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‘I’m not stepping away’ – Pressure increases on Rob Edwards as Luton lose to Norwich

‘I’m not stepping away’ – Pressure increases on Rob Edwards as his struggling Luton Town side lose to Norwich City on New Year’s Day.

Rob Edwards was insistent that he wouldn’t be walking away from the job, despite hearing the boos and ‘sacking in the morning’ chants from angry from fans at the club’s current form.

Edwards says he is committed to turning the Hatters’ fortunes around, with Luton currently sitting 20th in the Championship table with 25 points from 25 games, 3 points above the drop zone, while Norwich are 11th with 33 points from 25 games.

“I’m realistic and I know the situation, I don’t fear that, I’m going to keep working hard and what will be will be,” Edwards said to BBC Three Counties Radio after the game.

“I’m not stepping away from this, I’m not walking away at all, it makes me want to turn things around. As much as I want things for this football club, I have a family to provide for, I want to work.”

Edwards on anger of some fans, accepting they were within their rights to voice concern.

“It’s always disappointing but I understand it. They could see we were pushing and stayed with the lads but when we’re getting the results we are, I’m not surprised with the reaction at the end,” he said.

“Some were applauding but some were angry too, football’s a results business. We have got to find a way, it’s OK to look at small margins but we have to be ruthless.”

He continued, per Luton Today: “We’ve got to find a way, it’s all right saying small margins and fine margins, football is, but when you get those chances you’ve got to be ruthless and you’ve got to take them.

“I think we played pretty well, we didn’t deserve to lose the game, but we did and we’ve had that over the last few games. Really tight games, probably didn’t deserve to lose, but we have and I think we’ve still only got ourselves to blame. The one moment that they had that, they scored from. Either press and back up the press so he can’t turn and shoot, or don’t and talk to Tom Krauß who doesn’t get picked off. When he does turn we’ve got to make sure that we get a block in and block the shot.

“We didn’t deal with that situation well, a scruffy one goes in the back of the net, in the bottom corner and it felt like they hadn’t really been in our half for a long, long time. When we’re in that final third we’ve got to find a way of getting the ball over the line. It’s all right hitting the woodwork, all right claiming penalties, having a lot of set-pieces, having nearly moments, we didn’t make it count.

“It’s a difficult pitch. When they’re pressing us as well, if we can go into the front two and cause them problems then use that. When they get narrow we can land on stuff and then we can get it wide and get crosses in the box. I thought we mixed the game up pretty well, it was either get down the sides, or can we use the front two. The players gave everything, really tried, but in those tight games, which a lot of games are, especially in the Championship, you’ve got to find a way to come out on top.”

The boss added: “We hit the post at the end, we felt even when we were 1-0 down we were still the better team. They made some changes and went to a back five. We can counter that and we changed the shape when we went 1-0 down. We didn’t change the personnel at that point, as soon as they made some subs, we wanted to try and overload their last line, get more forward threat on and it nearly worked.

“We want to try and get that first goal. We wanted a little bit more in the final third as some of the decision making wasn’t great and just a few times we allowed them to switch it quickly and they got one v ones then and good players in one v one situations when they get those switches wide. We kind of nullified that in the second half, we were better in the final third as well. We had a lot more threat, so all the stuff we spoke about at half time was good, just not that final little bit.”

Norwich head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup said, per the club website: “The three points are a really good feeling. It’s not often that we do that away from home. It was a very even game, not many chances. We had to be efficient with our chances.

“In some moments of the game, we played a kind of football that was not our preferred way to play, but we had to do it and that’s the part of the game I’m most pleased with.

“We decided that after the warm-up, we’d make a decision about how much we can actually do. It was a difficult pitch, so it would’ve been difficult to do that out here today.

“It was a more direct approach, but still trying to find the moments where we could play and that’s always difficult in football.

“You can feel it with the boys here, it’s one of them that is probably more than just a win. A win away from home, a clean sheet, we had to dig deep and put in big tackles and blocks.

“We did what it takes to get a win here, that’s something you can build on as it’s a difficult way to win.”

Thorup, per Sky Sports: “I’m delighted with the win and mentality because it was difficult circumstances with the soft pitch.

“We decided to be more direct and get second balls with runs in behind, we did well. We supported each other and tracked back.

“Our first 15-20 minutes was good, we found the flow and had the chance with Emi (Marcondes).

“They got momentum in the second half and we had to defend so it was important for us to get momentum and the goal was decisive and important.”

Twitter users gave their reaction as pressure increases on Rob Edwards after Luton lose to Norwich…

@ltfc_jt:
Haven’t watched but let me guess.
Better side but unfortunate to lose?
Signs of improvement?

@FTM1042: Really surprised me that Luton are struggling this season. Rob is a good bloke & always wears his heart on his sleeve from a personal perspective but it’s a result driven business football & I feel Luton might have to pull the trigger soon.

@FTM1042: Last season when you were in the prem I saw fight, good spirit & attitude but this season I don’t see any fight in Luton’s performances and that’s a huge disappointment for me. Luton are a good football club but just need a huge lift from somewhere.

@ben_combes: Rob clearly won’t walk now, because it doesn’t make any sense financially. BUT, I’m amazed he’s willing to put back-to-back relegations on his cv, as then Rob’s future is potentially in League 1 or below. We’re in a game of chicken between the Board and Rob’s management team now.

@LTFCralph: Same fella that said he won’t stand in the way of the clubs development/ progress and no we are 2 points of relegation 😂😂

@FanHubHatter: Asked him some tough questions there… 🙄

@Dangray1525: Embarrassing interview. Awful questions. What about asking him about the broken system?! Why it took so long to put Taylor and Brown on? Playing players out of position? Playing players out of form etc etc etc etc!

@dm_ltfc: Hardly Edwards fault there. We dominated had plenty of chances, it was down to the players to take them and make the right decisions today. Also shouldve had definitely 1 possibly 2 pens today. Hit the woodwork twice and Morris should’ve taken on that strike first time

@ChampionshpTalk: Alexa, in what year was the last double relegation from the Premier League?

@ben_combes: I’m a Luton fan since 1985. We are bad and stuck in a rut. The board deserves enormous credit for the non-league to Premier League run, but also substantial criticism for the past year, which has left us on the brink of back to back relegations. Not fatal, but clearly terrible! 😞

@KatLTFC: 😪 I don’t even recognise us anymore.

@Atexo02:
Sack Edwards
Sell Chong
Release Moses
Giving him this window is just pure cowardice from the board

@upthehatters: I would like to know how bad this has to get before someone steps up and manages our club. You can see it falling apart. Becoming toxic.

@webbo_23: Kept going until the end!

@cclarke100: And so it goes on .. all very acceptable for this club !!! We bow down .. you know better than us and look for all those things were meant to be ‘looking forward to’ as listed in the programme! Be very careful, you have or you are starting to lose the majority of us!

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