Re-watching Luton's start would make Hatters boss 'cringe' as he pinpoints Arsenal defeat as the turning point

​Luton boss Rob Edwards believes he would ‘cringe’ if he was to watch back his side’s opening few matches of their debut Premier League campaign, going on to highlight Town’s 4-3 defeat against Arsenal as the turning point of the season.

The Hatters began life in the top flight with a 4-1 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion in August and then lost out 3-0 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, as they were under the cosh for large parts of those games as the scorelines suggest. They went on to win just once in their opening 12 fixtures, beginning by playing with two strikers, and then adopting a low block during matches, particularly away from home, to try and figure out a way of being able to pick up results.

Following that difficult start to the campaign, Town have since hit on a way of playing that has seen them gain four victories and two draws in the last 10 encounters, as the Hatters have discovered a method which has improved their goal threat dramatically too, scoring eight times in two fixtures, including beating their opening day opponents 4-0 in a wonderful clash at Kenilworth Road last Tuesday.

Speaking about the uptick in performances, Edwards said: “The lads have shown some really good flexibility tactically which you have to do at this level. I feel now that if I look back at it and if I watched the first few games back I’d probably cringe now, to think where we were, what we were trying to do and where we’re at now. But I like it, we’ve had to learn, had to evolve and the lads have shown a lot of flexibility. They’ve been really, really good and when they’ve performed the way they are, the lads have shown they are a real handful at any level.

"We’ve grown into the league, I've had to learn, we’ve all had to learn and adapt, quickly, and we have changed. If you look at us game by game there’s been improvement pretty much in every one of them, so it was pleasing to see as Brighton are as difficult a team to play against and press, to do that was very pleasing.”

With Luton now having played 22 matches in the top flight, when looking back at the opening stages of the campaign demonstrates one of the differences has been Luton upping their possession stats, as the first dozen matches saw them with an average of 35.55% to now 41.5%. However, the major improvement is the shots on target as Luton only had 121 efforts compared to 130 at the start of the season, but have managed to test the keeper with 50 of them, way higher than the 28 previously, boosting their average from 2.5 per game to 4.5, allowing them to score 22 goals as opposed to a mere 10 earlier on.

It has seen Town move out of the bottom three in the process and on what match he felt was the one it began to click for his players, Edwards continued: “The performance against Arsenal was a little bit of a game-changer for us. We tweaked one or two things after that and there’s been a real commitment to go that way, the way that we played in that game, at home, away, whoever we play. I think that’s been the biggest shift. Performances have been really good and all right we didn’t get anything against Arsenal or (Manchester) City, but after that we’ve picked up some results."

Even if Luton have conceded, as they did when falling behind twice in the first half against Newcastle on Saturday, Edwards backs his team to be able to hit back now, saying: “It’s what we do, we’re going to concede goals, we have to deal with that. The game is, god knows how long the game was, it was long, you’ve got enough time to get the ball out of your net, stick it down and try and score more than your opposition. So that didn’t really concern me, but it pleased me, the reaction was really good. We didn’t go under, we kept doing what we do and we continued to be us, committed to the gameplan which allowed us to get back in the game.”

One thing that the boss has talked about since Luton began to become more of a force to be reckoned with in the top flight is bringing some chaos to proceedings. It was definitely on view at St James’ Park in front of just over 52,000 at the weekend, with the game going from end to end for the entire 100-plus minutes of action, leaving Edwards to say: “I think we need a little bit of that. I've spoken about that before, I think only Pep (Guardiola) and Mikel (Arteta) can get a bit of order, maybe they can do it with how they coach, but I think there’s some order when we’re playing with the ball in possession.

"We showed really good control, but without the ball, this is the best way for us to go otherwise we’re going to end up low and it will be difficult for us to get out. So we’ve got to try and upset the rhythm of opposition teams, we’re going to be brave, we’re going to be aggressive, going to be tactically good out of possession. We know we’re going to give some spaces away, whatever you do you’re going to give space away somewhere and with the personnel we’ve got, it suits us to be aggressive, upset the opposition’s rhythm, so that we can have the ball.

"Because we want the ball, not just because we want to show some spirit and have a bit of a fight, we’re trying to do it because we’re actually showing we’re a good team. We can take the ball as well and until we get to the point where we can have more control and order, then we can talk more about regains, keeping the opposition high and trying to suffocate them. Until we get to that point, which we do work on, but we’re not there yet, with getting that full control, especially against these kinds of teams. We have to go our way, and the players have bought in, supporters have bought in. We know at times we’re going to give one or two chances away, but it gives us the best chance to have a threat and be aggressive and look to win the game. It’s a bit of risk over reward and we feel it is the right way to go.”

There was plenty of risk on show in the north east and the only thing that left Edwards slightly annoyed was that it didn’t lead to the full reward he had been after, adding: “We scored four and only came away with one point as well, so there’s a little bit of frustration. But it is good, we look a threat, we can score in different ways, whether it’s a set-piece, whether it’s counter attacks or whether it’s from having some control. It might be from a high regain like it was on Tuesday, so we’ve got some good strings to our bow now to make sure we remain a threat in games.

“They had some pressure as they’re going to, they’re really good and they’re at home. They had the one at the far post, which went high and wide, we had the big chances again with Chieo (Ogbene) arriving like we want him to. I was almost ready to try and find a way to get up and celebrate with our supporters if that had gone in, but I was pleased at four-four that we didn’t go under as for a lot teams it could have ended up being five-four, six-four, they could have run away with it, but they didn’t.

“It’s another point, we didn’t come here to just get a point, we came here to win. I don’t think anyone could have argued with that, but if you don’t win, don’t lose and we’ll take that. I look back in the cold light of day and we’ve come to St James’ Park, we’ve given everything, given as good as we’ve got, we came to be us and be brave and we’ve got a point in a really entertaining game. At times I was concerned, at times I was enjoying it and pleased and proud and confident, at times I was everything in between, but that’s what football can do to you. It’s how we’re going to go and how we are, I know some games are going to be like that, but I just think it’s the best way for us.

"There’s still parts of me when I review the game and look at it, I’ll think we need to be better there, there and there, but that’s the process that we’re in. No-one’s the finished article, I've got to accept that. We’re human beings, we’re going to make mistakes, especially when there’s so much noise in that cauldron, it can really affect you and that decision making. It’s hard affecting that from the touch-line, you’ve got to trust the players to go and do it. There’s bits we got wrong, but we got far more right than we got wrong.”

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