Boss of Sheffield United rivals hits back at ‘disrespectful’ BBC pundit’s jibes

Luton Town boss Rob Edwards has hit back at BBC pundit Garth Crooks, branding the former Tottenham man as ‘disrespectful’ over comments made following the Hatter’s 2-1 defeat to West Ham before the international break.

Luton came up from the Championship along with Sheffield United and Burnley and like the others have found things tough in the top flight so far.

Edwards’ side and the Clarets are yet to pick up a point, while the Blades put their first on the board thanks to a 2-2 draw with Everton at Bramall Lane before the pause for international action.

Luton’s latest loss prompted Crooks to post on the BBC Sport website: “... I can’t take them seriously and see them down by Christmas.”

Edwards admitted to being ‘hurt’ by the comments and ahead of their trip to face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday, the former Watford boss revealed he sent a message to Crooks in the wake of the comments.

“I think after three games it is disrespectful,” he said. “It does hurt when you hear comments like that. When people tell you that it’s hard to shy away from it.

“At this level in the Premier League you’re going to be shot at, people are going to have their opinions and I suppose that’s what he’s paid to do but I think it was a disrespectful comment and we have reached out to Mr Crooks so he can come in and we can show him what we do with our plan and that we’re not a team to be laughed at.

“Our job is to get good results and performances and to change people’s minds.”

It’s at the back where Luton have found things most difficult, conceding nine goals in their three matches so far and Edwards has spent the international break attempting to put a stop to that.

“We’re always trying to improve week by week, we are no different to anyone else,” he added. “We’ve experienced the ruthless nature of the league, we’ve had some tough games and fixtures but we’ve learnt a lot.

“We have to learn from the three games we’ve had and that we can’t give any gifts away. [We need to be] more compact, resilient and to defend the box very well but be more ruthless in transitional moments and, when we get the opportunity, to have attempts on goal.

“We need to stop letting in goals and to score more. To win games you need to defend and take opportunities when they come. Conceding nine goals in three games is too many and we need to become more defensively solid and not give too many chances away.

“We did that well against West Ham and there were improvements there but the two goals we conceded were too easy.”