Preston boss urges officials to pay close attention to the theatrics of new Luton winger
Heckingbottom feels Jones goes down at every opportunity
Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom has urged the officials to keep an eye on Hatters winger Isaiah Jones when the two teams meet at Kenilworth Road this afternoon, after declaring the new Luton signing has, in his opinion, a tendency to go to ground too easily in advanced areas.
The 25-year-old moved to the Hatters on a permanent basis from Middlesbrough last week, as he made his immediate debut for Town during their FA Cup 2-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest. With new Luton boss Matt Bloomfield declaring the Guyana international, signed before he took over, was a ‘proper player’ and someone he couldn’t wait to work with on a regular basis, then it’s more than likely he will be a part of the former Wycombe chief’s first starting XI today.
Asked about going up the former Boro player, speaking to the Lancashire Post, Heckingbottom said: “The refs need to be aware of him going down at every opportunity as well, in and around the box. That's not changed from when I saw him the other day at Forest. But yeah, it shows the squad that they have got and their ability to go and get some top talent out of the Championship.
"He's been really effective for Middlesbrough in the past. Really direct; can be a problem in the final third. He sort of lost his place or lost a lot of game time at Boro since Michael's (Carrick) gone in there. I think he'll be delighted with the move and Luton have got a good player.”
With the Hatters relegated from the Premier League last season, most inside and outside the club expected the club to challenge to go straight back up this term. It hasn’t happened at all though, Town going into this afternoon’s contest sitting fifth bottom in the table, just two points above the drop zone, as Heckingbottom admitted he was one of those who anticipated more, saying: “They were one of my favourites to go up, definitely.
“I expected them to be up there. Sometimes it's strange; you can't quite put your finger on it. I think the form at the start of the season, even though the results weren't great, the way they played was actually very good. I think statistically they probably stacked up pretty well as well. But then lack of confidence, you start making changes to try and chase a result.
“All of a sudden you can get lost and it becomes harder and harder. That seems to be what's happened with Luton. But squad-wise, personnel-wise, they've got a lot of players that people were speaking really well about in the Premier League. We have to prepare for the best version of Luton, the one where the players have had their kick up the backside for getting a manager sacked. Now they've got a new one who they're trying to impress, so we have to prepare for that version.”
The tables are turned ahead of today’s game too as when Luton went to Deepdale back in August, it was Heckingbottom who was taking charge of his first game having replaced Ryan Lowe. It is the same at Kenilworth Road today, with former Wycombe boss Bloomfield now at the helm, after Rob Edwards left by mutual consent last week. Asked if he had watched the Chairboys in order to prepare for the contest, the Lilywhites chief added: “You're preparing to face a team with a new manager, does it make it more difficult? Well, the obvious answer in terms of preparation is yes, because Luton are in a bad run of form in terms of results.
"I’d seen a bit of them (Wycombe). I don't know if that's Matt's style and that's how he wants to play, the shape, I've only really seen them this season. He may want to play that way, but then go into Luton and think ‘this squad suits this way of playing and I’m quite comfortable playing that way as well.’ So I don't know. It is pointless trying to second guess everything. We'll just focus on us.
"The club have made that decision to change manager and they’ve got a new manager in, so the atmosphere at the ground is going to be lifted straight away. In terms of preparation, I don't know what Matt's thinking. He may have his idea on their squad and it's totally different to Rob's. He may want to come and try and implement what he did at Wycombe. So there's two different approaches there straight away. Then it's better to just focus on yourself, so that's what we'll be doing before this weekend.”