Hatters boss accepts criticism following Burnley loss but won't be looking to change his approach

Luton boss Rob Edwards accepted the criticism received after his side’s 4-1 defeat against Burnley during their Championship opener on Monday evening, but stated he won’t be looking to change his tactics despite the Hatters’ current injury issues in defence.

With Town heading into the contest as one of the bookies favourites for promotion this year, they were brought back down to earth with a bump following the hefty loss on home soil to a Clarets side who looked every inch the title contenders themselves. Although Edwards found positives in the game, particularly the performance of the three teenagers Zack Nelson, Reuell Walters and Joe Johnson, who were all making their full league debuts, he knew the reaction from supporters annoyed by the outcome was justified.

Speaking to the press yesterday, the Hatters chief said: “It was the first game, it’s understandable. Look you lose 4-1, you’re going to get criticised. I've said this, there's more expectation this year. I would like people to also understand where we’re at. We’re not at full strength yet, we’re getting stronger as the weeks go on, but I’m not going to sit here and makes excuses, people don’t want to hear that, they want results. We didn’t get it, we’re going to get criticised.

“I did (find positives), clearly there were negatives as well. I didn’t want to come down too firm, but I also didn’t want to sugar-coat it after the game as well. After watching it back, some of our pressing was good, but then clearly some of the covering on the last line wasn’t. Some of our build-up was good but once we broke the line we didn’t speed up well enough and our creation in the final third wasn’t good enough. So two parts of the game, which are clearly important parts, that have been the main topic of conversation throughout the week, the main focus in training to make sure we improve those areas.”

Luton’s injury issues means they were without defenders Reece Burke, Mads Andersen and Daiki Hashioka on the night, while Amari’i Bell was only fit enough for the bench, as despite Tom Holmes being available, Edwards went with a hugely inexperienced back three of Teden Mengi, Walters and Johnson to take on an seasoned Burnley attack.

Although his options remain limited, with attempts to sign Cardiff’s Mark McGuinness still ongoing, Edwards isn’t looking to alter his defensive set-up ahead of having a full strength squad available to him, saying: “We’ll continue to do what we do. If we got our covering positions right the other day I don’t think we concede the first two goals. We know what space we will give away, when we play and press the way we do, so it was just a little bit of position that was wrong and was off. You’re always going to give something away if you sit off, give some control away, we don’t really like that as then it’s more difficult to win the ball back and get in the game.

"If you give Burnley any sort of time on the ball, they’re a team that can have 70 per cent of it and just kill you as well, which they’re capable of doing. We don't want that to happen, it's not how we play now. We changed the shape of the team quite a lot last year as we were forced into it, so I’m willing to do that, but in terms of how we play, if we get the positioning right and people do their jobs correctly then we’re not finding ourselves in those positions.”

One thing that Edwards knows they have to do if keep the back door shut as Town’s four goals shipped on Monday evening, means they have now been breached 57 times in their last 18 matches, at an average of just over three per game. Admittedly 16 of those fixtures were in the Premier League, but the Hatters boss is aware it’s not good enough, adding: “Yes, of course, you don’t want to concede goals, you want to score and then try and keep the opposition out. But you watch the game back, my eyes told me at the time, there was nothing really in the game. We made some mistakes and we’ve been punished in those areas.

"They didn’t really make any and we had to score a pretty good goal to make our one. They were probably gifted a couple of big moments that they didn’t necessarily have to earn, so clearly we need to make sure that we get those things right. If we’re pressing, we need to get the covering right and close certain spaces that we we’re going to be giving them, otherwise we’ll get exposed again. So of course we don’t want to give those big chances away, but that’s clear and obvious. You’re never going to win a football match if you’re conceding four.”