Luton Town have endured a terrible start to life in the Premier League following their promotion in May. Defeats to Brighton, Chelsea and West Ham have left them stuck in 19th place with no points.
It is an ominous start but for a club with the tiniest budget in the league—and a very judicious spending approach this summer—it has perhaps not been a big surprise. The Hatters are overwhelming favourites to get relegated next year, which is something manager Rob Edwards will want to defy.
The two-week break should have offered Rob Edwards and his coaching staff time to reflect on Luton’s positives and address the pressing concerns from the opening weeks of the new campaign. With that being said, here are three things we have learned from Luton’s first chunk of the 2023/24 season.
- The team has laboured in front of goal
When looking at Luton’s attacking options such as Elijah Adebayo, Carlton Morris, Chiedozie Ogbene, Cauley Woodrow and Jacob Brown, it isn’t surprising to see them struggle in front of goal.
Rob Edwards may have done miracles since taking the job back in November last year but he needs to fix his team’s problems in front of goal quickly. He has a talented bunch of players at his disposal but most are lacking experience to cope with the demands of Premier League football.
The 40-year-old and his coaching staff must find ways to get a tune of the attacking players, and in the process, help Luton score goals freely.
- Carlton Morris has been Luton’s best player
Carlton Morris joined Luton from Barnsley last summer and played a significant role in the club’s promotion to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs. He scored 20 goals in 44 league games last season, including the play-offs, while showing the creative side of his game with seven assists.
And unsurprisingly, Morris has been the brightest spark in the opening three games for the Hatters, bagging a goal and an assist to get his Premier League career off to a decent start. The 27-year-old could be the key to Luton staying in the top flight.
- Summer signings need time to gel
Edwards and Luton had to work on a shoestring budget and they managed to bring in 12 new players during the summer transfer window—a mixture of loans, decent Championship players and Premier League journeymen.
Every team has this problem when they sign so many players in one window—as evidenced by Nottingham Forest last season when they decided to get in over 20 fresh faces following their promotion to the top flight. The transfer window wasn’t perfect—Edwards and Co. would say that—but fans were happy in the summer for a reason. because the quality of players Luton have this season has risen significantly over the past two years.
Edwards is fairly new to the job and learning, and having made changes to the squad over the summer, it will take time for the summer signings to gel and Luton to act as a unit.
