Tolaj's outstanding display for Argyle heightens Luton's need for a number nine

Luton’s issues in attack were laid bare once more at Home Park on Saturday afternoon as their increasing need for a number nine striker in the shape of Plymouth Argyle’s Lorent Tolaj, a player that Town boss Jack Wilshere labelled afterwards as the 'best’ he had seen in League One, couldn’t have been move obvious.

The 24-year-old, who was born in Switzerland, moved to England as a teenager in 2018 to become part of the youth set-up at Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion. He never quite made the breakthrough fo the first team at the Amex Stadium though, with goalless loan spells at Cambridge United, Salford City and Dundee, eventually released by the Seagulls and joining National League side Aldershot two years ago.

A prolific spell with the Hampshire-based club alerted Port Vale, as snapped up by the Valiants, he continued to find the net on a regular basis, scoring 15 times in 41 league outings at Vale Park last term. From there, he headed to Devon on a four year deal for an undisclosed fee in the summer, that deal happening six months after the Hatters opted to bring in Lasse Nordas from Norwegian top-flight side Tromso, now on loan at Dutch Eredivise side Heerenveen.

It looks increasingly like money well spent as with 15 goals in all competitions going into the game at the weekend, any away fan who was at the game on Saturday, or watching on from afar, must have been thinking just why the Hatters weren’t ever in for the former Swiss U19 international’s signature, as he led the line in a manner that Town have been crying out for, and for some time now.

Tolaj quickly demonstrasted just why he is so revered by the Argyle fans, and is now well of Luton’s price bracket with Scottish giants Celtic reportedly showing an interest, giving the visiting centre half paring of Mads Andersen and Kal Naismith a real buffeting throughout the contest, and definitely one of the toughest afternoons they are likely to face this term. Both strong and quick, he went on to impress in the air and on the floor, never allowing Luton’s defence a moment’s respite during a first half in which the hosts utterly dominated.

He linked well with ex-Hatter Bim Pepple of all people to create a number of opportunities, one seeing Nigel Lonwijk make a superb goal-line clearance from Matthew Sorinola, while in stoppage time, Tolaj was heavily involved in the opening goal, as he ran off his marker to meet a corner with a flicked header that was brilliantly saved by Josh Keeley only for Brendan Galloway to athletically convert the loose ball with an overhead kick.

The attacker hammered another effort over from range, while after the break, had less of a threat as Plymouth sat deep to protect what they had, but still occupied his markers and went close late on, denied once more by Keeley when he swivelled and had his fourth shot attempt of the afternoon parried.

At the other end, Luton didn’t look like landing a glove on their hosts in the first period, Nahki Wells, who was playing in the number nine role once more, unable to bother the Pilgrims defence in anywhere near the same way, which isn’t entirely his fault as it’s just not his game, sending two angled shots wide of the target when he did break free.

The Bermudan international almost had his moment with around 20 minutes left, freed by Jordan Clark’s pass but going through one-on-one, as happened in a similar position at Barnsley, couldn’t get enough height on his attempt to dink Conor Hazard, the keeper using his body to block, allowing Alex Mitchell time to thump clear before the ball could cross the line.

With Luton’s only real available options to take on the number nine role being Wells and Jerry Yates, who was introduced late on, the pair with four league goals between them this term from a combined total of 44 appearances, just two of those coming from open play, then that highlighted just where the Hatters’ issues have been this term in a nutshell.

It was something clearly not lost on Wilshere, who still has a week to go in the transfer market to try and bolster that area of the field if he sees fit, as asked whether Tolaj’s display further heightened just how much Luton were missing a player like on-loan forward Ali Al-Hamadi, who is still not deemed ready to feature following a quad injury, with Elijah Adebayo also some time away from returning as well, he said: “It’s a different type of nine first of all, probably an Ali Al-Hamadi type of nine, that type, that likes to play on the shoulder, likes to get in behind.

"Everyone will know that I’ve been happy with Nahki and the way that he plays, what he brings to the team. Of course we want to be scoring that moment, but he’s a threat Tolaj, he’s a threat. We spoke about him in the week, trying to control him. I think we did a good enough job in moments, he tried to shift it and shoot and you always felt like he’s got that threat, but we just need to take our moments.

“He's a top class striker for this level. He (Argyle boss Tom Cleverley) has got some good players now, and especially a good nine who can score in any moment. He's definitely the best I have seen at this level so far this season. Tom will obviously want to keep him but I'm sure there will be people looking at him. He's good."

While Argyle dominated their visitors, Town still tried to work the ball through the lines during the second period, leading to Wells’ opportunity and a Shayden Morris cross that was turned away from the sniffing Jordan Clark, with Nigel Lonwijk’s stoppage time header almost releasing Clark, Hazard spreading himself well to smother.

Asked whether Luton’s desire to stick to their tactics of trying to get someone like Clark playing in tandem with Wells was working, Wilshere added: “It has done, on a number of times this season. We tried to get Gids (Gideon Kodua) closer at the end and created moments, we just have to put the ball in the net. That’s the frustrating thing as you can’t knock the boys’ effort, can’t question their desire to go out and try and win a game, win duels, fight for every moment as they did that. It’s just in those moments of quality that we needed, we lacked it.”