Luton players now know they’re in a survival scrap, but Callum McManaman says they haven’t been discussing it and he believes they have enough quality to improve their fortunes.
Saturday’s insipid 2-1 home reverse to Nottingham Forest was Town’s third on the spin in the Championship and saw them slip to fourth from bottom.
Manager Graeme Jones admitted he felt ‘let down’ and that the lacklustre performance – where they were comfortably beaten – left him to admit for the first time that Town are now in a relegation battle.
Asked for the view from the dressing room on teetering above the drop zone McManaman, who scored an impressive late consolation, said: “I don’t think the lads have been talking about it because you’ve just got to keep looking up and keep staying positive but, after you lose three on the bounce, I think you need to have a good sit down and have a good look at it. We need to be a bit cleverer, I think.
“The club is used to winning games every single week for the last few years. I think it’s hard when you lose one or two on the bounce, to pick yourself up and go again, but we’ve got some big characters in this dressing room and a good squad, so we know we’re good enough and we’ve got the right mentality to get out, so I wouldn’t say it’s all doom and gloom. It’s still early on in the season.”
Jones also admitted this latest defeat was the first time he’d been really disappointed since arriving at Kenilworth Road in the summer and McManaman said: “I think all the lads agree with him when he said that. Everyone was on the same page and disappointed themselves. There were not many good performances, individually, to pick from.
“In some of the other games where we’ve got beaten, (you could say) ‘he played well, he didn’t’ or whatever, but I don’t think we were at the races as a team.
“I think all of the lads have kind of accepted that and we’ll have to pick ourselves.
“Three defeats in this league is not good. You’ve got to keep nicking points, even if you’re playing poorly, you’ve got to keep nicking draws if you can, so the lads are gutted. We’ve just got to pick ourselves up. We’ve got Reading away on Saturday, so that’ll be a massive game.”
Defensive frailties continue to plague Luton, but they are still managing to find the net, so asked if he thought the team has enough to stay up this term, the former Wigan winger said: “Definitely. You only have to look at the squad and there are lads that aren’t even getting in the squad.
“They’re training well every day and are good players who you trust to play. It is a good squad, so I think we’ll have enough definitely.”
