Luton’s pre-season aim was to get out of the Championship and after defeat to Millwall, they’re on course to do it – just not in the direction they’d hoped.
The final whistle boos and anger aimed at under-performing players and then towards the Kenilworth Road director’s box told the story of a fanbase that fears their side are now free-falling into League One.
On the post-match scenes, manager Matt Bloomfield, said: “I think we have to be careful as football managers because supporters know, they’re an educated group, our supporters. They know what they’re watching. They understand the game. A lot of our guys have been watching for many years. They understand where we’re at, so I don’t want to try and pull the wool over anyone’s eyes.
“We understand where we are and we respect their opinions. We respect how they react. There’s no problem from that. Obviously, during the game, they supported the boys and that’s all we can ask for. Keep that support coming.
“But if it’s not right and they want to make their feelings known at the end of the game, that’s the game. And I understand that.
“But to try and alleviate them. We’ll be doing some work this week. We’ll be making sure we’re better, moving forward. It’s the only thing we can do is to work hard. Make sure we do the right things for the football club and make sure we improve.”
Bloomfield had respectfully clapped the fans and departed down the tunnel by the time fans’ attentions turned to the players and the board.
“I apologise if I went off too [quickly],” he said, adding: “I just went to clap everyone and show my appreciation. I know the boys were further behind. But you understand.
“Supporters pay their hard earned money to come and watch their team and want to watch wins and want to enjoy their Saturdays.
“They dedicate a lot of time and money to their team and when things aren’t right, you understand that they’re going to voice their frustrations.
“That’s the same at any football club in the country and always will be the same. So we understand and respect their opinions and their actions. We have to make sure we’re better for them to give them something better to enjoy.”
Fans haven’t had that for some time, so it’s hardly the new manager’s fault. However, the much-hoped for new boss bounce? That was a solitary stalemate against Preston and now, seemingly, non-existent. A honeymoon period that never even began.
In the relegation zone and two points from safety before fourth-from-bottom Cardiff even kicked a ball, Town are now without a win in eight games.
Positives were evident in Bloomfield’s first two games in charge, though without victory. But, here, against a Lions side that hadn’t won at Kenilworth Road in six attempts, and as much in their last half dozen games, the Hatters quickly returned to the fare that got Rob Edwards the boot.
The concerning thing was that, like at Oxford on Tuesday night, though Mihailo Ivanovic’s stunning winner came around the hour mark, the Hatters had no answer.
Bloomfield said: “It’s come from a goal kick. We miss out on the second ball in the middle of the park and that’s what the game was built around, those second balls, those those moments where you try and turn the game in your favour and a bit quality. It was a great finish, but from our point of view, a disappointing goal to give away. “
This was Luton’s third home game without a goal, the manager’s second, and his men managed two shots on target.
Simply put, they look like they’ve forgotten how to win and they can’t keep the ball out of their own net, even when they don’t cough up clear-cut chances. It’s a dizzying mix that has all the hallmarks of relegation.
Even when it looks like luck has favoured them, something still goes wrong. Thomas Kaminski saved Aaron Connelly’s first half penalty, but all they could muster in return were half chances at best. By the end, it was just long balls launched at the giant figures of Tristan Crama, Jake Cooper and Japhet Tanganga in Millwall’s defence. It was manna from heaven for the Lions.
“I thought there was probably more moments today. Just half moments from my memory straight after the game, but nothing clear-cut,” said Bloomfield, comparing Luton’s attacking output in their two last half hours of games.
“But it’s confidence. Goals change games and they can change feelings and they can change emotions throughout the group. So we have to make sure that we manage that.
“When you’re winning games and you go behind, you expect to come back and still score. That’s just an expectation from being used to winning. When things haven’t been going your way, it’s obviously harder to retain that belief.
“Maybe we saw that that dropped a little bit after the goal. The only way of getting around that is to make sure performances improve and results improve, and we start to get back to winning ways. It’s the only way to improve.”
How to do that is the extremely big question, because, unlike their last two outings there wasn’t even half a performance to provide hope.
This was a terrible match. The kind that if it were played in your back garden you’d have closed the curtains. That was against a poor Millwall side, decimated by injury. And now, tougher tests are around the corner for the Hatters. The realistic possibility for points? Slim.
Two away matches at Sheffield Wednesday and promotion hopefuls Sunderland are up next for a Town team that hasn’t won on the road for 12 damaging outings. Match their current away-day output at Hillsborough and it will equal Luton’s worst ever away run. In their entire history.
Having become the first team to get promoted from the Conference all the way to the Premier League, the Hatters are closer than not to writing re-writing Sunderland’s story of back-to-back relegations out of the top-flight.
That was fuel for the fans to turn and aim their ire at chief executive Gary Sweet and co. The view, from those shouting, is that the club have not spent their Premier League money wisely, or at all. Others shouted that the new Power Court stadium had been a distraction.
But in his programme notes the CEO wrote that some “sizeable bids” have already been tabled for new recruits, while Bloomfield is confident of a busy end to the transfer window.
On current form, it feels like a last hope. So, now a huge final nine days of the transfer window now awaits because, as fans shouted in less family-friendly fashion, it’s becoming ever increasingly evident that the current crop will not be able to save this sinking ship.
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