Bloomfield demands Luton produce a display that 'represents' him after 'challenging week'
Luton boss won’t accept a repeat of the performance he saw at Lincoln
Town boss Matt Bloomfield has come out fighting as he demanded Luton produce a performance that ‘represents’ him when facing Doncaster Rovers at Kenilworth Road tomorrow after going through one of the most ‘challenging’ weeks in his managerial career to date.
The Hatters go into the contest on the back of a woeful showing against Lincoln City last weekend where they produced a terrible opening half an hour of misplaced passes and awful defending that saw the Imps somehow only leading 1-0. Although Jordan Clark, who will miss Saturday’s fixture with a calf injury, equalised on 77 minutes, Town’s defence fell apart twice in the closing stages to concede two more goals and end up losing 3-1, a result that saw both Bloomfield and his players come in for some serious and extremely vocal criticism from those fans who had made the trip to the LNER Stadium.
The manager then cut a pretty disconsolate figure during his post match press conference in which he apologised to supporters, as asked just how the last few days have been for him, and what he has to see from his side this weekend, a forthright Bloomfield, who saw Town drop back to 11th in the table after eight matches, said: “It was a very disappointing performance and result last Saturday so it’s been a very challenging week, but the only way to bounce back is to get up and fight. We’ve been planning, we’ve been preparing and we expect an entirely different performance against Doncaster.
“I want the team to represent me. Last weekend it didn’t represent me, tomorrow my expectation is it represents me and I expect the boys to go out there and run and scrap and fight and represent our football club. I expect the football to represent what we’ve been working on this week and we have to concentrate on the bigger picture, and everyone’s perception of the situation. The reality of the situation is that we’re at a 50 percent win rate and we have to keep fighting, keep working forward to try and improve our performances as last week wasn’t good enough.
“I understand the emotions of the games, and this game takes you to highs and lows, but as a manager it’s really important to keep those in check, so I’m learning all the time in this job. I understand that I have to stay as level as I possibly can, but you also have to feel the disappointment when it’s right to, because we’re not robots.
"So when it’s not right you have to understand the disappointment of your supporters, of our supporters, the disappointment of myself as no-one feels the disappointment as deeply as I do, I can guarantee you of that. I take great pride in my job and when it’s not right it hurts, so we have to correct that.”
Although coming in for some real stick at the game and on social media since the final whistle on Saturday, Bloomfield, who is determined to put a team out that Luton fans take real pleasure in watching perform, wasn’t overly concerned about changing what people are thinking of him personally, as he added: “I need to do the job as best I possibly can. My job is not to worry about what people think, people’s opinions are their own, not mine.
"My job is to work the best I possibly can and to win as many points as I possibly can. Everyone’s entitled to their opinions, that’s life, there’s no point me worrying about people’s opinions, my job is to concentrate and be the best I possibly can for this football club. I have a deep desire for our supporters to love their team and love the team that I am putting out for them.
"They will not love that team last Saturday, there is no expectation to, that was not a team that reflects me and not a team that reflects our football club. I don’t give up though, I don’t give in, I keep fighting and I intend to keep doing that. We’ve had a couple of blows in the last two weeks, particularly last Saturday, but we won’t give up, we’ll come back fighting and we expect a different performance tomorrow.”