Rob Edwards feels Luton Town could have done more to prevent Manchester United’s rapid-fire counter-attacks with Rasmus Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford causing problems in the weekend’s 2-1 Premier League win at Kenilworth Road.
How to describe Sunday’s clash in a single word? ‘Frantic’ fits rather well. A game in which control was at a premium, Luton and Manchester United playing something more akin to basketball than football with a series of direct attacks as the tide swung this way and that.
It was a game which did little to quell the fears about Casemiro’s ageing limbs, the veteran Brazilian stumbling through treacle as Ross Barkley ran riot. But, after Erik ten Hag pledged to make Man United the ‘best transition team in the world’, their rapid-fire front free of Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho and a record-breaking Rasmus Hojlund certainly lived up to their end of the bargain, the trio a constant menace as they galloped into wide open spaces like a fleet of coal-black stallions in a Lloyds Bank advert.
Rasmus Hojlund breaks record in Manchester United win
“We had to manage some counter attacks better and we need to,” a disappointed Edwards tells Luton Today, Carlton Morris’ goal threatening a comeback which never arrived after Hojlund scored twice in the first seven minutes. “It’s an area for us to focus on again.
“They have some moments with the quality and their speed. I think you look at Manchester United over the last, God knows how many years…
“They’ve always been a fast counter attacking team with a lot of quality. They’ve done it to bigger and better teams than us. It’s Marcus Rashford and Garnacho and Hojlund. These are big, big players, top players, who are very good and very quick.
“But there’s certain areas we can be better and stop those counter attacking moments.”
Champions League chase is on
Ten Hag has certainly found his go-to front three, Garnacho and Rashford playing their best football of the season and Hojlund becoming the youngest player ever to score in six successive Premier League games.
Man United, after four league wins in a row, are now just three points adrift of Tottenham Hotspur.
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