Jack Wilshere will watch today’s clash with Bradford City from the stands as he serves a one-match touchline ban after admitting he must learn from his dismissal at Stevenage.
The Luton manager was sent off during last week’s controversial 2-1 defeat after protesting against a foul that went unpunished in the build-up to Stevenage’s opening goal.
Wilshere has since apologised to his players, staff and supporters and accepted that he needs to control his emotions better on the touchline.
“It’s something I’m not proud of,” he said. “I apologised to the players, the staff — well, at half time — and I was actually really proud of how they responded.
“It was difficult and I apologise. I didn’t like my behaviour. [It’s] something I need to do better.”
Wilshere also apologised to supporters, acknowledging his responsibility as the club’s manager.
“I also apologise to the fans because I’m ultimately the leader of this club and this team,” he said.
“And I need to be on the side and trying to help the players. [It’s] frustrating for me and something that I’m working on.”
The manager was adamant, however, that he did not believe the players themselves needed to temper the emotion they showed during the match.
“Let me make one thing really, really clear: the decisions were unacceptable,” Wilshere said of the missed foul for the first goal and a failure to spot Josh Magennis was offside when he scored the second.
“The first goal is a foul and there’s no doubt. And the second one is offside,” the Hatters boss said.
“I’ve been there on the pitch and that is a really, really hard thing to accept when you’re in a game, you’re fighting, you’re competing and something like that happens.”
He added: “So from a player’s point of view, no, I don’t think they do [need to temper emotions] — I think they carry the right amount of emotion. Football needs emotion. You need that.
“So I think they do. From my point of view, I need to be better. Yes. But I think the players responded really well.”
Wilshere will remain in contact with the Luton bench during the Bradford game, with the club having already worked out how that communication will operate.
“I’ll be connected to the bench to one of the coaches — probably a WhatsApp call or a radio, depending on the connection,” he said.
“I’ll obviously be watching the game from a different perspective than they will, so I’ll be able to see more.
“I’ll be in constant communication in terms of how we’re going to manage that as a group of staff.”
Luton face a Bradford side who have conceded just four goals so far this season, giving them the best defensive record in League One.
Wilshere knows the challenge that awaits and praised Bradford manager Graham Alexander, while also pointing to the experience within the visitors’ squad.
He said: “We look at their strengths. We analyse their strengths. We look at where we think we can hurt them.
“[They’re] a really good team, a really consistent team. A really experienced manager that I have loads of respect for as a player.”
Wilshere added: “I think he played close to a thousand games, which is incredible. He’s got a lot of experience as a manager now. He knows this league. He knows the game. He knows how to win games. He knows how he wants his team to look.”
Luton’s preparation, however, will remain focused on their own ability to impose themselves on the game.
“It’s always the same process for us. First of all, we look at them as a team and their strengths: how do we stop them? How do we deny them space?” Wilshere said.
“And then how do we exploit what we see as weaknesses? And then we’ll start to look at individuals and start to talk to our individuals about possible ways of stopping them or dealing with them.
“And we’ll do that. But we have to make sure that we compete, because this team is really good at competing as well. They make it difficult for you. They run, they fight, they tackle. And we need to do the same.”
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