Edwards wants Luton players to take risks and bring the feelgood factor back to Kenilworth Road
Town go up against Stoke City this evening
Hatters boss Rob Edwards has urged his players to take some much-needed risks as they look to instil a ‘feelgood factor’ back amongst the Kenilworth Road faithful this evening.
Town are back on home soil once more tonight following a 1-1 draw with Swansea at the weekend in which the hosts were very much second best for the majority of the game, and would have lost but for Thomas Kaminski’s inspired performance between the posts. With Luton having just two shots on target during the game, the same they managed when beating Hull City 1-0 in their previous home match, it saw a number of supporters head for the exit before the final whistle, with the post match lap of appreciation done in front of a rapidly emptying stadium.
Although Edwards knows it can’t be expected that Luton will be able to turn into a scintillating team overnight, he wants Town’s players to try and put their troubles behind them and produce a far more dynamic display against the Potters, saying: “At the moment we’ve got again to be realistic and realise, everyone’s been around football for a long, long time, you’re not going to find your best form when you’ve not been performing great.
"It’s not just going to be click your fingers and be perfect, I don’t think anyone should expect that, but we want to see the effort. The effort was there the other night, just things didn’t come off. If the effort wasn’t there then we would have been battered quite simply as Swansea are good with the ball, but the message from us is to try and be brave, take risks in the right areas. If you’re going to make mistakes, do it by trying to take someone on or try and be brave, especially at that top end of the pitch.
"We were probably a little bit safe the other night, so that’s the big message really from us. A lot of good work without the ball, we won it back well as we always do and forced them to go a bit longer, especially in the second half. Lots of good regains, but when we won it, we were a little bit safe, a little bit static, we didn’t move enough and that can’t be us. We’ve got to try and be brave, got to try and take some risks in that final third.
"We didn’t lose the game the other night, but the performance wasn’t great and the feel around the place wasn’t great. But a performance, three points, would certainly stand us in good stead and get a feelgood factor around the place which is important.”
After losing their opening two games of the season at home to Burnley and QPR, Town’s results at Kenilworth Road have thankfully not mirrored their efforts outside of Bedfordshire, with four wins, three draws and one defeat to their name. Although the last four games have been far from the most entertaining affairs ever witnessed, Edwards has been pleased with their offerings in front of their own supporters, adding: “The last eight games at home we’re not far off two points a game, so we’ve been picking up results, even if the performance the other night wasn’t great.
"There’s not too much wrong at home, so we can’t change too much. A little bit of siege mentality though, as we’re not expecting anyone to help us at the moment other than ourselves and we’ve got to really dig in and fight and it’s going to take some time to turn that. Hopefully everyone can understand it, but I also understand that people want to see wins and entertainment, that’s what they pay their money for.
"Up and down the country at the moment whether it’s the Premier League or League Two I see loads of people having to answer these sorts of questions and I get it. Supporters want to win, they want to see their team playing well. The team gave everything the other day but they also made loads of mistakes and we want to try and rectify some of those bits and win a game of football.”