Edwards calls on Luton players to show some much-needed character if things don't go their way
Town's record when conceding first has been poor this season
Luton boss Rob Edwards has called on his players to start showing some much-needed character if things don’t quite go their way in the Championship this term.
Only twice have the Hatters managed to get something after conceding the first goal so far, that when beating 10-man Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 at Kenilworth Road back in September, and then earning a 1-1 draw against West Bromwich Albion, also on home soil, recently. The other six times Town have been breached first, they have lost all six fixtures, with their goal difference taking a battering in some of those contests as well.
Town’s back-line has already conceded 26 times in 15 matches to date, and often in quick succession too, as was the case against Middlesbrough last time out, shipping three goals in a 10-minute period either side of half time. Edwards knows that has to stop as he challenged his players to display a more positive outlook going forward, saying: “What was disappointing (against Boro) was we allowed probably one mistake, the goal, to affect us mentally and we’ve got to become really more resilient in those moments.
"I won’t swear but stuff happens. It happens. We’ve got to be able to deal with that and in the past we’ve dealt with things like that better than what we are coping. We didn’t cope well enough with the disappointment, that’s a frustration and it led to some poor decision making. So that’s been a big focus for us, making sure we make those decisions when we’re pressing, we’re really resilient and compact, but still aggressive.
"We made some strange decisions and in quick succession the game was dead. It just rocked us and that’s happened a couple of times away from home. We had it against Oxford at home too, so it’s been a little bit of a theme and it’s been a big thing we’ve spoken about this week. We need to show some character lads, we’ve done it in the past and we need to step up and show it now.
"That’s something we can’t always give, we can’t give that to people, so we’ve got to put that on them. The lads that go out there now, go and deliver that, go and be brave and show some character and if something happens that knocks us, we can’t allow that then to affect us for the rest of the game, and it did last time out.”
The Town chief did concede that a lack of confidence this term, with Luton’s losing streak that they ended the Premier League campaign with carrying on into the second tier, is clearly something that needs to change, as he continued: “There’s probably an element of that. For a period of time now there’s been, we get a knock and allowed it to affect our mindset for the rest of the game, for a five or 10 minute period afterwards and there’s been a double hit for instance.
"It’s not always been the case and that’s why it’s the consistency we’ve been searching for, as we’ve gone to Millwall and won one-nil, gone down to 10 men early at Portsmouth but showed a lot of resilience and kept a clean sheet. We’ve come from behind against Sheffield Wednesday and won, won one-nil against Cardiff so there’s been times where we’ve shown resilience and good character and belief but then we’ve gone the other way as well and allowed things to affect us.
"The only word I can use then is consistency. We’ve got to find a way to not let things like that knock us as shoulders can’t go down, heads can’t go down. Chest out, put the ball back down and go and score more than the opposition and that’s what we’ve got to go and do. Confidence is affecting decision making and football is all about decision-making. The more right ones we make the better we’re going to be. We’ve got to make sure we get back to that.”
On just now Town’s players can go about giving themselves the best chance of delivering what Edwards wants, the boss said: “The basic things. Making sure we do the right things more often than not, because that gives you a good foothold in the game, which again is what we did in the last four at home. Start in the right manner, press in the right way, compete, win duels, win headers, win tackles, run hard, forward, backwards, across, block shots, block crosses, defend.
"If we do that stuff well then invariably our football comes out and we can look a good team. We did that against Watford, Sunderland, West Brom and Cardiff and I liked a lot of what I saw in those games and that’s what we’ve got to deliver. We can’t flick a switch and be confident, we can’t concentrate on that. It’s got to be performance, doing the basics well and doing the things that we train, do them well, when it matters, under pressure. It’s all right doing it out there (training ground) we’ve got to go and do it when it matters.”
Edwards also didn’t want there to be any kind of hangover from the dire hour or so at the Riverside before the international break, adding: “We have to move forward from that, so learn from it, but it’s got to be done, we’ve got to park that. We can't be letting that affect us, that’s done, this is a new focus. If we deliver a performance and win a game of football then everyone feels better about themselves, so that’s got to be our focus now.”