Rob Edwards spoke with great admiration when approaching Brighton and their trip to Kenilworth Road on Tuesday night.
In what is the reverse of the Hatters Premier League opening day, Edwards looked forward to seeing just how much his group have adapted to life in the top tier - while of course looking to counter the consummate 4-1 away defeat in August.
Buoyed by not only late FA Cup drama against Everton, the mood was even higher as Tom Lockyer made a touching visit to the Brache training ground the morning of the conference.
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Lockyer's return, good news, and debut match ball legends
Tom Lockyer arrived as many of the Luton first team received their Premier League debut match balls. The centre back also arrived with great news of his own.
“Brilliant. It was really good to see him. We had a really good morning - to see Tom, to see him around the place. We were able to give them their debut Premier League ball, there were a lot of the lads who have had those this year, so we had a nice presentation. Mick Harford and John Still presented the lads with those balls, it was a real special moment and great to see him around that today.”
“I managed to hold it together, believe it or not. It’s been a real difficult time for him and his family first and foremost. Obviously for us too, because we’re close. It’s great to see him.”
“He’s an unbelievably brave man and he’s someone as well that has an unbelievable handle of it. I wouldn’t be able to be how he is. I wouldn’t, he’s just such an impressive person and also focussed. There’s a rehabilitation process to go through. He’s taking it slowly and, you know, he’s got a baby on the way. That’s really exciting for him as well at the moment. That’s his main focus.”
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Injuries, form, and breakthroughs: squad updates ahead of Seagulls' Bedfordshire landing
While Mads Andersen is still sidelined, there was more positive news concerning another of Luton's defenders. There was to be another return too, this time from suspension.
“Mads is probably still a bit off. He’s progressing well, but this one was too early for him. Gabe’s back from our game our game against Everton which is really good news. Obviously Jordan Clark is back from suspension as well from the cup game the other day. It’s still a little bit early for Jacob Brown (Bruised bone in knee). He’s not far away at all though, so we might be hopeful for the weekend.”
Building on that brief defensive preamble, an intriguing point were the key performances of Reece Burke, Teden Mengi, and young Joe Johnson. Reece Burke found a valuable 90 minutes, something Edwards admitted was a pre-agreed aspect of the Everton clash after Burke's sporadic time in the medic's office.
“Yeah, it was really pleasing. I said to him the day before, “we need a hundred minutes from you now, Burkey” and he knew we needed that as well. So that was really pleasing for us. I thought he was excellent.”
Alongside him, the ever-improving Teden Mengi continued to delight the Hatters' faithful.
“I know I said it to our media team but I thought his performance was outstanding and I don’t normally single people out really. I like to go round the team but for a young player, his performance was brilliant against two big, strong, quick lads. Experienced players. It was a really, really impressive performance. Teden’s just someone who keeps getting better and better. I’m really excited to see how far he can go.”Embed from Getty Images
While Mengi's opportunities have reaped great plaudits early in his Luton career, a homegrown talent also caught the eye in 17-year-old Joe Johnson. He's another player that Edwards expects to have a bright future. It was noticeable by his response, that clearly Edwards is all for opportunity even while the stakes are high.
"He's doing really, really well. Like I've said, we've got high hopes for him. He's got a high ceiling, JJ. I still don't know what his best position has been because he's so confident on the ball. He can be a centre back, a full back, wing back for us."
"I can see him coming inside the pitch a bit more as he gets stronger and more experienced. But we really like him, he's got a lot of tools. He's got a lot of skills and the big thing is as well that, you know, he's not finished growing and developing fully yet. If he's doing what he's doing now while his body's still getting used to the growth and maturing - I think that's really exciting for us. He's progressed well. Maybe a little quicker than what we anticipated. We try to be sensible with him as well.
"He's trained with us every single day and he trains really, really well and competes with our boys well so he deserved that the other day and it was great to see him on a big occasion. Goodison Park, the game meant a lot and for him to actually be on the pitch when we got the winner was great."
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Previewing the opposition and a familiar foe
Brighton come into this game seventh in the Premier League and also off the back of a rather menacing 5-2 drubbing of Sheffield United. Rob Edwards was full of praise for a side that some questioned could be a benchmark of progress for his team - given the damning defeat at the Amex on the season's opening weekend.
“Everything about them, there’s a really good plan there. They’re really impressive. In terms of the football, they’ve moved forward and progressed year on year at this level. Chris Hughton bringing them through, Graham Potter moving them forward, Roberto De Zerbi taking it on - he deserves to be getting more plaudits than he gets now because they’re really impressive.
"They're really well coached and have brilliant players - so the club as a whole looks from the outside, to be in a brilliant place. It’s a very difficult game for us but we’re looking forward to it. It’ll be good to see how far we’ve come since we faced them on the opening day.”
A player who will be a huge credit to the travelling team, is Joao Pedro. Edwards spoke of the Brazilian, who has seven league goals so far this term, with great fondness - harking back to his time at Luton's great rival.
“He’s a really good player. I was lucky enough to work with him for a short period of time at Watford. He’s a really talented lad, a really good lad. He’s a nice person as well, is Joao. He’s going to continue to get better. He’s at an amazing age, he’s at a brilliant club working with a top manager as well now and you can see it all coming together nicely.”
