Luton Town manager Jack Wilshere has admitted he has held talks with omitted duo Lasse Nordas and Joe Gbode about their exclusion from the first team since he joined the club last month.
After suffering back-to-back relegations from the Premier League to League One, the Hatters made the decision to part company with Matt Bloomfield in October following a poor start to the season. Wilshere’s arrival has sparked a dramatic upturn in fortunes, with 4 wins from his opening 5 games in all competitions.
The only blip on the former Arsenal midfielder’s record came in his first game when they lost 2-0 to Mansfield Town. However, they welcome Rotherham United to Kenilworth Road tomorrow on the back of an excellent 3-0 victory over current league leaders Stockport County.
This has seen Luton climb the table into ninth, where they are just 3 points off the play-off places. They’ve also played less games than the majority of teams above them.
Hosting the Millers next 👊 pic.twitter.com/JEDv2rWBjE
— Luton Town FC (@LutonTown) November 14, 2025
Wilshere Making Big Calls
The Berkshire-based side had already lost 5 of their opening 11 league games prior to Wilshere’s arrival. Therefore, it is no surprise that he immediately looked to make wholesale changes upon entering the dugout.
Two of those that haven’t benefitted from the change of guard are attackers Lasse Nordas and Joe Gbode. Nordas joined Luton in February from Norwegian outfit Tromsø whilst Gbode arrived at the end of the summer transfer window from League Two’s Gillingham.
The pair have a lot of work to do to break into Wilshere’s plans, having played just 10 minutes of league football between them since his appointment. They did both get minutes in midweek though, in a 3-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion under-21s in the EFL Trophy.
Duo Face Work To Break Into Wilshere’s Plans
It remains to be seen as to whether either of the players will be named in tomorrow’s matchday squad after failing to make the bench in last weekend’s triumph over Stockport. Ahead of the clash, Wilshere was asked about their availability, giving an honest answer:
“I hope they know why. I’ve had conversations with them and hope they’re clear on why that is. It’s tough, it is tough because you come in and without really seeing them play and going off training, I had decisions to make and it wasn’t easy. Also, then we started to win games and it became difficult to make changes.
“They’re still part of it, they’re still part of the squad. They’re in training every day, they’re working hard, they’re trying to find their way into the squad, and listen, everyone has to be ready. It could be an injury, could be an illness overnight and all of a sudden you’re in the squad and then the last 20 minutes you could get your chance. So they have to stay ready and they are, they’re training well and we’ll need everyone.”
Joe Gbodé is ours! 👒 pic.twitter.com/jcoP9sP17w
— Luton Town FC (@LutonTown) September 1, 2025
“Football has a funny way of showing up and I said to the players, now we’re in November and you may feel like, and it’s not the case, but I know what it’s like when you’re not playing as much and you’re on the bench, sometimes you’re not in the squad, you feel you’re not part of it. They are, number one, because in two, three months, you’ve seen the injury problems we’ve had already, who’s to say that can’t happen again?
“Football can do that, so we need to understand that they need to stay ready and that’s on us and the coaches to put on good sessions and make them feel part of it and still developing. I said to the players, a sign of a good team and teams that go on to win things, if there are injuries or there is a dip in form which can happen, then someone else can come in and they need to understand exactly what it is. So, to me, they’re still all part of it and there’ll be some games soon that we’ll look to rotate, but they always need to be ready.”
