Luton Town – The Thoughts Of Honest Rob – Aston Villa (h)
Soccer Football - Premier League - Luton Town v Aston Villa - Kenilworth Road, Luton, Britain - March 2, 2024 Luton Town manager Rob Edwards looks dejected after the match REUTERS/Chris Radburn NO USE WITH UNAUTHORIZED AUDIO, VIDEO, DATA, FIXTURE LISTS, CLUB/LEAGUE LOGOS OR 'LIVE' SERVICES. ONLINE IN-MATCH USE LIMITED TO 45 IMAGES, NO VIDEO EMULATION. NO USE IN BETTING, GAMES OR SINGLE CLUB/LEAGUE/PLAYER PUBLICATIONS.
Four defeats in our last our Premier League games, has seen the Hatters fail to shake off those relegation shackles.
The latest of those four defeats, against Aston Villa at Kenilworth Road yesterday, once again saw Luton Town beaten by the odd-goal and with the opposition winner coming very late in the game.
Has anyone tallied up just how many points we’ve lost, this season, in this manner?
With twelve games to go, the Hatters still have it all to do if they are going to retain their Premier League status for at least another season but although we may be languishing in 18th place in the table, I’m still confident Luton Town can stay up.
After the final whistle had blown yesterday Rob Edwards cut a forlorn figure as he strode across the Kenilworth Road pitch, it seemed as if that late Aston Villa winner had cut him to the bone.
But, after recovering his composure, to face the cameras, Rob, as usual, spoke honestly and truthfully to the media with the BBC, reporting Rob as having made the following comments:
“We have to defend the final stages better we have to brush up on those things.
“We will continue to work hard on that and if we don’t, we know what will happen. The boys were incredible especially in the second half.
“We got done in the first half with two set-pieces, but in the second half we were outstanding – we pushed them back and dominated the game.”
Yes, the defending for the first two Aston Villa goals did leave a lot to be desired, the first saw Ollie Watkins given far too much space to head home and the second saw several Luton players turn their back on the ball ignoring the fact that Douglas Luiz was ready to take a quick free kick.
However, I can’t help but feel a sense of irony about conceding two goals from free kicks when we pride ourselves on scoring from set pieces so often this season.
Continuing, Rob spoke about our survival battle, adding;
“If we can keep massive aspects of what we are doing then I believe we can do this. There are little areas we have to improve on quickly.
“We finished the game with not many defenders on the pitch. It is hard with injuries, but I am not going to complain about it.
“The lads took their chance today; it was an outstanding performance against an outstanding football team. Villa have great individuals and are very well coached.”
Injuries are starting to affect us, the squad is starting to look a little threadbare, but like Rob says, we can do it, we can stay up, but we need to start picking up points soon and stop conceding so many goals, especially early ones!
COYH
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