It was more of a fleeting grin than a wide smile but walking around the pitch, after the game, the gaffer looked a far happier chap.
After the 5-1 defeat, last time out away to Middlesbrough, the boss was under a lot of pressure to turn things around and many thought his time, at the club, may have been up.
But a quick refocus and finally, some rub of the green in what was could only, at best, be called an average match, could well have put the Hatters back on track.
After the game, talking to the The BBC, the boss had this to say about the game:
“It wasn’t perfect – it didn’t have to be – but it was important to show a reaction, show some resilience, some spirit, a bit of quality when we needed it.”
“They are a really difficult team to play against. They are probably the most complex team in the way they play to press. It was difficult, it was challenging.”
No, it wasn’t great but, sometimes, the result is often far better than the performance.
Continuing, Rob spoke about similar situations from the season before last, adding:
“If you think back a couple of years ago, when we got promoted, we had quite a few of those kinds of performances. People putting their bodies on the line. You have to do that to win football matches, it is not always going to be pretty.”
Indeed, it is not and we, as fans, have to accept that.
Finishing, Rob added:
“What is pleasing is that the lads are there fighting, with me and with us, and that is good because it has been quite a challenging couple of weeks, or a challenging quite a long period. But yeah, a nice feeling today.”
Let’s hope that attitude surfaces in midweek when we make the trip to Elland Road to take on a good Leeds United side.
COYH
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A few points I want to make during the week rd stated Chong was our best attacking forward that maybe I don’t agree but that says a lot about the other forwards doesn’t it !!! We all know that Taylor is out the door jan !!! Second point a few weeks ago Alan posted about a seminar he attended and said all physio agreed that the warm up is to long before a game.What happened yesterday bell became the third or fourth player to be injured warming up this season alone why won’t coaches listen to the specialist?. Now yesterday game was always going to be difficult in the conditions but yet again at home we struggled a set piece scored by a defender and our forwards fail to score in open play again.anyone sitting there thinking ok we’re now 16 th in the league that’s only 3pts off the relegation zone so why be happy I saw nothing yesterday that convinced me Edwards can sort things out . Lower mid table is the best I can see and that’s not acceptable to me
Have to agree with Chris and our league position is a much to do with other teams drawing as much as us winning. Nice to see us move up the table but so much still to do. Forwards need a real shake up!
There will be no general improvement because the main issues lie in the squad assembled and not in form. RE is largely at fault for not working within the obvious, limited parameters. At the end of last season, in a single interview he said that we were “in a good position to hold onto our main squad”, that we didn’t really need to bring in players but that we had the funds available if we wished to do so. WRONG, WRONG and WRONG. We predictably lost nine matchday players (if you include Locks), including seven starters. Barkley, Townsend, Kabore, Lokonga, Onyedinma and Berry were obvious, Osho always was problematic in renewing a contract and we were never going to turn down £10m for Ogbene. So by default, we did need to bring in players and, to mitigate the loss of continuity, some of this should have been done in the summer so that they didn’t all miss preseason along with the legacy of injured players. The upshot was a poor preseason, new players who hadn’t been given a change to gel and a manager who hasn’t had a chance to familiarise himself with them. Moreover, with the exception of McGuiness, no significant funds were available; looking at the calibre of those brought in, the packages would be quite modest. During the summer, lots of good players were available for free and for probably modest packages. I’m not saying all of these would come or necessarily fit but McNair, Drameh, O’Hare, Chambers, Willock, Crooks and Godden are examples. Instead, RE has built an injury prone squad: he inherited Bell and Burke, Nakamba is already known, Andersen had become known by summer, Walsh, Holmes, Hashioka and Walters have careers littered with serious unavailability through injury and yet RE constantly talks about Nirvana when we will have a fully fit squad. Mate, it ain’t gonna happen especially with our style of aggressive, athletic press and medical team who must take their practices from Dr Hibbert from The Simpsons.