Back from Luton

[jsslatic]

What a horrible day.

 

Dropped off two mates from uni at Luton station, then took me an hour and a half to find the ground in the most ridiculous and poorly signposted one way system you're ever going to see.

 

Now for the football. Deary me. The keeper tried his best but he's you could tell he was a kid on his pro debut. Even in the warm up he was getting beaten at his near post by Josh Bell time and time again and was screaming at himself. It didn't fill me with confidence and it can't have done much for the defence either.

 

The first half, well that was the worst I've seen all year. Twenty times worse than Hartlepool. They got the ball on the floor and ran rings round us. Hazell just stood there appealing for offside...the first time he was rescued by Macca but the second time he chased after Furlong and lunged in with the stupidest tackle. What was he thinking? Never going to get the ball and he just wrapped his leg around Furlong and it was a definate pen and sending off. Idiot. Why he stood around in disbelief is beyond me.

 

Eardley's distribution was woeful.

 

The midfield...well where was it? Macca and JP missing for the most of the game, Tayls got no service but at least put in a shift. Leon was pretty ineffective.

 

Credit has to go to Deane Smalley though. The only guy in a tangerine shirt who looked hungry. Never gave up, kept hassling and deserved a goal. I wasn't going to clap that rubbish off at FT, but stayed behind to clap Deano off and sing his name. Oh, and also, Thommo...well maybe he's not that bad after all. Decend shift from the sub and I guess he'll get his chance now the idiot is suspended.

 

I'm not a doom and gloomer, if anything I'm normally a 'happy clapper'. What I'm gutted with is that despite saying before Tranmere that if we beat them and Bournemouth then I wouldn't get over excited as the team don't have the consistency, this week I began to really believe we could do it. We still can, but the character isn't there. There's no bottle...we get chances to push on and blow them. Even in the Cup, we get a great shot at the last 16, do the hard bit by beating Everton and don't turn up against Hudders. The only difference between this year's team and last year's team is that at least last year's team got to the top before they bottled it, we've got to 8th.

 

We can still do it, injuries etc, but that was nowhere near good enough. The team needs a bit more steel about them.

 

And to make it worse I stopped off to pick up a curry on the way home, and they'd run out of mango chutney. Just one of them days.

Edited March 15, 2008 by jsslatic

[Butter]

What a horrible day.

 

Dropped off two mates from uni at Luton station, then took me an hour and a half to find the ground in the most ridiculous and poorly signposted one way system you're ever going to see.

 

Now for the football. Deary me. The keeper tried his best but he's you could tell he was a kid on his pro debut. Even in the warm up he was getting beaten at his near post by Josh Bell time and time again and was screaming at himself. It didn't fill me with confidence and it can't have done much for the defence either.

 

The first half, well that was the worst I've seen all year. Twenty times worse than Hartlepool. They got the ball on the floor and ran rings round us. Hazell just stood there appealing for offside...the first time he was rescued by Macca but the second time he chased after Furlong and lunged in with the stupidest tackle. What was he thinking? Never going to get the ball and he just wrapped his leg around Furlong and it was a definate pen and sending off. Idiot. Why he stood around in disbelief is beyond me.

 

Eardley's distribution was woeful.

 

The midfield...well where was it? Macca and JP missing for the most of the game, Tayls got no service but at least put in a shift. Leon was pretty ineffective.

 

Credit has to go to Deane Smalley though. The only guy in a tangerine shirt who looked hungry. Never gave up, kept hassling and deserved a goal. I wasn't going to clap that rubbish off at FT, but stayed behind to clap Deano off and sing his name. Oh, and also, Thommo...well maybe he's not that bad after all. Decend shift from the sub and I guess he'll get his chance now the idiot is suspended.

 

I'm not a doom and gloomer, if anything I'm normally a 'happy clapper'. What I'm gutted with is that despite saying before Tranmere that if we beat them and Bournemouth then I wouldn't get over excited as the team don't have the consistency, this week I began to really believe we could do it. We still can, but the character isn't there. There's no bottle...we get chances to push on and blow them. Even in the Cup, we get a great shot at the last 16, do the hard bit by beating Everton and don't turn up against Hudders. The only difference between this year's team and last year's team is that at least last year's team got to the top before they bottled it, we've got to 8th.

 

We can still do it, injuries etc, but that was nowhere near good enough. The team needs a bit more steel about them.

 

And to make it worse I stopped off to pick up a curry on the way home, and they'd run out of mango chutney. Just one of them days.

 

Eardleys distribution has always been woeful when he hasnt had a natural winger infront of him.

Smalley should have stayed on the right and Wolfenden started upfront instead of Allesandra.

Sounds like Reuben had a mare, to be honest he hasnt had a bad game at the club, so one has been coming!

[jsslatic]

Can't really call it a mare, don't know who was turned for the first goal though? think it was Stam. He made a rash tackle, you could say it cost us the game but it was only a bad tackle, 1-0 down does he go for it and save the goal and risk the penalty? or let Furlong shoot when he no doubt would of scored anyway. What baffled me was he tried holding Furlong off higher up the pitch instead of just tracking back with him. He's been brilliant all season though, so can't criticise.

 

It was Rubes who was turned for the goal. The point with the pen is that he was never going to get the ball, he just wrapped his leg around with the tackle and brought him down.

 

We can criticise, if he'd had a bad game then fair enough but he's made a stupid decision which, whether it cost us the game today or not, is going to cost us in the next three because we've lost our rock at centre back.

[Macca]

Reuben will only be out for a game, it wasn't violent conduct.

[jsslatic]

Reuben will only be out for a game, it wasn't violent conduct.

 

I stand corrected on that point but stand by my argument that he was stupid to lunge in for a) giving away a penalty, reducing us to ten men, and c) getting himself a suspension, albeit one game, when we're already short on numbers.

[Macca]

Yeah I agree with that, I'm sure he was trying to make up for being turned by old-man Furlong which is bad enough! We'll see if Thompson can show us why he has been brought here!

[quark]

Credit has to go to Deane Smalley though. The only guy in a tangerine shirt who looked hungry. Never gave up, kept hassling and deserved a goal.

 

I agree that he was MOM by a distance. If only he had had any support. Constantine was IMO our worst player.

 

Feel that Stam should also be picked out for praise. In the first half shambles, his skilful reading of situations and interventions saved us from even worse.

 

Thompson looked decent, Taylor worked hard but ineffectively, Lomax not bad. Goalie looked raw but could not be blamed for any of the goals. Eardley’s distribution was not good, I agree, but he worked his socks off throughout the match having no midfield cover in front of him. Midfield was the biggest problem even before Jarrett was subbed.

[Diego_Sideburns]

Goalie looked raw but could not be blamed for any of the goals.

 

Ageed - he certainly had a baptism of fire! At half-time as we applauded him encouragingly, he gestured with both hands to the fans to get behind the team, which I though was admirable in the circumstances. In the second half he made three great saves to stop it being a rout. Well played keeper, the scoreline was not your fault!

[Bristolatic]

I know I can't get anywhere near as many games as some, but that was the worst I'd seen since the 5-1 debacle at Brizzle City which heralded BT's departure. In fairness, I would have taken a draw before kick-off yesterday, considering the scratch team we had to put out. But the performance was woeful and it was one of those days where we couldn't have kicked our way out of a wet paper bag. If we're looking at the individual performances out of 10, I reckon as follows:

 

O'Donnell - 7 - No chance with the goals, yells and shouts at his defenders and made 3 brilliant saves.

Eardley - 5 - Looked really out of sorts and his passing was atrocious. Lost his man for the 3rd goal.

Hazell - 5 - Could have been a 7 if he'd stayed on the pitch. Should have been into Furlong earlier and there was only ever going to be one outcome.

Stam - 7 - Had to work hard to compensate for other's mistakes and did a sound job.

Lomax - 6 - Not his best game, but just a bit off the pace.

Kalala - 5 - Never really got into the game, passing was way off and was pretty anonymous.

MacDonald - 5 - Probably one of his worst games for the club. Ineffective, poor passing, didn't drive forward the way he can.

Jarrett - 6 - Pity he had to come off; maybe he could have made a difference, but not that impressive in the time he had.

Smalley - 9 - Our MOM by a country mile. Ran his socks off and never gave up but had no support. Whole hearted performance which deserved a goal. Only a great save stopped him scoring.

Taylor - 7 - Tried hard but was starved of decent service and had to go it alone too often

Constantine - 4 - He couldn't be arsed. Never looked interested, had two shots (1 was powder puff that my grandson could have stopped, the other brought a fantastic save). Other than that, he did precisely nowt.

Wolfenden - Unfair to even consider a score as he only got the ball once as I remember.

Thompson - 7 - Looked solid and tried to pass the ball. Maybe he is now going to show some class as he's sure to play against Millwall.

 

It really was one of those days where we just didn't turn up, but we're not out of the mix yet and, if we do make the play-offs, we could well have a much stronger team if the injuries heal up in time and allow match fitness. If not, we have to be thankful that we've got as far as we have with so many kids thrown in and really build for next season. One or two may not be around then, but we've got some real gems in the likes of Lomax, Smalley, Taylor and Alessandra. So I won't be too despondent if we miss out on the top six, simply because we may not be strong enough to get any further this time around.

 

On top of that, Shez is still learning his trade and he's had the most difficult season imaginable. Yes, he's made mistakes. But I'm sure he'll learn by them and be an even better manager next season. He has to stay; he's done all the groundwork under very difficult circumstances this season after we probably over achieved last term.

 

So let's get behind him and the team for these last few games, give them all the encouragement we can and maybe, just maybe, Luton 2008 will just be a horrible nightmare which will be forgotten when we take part in the play-offs with the likes of Gregan, Hughes, Davies & Liddell back in contention.

 

[boundaryblue80]

I stand corrected on that point but stand by my argument that he was stupid to lunge in for a) giving away a penalty, reducing us to ten men, and c) getting himself a suspension, albeit one game, when we're already short on numbers.

 

Disregard what I was saying...lol.....I'm getting Trotters and Hazell mixed up....oooops....

Edited March 16, 2008 by boundaryblue80

[Bertie_Dugger]

Official Site says it's only a one match ban. As we've passed the deadline for previous bookings I assume that previous red cards are negated too.

No doubt someone will be able to confirm my assumption.

[Diego_Sideburns]

Avid readers of my posts will know that the memorable victories at Leeds and Port Vale this season are down to me intending to go to the games but not making it due to special circumstances.

 

I understand that the last time we won at Luton was in 1981 and I have to confess that I was able to have gone to that game, as I was in Hertfordshire but didnt get to the game. Bill Taylor was the Latics' and England coach at the time and I was staying with my family at the England squad's HQ hotel, where Bill arrived following the Luton game.

 

The next certain victory due to my being prevented from attending, even though I'll be in Oldham, will be against Cheltenham on 26th April. Who knows which other games I'll have to miss this season?

[boundaryblue80]

Official Site says it's only a one match ban. As we've passed the deadline for previous bookings I assume that previous red cards are negated too.

No doubt someone will be able to confirm my assumption.

 

I was getting Trotters and Hazell mixed up...I was right about the rule, but Hazell's only been sent off once. Sorry about that. Lol.