Graeme Jones’ Luton remit remains keeping the club competitive in the Championship, though he knows that managing fans’ expectations comes with the territory.
Town travel to Blackburn Rovers today on the back of three straight defeats in all competitions, conceding ten and scoring just two, though four of those in the goals against column came against an imperious Leicester City side in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup exit.
The Hatters’ current form has seen the fall to fourth from bottom, one places above the Championship drop zone, but if they were to finish there come May, that would been seen as a successful campaign.
However, after beating Barnsley and Huddersfield in consecutive outings last month, there would have been some supporters whose expectations rose – and Jones knows that is all part of the job.
“I think we won three games in a week and everyone thought we were going to go up direct, I certainly didn’t, I know what my remit is at the club and think everyone would have settled for us being a Championship team again next season and that hasn’t changed.
“But I don’t want to look at it like that, I’m still in the process of getting our best 18 together, getting our best 11 together. We’ve played the same system all the way through, so there’s still lots of things I’d like to work at before that work in progress is at a point where I think, OK, we’ve maxed out here and I’m not at that point yet.”
Despite having waiting until their
fifth game of the league campaign for a first victory, performances were generally
positive and once they won two back-to-back games, confidence was high.
But then came a first international break and the return against QPR yielded a disastrous
28-minute period where the Rs ran riot and scored three, which ultimately did
for Town, despite a spirited two-goal comeback.
Then, last weekend at Hull, a promising first half display was wrecked by a final 27-minute spell where the Tigers tucked in three times, including two in the last seven minutes.
Jones said: “The bit I struggle with is when we’re not competitive, so the last seven minutes I just can’t swallow that, my job is to make us competitive in every game, so I’m not even looking at sixth bottom, fifth bottom, fourth bottom, sixth top.
“I just want to be competitive and when you’re competitive in every game, and you’ve got a chance of winning, the rest will take care of itself and apart from seven minutes against Hull and, OK, I’ll accept the first 30 against QPR, but we did something about it, we’ve been in every single game.
“Forget the Leicester game, the Leicester game, it’s gone, it’s Premier League, it’s gone, they’re outstanding. I’ve worked with some of those players, they’ve signed (Youri) Tielemens for £40million, that’s it, the conversation should stop.
“But in that game I’ve taken things from it, I didn’t take loads from it, but I took something from it, which will hopefully help us going forward.”
On the threats posed by a Blackburn side who sit in 11th place, after two wins on the spin, Jones said: “They’re a very well-rounded team, they’re very good in lots of areas, but obviously we need to make sure we’re competitive, we need to make sure we’re ready for it
“I think, going into the game and being well organised and giving everything you’ve got, showing your opponent no respect, makes it a great leveller and that’s what we’ll be trying to do.”
