Burke's eye-catching cameo against Bristol City has given Luton boss 'food for thought'
Town defender was superb during latter stages of Robins triumph
Hatters boss Matt Bloomfield admitted the cameo of defender Reece Burke during last Monday’s 3-1 success over Bristol City has been given plenty of food for thought for his selection ahead of today’s 12.30pm clash against Coventry City.
The 28-year-old, who has recently recovered from the quad injury that had kept him out since late November, has been in the match-day squad for the last eight matches, starting one and coming on in another five of them. He did a decent defensive job for the final 17 minutes and ensuing stoppage time during the battling 1-0 victory at Derby County on Good Friday, before being introduced in the 67th minute a few days ago with Town 3-1 up against Bristol City, replacing young Christ Makosso, who has been keeping him out of the side in recent matches, moving to the right hand side of Luton’s back three.
It proved an inspired switch, as the centre half was simply magnificent from the moment he came on, making sure what could have been a nerve-wracking finale was seen out fairly comfortably by the hosts. With that in mind, on whether Burke’s outing means he could look to alter a back three that had consisted of Makosso, Mark McGuinness and Amari’i Bell since the 4-0 loss at Burnley, until Bell was moved to the left wingback role against the Robins and Teden Mengi came in, such is the nature of today’s clash against their play-off chasing opponents, Bloomfield said: “A lot of food for thought.
"I thought he was incredible and that’s the player that I’ve been looking forward to working with. We haven’t had that guy yet unfortunately because of injuries and it’s taken him a little time to get himself going, but I thought he was incredible, I thought he was absolutely top notch. That’s the player that this football club knows and the one I’m looking forward to working with even more.”
It wasn’t just defensively where Burke caught the eye though, but the way he powered forward at times with the ball giving Luton another string to their bow in the final third. After one terrific cross from the right just evaded his forwards, he even popped up way out of position on the left flank at one moment, delivering a brilliantly inviting ball that was asking to be touched in by a team-mate only to flash through the six yard box and beyond.
Bloomfield continued: “We didn’t ask him to play on the left wing, I did tell him that! He’s all action and I think that’s been to his detriment at times in the past because he’s just been all in, all the time. We certainly don’t want to take that away from him because he loses that you’re going to lose part of the player and the character, so we’re certainly not going to try and temper that in any way. It’s just trying to make sure we bring that out at the right moments. He’s another leader of the group that we haven’t had for enough of the time since we’ve been here, but we certainly are happy to have him back now.”
Having a player of Burke’s know-how, the defender having played in the Premier League last term, could also be vital as Luton look to navigate their passage to another season in the Championship with games against the Sky Blues and West Bromwich Albion remaining. The boss added: “It’s a very big two games.
"As much experience as we can have in the team and around the group, certainly on match days, it’s great to have those voices. Burkey, Kal (Naismith), Clicker (Jordan Clark), Carlton (Morris), Thomas Kaminski, Tim Krul, James Shea. They (Krul and Shea) haven’t played a minute for us but they’ve been so integral to what we do. It’s about the group, helping the ones that are on the pitch perform the best they possibly can.”