Edwards doesn't think Luton's poor start in the Championship is the 'end of the world'
Town have only won twice in the league this term
Luton chief Rob Edwards doesn’t think Town’s poor start to the season which sees them languishing at the wrong end of the table is the ‘end of the world’ just yet.
Having dropped out of the Premier League last term, putting up a real fight until injuries decimated their realistic chances of survival, hopes were raised that Town would be fighting to get back to the highest tier of English football once more this year. Those hopes haven’t materialised as of yet though, Luton only winning twice from their opening nine games, beating Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday.
With just a further two draws, it means the Hatters sit on a paltry total of eight points, just one away from the bottom three and with the small matter of facing arch-enemies Watford at Kenilworth Road this afternoon. Town’s sticky patch saw Edwards come under pressure from visiting supporters after the insipid nature of the 2-0 defeat at Sheffield United ahead of the international break, as he vowed in his post match interviews that it was on him to turn things around.
Having had just under a fortnight or so to reflect on things, then on the predicament Town find themselves in, the Luton chief said: “It’s not going swimmingly at the moment, but I don’t think it’s the end of the world either. We’re nine games in, we’re not where we want to be right now, performances or results, I’m not hiding away from that, but it’s also not the end of the world.
"People are taking responsibility, the lads have spoken and we’ve been doing that constantly anyway. There’s been times this year where we know we can be better and there can be any number of reasons for that. If I knew straight away, or if any manager or their football club is going through a difficult period, knew straight away, could go ‘that’s it, done,’ and it’s all right for next week, but it’s not that simple.
"In a world now where everyone’s got an opinion or everyone knows the answer, it’s probably even more challenging as I can hide away from it but it’s even more difficult for the lads as there’ll be loads going on in their heads as well. So I think it’s keep it very, very simple, let’s all commit to this right now, back each other and that’s the best way to go about it.
“We’ve been lucky enough to have successful periods and enjoy some fair weather and now you get questions asked of you, that’s understandable. I’m not sitting here saying we've been brilliant as we haven’t, so you can take the positives and the plaudits when they come, but then you’ve got to be able to stand up and take the criticism and the questions when they arrive.
"I think other than maybe one or two managers in the world ever, everyone’s probably lived through what I’m going through at the moment, so I’ve got to try and navigate those waters. Again I think the best way to try and do that is by stripping things back, focusing on what we can do, what we’re in control of and hopefully that will set us in the right direction.”
Such is the nature of the second tier then there is still plenty of time for the Hatters to put things right, especially as they now enter a run of four home games from five, with seven out of their next 11 taking place at Kenilworth Road. A win over their main rivals will go some way to getting things back on track once more, as Edwards insists the players have proved at the Brache they are completely onboard.
He continued: “We hope so, we know what it means to everybody. If we’re able to get the right result then I think it can give everybody the lift that’s required, but you only do that by doing the stuff that we’ve spoken about for these last couple of weeks.
"So hopefully a real intensity in our game will give us the best platform to get that result which hopefully then gives us a springboard. They’re a tight group anyway, but they have, they’ve shown real resilience. The two weeks of training they’ve given me a real energy and a belief that the group are still there with us and fighting really hard.”
Finally, on the challenge that lies await today, Watford sitting in sixth place, with five wins already, although Tom Cleverley’s side have lose their last four away games, conceding 10 goals in that time, Edwards added: “We know they’ve got some strengths especially at that top end of the pitch and right the way throughout they’ve got some good pace and power and really good energy. It’s something we’ve got to be prepared for and be able to deal with, they’ve shown good spirit to be able to come back in games, so we’ve got to be aware of that too.”