Pelly could be ‘some player’ as Jones reveals what Hatter needs to improve

Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu celebrates his winner against Sheffield Wednesday, chased by Kazenga LuaLua
Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu celebrates his winner against Sheffield Wednesday, chased by Kazenga LuaLua. Photo by Liam Smith

“Composure” is all Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu needs to get into his game, with Luton manager Nathan Jones suggesting the midfielder will be “some player” if he can improve. 

The Hatter bounced back from a ghastly miss in the first half when clean through against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday to then fire home a much harder winner with 16 minutes to go at Hillsborough, for a 1-0 victory. 

Until then, the game had seen an Mpanzu that struggled with his touch – as he had in the 2-0 defeat at Millwall on the previous Tuesday – but had also operated effectively in a more advanced position, often running beyond striker Danny Hylton to stretch the play. 

It was a performance that earned him The Lutonian’s Man of the Match rating and speaking afterwards, Jones said: “I thought Pelly was excellent, apart from certain things.

“He could be better and crisper with his touch at times, his touch tackle at times and that’s when he has to relax,

“Because if he can get that into his game, that little bit of composure, we’ve got some player.”

Mpanzu’s goal was his 19th for the club and, so far, Town are yet to lose when he’s hit the net, with just one draw among a nearly perfect run of victories. 

“I just wish he would score some more then!” joked Jones, adding: “We’d like him to finish the first one so we can be a little bit more relaxed, so when he scores the second one, does brilliant, then we’re relatively comfortable.

“But we want him to show that composure, as it was a great run, great move, something we’ve worked on and that’s disappointing.

“I’m delighted though, I don’t care who scores, I don’t care, as long as we do, as three points was vital.”