Rob Edwards, the manager of Luton, has claimed that due to the level of expectation placed on Town’s opponents when playing the Hatters, pressure may be well and fully on their shoulders this season.
The Kenilworth Road team is largely predicted to be relegated, and after four games of the season, they are currently last in the standings without a point.
Gary O’Neil, the manager of the Wolves, has already mentioned his team’s ‘need’ to obtain a result while playing the Hatters. Wolves are the team they will face this afternoon, and if they win, they can tie them up.
He won’t be the only one, though, as visiting fans will likely be hoping for an easy six points throughout the course of the season. According to Edwards, that kind of attitude might perhaps help his team.
He stated in his pre-game press conference that “the mentality of it can work both ways” and that “whoever faces us this season will be faced with that pressure, ‘you should be picking up points against Luton,’ that’s what everyone will think.
“Teams will respect us, do their homework, and try their best to win the game, but that pressure is there.
“There is an expectation against us right now, which you could probably see a little bit last week against Fulham. It’s up to us to try and alter that a little bit as well and make things a little bit more difficult for teams by picking up more points.
“It’s likely that our psyche differs at home compared to other places.
There is a certain amount of freedom for us when we are not at home; if we want to close things off a little more, there is definitely less pressure.
“I want us to make it extremely, incredibly tough for people to come here, and I want us to attempt to engage with our supporters at home.
“I believe it was understandable, the West Ham game, the manner in which we played following Brighton and Chelsea, we probably blew too many good chances.
“However, I believe there is a balance to be had in being more compact, like we were (at Fulham), but then also taking the game to the opposition as well, so hopefully we see a bit more of that,” said the player.
Despite the fact that Luton is yet to earn a point in the league this season, Edwards is still clearly enjoying his first go at managing in the top division and he is confident that his players can benefit from his efforts.
“I love it, it’s improving me, my staff, and the players as well,” he concluded.
“We’re getting into a lot more depth and watching a heck of a lot more, but we have to deliver a lot more information while still regulating it because you don’t want to overwhelm players.
“I believe the players are capable of that and want it as well, so there is no question that this will improve us all.
“I believe that we have made progress already in the first month of the season, but ultimately, that improvement must result in points for us.
“I love the challenge of it; it’s where you want to be, and right now everyone in football wants to be.
“We’re having a great time playing in the Premier League, but we’ll definitely have a lot more fun if we start picking up some points,” said the team.
A number of pundits have unfairly criticised Luton’s first season in the top division, especially BBC Sport’s Garth Crooks, who continued his strange vendetta by saying the Hatters haven’t demonstrated any “serious intentions” of attempting to stay up.
However, Edwards said that none of that was causing him to lose focus on the task at hand. He continued, “I’m aware stuff will be out there, but I’m not on any social media, I don’t look at it, so it allows me to just focus on us.
“Since it isn’t important, I don’t get distracted or carried away by any of that stuff.
We need to stay here and keep working and getting better, that’s what matters.
We’re all ambitious and want to perform at the best level for ourselves, our families, and our fans—that’s it. That’s not why we do it. Instead, it’s what keeps us here and keeps us from leaving.
I truly don’t give a damn what others think because it’s not to disprove them.
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