Roberto De Zerbi and Rob Edwards on Luton v Brighton

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Some of their fans took exception to that. Rob Edwards didn’t.

And so it was that the Luton boss appeared to win the tactical battle in the return fixture.

The Hatters pressed and harried Albion out of their stride in their 4-0 win at Kenilworth Road.

They got tight on to their visitors, didn’t give them an inch or a second on the ball.

As a result, they left big areas of space in behind them.

But Albion’s relative lack of attacking pace meant they could do all that in some comfort.

The result was one of the most galling nights in the Roberto De Zerbi era.

A “relentless” ordeal – relentless being the word correctly used by Edwards.

They always play like that, he told reporters after the game.

But it worked to perfection with Albion lacking the option of a player such as Kaoru Mitoma, Julio Enciso or Simon Adingra to get in behind.

Before we go any further, let’s be absolutely clear that the progress made by Albion is understood and fully appreciated. We know where they have come from.

Events at Luton do not change any of that – and fans showed that level of understanding as they stayed to the end, clapped the team and still sang about a European tour.

But Tuesday’s events were concerning and disappointing to the point of embarrassing.

Those on and off the pitch who have taken Albion to where they are now did not do so without setting high standards and being self-critical when required.

So what on earth happened?

De Zerbi does not like to go on about players who are not there and rightly so.

But three Prem blanks in a row do not “coincide” with the absence of all their natural attacking wide players. Those blanks are a result of those reduced options.

That is no reason for weak and timid defending, for not running back when your opponent runs forward, for failing to protect the far post in open play or at a corner, for a lack of precision, urgency, tempo and composure.

But there is an irony that Luton’s approach, which was widely lauded, should have suited Albion.

How often have we heard Seagulls fans bemoan the fact their side find it harder against teams who sit back in a low block?

Albion, playing the way we know they can even in tight areas, would have been expected to cope with what they came up against, then enjoyed the spaces they created.

They did that a couple of times soon after going 2-0 down but not really from that point.

“No, never,” De Zerbi said when asked if he had ever gone two down inside three minutes.

Edwards said: “We have got really good athleticism, especially in the last line, so it gives us the confidence that we can go for a team and not let them get into their rhythm.

“Brighton are probably as complicated as it gets in the league when they get it going.

“We had to stop them starting and, in the main, we did that really well.

“We were good with the ball and that came with the press.

“Brighton aren’t going to completely change what they do.

“If you allow them build, they will build.

“If you come on to them, they will mix it and try and get in behind you.

“It’s really what everyone does in football.

“The space that the opposition give you, you will try and take it.

“We are going to give them space in behind and they will try and take that.

“We didn’t allow them to build, we got a rhythm and thankfully it worked for us on the night.”

Luton get the smallest crowds in the Prem, packed into a unique ground which itself nestles snugly between terraced houses and a main road.

There was a time, many years ago, when it felt like Kenilworth Road was a taste of the future.

With its hospitality lounges instead of a terrace, its artificial pitch, its (hugely unpopular) membership scheme, role model players of different backgrounds, modern football played by David Pleat.

This was the way the game was going.

These days it is very much a trip into the past.

There are shades of what it used to be like to go to top-tier games at Plough Lane or The Den in the 1980s.

One imagines the tight confines of the ground compared to more modern venues make the atmosphere more intense, the stick you get feel more personal.

It felt like the surrounds got on top of Albion – but they were already behind by the time that happened.

De Zerbi said: “If you concede two goals in two minutes, the atmosphere can change.

“The game went in a direction totally pro-Luton.

“We knew before the game the style of Luton and we knew everything and we didn’t play.

“We lost the ball with Facundo Buonanotte, we lost a duel with Pervis, we lost a header and we conceded the first goal.

“The second goal, we were sleeping and we concede the space at the back.”

He added: “I don’t want to make any excuse because we have to play better. We must fight.”

De Zerbi gave an honest, frank and ashen-faced assessment to reporters.

He thought carefully about what he wanted to say – even more so than usual.

By then, he would have done all that a few times, such are the post-match media requirements for managers and head coaches.

There was just one question he did not really answer and seemed to take exception to.

He was asked whether a record of three league wins in 16 games was a sign of under-lying problems.

He replied: “I don’t know, you can think what you want.”

He did not mention the lack of attacking options which might have made Luton think twice about leaving that space.

What the night in Hertfordshire reminded us about was the – that word again – relentless nature of Prem competition.

“I think we have all learned and we have all improved,” Edwards said about that first-day defeat at the Amex and the reaction on Match Of The Day.

“I don’t think the comments that day were cruel, they were right.

“We got things wrong that day.

“Our running wasn’t good enough that day.

“We showed them the following day what needed to improve.

“We have been working on it ever since.

“I am glad that happened in a way because I think we learnt quite quickly and changed quickly.”

Over to Albion to do the same.

There is a game at the Amex on Saturday.

After a car crash at Luton, let’s see how they get past a parked bus.