Rob Edwards admits he was angered by some people writing Luton off in a “disrespectful” way, but says his team are not trying to prove anyone wrong ahead of a relegation six-pointer at bottom-of-the-league Sheffield United today.
Town beat Newcastle 1-0 on Saturday to claim their third Premier League win of the season, which moved the Hatters on to 12 points for the season, ending predictions that they’d fare worse than Derby County, who hold the record the league’s worst ever points haul.
The Rams got just 11 points in 2007/08, with just one win, but the Hatters now have three victories, yet still sit third from bottom, though that could change with a win at Bramall Lane this afternoon.
Both sides got promoted from the Championship last term but it was Luton’s ascent in particular drew many detracting comments about their ability to compete for the first time in the division.
While there was also a much-criticised comment from former Spurs forward turned experienced BBC pundit Garth Crooks who, after three defeats to start the season, said he couldn’t take Town seriously and that they would be down by Christmas, despite that being a mathematical impossibility.
Before beating Newcastle, Luton had ran champions Manchester City, league leaders Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham close at home, only gaining a point, but losing by the odd goal, twice conceding last-gasp points stealing goals.
But after the defeat to City, Edwards had said Luton were starting to change the narrative set by pundits prior to the season starting.
But ahead of the trip to Bramall Lane, Edwards said: “We’re trying to do it for ourselves. Being honest, I’d have probably written us off as well, from outside, but there’s ways of doing that and I think some people were disrespectful with how they did it.
“That angered me a little bit but I don’t use that. I can’t affect what other people talk, think, write or say. It’s down to us to get results. So I just think there’s ways of doing it.
“Some people would’ve been very respectful and given a good rationale, (like) the smallest budget, just been promoted out of the play-offs, smallest amount of time to transition from the Championship to the Premier League and first time in the Premier League, lots going on.
“That kind of stuff, I get. But some of the stuff that was written was crackers. Anyway, that’s down to us to perform well. We’re not doing it to prove people wrong.”
Edwards added: “I really like the way the group is looking. We have to do it our way. We’re not going to change the way we do things and I was absolutely, completely fine with that going into the summer.
“I think we’ve shown a real intelligence in the window and with how we go about things as well.
“Maybe we’ve shown that we don’t have to spend £500million to compete. Now, that being said, we haven’t got the points and the results yet to start shouting off about that. It’s down to us the get those points, but we’ve shown we can.
“We’ve got to get a lot more points than what we’ve got, so just because we’ve won a game of football please don’t start saying, ‘Rob Edwards says we’re going to stay up and get into Europe’, or something like that.
“I realise where we were at. We’ve got a long way to go, but I just think that we’re competing well.”
Luton will need a similarly strong performance at basement club Sheffield United today. Wing back Alfie Doughty said: “We don’t fear anyone, especially at home but even away as well. It’s a must-win game. Every week is a must-win game but I think we’ll have to go into that game in a really good spirit and I’m looking forward to it.”
When both Luton and United were shooting for promotion last term, Town went to the Blades patch and beat them 1-0 thanks to a Carlton Morris winner.
The Yorkshire outfit, who had been beaten 8-0 by Newcastle and 5-0 by fellow strugglers Burnley, have sacked Paul Heckingbottom and returned for the services of his predecessor Chris Wilder.
Under their new, old manager United have tightened up and earned a morale-boosting draw at Aston Villa, the only side this term not to have lost at Villa Park.
“I don’t think I’ll be drawing on last year for any sort of reason,” said Edwards, adding: “What we can lean on now is the performances and what we’re doing right now. I think we can lean on that and go up there with confidence.”
There will be question marks over the availability of defensive duo Amari’i Bell and Issa Kabore who both were withdrawn during the Newcastle victory.
On Bell, who captained the side in the absence of stricken Tom Lockyer, the manager said on Saturday: “He was tightening up. We’ve got Mads (Andersen), who we absolutely love, on the bench. I think it was important that we don’t take any risks. We don’t want to lose people at this important stage, so Amari’i came off, Mads slipped in. How good was Mads when he came on as well? That was a real big positive for us.
“Issa at half time, he had to come off. I’m not sure of the full extent at the moment, but I think it was another tight muscle.
“Gilo (Ryan Giles) came on and everyone that stepped in was very good.”
