Jack Wilshere says he’s still focused on reaching the play-offs and not about the threat of relegation despite a worrying recent run that has left some Luton supporters looking nervously over their shoulders.
The Hatters head into today’s League One trip to Wycombe Wanderers without a win in their last six third-tier matches and ten straight games on their travels. That has left them seven points off the top six pace while the buffer to the bottom three has narrowed to ten points.
But, after two consecutive relegations out of the Premier League, Wilshere insisted the focus inside the dressing room remains on climbing the table rather than worrying about the teams below them.
“We’re not thinking about that,” he said when asked about the possibility of being dragged into trouble. “We’re thinking about the next game.”
While acknowledging that he personally keeps an eye on the play-off picture, the Luton boss said that is not the message being delivered to the players.
“Of course, I’m looking at what it takes to get in the play-offs and that plays a lot in my mind,” he said.
“But my message to the players is not that. We need to focus on the next game, trying to get everything we can out of each performance, trying to get points where we can and try and finish as high as we can in the league.”
Wilshere also admitted he understands the anxiety among supporters given the club’s dramatic rise and fall in recent seasons.
“I understand the fans frustration,” he said, adding: “. “I understand their concerns, because of the journey that they’ve been on and where the club’s been and what that creates.”
However, he believes the only way to calm those fears is by halting the team’s current run and rediscovering winning form.
“We have to stop it,” he said, adding: “We have to try and win games. We have to try and finish as high up the league as we can. We have to have the ambition of the play-offs until we can’t can no longer reach that.”
Today’s match presents another stern challenge for the Hatters, with Wycombe having won their last four league games at Adams Park.
Yet history is on Luton’s side – they have never lost an away Football League match against the Chairboys, remaining unbeaten in 14 meetings since 1996.
Talking about the Chairboys, who Luton beat 4-0 in the reverse fixture in December, Wilshere said: “They’ve done really well since we played them.
“I think [manager Michael] Duff came in just before that, if I’m right. So he’s obviously had some time to work with the team, get what he wants to get in place. And yeah, credit to him. Credit to them. They’ve done really well.”
He added: “They’ve found momentum. They’ve got some rhythm at the right time.
“They’re a team with good players. I thought they recruited well in January as well. And, yeah, the players have come in and settled really quickly and hit the ground running.”
But to reach the play-offs, Town, who have taken a point on their last two away games, must now start winning on the road.
“We want the three points,” Wilshere said, adding: “Most importantly we want to fix our away record and we want to get points on the table.”
Be the first to comment