City boss Johnson concedes enthusiastic Luton side deserved to beat his Robins team

Bristol City boss Lee Johnson conceded his side got what they deserved when beaten 3-0 at Kenilworth Road on Saturday.
City defender Ashley Williams slides the ball past his own keeper Daniel Bentley for Luton's third on SaturdayCity defender Ashley Williams slides the ball past his own keeper Daniel Bentley for Luton's third on Saturday
City defender Ashley Williams slides the ball past his own keeper Daniel Bentley for Luton's third on Saturday

The visitors went into the game on the back of a 10-game unbeaten run, as they hadn't tasted defeat since the opening day of the campaign.

A win might have seen them rise to the top of the Championship, the the Robins conceded three goals in the second period to leave empty-handed.

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Speaking afterwards, Johnson said: "I thought we got beat because of Luton’s enthusiasm, too many cheap giveaways from our boys in forward areas and a lackadaisical attitude to release your man, release the ball to your man.

“I can count in my head 50 times where we turned the ball over in good areas.

“Against a side that are as energetic and as bright as Luton are, naturally they’ll punish you and they punished us and fully deserved their win today.

“Even in the first half, I thought it was a bit too open, probably for both sides.

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“We had some good chances, Kasey Palmer’s had about six scenarios where a player of his quality, you expect him to execute something.

"So at half time we weren’t particularly happy with our defensive work, but quite happy with the work we had done in attacking areas.

“Second half, I just don’t think we did the basics well enough, just as simple as that really.

“I don’t think we didn’t try, or we got beat up, or we got bullied, I just don’t think we execute enough of our patterns of play and that came down to poor individual quality on the day."

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Although City had six more players away than the Hatters over the international break, Johnson wasn't about to use that an any kind of reason for the display, saying: "I never want to use that as an excuse, but I suppose the the natural anxiety of a coach, I think Luton had three internationals away and we had nine.

"So sometimes you think the cohesion and a lot of travelling and I'm sure it plays a bit of a part.

"But I don't think that played a bit of a part in us losing the game today, I honestly don't."

On the message that he gave to his players after the defeat, Johnson revealed it had a military theme about it, adding: "Bounce back and have a standard that we didn't show today.

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"I went into military talk today, I believe that discipline and standards start with your first action of the day, so I was talking to them, believe it or not, about making their bed in the morning and the standard of making your bed and the discipline, thoughts and actions that follow.

"I don't how many of them actually make their bed or did this morning and I know that seems a little bit deep, but the point is the hardest bit to do is the final bit.

"So whether you've got hold of the ball wriggled and then going to lay if off, that's where the discipline comes in.

"The work that you do on the training ground, the sleep, the nutrition, both in the execution of the final action and the transition, and I though that second half we didn't execute enough and we lost the day in transition to an enthusiastic Luton side."