Luton chief knows on-loan Manchester City defender will be a big miss for the Hatters

On-loan wingback Issa Kabore’s absence this weekend for the Hatters against Manchester City will be keenly felt according to boss Rob Edwards.

The 22-year-old joined on loan from the Etihad at the start of the season and has made 23 appearances in the top flight so far, although the terms of his agreement means he is now ineligible to play against the team who signed him from Belgian top flight club Mechelen on a five year contract in July 2020. During his time at Kenilworth Road, Kabore has struggled on occasions, caught out at the back post against Exeter in the Carabao Cup, then outjumped by Luis Diaz for Liverpool’s late leveller before the turn of the year.

The Burkina Faso international was left distraught at full time as Aston Villa won 3-2 at Kenilworth Road last month, switching off and allowing Luca Digne to head home a late winner, before then putting through his own net as Spurs equalised in their 2-1 victory in north London recently. However, Kabore has still proved a popular addition, none more so than against AFC Bournemouth last weekend as his desire to not only keep the ball out at one end, but get forward at other, saw his name often sung by home supporters throughout the 90 minutes, with one terrific last-ditch sliding intervention preventing Dominic Solanke from finding the net.

He is one of a number of players who is missing this weekend though, as Luton could be without up to 13 first teamers for the clash. On his efforts in recent weeks, Edwards said: “He’s been brilliant hasn’t he? He’s been really really good, I’ve been delighted with Issa. Yes he’ll be a big miss, but we knew this was part of the deal, we weren't going to have him for, it ended up being three games didn’t it.

"So he is a miss and what he’s done in recent games is he’s been really adaptable and gone anywhere on that back-line and performed really well. I think he’s really started to come into his own, so he’s a big miss, but the good thing is we have him back next week (against Brentford).

Asked how he reacted to the error against Villa, Edwards continued: “He’s got a great attitude and it did hurt him, all of us in that moment. It wasn’t just him, but in that final moment, we’d like him to be able to defend slightly better, but he showed great character after that and I think he’s really kicked on. We’ve all made mistakes this season, I have, the players will do because we’re human beings, but it’s about how you react to those mistakes, how you pick yourselves up off the floor when you’ve been knocked down. He’s shown a lot of character there to come back and respond really, really well.”

With Luton suffering a huge raft of defensive injuries in recent weeks, Kabore has been used as a wingback, right centre half and then even left centre half as well during the 2-0 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium 10 days ago. Being able to play in such a number of roles has been hugely beneficial to Edwards, particularly given his lack of numbers, as he continued: “It’s been really important as we’ve had to look at keeping speed on the last line and being able to deal with certain things and position people there because of that threat.

"He’s taking on information really well and delivered good performances, so that adaptability is important. Almost every player in the squad has played more than one position, not everyone, but a lot of them have and I think that’s key in a squad these days, players who can pay in a number of different roles.”

Kabore was part of a defence that was able to keep Ghana star Antoine Semenyo quiet on Saturday, after he had ripped Luton apart for the Cherries in the second half of their 4-3 defeat at the Vitality Stadium, a game that saw Town leading 3-0 in at the break. It finally allowed Japanese international Daiki Hashioka the first opportunity to play in his natural role as a right wingback, something that he might not get the opportunity to go at the weekend with Town’s seven recognised centre halves all unable to train in the build-up.

Edwards added: “That why we kept Issa Kahore on the last line rather than playing him up one, so Hashi was up one, Issa was on the last line for speed, and we kept Burkey (Reece Burke) and Teden (Mengi). Teden was on the left rather than the middle, so we had speed on the outside to deal with that, and I thought we nullified him fairly well. He's a brilliant player and that was a key thing in terms of our gameplan from an out of possession point of view.”