Luton Town manager Rob Edwards insists his midfielder Ross Barkley still loves Everton despite being roundly booed again by significant sections of the home crowd on his latest Goodison Park return.
The 30-year-old midfielder, who grew up in Wavertree, joined Everton as an 11-year-old and made 179 appearances for the club, netting 27 goals, before joining Chelsea for £15million in January 2018 – having turned down a £35million switch to Stamford Bridge in the previous transfer window. When asked about the booing, Edwards said: “Ross dealt with it really well. It’s football, we’re in the entertainment business.
“Sometimes in football there is a bit of a pantomime villain or whatever but this (Everton) is Ross’ club, he’s from here, he was brought up here and played for this football club, he does love this football club. I’m not going to go into the past too much but I thought he dealt with it really well.”
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Like Luton Town’s previous 2-1 win at Goodison Park back in September, both their goals came from set-pieces and Roberts is pleased that they remain a potent weapon for his side. He said: “It’s good. That’s two games that we’ve won here and we’ve shown the importance and value of set-pieces.
“Credit to the lads and the staff who put a lot of time and effort into them and the players really value them but I do think we had some other big chances from open play and we probably should have taken one or two of those as well. It doesn’t really matter how we come as long as we get them.”
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