1 thing Edwards wishes he knew going into the premier league season and the 1 moment that changed it
The Hatters went into the 2023/24 Premier League season as huge underdogs following what was considered a surprise promotion in May 2023. In the end, however, Luton Town were considered many people’s ‘second team’ because of their approach to many of their games against considerably stronger opposition.
Luton Town manager Rob Edwards looks on during the first game of the 2023/24 Premier League season. Credit: REUTERS.
During his fascinating interview with Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes on their High Performance podcast, Rob Edwards was asked what he believed going into the season, when he realised something different, and what did he believe now…
“I believed that it was going to be difficult going into the Premier League season, I knew that. I probably didn’t believe that we could evolve and change as much as we did, and grow as much as we did, and I feel we had to go through this journey and we had to go through the early stages of pain to almost become the team that was really, really brave and the team that perhaps one or two really started to like watching that weren’t Luton fans.
“But I wish I knew then what I know now, and I think what I believe coming out of it and reflecting and then during the season as well that there was nothing there that really surprised us, tactically, you know you’re coming up against the best but there was nothing there that we thought ‘woah what is that?!’
“I don’t want anyone to feel like I was bigging up the Premier League too much and didn’t have enough belief or confidence in us as a team or as group, but I think we had to go through those early stages of ten twelve or so games to really learn about it”
“We had so little Premier League experience really going into it and a lot was made of that… we obviously brought in Ross Barkley who, Ross was brilliant for us, lots of Premier League experience. Andros Townsend, Tim Krul, but other than that some of the other lads had played a little bit here and there.”
“We started off the season being us from the Championship the year before, quite clearly then we had to adjust quickly. The Brighton game was like ‘oof’, I remember saying ‘wow’ to myself on the touchline on the opening day about three times like ‘wow’. You can watch Match of the Day and you can watch Premier League games as much as you want but when you’re stood on the touchline and the lads are feeling it, then you realise okay, this is different and we have to up our game and we have to improve quickly.”
That game against Brighton & Hove Albion, where the Hatters were on the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline, was Edwards’ first taste of Premier League football as a manager. When asked what his message was to the players after the opening game:
“It was a case of still supporting them but realising that there is the level, ‘okay we need to adjust things’, how we’re going to train, intensity, loads of things, really really quickly, and we did, and we got helped a little bit by having to do work on the stand as well so our first home game was called off so we had a bit of a gap between Brighton and then Chelsea away.
“Chelsea away we improved but then we ultimately still got well beaten. And then we were like, ‘okay we need to tighten things up a little bit’, so we had a couple of games against West Ham and Fulham where we tightened things up but then we weren’t a team I wanted us to be, we were far from it at stage, but we were still having to go through this process. Wolves was the first time at home where we felt like we can go and be us, turn the heat up, let’s go, let’s take risks, be brave and be aggressive. We played really well.”
Luton Town ended up winning their first point of the season in that home game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, when a Carlton Morris penalty cancelled out Pedro Neto’s opener. But how did Rob Edwards know that that was the time to starting taking risks?
“The plan always was to be against the bottom twelve, fourteen teams, at home, to go and be as aggressive as we can, and be what we want to be. Man-to-man pressing, be aggressive, it was more around out of possession at that stage, because that’s kind of what we’ve been as a team, again not really what I want us to be but that’s what we were at that stage of this journey I’m talking about, our evolution.
“So that was always the plan, and it showed that we can do this, and we can compete. Wolves are a really good team and Gary [O’Neill] was obviously still working things out as his club at that time, but they were good, had some really good players, so we took some confidence from that. And after that we actually went up and got our first win against Everton so got a bit of confidence.
Carlton Morris slots home the Hatters’ equaliser to win our first point of the season at home to Wolves. Credit: Action Images via Reuters.
“It still took a little bit of time, painful experiences away at Villa, where we’d say give teams a plus one in their build up but quickly they’ve got the quality, we’re just defending the edge of the box and it’s hard to lay a glove on the opposition team, and the fans were incredible, three-thousand coming away from home and travelling but thinking they’re with us because of where we’re at, at the moment, and we’re experiencing something that we haven’t experienced for over 30 years, but I want to give them something to be proud of as well, in terms of performance.
“Fast forward a little bit, it was Arsenal at home, that was Luton 2.0 and that was where I wanted us to be, and then from there we could really build on that and be ‘this is us’, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing against, it doesn’t matter home or away, if we’re going to go down then we’re going to go down swinging and we’re going down the way that we want to be able to play. But I feel like we had to go through those first couple of months to get there.”
Rob then went on to pinpoint the exact moment that the philosophy changed for the Hatters in the Premier League, when the mindset changed from ‘Do we deserve to be here?’ to ‘We’ve got to show who we really are’. It followed that bitterly cold Saturday afternoon away at Brentford:
“It was Brentford away, and we went into the Arsenal at home game a few days later. We’re in the entertainment business – yeah, we want to win, we’re in a winning business as well – but we want to try and entertain as well, I want us to be exciting, I want our supporters to enjoy watching their team, be proud to watch their team. I felt that night, it was a freezing cold night at Brentford, fans were still amazing, they were brilliant, they still stood and applauded us at 90-odd minutes having been beaten 3-1, but really been well beaten and been not the way I wanted us to be.
“So I remember having a long meeting with staff, say two days later, getting ready for the Arsenal game, having just been well beaten at Brentford, now we’ve got Arsenal at home and we’ve got City after that, so right, ‘how we going to go’, and there was a little bit of resistance and a little bit of ‘I’m not sure here Rob’ but I can’t stand there and be like that again, I can’t.
“To be passive, to be almost allowing the opposition to dominate, even if they have got some better players or some more experience or whatever else, I just thought that’s not how I want to be, I want us to be bold and I want us to take risks.
“I’m standing here and saying to the boys by the way, and it’s always been the case, ‘take risks, if we make mistakes, I don’t care, we’re human beings, I’ll make more than any of you so don’t worry about it, let’s go, as long as we act the right way’, saying all these things about being bold and taking risks but we’re not looking like a team that’s doing that, we’re competing and we’re going to Old Trafford and losing 1-0 and looking valiant and ‘oh plucky Luton doing alright’, but I don’t want to be ‘plucky little Luton’, I want us to go for it and try and win.
“I was convinced this was the way I wanted us to be. It was ‘alright we’re going to make a couple of changes to the selection because we need energy, and we’d just played’. We didn’t not work hard against Brentford, we tried but it was just almost a message, and it was that message I was giving, it was my fault.”
When asked what part of the message had changed:
“Tactically, that was it, now we were going to go man for man. So, we were going to go up against one of the best teams in Arsenal, one of the best teams in Europe now, what Mikel’s done is incredible. We’re going to leave big spaces against top players one v one.”
Ross Barkley scores Luton’s third goal in the 4-3 defeat at home to Arsenal, slotting beneath goalkeeper David Raya. Credit: Action Images via Reuters.
That Arsenal game turned into one of the highlights of the season, despite eventually tasting defeat after England international Declan Rice’s last gasp winner in front of the travelling Gunners. It was a highlight because the players went toe to toe with the eventual Premier League runners-up, and indeed even taking the lead just before the hour mark from Ross Barkley’s excellent finish beneath David Raya. But what did the players thing about the change in message?
“I think they needed it as well and they wanted it. When we’re at our best we play with emotion at Luton, and I think that’s in general anywhere, and I think we play with a freedom. You have to have a plan, you have to have organisation, you have to be able to fall back onto something but if you’ve got that organisation that game plan, tactically you’re aware, but you’ve got a team that’s willing to run through a brick wall for each other, and fight for each other and play with passion and heart and bravery, if you can marry that up then you’re onto something, and I just felt we need to pull on the emotion and heartstrings here a little bit more.
“Yeah we have to have a clear gameplan, we’ll work on this and we’ll be good on the grass in and out of possession and transitions and set pieces and all of that stuff, of course, we’ll nail that, but lads for us to have a foothold in this game, for us to try and win, and beat Arsenal, this is the best way for us to go.”
And away from tactics, Rob touched upon the emotional side of things in his message to the players:
“It was as much as possible removing the fear. I used to play with fear, and I look back and I hate that because I was never able to be my best. Everything we talk about the message I try to give was proactive, was aggressive, was think forward, was press, if there’s any kind of mistake do not worry, just react, instant reactions and ultimately go for it and leave it all out there and flipping enjoy it because who thinks we’re going to get anything from this game anyway, and ultimately we didn’t but it was the being of us and really growing into the league and becoming the team that everyone would’ve seen then for that last half season, the team that everyone appreciated, so that was it.”
Although the 2023/24 Premier League season didn’t end the way that every Hatter wanted it to, there was lots to be proud of for the way we took it to a lot of the teams in the division. Going into this season in the Championship, if the core of the squad can be retained and even strengthened, then not many teams will pose as tough a test as that Arsenal team did that night under the lights. Therefore that gives a lot of us huge optimism about what the Hatters can achieve this season, especially under the guidance of manager Rob Edwards.
Watch the interview in full here, or go to High Performance to listen to more interviews.
