Manager Graham Alexander was disappointed after the 2-1 defeat at Luton Town in United’s final friendly of pre-season.
Speaking to iFollow Iron after the game, the boss said there were a number of aspects that need improving on ahead of the League One season opener against AFC Wimbledon next week.
ON THE PERFORMANCE…
GA: We weren’t good enough. I don’t think we approached the game with the right mentality, looking at the actual start of the game, and the things we’ve been working on in training and so forth. It was almost as if we’d thrown it together and just decided to play how we want. It’s something we need to address. We got a goal from what we’ve worked on this week - that’s the first time we did it and we scored. We should have grown in confidence and controlled more of the game, but we gave a poor penalty away. I knew Luton would cause us problems, and I’ve said that before the game. I know how they play, and they have lots of movement. We didn’t do the things we’ve been working on, on the ball either. We didn’t offer enough of a threat as a team. We had one or two moments when we should have done better. But overall we didn’t create enough, and we have to be thankful for the saves Matt Gilks made - especially in the second half. We conceded too many opportunities. I’m just disappointed we didn’t come out here and follow on from the performance on Wednesday to really get us going. On the other hand, it proves what we have to do. It proves to the players what we need to do as a team, and how we approach things.
"It proves to the players what we need to do as a team, and how we approach things."
ON MATT GILKS’ SAVES IN THE GAME…
GA: I wish he hadn’t have had as much to do. We played against Sunderland on Wednesday and conceded two chances. Here we conceded several - that’s not right, and that’s no disrespect to Luton because they’re a good team. But you’re not telling me Sunderland aren’t a good team with their attacking threats as well. I was just disappointed we conceded that many opportunities and seemed to be very open. That’s something to address before next week’s game because we can’t play like that next week and expect to win the game.
ON CAMERON BURGESS AND JORDAN CLARKE COMING OFF…
GA: We brought Cameron off at half-time. I think he twisted his ankle a little bit and it was precautionary. He wanted to play on but there was no point. We’ll see how that is. Jordan Clarke took a knock right at the end of the game there, so we’ll assess that later on Monday. Hopefully they’ll be fit as we need them in the squad, because they’ll be big players for us.
ON THE 93 AWAY FANS WHO MADE THE TRIP…
GA: I didn’t really expect that to be honest for a pre-season game, but it was brilliant and they stayed until the end. I wouldn’t say we entertained them much today, so we have to be thankful to them for their loyalty, and hopefully we can give them something more to cheer next week.
ON HIS OVERALL FEELINGS…
GA: I don’t want to get too doom and gloom, but I want to see the right things done all the time. You can’t afford to have an off day. Every game is as important as the others. We expect to see that will and mentality to win. I know when next Saturday kicks off that’s when it really counts, but we won’t sweep this under the carpet, because we can’t afford to. We have to make sure we improve on all the aspects we saw today.
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