Jack Wilshere tells Luton fans to ‘be angry with me’ after suffering a 1-0 defeat to Wigan in League One on Wednesday night.
Joe Taylor scored the only goal on 73 minutes, to give Gary Caldwell a win on his first game in charge of the Latics.
The result is also their first win in seven league games to see them climb out of the League One relegation places while denting Luton’s play-off hopes.
I didn’t get much of it, but here was what happened after full time pic.twitter.com/ae6Et86HcA
— w1spa (@w1spa_1) February 18, 2026
JW: “My message to them is point your anger towards me. I’m the manager, I make decisions. The players, they care, they’re really, really low and of course the fans have every right to be angry with the results. We have to be better, I have to be better, so be angry with me.” pic.twitter.com/0YTGO9evZW
— LutonNews_LTFC (@LutonNews_LTFC) February 19, 2026
Wilshere said, per Luton Today: “The players care, that’s why they go over there to try and have a conversation, try and thank them for their support. It’s difficult of course and I completely understand the fans point of view.
“My message to them is point your 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 and 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, we have to be better, I have to be better, so be angry with me.
“In the second half I thought that when they started to get more aggressive, we didn’t have the right solutions.
“I don’t know why that is right now I’ll have to watch it back and see if there were solutions, if there were passes to be made, or if there was space in behind to put it in behind. On Saturday we couldn’t quite find our rhythm, couldn’t quite find the way we’ve been playing recently and that’s tough. It takes, I call it technical efficiency or an ability to manage the ball and that gets harder when you talk about pressure, and when teams start pushing you a little bit more and then you’re chasing a goal, all the outside noise comes.
“So I’m not going to stand here (and blame them), I always look at myself first, look at the gameplan, look at was it right? If it wasn’t right, why wasn’t it right? Was it a tactical thing? Was it an individual thing? Was it a technical efficiency thing where we didn’t quite execute it? All those factors come into it, but it starts with me.
With Town now four points from the play-off places that have time and time again been stated as the very bare minimum that the club’s board will accept this season and 14 games to go, with seven of those outside of Bedfordshire, it looks an increasingly tall order that the Hatters will have enough to get above the dotted line now.
On if facing pressure is leaving him questioning how he can put things right: “That’s what we’ve been doing, soul searching since Saturday, but even longer than that as we had two away games against Huddersfield and 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 did that, but we also knew in the background that we were going to have to go away from home again and do something different. Cardiff are a very good team but we weren’t good enough, but tonight is very disappointing as it felt like an opportunity missed.
“There’s pressure all around now and the players, but me in particular we have to be able to stand up and face that. When you’ve had a career and a life in football, pressure is everywhere and you have to be able to handle that, you have to be able to deal with that, you have to be able to thrive in that. We certainly have to do that Saturday as it’s not going to get any easier. We felt like it was an opportunity missed tonight and we dropped points, but we need to get points back on Saturday and we have to, that creates a pressure.”
Wigan boss Gary Caldwell said: “Incredible. A night for the supporters, they haven’t seen their team win enough this season, and they’ve seen their team really fight and give everything tonight to win the game.
“I thought in the first half, they were a bit tentative in how we played, but very organised, we didn’t give them (Luton) many opportunities, and second half, I thought we were by far the better team.
“We played really aggressively. We passed forward, we ran forward, we sustained attacks very well, and kept the ball in their half. Got a deserved goal and could’ve scored more in that period.
“The last ten minutes, it was all hands on deck, everyone defending the goal, and keeping the ball out of the net. Really delighted for the team, it’s brilliant for them. They deserve that for how they’ve been since I’ve come in the building, and it’s something for us to build on now.”
On his side’s determination and fight to secure the win: “That was the desire, the character that you need to win games at this level. I thought we deserved that. We were the better team throughout the whole game overall, and we deserved that at the end.
“That attitude and mentality as a team will go a long way.
“I thought our press was very good tonight. There were moments in the first half, we didn’t quite tidy the ball and pass forward quickly enough.
“When we did in that instance, Dara’s (Costelloe) pass and his decision to pass, his quality of pass, and the quality of finish were sensational.
“That’s where you want Joe Taylor, in front of the goal. If we get him in that situation, he will score a lot of goals.”
Here’s the reaction on social media after Jack Wilshere tells Luton fans to ‘be angry with me’ following a 1-0 defeat to Wigan…
@___GJS___: Stop trying to spin “we’re good at home” as some sort of saving grace, a season is not about home form, it’s about home and away!
@ltfcat: he’s not cut out for management in senior football. just like he wasn’t cut out for prolonged stretches of games as a player
@SteveLTFC17: ‘As a group where do we go from here’. He literally repeats that exact same question word for word after every away defeat. It’s as boring as what we’re watching on the pitch
@jack1_lawes: So it’s all on our home games 🤦♂️🤦♂️he’s not motivating these players with a soft tone like that
@chrisdalton1977: Please tell us what exactly they are both good at? Cole hasn’t had a shot since he arrived that I can remember and Al Hamadi is barely above Jerry Yates in terms of effectiveness – another inept display from all including JW 😡
@ABeardedGazelle: Can’t be writing off away matches, got to play league one football to get anything
@wellsy987: This interview gives me the feels that we’ve just got promoted from the league below and sometimes we get bad luck or a dodgy decision…but we were absolutely clueless, that 45-70 period was jawdroppiny bad, even the commentator was lost for words.
@LTFCsmithy: Looks dejected and beaten (and not just because he lost tonight). Repeats himself lots and not convinced at all he will turn it around. Matter of time before the home firm dips as he ain’t sorting the away from out. Entertainment value is zero and he has changed a lot in Jan.
@adamcmb_: How many managers are we planning on going through before we decide to actually go for one that’s got a bit history of success and maybe some experience? This inexperience experiment has gone on long enough.
@chrisnev166: Sweet Out. Wilshere Out. He’s not the right manager. Need a massive overhaul. This isn’t my club. No passion, no fight. Shambles.
@LTFCblockF: Post match interview bingo… ‘didn’t do the basics’ ‘had some good spells’ ‘lacked courage in the final third’ ‘see them given’ ‘we’ll work on it’ ‘back to the training ground’
