MOTD pundit Alan Shearer blasts 'naive' Luton as he tells the Hatters to 'improve very quickly'

Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer blasted Luton Town’s naivety during their 4-1 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion on the opening day of the Premier League season as he told the Hatters they need to ‘improve very quickly' to survive in the top flight this season.

The former Newcastle United and England forward was tasked with going through the Hatters’ clash against a side who finished sixth in the top tier last term, as Rob Edwards’ team made their debut on the Saturday evening programme.

Trailing 2-1 with 10 minutes to go, after Carlton Morris’s penalty had halved the deficit, Luton then conceded twice in the closing stages to suffer a heavy loss, as Brighton had 27 shots in total, with 12 on target, to Luton’s nine, three troubling home keeper Jason Steele.

Giving his thoughts on the performance, Shearer said: “There was no fault in their effort but they were so naive.

"They've got to learn very quickly, they've got to improve very quickly otherwise they're going to go back down.

"Some of the errors today you wouldn't accept at any level of football, let alone the best league in the world, so that has to stop and stop pretty quickly.

"When they do get forward they actually commit bodies forward, but that was one of their problems.

“They’re so naive and on the turnover, you see that they're really slow to react and they were so easy to get through.

“So from all of a sudden they're attacking, Brighton are in the final third and all of a sudden it should be in the back of the net.”

Going through the chances in more detail, Shearer was particularly critical of Luton’s midfield trio, as he continued: “From one long pass and another pass, all of a sudden it's five v three, they’ve bypassed all of the midfield players, they were nowhere to be seen.

“(Marvelous) Nakamba is meant to be their sitting, holding midfielder, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Brighton scored four today and it should have been seven or eight as some of the chances they missed.

“It was good play from Brighton, but they (Luton) just got punished time and time again.

"Brighton are a good team, but they didn't really have to play that well.”

The Seagulls’ third came after a catalyst of errors from Town’s back three, Tom Lockyer’s pass going straight to Kaoru Mitoma and although Thomas Kaminski saved Pervis Estupiñán’s fierce drive, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu’s chest control and subsequent poor touch gave the ball to Simon Adingra just a few yards out, who made no mistake by lashing into the net.

Shearer added: “It’s schoolboy stuff, the first a mistake from Lockyer and then have a look at this from Mpanzu, what on earth was he trying to do here?

“Thankyou very much, but honestly, you just couldn't write it.

“One pass, another pass, straight in behind and it’s just far too easy for Brighton.

“Very good from Brighton but so bad and so naive from Luton, they're going to have to improve very quickly.”