Jack Wilshere called out for 'desperate' Cardiff City comments ahead of Luton Town visit | OneFootball

FLW's Cardiff City fan pundit has had his say on Jack Wilshere's comments ahead of Luton Town's visit to the League One leaders.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Cardiff City and Luton Town were relegated from the Championship to League One, with both far better off than Plymouth Argyle currently, under the tutelage of Brian Barry-Murphy and Jack Wilshere respectively.

Cardiff City have sat top of the League One table for 19 of the 31 matchdays of the campaign so far, including the last 15 in succession. Luton Town had similar expectations this term, but Jack Wilshere has only been in charge since mid-October.

The 34-year-old has won 11 of his 24 games in charge in all competitions. However, seven defeats in that time have largely come away from home and they travel to Cardiff to face the league leaders this Saturday.

Following their win over Bradford City, Wilshere was quoted stating that he doesn't think that Cardiff are a better side than his Luton team — as quoted on X by Matthew James Ali.

The Cardiff City view of Jack Wilshere's Luton Town

FLW asked our resident Bluebirds fan pundit Matt Hall about Wilshere's comments. He said: "I think Wilshere has maybe tried to play a little bit of a desperate game there, to be honest with you. Obviously, had a really good win against Bradford — no taking away from that.

"But I don't think he's kidding anyone, if I am honest. Luton fans only have to look at their away record and they're not anywhere near us, I would argue. There have been a lot of games where I've seen that they have had really poor performances.

"And some questions have been asked of Wilshere, at times. Obviously, the home record, he's got some really good results lately. However, I do think that he's maybe trying to kid their fans a little bit that they're doing a lot better than they are.

"Because, for me, I've not seen Luton once this season and thought that they were much to look at. I don't particularly think their squad is all that good. I don't believe they are the greatest team on the eye.

"I think they can be effective but, for me, they have the quality over a lot of the division that gets them through games based on moments. But as a team, I don't think they are necessarily the greatest that we have got in this league.

"I think they are deservedly outside the play-offs, though they probably will creep into those as the season goes by. I wouldn't say they've got quality over us but they've got quality over a lot of the division — when you come up against your sides like your Barnsleys and things like that.

"You're going to have your quality over them but, generally, we're a better coached team. I think we'll show that come Saturday. I am quite confident of that. Obviously, we beat them at Kenilworth Road.

"They'll argue it was a different Luton back then but I' argue we've come a long way since then ourselves. They have managed to have a better record with injuries. They haven't had any sort of issues with injuries, as far as I'm aware.

"Whereas, we have had Ruben Colwill out — our best player for a third of the season. Our top goalscorer has been out and we've still managed to pick up more consistent results than them.

"I think it is a little bit of a smart play from Wilshere to sort of cover the cracks that they're having there — and to try and get fans onside and garner a bit of support. But it may backfire on him come 5.00pm on Saturday."

Jack Wilshere has experience of beating Cardiff City

Of course, Cardiff won 1-0 back in August against Matt Bloomfield's side and this game will be Wilshere's first in charge for Luton against Cardiff. That said, he has already beaten the Bluebirds in his short managerial career.

Norwich City finished a disappointing Championship campaign on a positive as Wilshere’s side beat his former Arsenal teammate Aaron Ramsey in a 4-2 at Carrow Road back in May.

Cardiff were already relegated and the Canaries scored three goals in the opening 23 minutes to take control, with Calum Chambers' 16th-minute sending off hampering the visitors' cause.

But red cards don't seem to affect Cardiff all that much, with a comfortable away win against Rotherham United with a man less last time out. It should be an interesting match, with Wilshere hoping to make it two from two against Cardiff.