Jack Wilshere says that Kal Naismith remains “important” to him and that the club captain has responded well to being dropped for Wednesday night’s 2-0 victory over Stockport County.
Naismith was left out of the starting XI on Wednesday night along with four other Hatters following Sunday’s 5-2 drubbing at Mansfield Town, when they were 5-0 down before the hour mark.
The 33-year-old was withdrawn at half time and has endured a difficult start to the campaign, with mistakes contributing to Town’s tally of 10 goals conceded in three opening league games. At the time, that made the Hatters’ defence the leakiest in League One, though they’ve now been surpassed by newly promoted Bromley.
But Wilshere says Naismith has responded positively to being left out and remains a key figure within the group.
“The reason he’s club captain is because he’s been exceptional,” Wilshere said. “I’m in constant conversation with Kal. Kal knows what I think of him and how important he is to the group. Kal feels it as well.
“He really cares about this club. He cares about his team-mates, he wants what’s best for them. He’s responded really well.”
Wilshere also defended Naismith over the two goals he was criticised for during Luton’s dramatic 4-3 comeback victory at Reading on the opening day of the season.
The manager believes the Luton captain was unfairly blamed for both incidents, saying: “The two goals that people look at and Kal, in my opinion, one’s offside, one’s a foul. And that creates some adversity around him when it wasn’t needed. It was a foul.”
However, Wilshere made clear that Naismith himself has not attempted to hide from his own mistakes and holds himself to high standards.
“Kal will also know that, he’s got high standards of himself, he holds himself accountable a lot,” he said. “We had a conversation on the phone after that Reading game and he knew straight away that he needs to deal with situations better. But that’s why I love Kal.”
Naismith’s omission against Stockport was therefore not viewed by Wilshere as a permanent change to his plans, though his changed defence kept out then the division’s top scorers to claim their first league clean sheet of the campaign.
“He was out of the team. He will be back in the team at some point, he’ll be in and around the squad,” the Luton boss said.
And with the Hatters having recruited a host of young talent in the transfer window, Wilshere believes Naismith’s leadership has become even more important.
“His leadership qualities are there and this group needs them,” the manager said, adding: “We’ve changed the age profile of the squad, we’ve lost some older, more experienced players. Kal, in training, he drives it, he drives standards around the environment.
“Can he perform better at times? Yes. But he’s important to me.”
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