Luton head to Millwall tonight in the Championship with their transfer deadline signings available to add to a squad that boss Nathan Jones believes is Luton’s strongest for ‘many a year’.
Striker Sam Nombe (on loan from Milton Keynes) and midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (on loan from Leicester) were not eligible for Saturdays 2-0 defeat to Stoke City, having completed their moves after the midday cut-off on Friday.
They’ll be available for tonights clash as will be Joe Morrell, who signed from Bristol City, and was able to make his debut at the weekend.
James Collins is a doubt for the trip to the Den over a pending Coronavirus test, while full backs James Bree, Dan Potts are close to being available.
Here are the main talking points from Jones’ pre-match Millwall press conference:
Best Luton squad for years
Jones said: “We think it’s the strongest squad that Luton have had for many a year and we’ve had some wonderful squads here and wonderful players. It’s significantly stronger than any squad that I’ve had here and we’re very pleased with that.
“We’ve had a wonderful window. I thank the board, I thank Gary (Sweet) for the backing we’ve got. Obviously, we’ve got the majority of our ones on permanent, which is a real big prerequisite for us. And the ones that we weren’t able to, for reasons that their club values them, we took on loan, which goes against policy but, for those, we made an exception.”
Learning from the Stoke defeat
Jones said: “It turned in a ten minute period. We debriefed and there were so many positives. I couldn’t have asked any more from them in terms of structure and following a game plan. Yeah, we didn’t take opportunities in the first half, when we got in, and they have quality.
“One cross, one good, back post run and they scored, and then the second goal is really disappointing. The first is disappointing but it’s a good goal from their point of view, but the second goal was calamitous and that’s the thing, because we were chasing the game and we don’t want to do that.
“We’ll learn from that and we are evolving now because we’re slightly different to the side that finished the season. Yes, we got good results, but now we want to really establish ourselves and we’re on the way to doing that.
“I felt sick actually at the end of the game because it was such a good performance for 80 per cent of the time, but that 20 per cent has cost us and that’s the level because Stoke have players that can do that.”
No ‘stars’ at Millwall but that makes them ‘tough’
“They’re starting to establish themselves as a Championship side,” said Jones, adding: “They’ve got a very experienced manager in Gary Rowett, who I know very well, so you know what you’re going to get. It’s going to be a real tough game. Gary’s got them playing very well and he’s done a fantastic job there.
“There are no real stars but that helps at times because he’s got a great working group that graft for him, so he knows what he’s going to get.
“They’re a tough tough side and it’s a difficult place to go at the best of times.”
