1 week Ago By Mike Simmonds
Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to Luton Today, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you. Luton boss Matt Bloomfield is confident he will witness some much-needed defensive improvements from his side when they take on Millwall at Kenilworth Road this afternoon. The Hatters chief had seen Town’s back-line deliver a fine display during his opening match in charge against Preston North End last Saturday, as they kept a first clean sheet since early November, although in fairness, it was against a Lilywhites side who failed the show any real ambition to even reach the final third throughout the contest, failing to register a single shot on target.
It was a different story on Tuesday night though, Oxford taking advantage of some horrendous marking from the Hatters’ back-line to claim a 3-2 victory despite the hosts’ having trailed 2-1 with half an hour to go. Advertisement Advertisement It has been the main focus of Bloomfield’s attention since, especially as they go up against a Lions side who are well known for the way in which they bombard their opposition’s penalty area, as he said: “It would be sensible to put some focus on it as the evidence suggests we didn’t do it well enough Tuesday evening and Millwall will be putting balls in our box, so we have to make sure we’re better. "We’ve worked really hard, discussed it in here, had a couple of meetings, been out on the training ground and been practising and I have every confidence in the boys I have to say that.
I know it was disappointing on Tuesday night and I was frustrated and disappointed after the game and rightly so as I know where this group are capable of going and I’m really eager for them to have that soon, because of the work we do we have to be better 100 percent, but I believe we can be better. “I thought we defended incredibly well against Preston albeit with not a huge amount of attacking threat against the boys. They got a clean sheet and then on Tuesday night we concede three soft goals in our opinion, so that was really disappointing.
We’ve placed a lot of emphasis on that the last couple of days and we hope to see some improvements.” On just what he and his coaching staff need to do with his players at the Brache to make things better, Bloomfield continued: “Point it out, discuss it, show them, train it and see if it’s taken on board. If it’s taken on board, great, we’re all going to improve and results will improve.
If it’s not then we’ve got a problem. They’re human, so they’ll have the same frailties and frustrations and weaknesses and strengths as everyone else, and mistakes will concern them and confidence will bring them up. Advertisement Advertisement "I also believe that habits are the thing that changes performances so it’s about us changing our habits, getting better habits, which again comes back to repetition, in and out of possession.
I believe in repetition. I don’t like leaving anything to chance, so it’s about having clarity in what we do and that’s how we believe in our work, that’s how we go about things. If you can make those things habitual and it goes well, confidence grows.
When confidence grows, habits become more ingrained, you get on the upwards curve, that’s where we need to head.” Although clearly annoyed by the manner in which Town fell to their first defeat of his tenure at the Kassam Stadium, Bloomfield was still remaining positive about the impact he can in leading the Hatters away from relegation to League One, adding: “I don’t want to go over the top on that (poor defending), it’s obviously been a theme of the season and I understand that. It’s important that I don’t carry the cloud of that on myself as I’m fresh here and I’m really enjoying my work and I’m really positive about what the future’s going to bring.
"I totally understand that it’s been a recurring theme, but we have ways and means we believe we can help and it’s about us putting the work in and up to the players to take it on board. I believe they will and I believe they’re going to improve as I’m really optimistic about the future. It’s not easy as if it was, every football club would be successful and every football manager would have the magic formula.
"It’s not, it’s hard work and it’s attention to what you’re doing, having belief in what you’re doing and repeating over and over and over and eventually getting to a place of clarity. Considering the results before we came in the building, I believed that it would turn straight away, maybe slightly naively, but we believe in the long term. We believe we can do it sooner rather than later, that’s not changed.
Advertisement Advertisement "Against Preston on Saturday we had the highest number of final third entries and the lowest xG (expected goals) against of all season. On Tuesday night we’ve gone ahead twice away from home and unfortunately for us we’ve found a way to lose a game that we could and should have probably drawn, but to get ahead twice, we could have won the game. "The belief is there, the evidence suggests that the belief is correct, now it’s about turning that belief and evidence into results as that’s the only thing that matters.
I don’t want to be delusional, saying data and the facts are going to get us to results as they’re not, but it’s a suggestion that we’re not far away. I absolutely believe that we’ll get to where we need to. We need to get one over the line and make sure the confidence builds, but there’s some really good signs of what we need.
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