Wilshere impressed with Luton striker's reaction to extra aggression plea
Forward was back in Town’s league squad on Tuesday night
The response from striker Lasse Nordas to manager Jack Wilshere’s requests at becoming more aggressive if he wanted to feature more in the Hatters’ League One campaign has been praised by an impressed Town boss.
Since the former Arsenal and England star took over a month ago, then bar his first match in charge, a 2-0 defeat to Mansfield Town, Nordas, who came off the bench in that fixture, didn’t play in any of the next six third tier matches, not even in the squad for five of them. However, he did get a start in the Vertu Trophy earlier this month, scoring twice as Exeter City were put to the sword 4-0, with Wilshere revealing afterwards that had told the 23-year-old to demonstrate greater hostility in his game to really stake a claim and break back into his thoughts.
He remained in the side that faced Fleetwood Town in the FA Cup second round last Saturday, seeing two chances go begging in the first half, and another effort blocked away in the second as he was replaced just after the hour mark at the Highbury Stadium. Nordas’s efforts on the north Fylde coast were enough to earn his place back on the bench for the league trip to Leyton Orient on Tuesday night, as he came on for Kal Naismith with 13 minutes to play, which turned into 23 with a huge amount of stoppage time added, causing a nuisance of himself in the area for a late corner that saw Gideon Kodua head home Liam Walsh’s delivery to earn a precious point.
With Nordas telling the press he had been putting the effort asked of him during training to boost his chances of playing, asked how that had been going, Wilshere said: “That's one thing that I will say about Lasse, which again, probably hasn't been easy for him, but one thing he does do, he comes to see me, he asks the question, he looks in my eyes, we have a good conversation and then he goes and tries his best do that in training to earn the right to get on the pitch. He’s done that, so credit to him, and let’s see where he’s at tomorrow and what we do with the squad, but there’s definitely been a reaction to it.”
Nordas has certainly done his claims of starting against Port Vale at Kenilworth Road this weekend, or at least being involved, no harm at all, as with Wilshere adopting a system that incorporates a central striker and wingers either side of him, Town haven’t been blessed with goals for whoever he has chosen to lead the line. Although Jerry Yates is top scorer with six, the summer addition has just two in the league, one a penalty, as Nahki Wells, who might be available, has one, that also from the spot.
With Elijah Adebayo and Ali Al-Hamadi both injured, Jacob Brown has returned recently, but was used in a wide right role in east London, only moving into the middle once a disappointing Yates was taken off. Asked if he faces a decision about who goes upfront against the league’s basement side tomorrow, Wilshere said: “We’ve changed the nine a lot and we’re looking for the right solution. We keep arriving in the final third and we have to do that, but we have to convert more and that’s not just on the number nine, that’s on all the attacking players.
"We talk about it so many times, where in this league you get moments, but you also have to understand that your opposition will get moments. It doesn’t matter how much you have control of the game, or if you think you have control of the game, it can change in minutes, so you have to take your moments, you have to take your opportunities.
“I think about the Rotherham game. If we score early in that game it probably changes it and they have to come out a little bit more, so we have to take our moments. It’s not just the number nine, but also we have to try and find the right solutions for different games. We know what the game will be tomorrow, so we’ve been talking between the staff about who we think will be the best one. We’ll make the best decision we think and we’ll see what happens.”