Five without a win at the start of the season suggested a hangover for last year's play-off semi-finalists Luton, but @LutonTownExile and the Oh When The Town Podcast reckon things are looking up for the team now led from the front by form hitman Carlton Morris.

How's the season gone so far?

LTE: I think in terms of where we are in the table a lot of our fans will say the season’s gone as they expected. A lot think we over achieved last year and won’t repeat it. I don’t buy that personally. For me, we’ve not really clicked yet. We’ve been strong away from home but have struggled at our place. Having said that, I don’t think we’ve got the points we should have. We’re still suffering a bit with injuries and still giving points away.

WTT: The season has been alright, we started slowly but managed to pick up some form but seem to be struggling to pick up some home form. I think it’s a fair amount of points for our performances so far this season.

Luton’s league results so far…
Luton 0-0 Birmingham
Burnley 1-1 Luton Brownhill 50 — Potts 5
Luton 0-1 Preston Potts 18
Bristol City 2-0 Luton Wells 5, Conway 27
Swansea 0-2 Luton Campbell 14, Morris 72
Luton 1-1 Sheff Utd Morris 10 — Burke 53
Cardiff 1-2 Luton Sawyers 85 — Freeman 47, Osho 62
Luton 1-2 Wigan Morris 39 — Lockyer og 80, Aasgard 88
Luton 2-2 Coventry Morris 4, 15 — Gyokeres 11, Hamer 61
Luton 2-0 Blackburn Morris 58, Burke 67
Hull 0-2 Luton Jones og 6, Lansbury 44
Luton 3-3 Huddersfield Adebayo 18, 37, Clark 45 — Morris og 11, Rhodes pen 32, Jackson 70
West Brom 0-0 Luton

No wins in the first five, but a good deal better since - was that just a little hangover from the play-offs?

LTE: We probably were a bit affected by post playoff issues in the first five games. We should have beaten Birmingham at home and played really well at Burnley away. We threw the cup game away, then Preston did to us what we did to loads of teams last year. We were poor at Bristol City, our worse performance of the season by far. We have missed Kal Naismith and that, along with a couple of new players bedding in in those first games didn’t help. We’ve been better since without really hitting the heights I think we can.

WTT: Maybe a little hangover, we had a few new players we needed to bed in to the squad and maybe just lacking that match sharpness that you gain more in to the season.

Some really eye-catching signings in the summer, how did you rate your window?

LTE: I think our window was a 9/10 again. To be fair our last half a dozen windows have been similar and the club’s recruitment record over the past three or four seasons has been brilliant. Losing Naismith to Bristol City was a huge blow for us. He was superb for us last year, on the ball and in the dressing room, and we’ve not really fully replaced what he brought to the side, yet. Carlton Morris and Cauley Woodrow are brilliant signings. Morris is outstanding. Woodrow will be when he settles in. Luke Freeman is a class act as well. I think Doughty will be brilliant for us when he actually gets on the pitch. Horvath (new keeper) has been pretty consistent, keeps it simple, without being massively tested. We also brought in three highly rated youngsters.

WTT: I’ve rated the window quite highly, was buzzing with the players we’ve brought in even though we’ve only seen a handful of them. Morris looks like a steal and Horvarth has been solid in goal.

Ins >>> Carlton Morris, 26, CF, Barnsley, £1.8m >>> Cauley Woodrow, 27, CF, Barnsley, Undisclosed >>> Matt Macey, 26, GK, Hibs, £104k >>> Alfie Doughty, 22, LM, Stoke, Undisclosed >>> Louie Watson, 21, CM, Derby, Undisclosed >>> John McAtee, 23, AM, Grimsby, Undisclosed Aribim Pepple, 19, CF, Cavalry (Canada), Undisclosed >>> Luke Freeman, 30, AM, Sheff Utd, Free >>> Ethan Horvarth, 27, GK, Forest, Loan

Outs >>> Peter Kioso, 22, RB, Rotherham, Undisclosed >>> Kal Naismith, 30, CB, Bristol City, Free >>> Elliott Lee, 27, CM, Wrexham, Free >>> Danny Hylton, 33, CF, Northampton, Free >>> Admiral Muskwe, 24, CF, Fleetwood, Loan >>> Elliot Thorpe, 21, CM, Burton, Loan >>> Dion Pereira, 23, LW, Bradford, Loan >>> Carlos Mendes, 23, LW, Fleetwood, Loan >>> Aribim Pepple, 19, CF, Grimsby, Loan >>> John McAtee, 23, AM, Grimsby, Loan >>> Robert Snodgrass, 34, AM, Retired

Morris looks to have hit the ground running the best from the outside?

LTE: Yes, Morris has been outstanding since he got here. He’s got everything. He could get 20 goals this year. Strong, quick, leads the line, superb in the air, good off both feet, more than happy to have a strike, and prepared to put himself about. Clever as well. He could play higher.

WTT: Morris is everything you want in a striker, strong, powerful, tricky, quick and intelligent. He’s on form at the moment and clearly has a lot of confidence.

Other stand out players and weak links in the team?

LTE: Our other stand out players so far include Reece Burke. He’s a top defender and will play higher. Underrated but outstanding. Allan Campbell in the middle of the park continues to impress and work his socks off. He’s critical to our press. Jordan Clark is coming into form and Dan Potts is having probably his best season for us. Funnily enough, arguably three of our outstanding players from last year (Adebayo, Cornick, and MPanzu) have all not really got going yet but they will. I think our main weaknesses are an occasional loss of concentration defensively centrally, a bit of a lack of pace through the middle defensively, and we still miss more chances than we should. Muscle injuries keep killing us as well.

WTT: I’d say our weak points in the team are set pieces and giving away a sloppy goals if we can sort that out we should be fine. Campbell has been class again this season and as always looks like the real deal.

Revised expectations for the season?

LTE: Expectations wise you’ve probably asked that question of the wrong person. I think we’ll make the play offs again at least and I wouldn’t rule us out of going one better. Probably sounds ridiculous but I think we can be good enough. A lot will depend on us being able to keep our best players fit and available for long enough. We’d have gone up last year if we’d been luckier with injuries and took our chances. Fine lines. This division is even more open than last year. No reason we can’t repeat last year. If you’re pushing me, I think we can finish fourth or fifth.

WTT: I fully expect us to be there or there abouts at the end of the season and fighting for a play-off space.

Links >>> Luton Town official website >>> Hatters News — Blog >>> Luton Outlaws — Message Board >>> Supporters Trust >>> Oak Road Hatter —Blog

The Twitter, @OhWhenTheTown, @LutonTownExile, @loftforwords

Pictures — Action Images

Team news/expected line up for this one?

Action Images

JPC added 17:23 - Oct 14 Despite my somewhat irrational dislike of Luton, I thought these came across well - I hadn’t been paying too much attention, but their recent form is as good as ours
0

JPC added 17:23 - Oct 14 Despite my somewhat irrational dislike of Luton, I thought these came across well - I hadn’t been paying too much attention, but their recent form is as good as ours
0

TacticalR added 18:58 - Oct 14 Thanks to @LutonTownExile and the Oh When The Town Podcast. It feels like Luton have gone under the radar so far this season after having made the play-offs last season. I wonder which version of Luke Freeman we will see after he spent so long on the bench at Sheffield United.
0

Blogs 32 bloggers

Fleetwood Town Polls