Jack Wilshere has told supporters to direct their frustration at him after a sixth damaging away defeat on the spin, this time at relegation-threatened Wigan last night, admitting: “Be angry with me.”
The Hatters’ travel sickness plumbed new depths when former striker Joe Taylor did the damage, but it was not even a smash-and-grab raid from the Latics, who had not won on home soil since December 2. Taylor had two chances before he hurt his former employers, who deemed him surplus to requirements a year ago.
Meanwhile, Luton managed just one shot on target, from a Kasey Palmer free-kick, until the last action of the game when the Latics made four goal-line clearances in a few seconds of manic pinball.
Town have won just one out of their last 14 midweek away games. They are still yet to score a goal from open play on their travels in 2026, and have managed just six shots on target during that time, losing 1-0 on four out of the last five games, while their only goal coming from the penalty spot in a 3-1 defeat to league leaders Cardiff.
After the final whistle last night, the scorer of that spot-kick on Saturday, Jordan Clark, went into the stands to speak with the travelling Town fans, while other supporters further back in the stands were heard in a social media clip to shout “you’re embarrassing” at the players as they came over to the away end.
“The players care. That’s why I would say that they go over and try and have a conversation, or try and thank them for their support,” Wilshere told the BBC, adding: “[It’s] difficult, of course, and I completely understand the fans’ point of view.
“My message to them is point their anger towards me. I’m the manager, I’m the head coach, I make decisions. The players, they care. They really care. They’re really, really low, really disappointed.
“Of course the fans have every single right to be angry with the results and the support they give and the distance they travel. We have to be better. I have to be better. So yeah, be angry with me.”
Asked if he has to do some soul searching to address his side’s woeful away form, Wilshere said:
“Yeah, I do. We tried to change things because that’s all we’ve been doing is soul searching. since Saturday. But even longer than that, because we had two away games against Huddersfield, against Plymouth, where they were tough as well.
“So, we knew what we had coming. We knew we had two home games that we had to win. We’d done that, but then we also knew in the background that we were gonna have to go away from home again and we’re gonna have to do something different. Cardiff are a very good team, but we weren’t good enough. but tonight it feels disappointing because it felt like an opportunity missed.”
Wilshere admitted he was left with “disappointment, frustration and question marks” after watching his side lose control of the game in the second half.
“We didn’t start the second half anywhere near well enough,” he said. “We allowed them to build momentum. In this league, when you lose momentum and you’re chasing it, especially against a team with a new manager who start to get on the front foot, it’s difficult. We didn’t manage it well enough.”
Having opted for a bolder approach from the outset, with two strikers on the pitch in Devante Cole and a first start for Ali Al-Hamadi, Wilshere conceded the gamble did not pay off.
“We wanted to try something different because clearly what we’ve been trying away from home hasn’t been working,” he said. “We’ve got two nines with presence who can run in behind, but we didn’t do it. We spoke about doing it, about the high line, but we couldn’t execute it well enough. We’ll have to go back to the drawing board because that didn’t work either.”
He added: “At the minute it feels like we just lack a threat. We have to work really hard to try and get up the pitch and when we do, we don’t threaten the goal enough. Maybe it’s a belief thing, maybe it’s a confidence thing.
“Of course, there’s so many factors when you come away from home that go into it. But we’ve got some players that played at a higher level than this, that you would you would think in them moments that we have enough characters, enough leaders in there, in my opinion, to drag us through.
“That’s why we tried something different because we clearly want to play a certain way and we’ve been building to play a certain way. I think we’ve done that very well, especially at home, but away from home has not been working.”
He added: “We have to go back to the drawing board, starting on Saturday because, yeah, it’s a home game, but it’s not going to be easy. Teams aren’t just going to turn up at this time of the season and let you take points off them. Everyone’s fighting for their lives and, we have to be able to match that.”
With Luton’s form at home currently seeming like their best option for points, last night’s defeat piles on more pressure to beat another struggling side in Burton, who sit bottom of the league.
“There’s pressure all around now. Me in particular. We have to stand up and face it. When you’ve had a career and a life in football, pressure is everywhere. You have to be able to handle that, you have to be able to deal with that and thrive in that. We certainly have to do that on Saturday because it’s not going to get any easier.
“It felt like an opportunity missed tonight. We dropped points but we can get them back on Saturday and we have to. That creates a pressure but we have to be ready for that.”
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