Callum Marshall’s instinctive finish against Notts County was exactly why Jack Wilshere wanted to add the young goalscorer to his squad, with the Luton manager revealing what the striker does after training to hone his craft, like no other.
The 21-year-old came off the bench to score a superb equaliser on his Kenilworth Road debut on Saturday, controlling Kasey Palmer’s pass before swivelling and firing into the bottom corner to rescue a 2-2 draw after Nahki Wells’ penalty had opened the scoring.
For Wilshere, the goal was further evidence of the qualities that convinced Luton to bring Marshall in from West Ham United this summer – particularly his natural goalscoring instinct.
“Everyone wants that number nine who just knows where the goal is,” Wilshere said. “He’s going to be an important player for us.
“You can see how much it means to him when he scores. He’s a goalscorer. I’ve never worked with a striker that wants to do finishing so much after training — different types of finishes.
“In small-sided games in training, he scores goals from out of nowhere. He is a typical number nine, a typical goalscorer, which we need.”
Marshall’s arrival was part of a deliberate attempt to address one of the areas Luton identified during their review of last season, when missed chances proved costly at times.
“When we reviewed everything in the off-season, we missed a lot of big chances,” Wilshere said. “In our coaching review, [we asked] did we train enough of those situations? Did we put on enough finishing drills? Where were we getting our chances from? We reviewed everything.
“Then we wanted to add strength in depth in the forward position. Nakhi’s a certain type of striker, Callum is a different type.”
Marshall’s start to life at Luton was disrupted by a knock to his ankle which kept him out of the Carabao Cup win at Gillingham and delayed his integration into Wilshere’s side, meaning he’s had to be content with coming off the bench for his first two league apperances for Town.
“He’s in my thoughts all the time,” Wilshere said. “The injury — I wouldn’t even call it an injury, it was just a frustrating kick on the ankle that he was in a lot of pain with — it took a few more days than we expected to get him back into training, and that killed his rhythm a little bit.
“He’d had a bit of a stop-start pre-season at West Ham anyway, where he didn’t get the minutes he wanted or probably needed.
“We’ve been working to find a way to get him up to speed as quickly as possible, but the truth is sometimes you just need to play games.”
Marshall was given half an hour against Notts County than he had received in his previous appearance at Reading, as his and Benny Benagr’s introductions, shortly after the Magpies took the lead, helped turn the tide back in Town’s favour. And Wilshere believes the striker is beginning to find his rhythm.
“He got a little bit longer than he did last week, and he’s definitely looking sharp all the time,” the Hatters boss said.
“We can, in my opinion, develop and help him with other sides of the game, but sometimes that’s a natural instinct that you can’t coach. He practices his craft, which I love about him. He’s got to be in the right place at the right time, to know the spaces to attack.”
And after Marshall’s first goal in front of the Kenilworth Road crowd, Wilshere knows just how important it could be for his new striker.
“Goals help a player’s confidence, but definitely a number nine — goals are everything.”
Talking to LTFC+, Marshall said: “I’m happy with the goal. I took myself by surprise, with my right foot. Normally, it’s a touch and hit it with my left foot, but on my right it’s not normally like that.
“The [Kenilworth Road] atmosphere was great. You can tell, if we’re doing well they’re [fans] going to get behind us. Once we start winning games, we can really turn this place into somwhere teams will hate coming to.
“That will be a key to us getting promoted, I think, if we can turn this place into a den, a place that no-one wants to come. It’s going to be horrible and we’ll run over teams, I think we have a good chance this season.”
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