Hatters boss hails ‘unpredictable’ Pelly

The 21-year-old, who started life at West Ham United in central defence, flourished as a central midfielder for Luton after signing permanently last year.

Recently he’s been deployed far wider in the ‘Andre Gray’ role from last season and Still said: “When he came, we worked hard on him in those midfield areas and he produced some good stuff,

“With Andre going, we thought this might be a way of finding that pace and power and unpredictability.

“Sometimes it’s good to have someone in your team whose a bit unpredictable and I think that Andre was a little bit unpredictable and think Pelly can be a little bit unpredictable, but capable of winning games with flashes of brilliance, of power and pace and strength.

“It gives him a little bit of freedom and he seems to find the gaps and he lights the games up at different times, does something that the crowd like to see.”

One facet that Still would like to see Ruddock Mpanzu improve on, like Gray had to in the early stages of his Luton career, is his finishing.

After netting against Bury in August, he has yet to score since, and blazed a great chance over after a wonderful team move during the 3-1 win over Dagenham & Redbridge on Tuesday night.

Still added: “It is an area that he does need to brush up on, but it was also an area to be fair that Andre needed to brush up on.

“Because he used to smash everything, a bit like Pelly, but gradually the work that we did got him to be a bit calmer on his striking and not try and smash everything.

“So it is an area that he needs to work on and it was an area that Andre needed to work on and he did and obviously did well.”