Hatters boss stands by his changes despite ‘horrible’ cup exit at League One Exeter
Luton boss Rob Edwards stood by the wholesale changes he made after watching his Hatters side crash out of the Carabao Cup at League One Exeter City last night.
Following on from Saturday’s encouraging 1-1 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League, the Town chief opted to bring in 10 players for the third round tie, as Alfie Doughty was the only survivor from the weekend.
Tim Krul, Cauley Woodrow, Luke Berry, Ryan Giles, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu and Elijah Adebayo all got some much-needed minutes, but they were undone late on by their third tier opponents, Deme Mitchell capitalising on a mistake by substitute Issa Kabore to stab home at the back post and send the Grecians through to round four.
Speaking afterwards, Edwards said: “I stand by those changes, the rationale behind them.
“There were one or two good performances in there, so I don’t want to tar everyone with the same brush at all, but I do want more.
“There wasn’t a lack of commitment, wasn’t a lack of effort, I will never label that at our group, ever, but I want to see more devilment, more quality in that final third, certainly.
“We had a lot of the ball, they defended with six, but we’ve got to be better in that final third, no excuses, no excuses at all, it’s disappointing.
“The team we put out, we wanted to go deep into competition we really did.
“It’s tough to take, it’s horrible to go out of the competition and I know how much it means to the supporters who have travelled a long, long way as well.
“It felt like we needed to make the changes we did, but it’s on me.
“It hasn’t worked and we’re going to have to pick ourselves up quickly as we’ve got a big game away at Everton on Saturday.”
Edwards opted to give a full senior debut to academy graduate Joe Johnson in the left-sided centre half role, as recent recruit from Manchester United, Teden Mengi started on the right, with summer signing Mads Andersen in the middle.
On the trio, the boss continued: “He’s (Johnson) a really good young player, it was a good experience for him going forward.
“I thought T was excellent on his debut, he was a real plus point for us tonight and Mads was as well.”
As the game wore on, Edwards’ desire to progress was shown with his substitutions, introducing Chiedozie Ogbene, Jacob Brown, Amari’i Bell and Kabore, followed by top scorer Carlton Morris for the final 15 minutes.
Brown was to have the best chance, heading Giles’ cross straight at keeper Viljami Sinisalo from close range in the closing stages, but it was an error at the back post from Kabore, who didn’t clear his lines, which allowed Mitchell to beat Krul with seven minutes left.
The manager added: “When you defend well with high numbers, it’s hard as there’s a lack of space.
“You couldn’t really go around it, couldn’t go through it either because of that block so it was a challenge.
“The game started to open up the longer it went on, there was more spaces for us to look more dangerous which we did.
“We made some positive changes, I was trying to affect the game and we got punished with what a really bad mistake.
“As I said there to the lads though, we stick together, we believe in what we do, we pick ourselves up.
“We’re going to have to bounce in and we’re going to have to go again and show people what we’re made of.”
