Having been relegated on the final day of last season’s Premier League after a valiant effort at staying up, Luton Town return to the second tier in a very different situation, finding themselves one of the favourites for promotion having built a very handy squad.
But four games in, it’s been a poor start for Rob Edwards’ side. The Hatters are currently winless in the league and find themselves second from bottom, having been booed off at home after their latest defeat against Queens Park Rangers. It’s clear that despite early hopes things haven’t been going as expected in Bedfordshire, so what exactly is going so wrong at Kenilworth Road?
They’re Not Underdogs Any More
This season is a different story for Luton, with different expectations to previous seasons and a different feel to the club. They’ve been touted by many as one of the clubs most likely to go up, which is something the club haven’t had since their days lower down the football pyramid. This will, naturally, take some adjustment, having thrived off the underdog tag last year and in their promotion campaign, which saw them go up via the play-offs following an impressive campaign which caused a few surprises. The mindset has to be different this year, which will take some getting used to and may account for the teething problems over the last few games.
This adjustment could also be reflected in the style of football. Luton have become known for their gritty, direct football which centres around hard work and a team ethic, which served them well as underdog and fitted where they were as a club. Now they’re looking to go back up, the question of style is even more pertinent.
They may need to play more expansively to go up, as many teams do these days, but this doesn’t fit their squad. Conversely, their direct style may have been worked out, especially by so-called ‘weaker’ teams, which poses an interesting tactical question. Expectations are high and the pressure is on to go up, or at least make a good go of it, and this new status may be weighing on the players even at this early stage of the season.
Individual Errors
When it comes to individual performances and mistakes costing Luton, the tone was set within the second game of the season. Thomas Kaminski’s frankly ridiculous red card in the goalless draw at Portsmouth led to an uphill struggle away from home as Carlton Morris was hooked for substitute goalkeeper James Shea, meaning goals were always going to be hard to come by.
Against QPR, new signing Mark McGuinness was turned far too easily by Michael Frey having been sucked in by the big Swiss; if he’d dropped off and given himself some space, he would have been able to judge the situation better and prevent Nicholas Madsen from getting clean through on goal from Frey’s pass. In their first game back in the Championship it was more team errors that caused their 4-1 loss at home to fellow newly relegated club Burnley, with Scott Parker’s side capitalising on any mistakes in possession and picking Luton off with ease. This, in combination with injuries, means rotation is limited and the club have to play with players low on confidence.
Then there’s the finishing, which will be touched on in more detail later. The Hatters are regularly getting shots off but are largely ineffective. If the forward players showed more composure in front of goal it may be a different story entirely. These errors are causing a simple equation which will cause any team to drop down the table – put plainly, they’re conceding too many and scoring too few.
They’re Just Not Scoring Goals
It may sound simplistic, but on top of all the other issues there’s one glaring problem – they just aren’t sticking the ball in the back of the net. They’re a side with strong creative sparks such as Tahith Chong and proven Championship strikers like Elijah Adebayo and Carlton Morris, but they’re yet to get firing. Statistically, they’ve taken the eleventh most shots in the league but find themselves in the relegation zone when it comes to goals scored and conversion rate, with a shocking 3.3% of their shots leading to goals thus far. The teams they’ve played so far have punished them severely for not taking their chances – Burnley and QPR in particular really made them pay at home, making the most of missed chances to gain away wins. While their creativity has been encouraging, and they’ve clearly got talent at the top end of the pitch, things just haven’t been falling in their favour in the opposition box. Nothing typifies their lack of luck more than the dying moments of their home loss to QPR when, chasing an equaliser, Joe Taylor headed over from inside the six-yard box with a chance that looked easier to score than miss.
In this, however, there is at least a crumb of comfort for Rob Edwards’ side. The chances are coming, and performances are actually fairly encouraging overall. With two weeks on the training pitch over the international break, there is plenty of time to fix the issues that have arisen. Shooting practice will likely be on the cards, and if there’s anyone with the man-management skills and tactical nous to nurture his players back to full form and confidence, it’s Edwards. With any luck, their return to action against fellow strugglers Millwall will be the day their season really starts and Luton can press ahead in trying to reach their ambitions.
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