Heartbroken Odoffin is desperate to put right Luton's 'bad day' at Mansfield
Centre half gutted to let five goals in against the Stags
Luton defender Hakeem Odoffin is relieved he and his team-mates have a chance to put Sunday’s debacle against Mansfield behind them at the earliest possible opportunity when they host Stockport County this evening.
The Hatters were absolutely trounced 5-2 at the One Call Stadium at the weekend, shipping five goals inside an hour courtesy of a terrible defensive performance that was nowhere near the kind of efforts they produced against Chelsea just a few days earlier. Rather than now having to stew on such a display, Town get to go again tonight when entertaining their fellow Hatters at Kenilworth Road, something Odoffin is especially grateful for.
He said: “We don’t really make excuses for performances to be honest, good or bad. It’s a bad day and for me, on behalf of the players, we think about the fans. They’ve travelled this far and it’s just not a performance that we feel is indicative of what we are trying to do this year. It’s definitely not something that they deserve, and as players we can only apologise for that kind of performance, but the beautiful thing about football is that we’ve got another game on Wednesday to put this right in front of them.
"We’re not defined by one performance, it’s a long season and we’ve put in a lot of work. Today’s not gone our way for many different reasons, first and foremost, I feel for the fans, but it’s on us to put it right. All you can do is look forward, get back on the training pitch and be ready, be ready for whenever your name’s called on to put a performance in and to get a result as we know it’s a result-based business.
"The process is what matters, the gaffer has a process, we have a process and one game does not define our process. It’s not easy to go on the kind of run that we’ve gone on in the league, and that’s something we’re proud of, but we’re only as good as the performances we put in each week and the results we’ve had.
"We know today was not good enough and we apologise to the fans as they pay their hard-earned money, they make the trip here and as much as it hurts us, we know it hurts them. They can rest assured that it hurts us. It’s not something we take lightly, but it is something we embrace, being able to put it right, being able to go again and put a result in on Wednesday.”
Although Town were so poor defensively as a team at Mansfield on Sunday, Odoffin took it personally that Luton had to retrieve the ball out of their own net on five occasions against the Stags, having been so tough to break down when facing the superstars of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. He continued: “As a centre back, it’s heartbreaking to concede that many goals and I can’t help but take responsibility for any goal that goes in the back of the net, so it has to mean more to each of us.
"We defend as a unit and it’s stuff we work on. The gaffer drills these kinds of things into us, but it’s on us as players on the pitch to take the responsibility, talk to each other, demand from each other and that has to be from minute one to 90-plus minutes. It shouldn’t be that we start playing at 5-0 down, we know that as players and we take responsibility for that.
"It’s more than individuals, it’s a team. We attack as a team, we defend as a team, we win as a team and we lose as a team. So it’s about being together, about being proactive rather than reactive. Today it didn’t go our way, too many occasions we weren’t dropping on second balls or getting first contacts and that’s what happens in this league.
"We know that and again, I sound like a broken record but it’s on us to put it right. We know it’s a difficult league, but that’s the basics, winning duels, second balls, getting up the pitch and that shift on Thursday, we know we can do it, so there is no excuse at the end of the day, and it’s on us to put it right.
Town boss Jack Wilshere revealed afterwards that he took the unusual step of going through the goals conceded with his players immediately after the game in the dressing room, as Odoffin admitted it led to some frank discussions between the players, adding: “It was passionate. We expect a lot from each other, and it wasn’t up to the standards that we know we hold each other to.
"Again, we don’t define ourselves by one performance we have a process and because it’s not gone our way, that doesn't set a standard for the season. We know the standards we hold each other to and we’re going to put it right."