipper for the day Jordan Clark, who had bagged the third goal, followed suit in the closing stages, Jerry Yates, George Saville, Shayden Morris, Hakeem Odoffin and Zack Nelson all coming on. With six more games coming up in the next 22 days, Wilshere added: “We were trying to protect them.
"Teden had been a little bit ill the last few days. I spoke to him this morning and he was desperate to play, so then we thought about the next few games, you’ve got someone who’s as quick as Cohen, you always worry that the turnarounds aren’t good, but he’s been robust enough. So it was a little bit of that, but also a little bit to get players on the pitch, as I know how hard it is when you’re not playing, you’re training and giving everything and I thought they made a difference as well.”