Wilshere insists Luton will keep on fighting despite slim play-off hopes fading
Luton chief discusses his change to a back three
Luton boss Jack Wilshere insists his side will keep fighting in their bid to make the play-offs despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Stockport County at the weekend.
The Hatters appeared on course to claim an absolutely vital three points against an opposition who were sitting in fifth place ahead of the game, leading through Emilio Lawrence’s terrific strike on 28 minutes. However, they let that advantage slip with just 13 minutes left, as the spoils were shared, meaning that with seven games to go, Town are five points adrift of the top six.
To make matters worse, both Stockport and Stevenage, who occupy the only two spots above the dotted line that are realistically within reach, have games in hand, as the Hatters' hopes of extending their campaign are beginning to look increasingly slim. With Luton sitting out tomorrow’s round of fixtures due to their trip to Rotherham United being postponed because of international duty, they could be even further away by 5pm, as Stockport host AFC Wimbledon, while Reading in eighth welcome Wigan Athletic and 10th-placed Wycombe Wanderers entertain Port Vale.
Despite that, Wilshere won’t give up on extending Town’s campaign just yet, saying: “I said that to the players after (the 1-1 draw), of course be frustrated, but there’s a lot of positives we can take out of that. We’ll keep fighting, we’ll keep fighting. For us it’s the next game, I keep saying it, the next game is Peterborough, we’ll try and get maximum points out of that. Before that teams will have to play, so let’s see. We can just focus on ourselves and try and keep improving, try and get maximum points in every single game and try and get ourselves as close as possible.”
After an exhausting schedule of 11 games in 36 days, Luton now have almost a fortnight off before they go again against the Posh at Kenilworth Road on Good Friday, and then visit AFC Wimbledon on Easter Monday. Asked if the international break has come at the right time and just what his players will get up to during their time away from competitive action, Wilshere continued: “I think it’s a good thing.
"I don’t always necessarily think it is, but this one comes at a good time because of how intense it’s been, not just physically, but also emotionally, as we’ve had some disappointing results which have taken a lot out of the players and are a lot to get over. What it allows us to do in the first few days is for the players to spend time with their families because I’m a big believer in that.
"The players and the coaches as well, they sacrifice a lot, we spend a lot of time together and definitely more than we see our families, so now it’s important that they spend some time with their family, they switch off a little bit. It’s also important for training too because we haven’t really had a block of training, it’s been about recovery, maybe a few tactical bits and go again, recovery, tactical bits and go again. We still need to get better as a team, so it gives us a block of training where we can do that, we can focus on whatever it is we decide to go with.
"I think it’s going to be with the ball, as we need to get better with the ball and show the players different solutions and how we can attack in a better way, but also defensively. So it’s a time where the players get to spend time with their family but we also get three or four days good training and we can try and improve.”
Although Wilshere will be working on in possession improvements with his players, he knows they also need to get better at the back too having now gone 12 games without a clean sheet, breached by a late free kick from Stockport’s Oliver Norwood at Kenilworth Road on Saturday. It came with Town still operating in a formation that contained three centre halves, Nigel Lonwijk, Hakeem Odoffin and Kal Naismith getting the nod at the weekend with Mads Andersen and Teden Mengi injured, flanked by wingbacks in Manchester City loanee Emilio Lawrence on the left and Gideon Kodua deployed on the opposite flank.
Having moved away from the back four he was using at one point, asked if it’s system he is now happy with, Wilshere added: “I like it. We did change, I think it was the Plymouth game when we decided to go that way and we are a team and I’m a coach who’s principle based. When you talk about structures and stuff, of course it makes a difference, but what you want from the players is the same thing. I thought at the time we needed a little bit more stability there, we weren’t using the ball well enough to find the in-possession shape we wanted and that shape gives you it straight away.
"So I like it. Of course Mads is someone who hasn’t been involved as much and Mads is someone who’s been excellent for us as well, but credit to Kal, credit to Haks, credit to Nigel, as they haven’t always got it right, but they keep wanting to learn. They keep wanting to see the stuff they can improve on, they ask questions all the time, and we have to keep building that. That’s the way we’ve been all season, that’s the way we’ll continue to be and I believe it’s the best way to improve is by showing the players the good stuff, by showing the players the bad stuff and we’ve always stuck to that.
"It’s a process, it’s an ongoing thing where you have to keep showing, keep working, keep training and that’s how you get better. There’s no secret recipe, it’s that hard work, it’s dedicating yourself, understanding what we did well, showing them also that we didn’t use the ball well enough and keep growing like that. I believe that’s the best way we can go, improve the player individually within the team and we’ll keep trying to do that.”