Edwards on Townsend, injuries and Cooper's success
- Published
Katie Catherall, BBC Sport
Luton Town manager Rob Edwards has been speaking to the media before the squad travel to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Here are the main headlines from his media conference:
On Mads Andersen's injury: "He's got a nasty hamstring injury and will be out for a couple of months, it's a real shame. He's still smiling and will come back better and stronger from this. He's watching the tactical sessions and is keeping involved in game plan chats."
Edwards was full of praise for Andros Townsend, who joins the club with a wealth of experience: "He's a really good footballer, a brilliant person and has experience at this level. He's impeccable in training and has a great attitude. We want someone who can make an impact and we believe he can do that. Not saying that will be tomorrow, but he will be involved."
Edwards said the international break was great to rest players and build on the work they've been doing in training. He's confident that areas are improving.
On whether Luton can emulate Forest's comeback last season: "It does give us some belief and confidence that we can achieve a similar thing. We knew what we were going into when we went into this league. I'd be concerned if we were getting battered and not creating chances. It's hard to compare though, they're a different club."
On the racist abuse directed at Elijah Adebayo: "We reported it to the correct channels, want to support Eli, it's disgraceful and we don’t want people like that in the game. Hopefully it doesn’t happen often or ever again but if our players get that kind of abuse we can support them and get the people doing it out of the game."
Edwards says it is frustrating to not have more points on the board, but the squad are "confident" that they can achieve more.
On dealing with an increase of injuries: "Naturally our intensity has gone up, both in training and games. It's inevitable we will get injuries."
On Steve Cooper's success at Forest: "He's had four and a bit years in management and every year has been very successful, what he’s done there at that club, no one else has been able to do that in a long time. He's doing well again this season. Hopefully we get one over on them, it'll be another tough one for us."
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