Chris Cohen insists that Saturday’s half time turnaround against Sheffield Wednesday was the best piece of management he’s witnessed from Nathan Jones, who the Luton first team coach claims is “ahead of the curve” as a boss.
Town were 2-0 down at half-time to the relegation threatened Owls after a first half performance the Welshman insisted would’ve seen his side booed off, had fans been allowed in the stadium.
But Jones made three substitutions at the break and it proved the spark that saw them come from behind for the first time this term to win 3-2, with new signing Elijah Adebayo bagging the third.
Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Glen Rea and Harry Cornick were all introduced and all had a huge influence on turning the tide, along with a switch to the diamond formation that was so successful in the lower leagues.
And Cohen, who joined in the summer from Nottingham Forest where he was Under-23 coach, said: “At half time on Saturday for me was the best bit of managing I’ve seen since I’ve been involved in the first team here, in terms of how cool and calculated he was in making the right decisions for the team and, for us to get back in it.
“And he was proved right by the result at the end, but even if we had got to two each or even if we hadn’t scored the second goal, the way that we started the second half and the way that we played throughout the half, for me, I look at the performance and it meant the decisions were right.
“So, (it was) a tough week for him most definitely, but in terms of him growing and getting better and the decisions that he eventually came to, I think he had a great week as a manager, as well as us having a great week as a football club in the end.”
After the match on Saturday, Jones himself gave in an insight into the calm and collected methods he employed at half time to effect such a change in fortunes, from a one of their worst 45 minutes of the season, to one of the best.
Cohen said of the Welshman: “I think he does it the right way round, at times he can look emotional on the touchline, but then he gets into the office and he was the one who was (calm).
“We were all reasonably clam anyway in terms of the coaching staff, there was no arguments or people getting at each either, but he was the one who made a real conscious decision to a sort out the formation to start with, to try and hurt them in the second half, sort out the personnel without forgetting it was about winning more second balls, it was about playing forward more.\
“It was about the real basic stuff that you have to do in any football match, that we didn’t do well enough in the first half to get any kind of foothold.
“You saw the evidence in the second half where we started the second half by passing forward by having people run forward, making tackles, running to the ball to take throw-ins, stuff like that, and the energy we created proved too much for Sheffield Wednesday in the end.”
Jones initially went with the same ten of the same 11 that drew 1-1 with Millwall on Tuesday night, with only Matty Pearson replacing the injured Sonny Bradley. Talking about that selection, Cohen said: “People will look at it and think potentially team selection was wrong because we ended up changing three players at half time, but the boys that started the game 100 per cent deserved to start because of the performance they put in in midweek.
“Bar one throw-in and a second phase going into our box, we were excellent against Millwall for 95 and a half minutes, so the team selection was right and then the right thing to do art halt time was to change it, so I think he’s (Jones) had a great week if I’m being completely honest.”
However, Cohen had an early sight of Jones’ potential when the pair were at Yeovil together as players in 2006, rooming together on away days.
“He was an older player and I was a young loanee from West Ham and he really looked after me, he was the first person who taught me what it was like to be a professional footballer,” the former midfielder said.
“I had the title of professional footballer, but I didn’t really understand what that was until I met Nathan and he guided me and a few of the other young lads there.
“We had a real successful year and a half, so he was brilliant for me then and, in a way he’s doing the same thing for me now, and I’m hopefully repaying the favour by doing as much as I can to help him and help Luton get as many positives results as possible.
“Since the moment I walked in, Nathan’s been brilliant, I knew he would be, as a player, as (it was) the way he looked after the younger players, the way he guided them in terms of doing the right thing at the right time.
“He was way ahead of his time then and he’s still ahead of the curve now in terms of the way that he manages people and the way he sets up every week, so I’ve not been surprised by how good he’s been, but it’s been lovely to watch and be apart of.”
