Hatters boss felt international break came at the right time for Luton

Luton boss Graeme Jones believes the international break came at just the right time for his Hatters side on this occasion.
Hatters boss Graeme JonesHatters boss Graeme Jones
Hatters boss Graeme Jones

Going into the fortnight off, Town had slumped to a fourth successive defeat, losing 3-0 at Reading, turning in easily their worst display since returning to the Championship.

However, the weekend off gave Jones the chance to do some valuable work on the training ground with his squad, as he said: "I think it came at a good time as we’ve worked, we’ve really, really worked.

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“I think we’ll get adaptation, certainly in the physical area, the technical area, definitely tactically prepared.

“Mentally I think we’re better, so I think the international break came at a good time this time.

“I think the August one came at a bad time (Luton having won two in a row), so we’ve used it, we’ve had a lot of sessions, so I’m expecting to see some development in that.”

Jones believe that his players will be itching to show a truer reflection of their abilities against a Leeds side sitting third in the table and expected to mount a serious promotion push this term under Marcelo Bielsa.

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He continued: “You’ve got no greater stimulation than Leeds coming to Kenilworth Road, and we need to respond.

“Remember, it’s only the Reading game you can throw at us and I’ll accept that, before that you couldn’t really throw a lot at us this season.

“We need to respond to the Reading defeat, but it’s no different if the Reading game came seven days later or 14 days later, we need to respond.

“It’s the first time I’ve been able to say that really, because the boys have been excellent up until that point."

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Town's clash with Leeds kicks off a vital seven days, with Luton then entertaining Charlton on Tuesday night and heading to Brentford next weekend.

However, Jones was purely focused on this afternoon's encounter at Kenilworth Road, adding: "I’m not looking at the other two, I’m just looking at Leeds.

"I’d be a fool if I took my eye off the ball, so I'm just concentrating on Leeds.

“I’ve looked back on numerous games that they’ve played this season and they are a strong outfit, but so are we.

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"We need to believe that, we need to look forward to it and we’ll be ready for the game.

“It's no different than the previous preparation for games, we always give the opponent the respect that they deserve and we have done with Leeds.

"We’re fully aware of their capabilities, their style and pattern of play, but we’ve got our own and got our own ambitions in the game.

"I’m interested to see if we can execute our game-plan and I’m looking forward to the game."