In his brief Monday afternoon address, Rob Edwards looked forward to Tuesday evening action at Bolton Wanderers' Toughsheet Community Stadium.
The Trotters earned their Emirates FA Cup replay with a determined performance at Kenilworth Road in last Sunday's goalless stalemate where both firing lines were as cold as the relentless January air.
Although his was a relatively strong squad against the League One side, nothing seemed to drop for Edwards' men. He reiterated the regular praise for his players, yet touched on the vital mental aspect of cup football where although players may at times rotate, the focus is primarily on progression.
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Team News
Talking of rotation, will Luton fans be in with a chance of seeing much of that? Last time out, the battle at Turf Moor was bitter, and now after this FA Cup game, some warm weather training awaits in the short Winter break. Edwards provided a typically consummate summary of his group, many of which were milling about outside as he spoke.
“(Jacob) Brown's back, Mads Andersen’s got a calf issue. Not sure for how long, hopefully it’s not too bad. Maybe a couple of weeks, it’s going to be weeks not days which is disappointing for us. Mads would’ve been in contention for this one. Other than that, everyone’s alright."
Despite the frustration of injuries and the relative revolving door of availability, Edwards built on this notion as he spoke of Dan Potts and Reece Burke making the bench against the Clarets in the 1-1 on Friday night.
“We need it! I’m desperate to have all these defenders fit at the same time. They all keep chopping and changing, it’s almost like ‘tag, you’re in for a little bit’. It’s really frustrating for Mads, but he’s already bang on it, he’ll be back as quickly as he can. Potts is working back as well, he’s great for us.”
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Approach to attitude and the break
As previously mentioned, some fans of the Luton persuasion may see this midweek trip up to Lancashire as a needless hurdle of congestion thrown into the winding race that is top tier football. However, Edwards emphasised that it falls upon Luton to take responsibility before they can enjoy a brief training trip away. Attitude is the key word, according to the former Wolverhampton and Blackpool defender.
“We’ve been really honest, like in human nature - it’s easier at the moment to get up for Premier League games. It is and we’ve got to make sure our mentality and our focus and our attitude is right for the cup games as well. That’s what I want and that’s what the message has been. (...) We still get a little bit of a break, so that’s no problem. It’s a game that we’re looking forward to.”
With training, it's a regroup and refresh in the Middle East...
“We get a bit of warm weather, we’re going out to Dubai after the game. We’ll go on Wednesday morning.”
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Late show Luton: breakdown of the recent scoring trends
Luton have impressed many this term, especially in the face of very low expectations. What has been an intriguing aspect of the side who are often underdogs, is the ability to claw back late goals. In fact, Rob Edwards group have scored 15 of their 24 total Premier League goals from the 70 minute mark and beyond. The Hatters' manager underlined how this matter reflects on his team.
“Obviously I’d like to score more goals full stop. That’s the hardest bit in the Premier League, scoring goals. So, that’s first and foremost. Clearly we want to try and score in every minute and early on to give ourselves the first goal. But I do think it shows really good character."
"I think it shows good fitness, I think it shows that we can change the game. Whether that’s tactically, or whether that’s from the bench with subs coming on having an effect. I do think it’s a positive thing, but clearly we want to try and score more goals. We’re there or there about with a lot of teams. It’s not like we’re massively down amongst teams for scoring goals, but it’s always something we’re working on. It’s hard in the Premier League to score goals.”
Edwards continued, stating how the identity of Luton truly reflects in the play - especially the often-late drama.
“It’s probably quite unique for a promoted team to have that many goals late on, but as I say, we recognise that we want to try and get that first one more. We do want to score more goals early on. We want to try and start quickly, but we’re going up against top teams. They want to try and start fast too. It has been a common trend that’s occurred over the first half of the season, but hopefully we can get a few more early on and still continue to get late goals as well.”
To end, it was interesting to hear how Edwards approached Bolton, who are of course managed by old friend and teammate, Ian Evatt. The club were recently struck by tragedy as a fan sadly passed away in their last game against Cheltenham Town. While the manager sent his condolences to the club, as well as friends and family, there was a positive touch as praise extended to the club itself amidst chatter that Tuesday night's game could be a sold out affair.
“They’re a big football club aren’t they? They’ll be turning up now with probably a confidence and a bit of belief that they can win the game and why not? They’ve come to our place and drawn. They performed well and we know how difficult this will be. We’ll prepare the same way as we have for every other game.”