Hatters quartet could return to face Blades as Bloomfield hints at making changes to his Luton XI
Baptiste is close to being available against Sheffield United
Luton boss Matt Bloomfield revealed he could welcome back a quartet of players to his Town squad for tomorrow’s Championship clash against Sheffield United at Kenilworth Road.
Duo Alfie Doughty and Izzy Jones both missed Wednesday night’s 2-0 defeat at Sunderland as speaking at the Stadium of Light about the pair, Bloomfield had said: “Alf had a tight hamstring over the weekend. He missed training on Monday and he also had a bit of a tight back, so five, six hours on a coach to get him up here and back again when we’ve got another game on Saturday, the risk was too high for us.
“We hope he’ll be fit for the weekend, but Alf’s missed a bit of time and we can’t risk him coming all the way up there with a tight hamstring, on a big pitch, with opposition who are very athletic, so Alf was unfortunately unable to come up here with us. Izzy’s fine, he's dealt with what he needs to deal with, we’ve managed to get him back in training and he’ll be ready to contribute very soon.”
Asked if either could be back to face a Blades side who are looking odds-on for a return to the Premier League this term, or whether any other members of Town’s squad could be called upon, a smiling Bloomfield said: “Possibly, possibly. They’re big players for us a football club, they’ve both done it at this level for a number of years, they’re proven quality and players like that are crucial between now and the end of the season.
"So if they’re available and we can use them for however much of the game, then we’ll try and do so. Creating chances from open play this season hasn’t been as much or as high as what anyone would want it to have been. It wasn’t on Wednesday evening, and if we can have attacking players available, it’s obviously a benefit.
“Amari’i (Bell) might be back as well which is good, we’ve got some good options, we’ve got competition for places. Everyone’s fine (from Wednesday), a couple of knocks and niggles which comes with a quick turnaround, but everyone’s good. We trained well this morning, had a good meeting and are looking forward to the game tomorrow. The recruitment in January was fantastic, these boys have had a couple of bits going on as we’ve discussed, but we’ve trained this morning and we might include one or two tomorrow.”
There was also good news over midfielder Shandon Baptiste, with the summer signing missing for the last two-and-a-half months, not playing since the 4-2 defeat at Norwich City on November 30. Bloomfield continued: “Shandon’s very, very close to being involved which is great, Reece (Burke) not quite so much but not far away. He’s (Baptiste) a big player. He’s a very good footballer and played at a real good level. He’s been back out on the grass, training well, he's got a smile on his face and he’s enthusiastic to be back, so it's nice to have him around.
“He brings both sides of the game, he’s an all-round midfield player. He can handle the ball and also he’s got good physicality about him, good pressing and winning duels. He’s obviously been a miss for the football club in the period of time he’s been out, so it’s another plus for us to have him back. He’s not fully match fit yet, so we have to be careful with him, we don't want him to get injured again but if we can get him back on the pitch it will be great for us.”
With Town having such a short time between fixtures, and a lengthy journey to and from the north east in midweek, then Bloomfield also stated he will alter his XI from the one that started in Wearside, adding: “We need to be fresh, we need to be energetic, we need to be intense in our play and with such a quick turnaround, I think that it’s an ideal opportunity to make a couple of chances and freshen it up a little bit.
“It’s how I've always done it since I've been a manager in busy weeks because intensity on the pitch is crucial, having the legs to play the way you want to go and play is crucial. So inevitably off the back of that there will be a couple of changes and we’ll be looking forward to watching the team tomorrow.”