After his first game as boss, Matt Bloomfield introduced a new phrase into the Luton vernacular that gives an insight into one of his many successes at Wycombe and what may be in store for the Hatters.
By the time the 40-year-old moved to Kenilworth Road last week, his League One Chairboys side were the only team in the top four divisions to have notched 50 goals. Liverpool, Leeds and Walsall, the leaders of the other divisions, only reached that milestone this weekend.
And a look at the dreaded xG output for Wycombe suggests that they had been clinical under Bloomfield, because they certainly didn’t top the stats for chances created. For example, they were first for non-penalty goals scored in League One, but ranked as 11th on xG.
And part of the manager’s philosophy – though not yet fully realised in his first game in charge of the Hatters – may explain why Wanderers have sustained a third tier promotion challenge, sandwiched between Birmingham City and Wrexham with their US mega-money backing.
“Putting the ball at risk’ is the phrase Bloomfield began to employ after his Hatters debut, where his side’s stalemate against Preston stopped the rot of five straight defeats in all competitions before his arrival.
It was Town’s first clean sheet in two months (12 games) for a team that have conceded the second highest number of goals (44) after rock-bottom Plymouth (55), they restricted the Lilywhites to a pair of wayward shots and nothing on target at all.
That was clear progress for a previously shaky defence, but at the other end, despite nine shots and four on target, Town really only created one real clear-cut chance, which Carlton Morris headed wide, despite some promising play hinting at the changes that could be developed in the coming weeks.
Luton have now only notched twice in six games, with one of those a Swansea gift. And though Preston came to Kenilworth Road with a clear plan to stifle Town, the hosts bossed almost every metric except finding the net. And Bloomfield identified why.
“Open play goals haven’t been easy to come by this season,” he said, adding: “I think with the numbers they got behind the ball, Preston made it difficult for us at times.
“We certainly could have put the ball at risk more at the top of the pitch. We absolutely could have done that. We turned down a couple of opportunities to put the ball at risk to turn out and retain possession, which is not necessarily what we’re definitely after.
“We want to go and attack as much as possible, but that’ll be smoothed out within time. It takes time to get to the product that you want. But there was certainly some identity that came up that we have to be pleased with.
“That’s the hardest bit on the pitch to score a goal and we have to build the confidence and create more opportunities for our forward players in all areas and all aspects.
“I think there’s times that we could have put the ball at risk more and been slightly more direct at times. That all that comes with time. That understanding and that synchronicity throughout the group comes with more and more work, and we’ll have to work hard to get there as quickly as we possibly can.”
Explaining what he means by “putting the ball at risk”, which has the potential to become a new buzz phrase for Hatters to grasp, Bloomfield said: “I think, at times, we could have passed in behind and maybe came out and retained possession. A couple of times we ended back with Thomas (Kaminski), and we’re not trying to dominate the ball to end up back with our goalkeeper, when we could have really tried to go and create a goalscoring opportunity at the top of the pitch.
“That’s the bit that I call putting the ball at risk, really go and make that take that final chance and it’s not always going to come off. The ball might be overhit, it might get cut out, but we have to keep putting the ball at risk at the top of the pitch to create chances. That’s how you create them.
“Hit the snapshot, set it for someone else to shoot, all those different elements that go into creating goalscoring opportunities. So that’s what I mean by, when we got there, a couple of times we came back out and retained possession, but it’s not what we want. We want to go and score goals.
“That’s not a criticism, absolutely not. The boys have taken on a lot of information and that will improve as we go.”
Other signs of progression, saw Luton record 61 per cent of the ball, with their play most effective in the first half as they probed through the thirds far more effectively than Kenilworth Road had seen for many a month.
The game fizzled out in the second period amid a slew of stoppages, but Bloomfield was quick to point out that dominating the ball alone is not what he is asking from his Luton side.
“My teams, we don’t go after possession as a percentage,” he said, adding: “We don’t go after dominating that for the sake of it. We go after having the ball to get to the top of the pitch and try and create opportunities. And if we can go there in two passes, let’s go in two passes. If we need to go, take four or five and six, we’ll take four, five and six.
“It’s not about trying to be position dominant, as such, it’s about trying to create goalscoring opportunities.
“Maybe we turned out and kept possession at times when we could have put the ball at risk. That’s the one we need to go back on slightly and really go and try and attack.
“But the boys have taken on a lot of information in three days. They’ve taken on a huge amount of information, and we try to get that balance right between overloading them and giving them as much as they need.
“They’ve taken it on, so I think that there’s definitely plenty to work on, but I don’t wanna be downbeat, I think a point is a step in the right direction.
“Coming off the results as they have been and the goals against that, there have been, I think we have to say that that’s a positive coming out of it with a clean sheet.”
Bloomfield’s tactics were also discussed in the latest episode of the Luton Town Supporters’ Trust podcast, featuring our man James….
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