Bloomfield confident Town will reach the points tally needed to stay in the Championship
Town have 24 left to play for as they look to secure their second tier status
Luton boss Matt Bloomfield is remaining extremely confident that the Hatters can reach the amount of points that is needed to ensure their Championship survival this term.
With eight games of the campaign to go, Town find themselves with a meagre tally of just 35 to their name thus far, which is four points adrift of safety, five really when you take into account their woeful goal difference of -26. With 24 still to play for, the Hatters could end up on 59 which would no doubt see them safe, although having won just nine fixtures all term, and having to entertain leaders Leeds United soon, that is fairly unrealistic expectation.
Looking back over the last 10 years in the division, then an average of 44.5 points has been required to remain outside of the bottom three, meaning Town would need three wins and a draw to give themselves every chance. However, with all the teams above the drop zone picking up results in recent weeks, the likelihood is a higher total will be needed on this occasion.
Whatever the number is, it’s something that Bloomfield, who has two wins from 12 so far, believes is definitely within Luton’s reach, saying “Historically there’s usually a figure that’s around about the mark, but different seasons that goes up and down slightly. We just have to make sure that we attack every game individually, but with an understanding of what the season may look like. I think that if we keep doing what we can do then I believe we can get to the figure that we’re going to need.”
This isn’t the first time that Bloomfield has been in a similar position, as when he took over at Colchester United back in September 2022, albeit with more time on his hands, the U’s were in relegation trouble themselves, one point away from the dotted line. After an initial bedding in period, he then masterminded a run of six wins, three draws and just two losses from 11 matches, a sequence that saw former club Wycombe Wanderers swiftly appoint him as their successor to Gareth Ainsworth.
Asked if had noticed any comparisons between his time with the U’s and now, Bloomfield continued: “Yes I have, in terms of maybe the formation is slightly similar and the style of play is slightly similar. Maybe some of the figures that we’re leaning on too. We had some really good seniors at Colchester and we’ve got some here, Clicker (Jordan Clark), Carlton (Morris) and Kal (Naismith) and some of the others that I haven’t named.
"We turned that job around and I loved it, I’m also loving this and I’m enjoying the journey we’re going through. We’re absolutely getting stronger with the squad and we believe in the group we’ve got and we just want to make sure we’re on the front foot and the boys are putting in the performances we know they can. I think that we’re starting to see the fruits of that and I can’t wait to see more of it. I really believe in it and I’m really optimistic to what the end of the season is going to bring.”
Having had two weeks to work with almost a full complement of players between the goalless draw against Middlesbrough last time out and tomorrow’s trip to fellow strugglers Hull City, on what have been the key things he has gone after at the Brache, the boss, who has seen Town score just seven goals during his tenure, added: “Continuity between the two boxes is what we want to continue, absolutely. Defensively we’ve looked fairly solid recently so try and improve on the bits we feel we still need to improve on, and crossing and finishing in that final third of the pitch.
"I was so proud of the way we played against Middlesbrough, the effort and the intensity the boys played with. We did everything but win, everything but score and this last little bit is make sure we get results as we’re judged on results. We’re here for results and we understand that. So it’s about continuing the good bits and working on the bits we need to improve on. But the way the boys have trained has been fantastic, I hope we take that intensity into Saturday and I’m sure we will.”