Luton Town boss Matt Bloomfield praised his side’s renewed attacking intent as they edged past Wigan Athletic with a 1-0 victory at Kenilworth Road last night.
The Hatters had come in for criticism after Saturday’s disappointing first defeat of the season, at Bradford, but Bloomfield was delighted with the response from his players.
While it was midfielder George Saville who scored the winning goal, and keeper Josh Keeley kept Wigan out in a first half where they had the best chances, Town showed improvements from their largely toothless display at Valley Parade.
The return to winning ways makes it three triumphs and three clean sheets out of four opening League One games as they continue to search for consistency, with Bloomfield insistent that the foundations for improvement are being laid.
“I think as much as the win, it was really crucial that we showed more attacking intent and we went through it at a great length yesterday with the boys,” he said. “They’re genuinely like a really honest bunch. They’re honest with themselves and they are a genuine pleasure to work with.
“We were all very disappointed after the game on Saturday and rightly so. So I felt like it was really important that we showed, in front of the lights at home, a lot more attacking intent and obviously pushing Milli [Alli] slightly higher, it felt like we were able to do that tonight.”
The Town boss admitted injuries and unsettled line-ups have hampered his early weeks of his new look Luton, but believes the squad is gradually finding its rhythm.
“It’s been quite a challenge these first few weeks to try and piece together who’s available to play what minutes, in what positions and try and get a team to look like the team we want to look like,” he explained.
“But again, having so many injuries and not having that balance until Cohen’s [Bramall] fit to play on the left-hand side, it’s been trying to pick a team that’s available and it doesn’t always look like we want it to look like. So we’re still in the process of getting to that stage.”
While Luton created more chances than in recent outings, with Lasse Nordås hitting the post, Alli seeing two rockets saved and a chance cleared off the line, Bloomfield admitted his side must learn to be more clinical.
“It’s tough, isn’t it, right? Because at 1-0 up, you don’t want to sit back and just try and see the game out. You want to try and get the second and third, and we’ve spoken a lot in the last 24, 48 hours with the boys about looking to try and get goals at home. We want to be that team,” he said.
“It’s just a shame we didn’t quite get that second to kill the game off and settle everyone down and it at 1-0, you’re only one moment away from the possibility of conceding. So I’m glad it didn’t happen because I think it would have been unjust. But at the same time, there’s obviously plenty for us to work on. We felt really secure in our shape. Really solid with our performance in the second half, but just, it would have been nice to get the second.”
Despite that frustration, Bloomfield took encouragement from the way his side pushed forward.
“I think that there was more forward passes, more events in the final third, more nearly moments for us getting two and three at home. So yeah, there was some nice signs. Again, we’re still working towards that team and there’s lots of understanding that we’re with the group.
“The group were really honest with themselves yesterday. We knew that Saturday wasn’t right and we wanted to be that. And I thought there was some good moments. Again, we’re still trying to find that balance between attack and defence and at times in the first half, maybe we were too attack and left ourselves open to the transition. So we’ll have to look back at that.”
Bloomfield acknowledged his players are still learning when to push forward and when to sit, but believes the signs of progress are clear.
“When are we a single pivot? When are we pushing one of our pivots on to become another attacking body but does that leave us open? So it’s just lots that we need to keep working on,” he said.
