Rob Edwards admits that Luton’s start to the season has tested his own confidence, but that he has belief from two of Town’s three performances last week that fortunes can turn around.
The Hatters take on West Bromwich Albion at Kenilworth Road tomorrow, on the back of a heartbreaking last-gasp 3-2 defeat at Coventry City on Saturday, where they had led 2-0 at half time.
While the Sky Blues were unquestionably the better side, it came off the back of two good performances, beating arch-rivals Watford and narrowly losing 2-1 to Sunderland, despite dominating the game.
But that makes for two losses on the spin and has left Luton languishing in the relegation zone, when they had hopes of challenging for promotion this season.
Instead, they currently lead the division in defeats with seven this term and Edwards said: “It’s not a nice feeling losing games and we’re not in the position that we want to be in, so of course it hurts. It kills me.”
Edwards, who guided Luton to the Premier League but an immediate relegation back to the second tier, has repeatedly taken the blame for the team’s defeats, and asked if the results have affected his confidence, the manager said: “I think it affects everything. For me to sit here in front of you (the media) and say, ‘oh I’m fine. And, no, it doesn’t affect my confidence’, I’d be lying.
“I’m a human being. Of course it does. I think any manager will have doubts over the course of their careers and fears and all of those sorts of things.
“You’ve got to then stick to your beliefs and what’s brought us success in the past and try and work really, really hard.
“And sometimes you can come through it and sometimes you don’t. And then we know what happens and when the results don’t change. That’s just the nature of the game that we’re in.”
He added: “I understand then that there’s pressure to get results. And that is the name of the game. That’s the business that we’re in and you have to accept that.”
The manager was also quick to praise his support staff and players, saying: “I’ve got a brilliant team of people around me and everyone sort of shares it and feels it. We all want the club to be doing really well. At the moment, we’re suffering a little bit.
“And it’s not as easy as just being able to flick a switch and turn things around. There’s lots of factors, but the stuff that we’ve got to try and lean on is the fact that there has been good performances, only last week as well.
“So that can give us confidence. And also when you, when you’re around the place and out on the training pitch, it doesn’t feel like a group that’s struggling for confidence or belief.
“So, that does that does give me confidence and belief as well that we can turn the performances into wins and then consistency as well.”
Looking to the visit of the currently goal-shy but equally miserly Baggies – Albion scored just once in October and played out three goalless stalemates – Edwards said of his opposite number: “Carlos Corberan is a really good coach and then they’ve got very good individuals. It’s West Brom and you know for however long I can remember, if they’re in this league, they’re strong. And you know that’s always the case.”
He added: “We’ve got to we’ve got to make sure that we’re doing our jobs and doing them really well. And then we know we’ve got a lot of quality in the building as well that can get results in this league.”
And the manager has emphasised the need for resilience and unity as they look to turn around their season back on home soil tomorrow, though he acknowledged that the responsibility starts with him and the players.
“It’s on us then to get them (the crowd) going,” he said, adding: “I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘yeah, it’s just all down to the supporters to back the boys’. Of course, that helps us, but we’ve got to give them something to shout about. So I never say it’s purely on them and we’ve got to we’ve got to help each other.”
