Graeme Jones admitted that the 2-1 home defeat to Nottingham Forest was the first time this term that he’s been really disappointed with his Luton team’s performance.
The Hatters commanded 70 per cent of the possession but did precious little with it as the Reds sat back and countered, first scoring just before half time when Lewis Grabban punished a defensive mistake. Sammy Ameobi then completed the scoring before the hour mark, with the defence giving him time to pick his spot.
Town twice had the ball in the Forest net, though Dan Potts and James Collins’ efforts were ruled offside, but when Callum McManaman scored late on it was merely a consolation.
Jones said: “I could hide behind 70 per cent possession, two offside goals disallowed. I’m not going to. I was disappointed with the performance. The first time I’m really disappointed. The performance wasn’t good enough.
“It was a totally different challenge to what we’ve had before here in the Championship. Nottingham Forest – and we need to mark how far we’ve come sometimes – former two-time European Cup winners sit in and play on the counter attack at Luton. I think we struggled for craft and creativity to break that down and that’s the true assessment of today.
“We weren’t good enough to win. We were too passive, especially defensively. Two goals that we could have avoided and I can assure you we work at it.”
Jones also admitted that there were players that he’ll have to make tough decisions over.
“The challenges are there for everybody to see, but we need to stick our shoulders out and relish it. There were two or three players today that I don’t feel were like that. That’s my worry because I can’t go forward with them at this minute in time and I have to do something about it as a manager.
“That’s where I’m really disappointed. I feel as disappointed as I’ve been.”
