Nathan Jones will stick to his attacking football philosophy as he aims to engineer a great escape in his second spell as Luton manager.
The 47-year-old has been tasked with steering Town to Championship safety in the final nine games of the season, which gets underway today (3pm) at an empty Kenilworth Road against Preston North End.
The Hatters sit second from bottom and six points from safety, plus with the worst goal difference in the division, which effectively makes it seven points.
During his first spell in charge between 2016 and 2019, Jones instilled the progressive diamond formation that set the foundation for back-to-back promotion.
In League One and League Two, Luton were a big fish in a small pond, but they’ve found it tough in their first season back in the Championship for 12 years, with the smallest budget in the league.
Under former boss Graeme Jones, they claimed just ten victories and have the worst defensive record in the division, but Nathan Jones, who returned last month, wants to re-establish the attacking principles that were so successful before his departure last January.
“It won’t change my philosophy because the philosophy is not necessary how you play, it’s how you act and how you work in everything you do,” said the Town boss.
“We have to make sure that we get points on the board. At League One and League Two level we felt, whether that was true or not, that we were better than most, so we went out and attacked them and said we want to score goals, we played that way.
“Now, it’s slightly different in the Championship because you have to play with respect, but I still want us to be an attacking side, I can’t suddenly change every way I work. We’re very respectful of what we come up against, but we have to win games and that’s what we want to do.”
Jones’ predecessor used to talk often about adaption in Championship football, and the current boss said: “My experience of managing in this division have been two-fold really, one with Brighton and one with Stoke.
“Any time a Luton Town side came up against a Championship side, we went into the game with confidence – Villa, Leeds, Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday – we never feared anyone and it’s not about just adapting,
“it’s about making sure we are aware of people’s strengths and weaknesses and then we can impose our game on people. That’s what we want to do, that’s the mentality here and that’s what I try to instil.
“We are very respectful of everyone we come up against, we don’t fear anyone, we’re just very respectful of people because they have earned that, especially at this level.”
