Luton boss vows he has to 'fix it' after Town slump to Blades loss

Hatters boss Rob Edwards - pic: David Horn / PRiME Media ImagesHatters boss Rob Edwards - pic: David Horn / PRiME Media Images
Hatters boss Rob Edwards - pic: David Horn / PRiME Media Images
Hatters manager reacts to Sheffield United defeat

Luton boss Rob Edwards knows full well he has to ‘fix’ the problems that are ongoing with the Hatters after a tame 2-0 defeat at Sheffield United on Saturday.

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The visitors turned up at Bramall Lane on the back of taking just one point from their last two games, but they never looked like getting back to winning ways against the Blades, as Jesurun Rak-Sakyi scored early in each half to ensure the points remained in Sheffield. Speaking afterwards, Edwards, who is coming under increasing pressure now, said: “It’s on me, I’ve got to fix it.

"We’ll work hard on the training pitch, we’ll try to support the players, do what we always try to do, which is give clarity, work hard on and off the pitch to make sure we fix certain areas that we’re not doing well at the moment. Today, we didn't want to open up as much, so we changed the shape, played a back four, kept things more compact.

"We wanted to press from a bit more of a deeper shape, so we had more bodies behind the ball, but we still wanted to jump out and press at the right moments. In theory it looked good and then we were actually out there, they didn't open us up loads unless it was a few mistakes, or right towards the end when we were beginning to open up more, there was one of two moments then. But yes we've got to work hard, stick together and turn this around.”

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Looking to build into the game, Town’s plans went up in smoke when Mark McGuinness and Reuell Walters didn’t deal with a high ball allowing Rak-Sakyi to burst through and beat Thomas Kaminski. The on-loan Crystal Palace winger, who had been linked with Town during the transfer window, netted a second just after the break too, easily getting the better of Walters to fire through the legs of Kaminski.

Edwards continued: “You can lose here, at the moment with the form that they’re in and with the form we’re in at the moment, but there’s ways to do it. We wanted to give us a little bit more solidity but the way we conceded the two goals which ultimately cost us the game were really, really disappointing. The ball pops up on the edge of the box, we don’t challenge, the ball landed, we didn’t challenge, indecisiveness, and before you know it it’s in the back of the net.

"It’s really frustrating as we had good numbers there, enough people to be able to deal with it. It was a different goal the second one, but again we were in a decent shape, had enough numbers to deal with it. Once it got to Rak-Sakyi it’s a dangerous moment and a one v one in the box. The ball went inside us, which was frustrating, but we had the numbers there to be able to deal with it.”

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Following the full time whistle, the Town chief was greeted with chants of ‘Edwards sort it out’ by the visiting fans, as on the reception he received, the manager added: “They were amazing and I thank them. I know they’re frustrated but I said this the other day, it’s on me and we’ve got to try and improve. I’m not trying to hide from it, I’ll go and say thankyou and apologise. I know they want a better performance, they’ve not come up here saying you have to win, I don’t think. They’re intelligent people, they don’t want to see those goals conceded, they don’t want to see us lose in that manner.”

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