Paul Trollope has teased at an FA Cup continuation of the back four that Rob Edwards switched to in his last Championship game in charge of Luton.
Town travel to Premier League high-flyers Nottingham Forest today in the third round of the cup without the man that led them to the top-flight in 2023, after he left the club through mutual consent on Thursday.
That was the culmination of a below standard season and, at Queens Park Rangers on Monday night, a fourth straight defeat, which was also a tenth consecutive away loss in the league.
Despite the 2-1 reverse, Edwards deployed a rare back four after largely playing three centre halves as part of a back five this season, which was a formation that frustrated many fans. And, until the trip to west London, had curtailed Luton’s attacking abilities to the point that they’d only scored one goal in their previous three games – and that was a gift from Swansea keeper Lawrence Vigouroux.
But at QPR, a four-man defence meant that Town carried far more attacking threat and managed a season-high 18 shots on the road. A similar output would be very welcome at a City Ground where Forest – who were battling relegation with the Hatters last season – are the form team in the top flight.
In Nottingham, the Hatters will be led by club legend Mick Harford and Edwards’ assistants Richie Kyle and Trollope and that latter said of the formation tweaks seen at Loftus Road: “I think everyone who saw the performance and I think the players who played in it, I think it suited us.
“Having Amari’i Bell back fit is quite pivotal to go into a four with our squad. I think there was a lot of dynamics that worked well within that performance. On the back of the injury situation that we’ve faced, right from the start of pre-season, really, on the hangover a little bit from last season, in that unit has been a difficult time with a number of personnel missing through pre-season, at the start of the season. Then we got some back and we lost some others.
“So that area of the pitch (defence) has been hugely challenging, to find the right balance of personnel, for a four, personnel for a five. What’s the best way to go while keeping our identity?”
Town have endured an injury crisis which crippled them in the Premier League last term, has continued right through 2024 and still has a number of key players out, including Alfie Doughty and Reece Burke both won’t be available for the cup clash.
The injury problems have been so deep that you could make a good case to say it was a significant factor in =consigning them to relegation from the Premier League, considering it was the end of January last year when Town had started to find their feet in the top-flight. They beat Brighton 4-0 and drew 4-4 at Newcastle before hamstring and knee issues devastateds them.
Trollope said: “Without looking back too much, last year in the Premier League, in that middle spell of the season, we felt we could beat anybody. We got to that stage, especially at home, that we thought we could mix it with the top boys, and we did.
“Then, unfortunately, probably as Tottenham are experiencing now, you lose your best players, or your better players in certain areas of the pitch, and it becomes difficult.
“The current situation, we’ve got people who have played games now Mark McGuinness, Tom Holmes, Amari’i Bell being fit, Reuell Walters coming back so the profile of those players, we didn’t have a month ago, six weeks ago.
“Would we have changed (formation) earlier? Potentially, because I think we we’ve always coached with the flexibility, even last season in the Premier League.
“There was a back four against Tottenham. There was a back four in certain games. We pressed with a four in possession with a three or a five.
“So, I think we have shown a lot of flexibility, but we liked what we saw the other night on a lot of levels, obviously not the goals against which we could have done better with.
“There are certain moments (against QPR) that we need to do better with. We know that. But we were pleased with a lot of the things we saw, so we may see a continuation of that.”
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