Luton boss Jack Wilshere left Stamford Bridge “proud” of his players and their dogged defensive display, despite being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by debutant Danny Welbeck and a Hakeem Odoffin own goal.
Against a strong Blues side with boss Xavi Alonso on the first home game of his reign at Stamford Bridge, Town held out for 50 minutes.
And while there never real danger of a cup upset, a Town side with six changes, including two starting academy graduates, equipped themselves well enough to give Wilshere a selection headache on Sunday when the Hatters travel to Mansfield in League One.
“First thing is, we don’t like losing. And I felt that in the dressing room,” said Wilshere after Luton’s 15-game unbeaten streak in all competitions came to an end.
“But my message to the players is be really proud. A lot of teams in the Premier League will come here and try and do what we’ve done — frustrate them, stop them from playing through us. Kill the spaces that they’re good in.
“And I thought we’ve done that really well in the first half. I thought we put a lot of energy into that.
“I thought we could have been better at times with the ball and picked our moments, whether to attack fast — which there was space to do — or to keep the ball to try and take a little bit of control, because we’re good at that.
“And I think you saw the players in the second half do that and do that well. But, ultimately really proud of the players for competing the way they did. I was saying to them, we can come up with a plan of how we want to do it, but they have to execute. And I thought they’ve done that really well.”
They did because they were forced to defend against a Blues side that included Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers in their front line, while João Pedro was introduced with 18 minutes to go, among a plethora of multi-million pound superstars.
Among Luton’s changes, academy graduate Benny Benagr was handed yet more game time, while Joe Johnson made his first appearance this term. And there were full debuts for Callum Marshall and Harrison Ashby. Both grabbed their opportunity. The former a non-stop willing runner, chasing after classy Blues players and linking play when he could. On this evidence, fans will take to the former West Ham goalscorer.
Odoffin and Gideon Kodua made up the other new introductions. And against relentless pressure, pace and clever movement from the World Club Champions, the defensive changes were disciplined and determined. In contrast to the different backlines which have shipped five goals in their first two league games of the season, this was a bar-setting showing, their best rearguard display of the campaign so far.
For large parts they read the assignment well. Bar a trio of top Josh Keeley saves, Morgan Rogers rattling the bar from close range, and Estevão squandering Chelsea’s clear-cut first half opening, Town made it to half time all square, with just a tame Odoffin header on target in response.
But, having camped out on their own 18-yard line for so long, the pressure was bound to tell eventually. And so, five minutes into the restart, Malo Gusto’s inviting cross was headed home by Welbeck.
Chelsea’s Palmer clipped the crossbar before Odoffin failed to sort his feet out for Estevão’s cross in the 79th minute, putting through his own net. He didn’t deserve that after returning like a colossus to the side following the head clash that kept him out of the Notts County draw at the weekend.
Keeley produced a second double save of the night to deny Palmer and then Pedro, though the Chelsea number nine somewhat scuffed the effort from close range.
And a few moments later, Jamie Gittens smashed one off the Hatters’ post, so, perhaps the scoreline flattered Town, but not the effort. Not the application. Not the personnel. That was something to build on.
Town’s squad depth is decent — though boss Wilshere will look at bolstering his central midfield options after today’s sale of George Saville to Bromley — but in contrast, Chelsea used an army of substitutes, all internationals, whose combined transfer fees could probably pay for Luton’s new Power Court stadium twice over.
So, to lose to the Londoners was no disgrace at all. In fact, it should be the benchmark for plugging their leaky defence.
1 Trackback / Pingback