Jack Wilshere’s half-time team talk is going viral after Luton win from 3-1 down on opening weekend

Luton Town manager Jack Wilshere's half-time team talk is going viral after the Hatters came back from 3-1 down to beat Reading 4-3 on the opening weekend of the League One season.

Wilshere is embarking on his first full season in charge of Luton, having briefly played for their academy as a nine-year-old in 2001 before moving to Arsenal.

After his appointment as manager last October, the Hatters won the EFL Trophy and narrowly missed out on a place in the League One play-offs, having been in 11th when Wilshere took over.

They went on a 10-match league unbeaten run to end last season, winning eight of them.

That record looked like being broken at half-time on Saturday, with Luton 3-1 down to Reading at the Madejski Stadium.

The Hatters opened the scoring on eight minutes through young midfielder Jake Richards, before former Luton striker Jack Marriott smashed a first half hat-trick to put Leam Richardson's hosts in a commanding position heading into the interval.

Once the two teams came back out for the second half, though, Luton managed to level the scores at 3-3, with new permanent signing Kasey Palmer scoring two quick-fire goals.

And Wilshere's side won the game in the 95th minute when forward Gideon Kodua, who made his loan from West Ham permanent in July, fired the ball into the back of the net from close range to spark jubilant scenes amongst the away end.

Wilshere's half-time team talk, therefore, clearly made a huge difference - though his exact words would, at most clubs, be left for fans to imagine as most EFL clubs do not film inside their dressing rooms.

Luton are an exception to that rule, though, with cameras placed inside the away dressing room at Reading to capture what Wilshere told his players at half-time.

And his comments - and, in particular, the manner of them - have quickly gone viral after being posted to social media on Monday evening.

The talk is started before the manager walks in to the dressing room, with his assistant Chris Powell telling the players: "Let me tell you, let me tell you, we can come back in this. Alright? Whatever the gaffer says, we take it on board."

Wilshere then arrives, and begins his team talk by stating: "Lads, I can stand here and show some some clips. But the truth is, boys, I must be going crazy.

"I spent six weeks telling you, we drop points against counter-attacking teams. What happens on day one? We concede three goals. Three goals. We've given them a hat-trick! A hat-trick, lads. Come on, please.

"We can do all we want, but if we aren't there in duels, if we don't land on second balls, it doesn't matter.

"Be clean. Be clean, please! We do passing drill after passing drill, where it goes bang, bang, opposite side. It's for now. It's for now, lads. This is where it matters.

"But lads, it's still there for us. It's still there. You can go and score two in 10 minutes, and we can kill them. But come on, boys, come on. Let's be men about it. Let's go."

Palmer's goals proved Wilshere's final remarks exactly right, as his two strikes came within seven minutes of the second half restarting.

And while it might have taken slightly longer than the Hatters boss would have ideally liked for the winning goal, Luton were able to produce a remarkable turnaround on the opening day of the League One season.

"The line that stands out, if we can score two in 10 minutes we can kill them," one fan wrote. "You just know once they got one early goal, if they didn't believe it at HT, they now believed that line as well."

A second wrote: "I'm a Bristol City fan watching this and even I feel inspired to be clean and land on second balls!"

"Christ he absolutely nailed it... and so polite too. That would totally inspire me as a player," a third said.

While a fourth stated: "Wilshere will go to the very top, excellent management."

During his post-match press conference, Wilshere was asked by reporters about whether he felt Luton could go on and win the game, with the scores at 3-3 in added time, and the ex-Arsenal midfielder explaining that there was a decision to make over whether to be comfortable with one point or go for all three.

"I think there's always that balance, right? And I always think then, the players give you the message on the pitch," he said (via The Luton News Herald & Post).

"I'm not on the pitch, the coaches aren't on the pitch. You get a feel - is the game open? Have we got one more left in us?

"We spoke a lot in pre-season about away from home, respective points, but I thought it was the right decision to keep going, keep pushing. They showed the character to create a moment like that with the fans, which is top."