Matt Bloomfield says Luton must embrace the heightened expectations on them this season as they prepare for their first away trip this season, at Peterborough United this afternoon.
The Hatters boss believes the club’s rise over the past two years – which saw them get to the Premier League for the first time in 2023 – has changed how opponents view them, and that his players must channel that pressure in a positive way.
Since those heady days in the top flight, Town have suffered back-to-back relegations, but were still installed as the bookmakers’ pre-season favourites to bounce straight back to the Championship. They began their League One campaign with an unconvincing 1-0 win over newly promoted AFC Wimbledon last week, which needed a late own goal to separate the sides.
“There’s going to be a different expectation on us this season because of what’s happened and where we were two seasons ago and 15 months ago,” said Bloomfield. “And that’s going to add expectation and we have to deal with that and we have to know when [are] the right moments we act on that expectation and when we have to stay calm and considered in our performance. But emotion’s good in football, it’s really good. You know, if you use emotion in the right way, it can be really powerful.
“So we’ve got to use the emotion of our season in the right way and build it as power for backing us and driving us on.”
Today’s lunchtime kick-off sees Luton travel to the Weston Homes Stadium for their first away league game of the campaign, with Bloomfield expecting a strong start from the home side, despite their opening day 2-1 defeat to fellow relegated side Cardiff City.
“Darren [Ferguson] is not going to change the way he plays,” he said. “He’s been such a good manager at the level and the Championship for so many years, his teams always have such a clear identity and style and philosophy. He believes in one way and he’s very good at coaching his teams to do that and they’ve had some real good teams at Peterborough over the years.
“So, yeah, we know who they are, what they stand for and how they play their football. And it’s going to be a real stern test for us.”
While there has been a lot of changes to Town’s squad this term, with ten players signed and 11 of last term’s first-team squad now departed, Peterborough too have lost key players in recent transfer windows but Bloomfield is wary of underestimating them.
“The evidence will play out, right? We’ll wait and see what the season holds for them. I think they’ve got some really, really good players and I think Darren’s a very good manager. They’ve some really good coaching staff. They’ve got a history of developing and selling, and I think it’s going to be a really tough game for us.”
While Bloomfield has already provided his squad’s availability for the clash, he also highlighted several individual threats in the Posh squad.
“I know their group sort of fairly well, although there’s been a lot of change. Archie Collins is someone who I’ve always thought is just as good as it gets in League One, in terms of a dominant central midfield player who wants to dominate the ball.
“Young Brad [Ihionvien] up front looked, like he’s got a good physicality about him. We had him as a young player at Colchester, so we know him particularly well. So yeah, they’ve got some good dribblers out wide as well. Peterborough teams always have dribblers, right? They always have pace, they always have a creative and attacking intent and this team is no different to any other ones that Darren’s had.”
