[themaclad]

Luton Town
Deepdale 24/8/2024 15.00 hrs

Macs Mewsings

Well good news is, it's now Monday and we haven't got rid of a backroom staff member for all of two days, suspect though that is only a matter of time away. Yorkshire bloke seems to be front runner by Heck he does.
Visit0rs Luton, not had the greatest of starts although compared to ours it's positively world class. Will be difficult opponents for whoever is in charge on Saturday. A new dawn breaks over the club, better days ahead we shall see

https://www.lutontown.co.uk/en

Manager



Robert Owen Edwards (born 25 December 1982) is a professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back and is the manager of EFL Championship club Luton Town. Born in England to Welsh parents, he represented Wales internationally.[5]

Edwards began his career with Aston Villa, making his senior debut in the Premier League. He then moved to Midlands neighbours Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2004, where he spent four seasons at Championship level. He helped both Blackpool and Norwich to promotions to the Premier League and featured for Barnsley in the Championship before retiring due to injury in 2013. He played international football for Wales, making his debut in 2004 and winning 15 caps in total. His father also played for Wales, at U18 level.[6] He completed his coaching badges with the Football Association of Wales and moved into management after retiring as a player.[7]

Edwards managed Wolves' academy and had an interim spell at the first team, before leading AFC Telford United and the England under-16 team. He guided Forest Green Rovers to promotion as League Two champions in the 2021–22 season. Watford appointed Edwards as manager in May 2022 but he was sacked just four months later in September.[8] He joined Luton Town later that year, leading the club to promotion to the Premier League via the playoffs.[9]

LAST TIME OUT

0-0 at Portsmouth



Kaminski collection of cards means he doesn't get the delight of being the first keeper to pick the ball out of his net against us since early April 2024

Who's hotish



BIT OF PREVIOUS



In through the out door



OTHER GAMES



TABLE

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The Fitness Test
Paul Heckingbottom will provide an update on the fitness of his team ahead of Saturday’s match.

The Hatters

In the club's first ever season in the Premier League, Luton Town put up a more than respectable fight to keep hold of their top-flight status against sides with much bigger budgets, but ultimately the task proved too large.

With Rob Edwards still in charge, though, they’ll believe anything’s possible and will be looking to return to the top of the English pyramid.

They’ve taken a point from their opening two fixtures and this week their summer business has got underway, with the arrivals of midfielder Liam Walsh and defender Mark McGuinness.

The Officials

Referee: Dean Whitestone
Assistant Referees: Daniel Leach and James Wilson
Fourth Official: Matt Corlett

Dean Whitestone will be the man in the middle for this weekend’s clash, which will mark his third fixture of the season.

The last time Whitestone took charge of a PNE match was the 2-0 victory over Cardiff City in February 2024, and his previous visit to Deepdale saw North End come out on top against Birmingham City.

Kit

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While aware that it may take some time for ideas to be fully implemented, Paul Heckingbottom has been pleased with the early work he’s been able to do with his new side ahead of Saturday’s game against Luton Town.

Since being appointed on Tuesday, Hecky has had two days with his North End squad on the training pitch, with another to follow shortly after doing his pre-match interview on Friday.

A lot of that time out on the grass has been spent focusing on tactical elements of the game, tailored to how the boss feels Luton Town will look, which he described as a “really specific way of playing”.


Speaking about his team, Hecky said: “I’ve been pleased. Listen, you don’t just click your fingers and things change. We know it’s a process and it’ll take some time, but I don’t want anyone feeling sorry for themselves.

“We’re going to lose games of football, but it’s our job to make sure we win more than we lose and make sure we set the team up and approach the game, no matter who we play, to try and win the game.

“I can accept losing, but we have to play a certain way. We have to make sure that everything we do is positive, everything we do is aggressive, everything we do is to try and score goals or win the ball back.”

All the new gaffer and assistant Stuart McCall – along with the existing coaching staff – will want to do, is to get their messages across as effectively as possible, as soon as they can.


However, given that they’ve come into the job in a three-game week, a bit of prioritising has taken place in terms of what information they’ve tried to pass on to the lads for these fixtures.

The manager said: “Obviously it’s been full on and intense, and I think it will be until the window closes really and we have that international break. I’m expecting that; I know what it’s going to be like.

“The problem or the good thing or the issue is that we have three games in this hectic schedule so there’s a lot for me and the staff to be going on with, but we have to prioritise these games, while we’re doing all the other bits that go on in the transfer window.

“When you’re first through the door there’s a lot of things you want to say so the decisions are around how much information are you giving, and who needs what based on the games that are coming up.

“We’re obviously prioritising the next game in front and hopefully we can start doing a lot more in that international break.”

One thing which seems pretty clear is that Hecky will be flexible in the way his side line up, adapting at times to the opposition, while also staying true to “our way” of playing.

He said: “It’s always about us and how we play, but then you focus on elements of the performance which are going to be really important against Luton and that’ll change.

“It’ll all be about us but then what do we have to focus on against Harrogate, so over time you revisit tactical elements of your game, but we don’t want to be changing.

“For example, when we play against a back four we’ll play a certain way, when we play against a back five we’ll play a certain way, but that’ll be our way. There’ll be subtle changes within what we do all the time every game.”

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Rob Edwards spoke to the media on Friday ahead of the trip to Deepdale to face Preston North End in the Sky Bet Championship.

The Town will seek to get their first win this season after drawing at Fratton Park last week against newly promoted Portsmouth.

Edwards was open about the importance of getting a win and how it will play on the squad.

“It’s always important to try and get a win,” said the boss. “But it is something we can never guarantee either.

“After the performance last week with players coming back and new additions coming in, people are starting to feel a little more positive and results help that.”

With several players on their way back to the matchday squad, including Mads Andersen, Reece Burke and Marvelous Nakamba, Edwards recognises the importance of squad competitiveness.

“It’s inevitable now, this is the first time in a long time, months and months that I’ll be leaving players out,” explained Edwards. “That’s not a nice thing but I’d rather be doing that than having to do what we have had to do since around March time.

“We are certainly looking stronger now, which is really good, and it doesn’t guarantee results. We still have to work extremely hard and earn them, but we are in a better position to go and do what we want to do.”

The gaffer feels it is important not to play down the opposition, Preston's 3-0 loss away at Swansea City last weekend saw them appoint a new manager in Paul Heckingbottom.

“They’ve still got lots of strength there,” said Edwards. “They are a good Championship team. We can talk about what we think they might do, but we can never be sure and that’s why we have had to prepare ourselves, which is genuinely the case.

“The game could be completely different and that’s where we need to make good decisions when the whistle goes

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Preston North End 1 Keane Luton Town 0

PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Hughes; Potts, Thórdarson (Holmes, 73), Whiteman, Kesler-Hayden; Keane (Greenwood, 73), Frøkjær (Ledson, 64); Riis. Subs not used: Cornell, Whatmough, Stewart, Okkels, Bauer, Best.

Luton Town line-up: Shea; Mengi, McGuinness, Bell; Ogbene (Walsh, 67), Baptiste (Nelson, 85), Clark (Woodrow, 78), Doughty; Morris (Taylor, 78), Chong (Walters, 67); Adebayo. Subs not used: Horlick, Anderson, Burke, Mpanzu.

Attendance: 15,245 (1,248 Luton Town fans).

Referee: Mr D Whitestone.

What a day, as Eurosports cycling commentor Carlton Kirby would say, started off with the first brew of the day being without something vital commonly known as tea leaves, the replacement then accidentally found it's way into my nether regions when I knock it over, dropped the box with the cats Dreamies for the second time in two days. Then walked about 400 yards before realising had left my phone in the car.
From then on the day got better two Acca's up and my solitary bet on a nag won, followed by a win on the pitch.

Has to be said we did have a vast amount of good fortune, the Hatters should have had a penalty in the second period, given as a free kick just outside the box, close call.

A better atmosphere than in recent weeks, a couple of changes from last week Kesler-Hayden and Keane started, they started well, passed and moved the ball well, looked danger going forward especially Chong, good player this lad, first effort on goal from us Riis with a shot from distance well saved by Shea.
Woodman pulled off a good save from Morris from one of the plethora of corners that Town got
Mr Drysdale kept giving them free kicks in good positions they wasted the lot, they were finding it easy to run through midfield and Baptiste really should have put them ahead but failed to hit the target when well placed.

It was to cost them dearlyabout 6 minutes to half time Frokjaer to Kesler H who backed flicked the ball onto Riis who found Leane who found the net, 668 minutes since we last did that in a league game.
We managed to get to the break 1 up unchartered territory in recent games.
We had occasional forays into their half in the second period but it was mainly one way, we defended excellently, bodies blocking shots, when the defence was breached Luton couldn't get past Woodman, had a great game although his distribution is still pants. Corners a plenty Alfie Doughty must be one of the best dead ball players in this division, in a far from dirty game Mr Drysdale booked most of our players, he had an iffy game.
We hung onto the end three points against a side who will go close to going up, one foot forward and in other news the comedy club on the coast blew a 4-1 lead

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Paul Heckingbottom felt his team showed two different sides to their game in the victory over Luton Town.

In his first match in charge, Preston North End claimed their first three points of the season thanks to a 1-0 victory, courtesy of a 39th-minute Will Keane strike.

There were certainly signs of what the team had been working on under the new gaffer, while PNE also had to stand firm at the back in the second half to prevent the visitors taking anything from the game.

Hecky said: “Results probably define everything, don’t they? They always do. But I think if we break the game down there’s lots of things I’m really pleased with.

“We looked to take the ball and try to pass the ball. Gradually as the first half went on, I thought we got better and better at that.

“In the second half, Luton stood against us man for man and we found it more difficult. We showed the other side to our game and defended the box and limited a good Luton team to efforts from long range, longer diagonal balls and crosses into our box which our three centre-backs and Freddie [Woodman] dealt with really well.

“I’m pleased with not just the game but the build-up to the game, the approach, and I think it would have been unjust if Luton were to sneak a goal at the end.”

Rob Edwards’ visiting side were throwing everything at North End to try and level, but PNE were holding firm, with the help of a raucous Deepdale crowd.


The fans inside the stadium got right behind the team, especially in the final stages, and the manager couldn’t help but acknowledge their support during the last ten minutes or so.

He said: “When I’m watching the game, I’m usually oblivious to everything away from the white line, but I heard them today. I think you saw me react and clap the fans. I enjoyed that.

“That’s something I really want to see. I want a connection between the fans and the players. I’ll guarantee how hard we’ll work to try and win games, and we’ll work hard during the week.

“I want the players to understand that the fans are coming to watch that and I want the fans to understand that the players are giving everything. Sometimes it won’t be enough, but then you get the other times when that’s all you need.

“We’ll keep working on the quality, we’ll keep working on how we want to play and it was a good moment that.”