Chelsea midfielder has helped improve Berry's game at Luton

Hatters midfielder Luke Berry revealed he has able to improve his own game while out of the side this term, just by watching on-loan Chelsea star Izzy Brown in action.
Hatters midfielder Luke BerryHatters midfielder Luke Berry
Hatters midfielder Luke Berry

The 27-year-old missed a large chunk of the campaign, not figuring in manager Graeme Jones’ plans, before returning to the starting line-up at home to Wigan Athletic recently, Brown picking up a serious hamstring injury in the 7-0 defeat to Brentford.

After playing just 13 minutes in the Championship before December, Berry has now started the last three matches, two them at the tip of the diamond.

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He said: “In the 10, sometimes you don’t even need to move at times, just stay in the space, look where you are. Izzy Brown’s fantastic at it, you can see it, everyone can see it.

“Its been good watching him to understand that role, he works all the time, works hard, but sometimes he doesn’t even move.

“So it’s understanding just where to move, drifting off their defensive midfielder and it does help me at times as I’ve played defensive midfield.

“So I know what annoys me when I’m playing against a number 10, and I know what hurts me, what I can do to him, its just learning different things like that.”

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Berry had been used in the defensive midfield role during Town’s Carabao Cup campaign, particularly in the trip to Cardiff.

He has also researched that role and is happy to have that flexibility on offer to the team, continuing: “I’ve been playing in the DM position and side in the diamond, so it’s just understanding defensively what position to be attacking, what areas to pick up.

“Sometimes you need to drop into the back three or maybe the back four, so things like that is just understanding.

"It’s helped me watching the other players, to see (Martin) Cranie do it and a few other players, just to understand what position you need to be in defensively.

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"Sometime its not working 10-15 yards, it’s working five yards quickly to understand and block different situations.

"I’m easy, I like anywhere. I do like getting forward and scoring goals as that’s what I’ve been doing for a long time, so I do like that.

On what he has made of the Championship and manager Graeme Jones so far, Berry said: "I can't really say I've done this, done that yet, but you can see when you’re watching that there’s more tactical battles in the game.

"What makes it a win or makes it a draw, so you can see there’s a lot of battles, tactically more often than League One and League Two.

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“The gaffer he’s definitely put that across to us, telling us different formations, different structure in the formations, what we can do to help us win a game, that's the main thing.

"It has improved from League Two to League One to the Championships, it’s going to, we’re playing harder teams, playing stronger opponents.

"We're going to have to improve with the level, it just makes sense, so that’s what he’s done."

Hatters are back at home this weekend, with Swansea visiting Kenilworth Road, as Berry is hoping to get another chance to sample the atmosphere, adding: "We pride ourselves on, we don’t get drawn into other peoples games, we want to play our game and if that works, that’s the main thing.

“I always love playing in front of the Kenny fans too.

"It’s brilliant, it’s always a good buzz, especially when they’re bouncing and getting us going, there’s no place in the league like it."