Luton Town (H) Match Thread

[Ellafella]

17 minutes ago, jono said:

This is pure personal opinion, but from what I hear this is the Luton GK’s 4th howler this season. He is a club record signing, Croatia’s goalie and lives in a hotel near Luton airport. 

I have a lot of conspiracy theories going through my mind at the moment, regardless of these, it just doesn’t seem right somehow. Maybe I am just cynical but Thoughts anyone ? 

4th howler?! & they still pick him?! Has Igor had a horse’s head placed in his bed?! ?

[Jimbo Ram]

4 minutes ago, europia said:

Yes it has to be said that in the last 3 games, we played  against poor teams and made them look good. Agree, we are pretty lame in attack. Hope Shinnie gets more games and can consistently play like he did today. That would be a big plus to our average midfield. 

I would have hoped Bielik would have started to dominate more than he has done so far.....

[nottingram]

Is today the day I finally realised that I hate the vast majority of the fans?

Can’t pinpoint the exact moment however.

Might have been the first sarcastic cheer for Roos catching a high ball. Or might have been when there was boos for retaining possession. 

[DazaDunn]

2 hours ago, Marriott Ram99 said:

Overall I thought the performance was very disappointing , particularly in the second half  when we just parked the bus at 2-0 up and did precious little with the ball. I am pleased we won and got a clean sheet for once, but on the balance of play 1-1 would have been fair and we were very lucky to win by 2.  Shinnie was very good as already mentioned and seemed to have a bit of everything, not just tackling ability but also the ability to choose the right pass and play some nice diagonal passes to the wings.  I hope we play Holmes or Waghorn over Jozefoon next game as it is just not working out for him at Derby, other players don't seem to want to give him the ball even when he is open and he often  looks a peripheral and dejected figure.  Martin didn't have a good game but I didn't think he was awful, it will be interesting to see if he starts against Charlton or if Waghorn comes in, would probably be harsh to drop him after his recent games.

Don’t think you can drop Martin. Could clearly see he was knackered today. Needs the international break. Maybe it was a mix of 3 games in 7 days and the illness? Deffo put Waggy or Holmes on the right though!

[Brammie Steve]

Winning by an own goal and a deflected cross?

2-0 3 points I'll take that!

(Some of the old entertainment wouldn't come amiss though.)

[europia]

2 minutes ago, Jimbo Ram said:

I would have hoped Bielik would have started to dominate more than he has done so far.....

Certainly not looking a £10m player so far..... but still early days. I was hoping he might be Cocu's 'Igor' signing. I guess I was being a tad optimistic. 

[jono]

12 minutes ago, KBB said:

What are your theories?

I don’t want to make wild suppositions so I thought i’d do it by ahem, suggestion. 

Howlers happen, the slip that got Martin and Waggy through against Brum... it’s the game and characteristic of athletic sport

but 2 own goal blunders and 2 other oddball happenings in so few matches at our relatively high level just doesn’t seem statistically or  fatalistically probabable. So I wonder if other forces could be at work. 

[KBB]

1 minute ago, jono said:

I don’t want to make wild suppositions so I thought i’d do it by ahem, suggestion. 

Howlers happen, the slip that got Martin and Waggy through against Brum... it’s the game and characteristic of athletic sport

but 2 own goal blunders and 2 other oddball happenings in so few matches at our relatively high level just doesn’t seem statistically or  fatalistically probabable. So I wonder if other forces could be at work. 

Either a Chinese betting syndicate are on him or he is simply just a bit sh!te. 

[rammieib]

16 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

Of course, performances matter. Of course they do.

Have we had a strong, complete performance all season?

Probably not.

Meanwhile, Leeds have thrilled and delighted one and many - played us, Forest, Swansea, and countless other teams off the park - and only have five more points to show for their superior football.

In this league you have to strike a balance.

I think this period for us is all about recovering from a poor pre season and a destabilising and luckless 3-4 months, and simply putting points on the board.

Personally I would imagine today’s version of Derby will be a different proposition in December and in February. Cocu doesn’t even know his best eleven yet. Bilic, Samouchi and Bielsa probably knew theirs in August.

Let’s see us have a spell of 8-10 games with largely the same XI before we get too hung up on performances. No-one is suggesting they have been great.

But if we are going to take the hopeful view, would you rather have performance levels peak in October or for us to improve over the course of the season?

Peak in October.... would have more points on the board then. ?

[Ellafella]

25 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

Of course, performances matter. Of course they do.

Have we had a strong, complete performance all season?

Probably not.

Meanwhile, Leeds have thrilled and delighted one and many - played us, Forest, Swansea, and countless other teams off the park - and only have five more points to show for their superior football.

In this league you have to strike a balance.

I think this period for us is all about recovering from a poor pre season and a destabilising and luckless 3-4 months, and simply putting points on the board.

Personally I would imagine today’s version of Derby will be a different proposition in December and in February. Cocu doesn’t even know his best eleven yet. Bilic, Samouchi and Bielsa probably knew theirs in August.

Let’s see us have a spell of 8-10 games with largely the same XI before we get too hung up on performances. No-one is suggesting they have been great.

But if we are going to take the hopeful view, would you rather have performance levels peak in October or for us to improve over the course of the season?

2 shots on target for a home game which includes a freak goal that was a cross against opposition lower than us in the table. I find that does not auger well when we’re 10 games in. 

[europia]

17 minutes ago, jono said:

I don’t want to make wild suppositions so I thought i’d do it by ahem, suggestion. 

Howlers happen, the slip that got Martin and Waggy through against Brum... it’s the game and characteristic of athletic sport

but 2 own goal blunders and 2 other oddball happenings in so few matches at our relatively high level just doesn’t seem statistically or  fatalistically probabable. So I wonder if other forces could be at work. 

I will take opposition all howlers all day long at the moment. We ain't playing well and need points. 

[kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong]

I was ashamed today at some of our fans (quite a lot of them by the volume) booing Lawrence when his name was read out on the teamsheet.We all know he's done wrong but he's going to be paying the price for that both internally and externally.

His goal and post goal behaviour was I thought,a credit to him and the rest of the crowd quite rightly clapped for some time.

The rest of the game was pretty so so but I'll always take a win.

Shinny was outstanding and is just what we need in midfield.

Pattison ran his socks off and whilst Martin had some good touches which were generally squandered by the almost entirely ineffectual jozefzoon ,he looked knackered...I'm not convinced he is ready for for two games in a week yet....The three week break has come at a good time for him.

We are still very much a work in progress and we are going to need time to gel in this system of cocu's,plus the constant rotation of players will need to eventually settle but that's not entirely cocu's fault.

 

[Jourdan]

6 minutes ago, rammieib said:

Peak in October.... would have more points on the board then. ?

Maybe.

For me, I am taking comfort from the fact that we have been nowhere near our best, nowhere near settled and have still held our own.

Call it a hunch, but I feel there is more to come from this team. Now I am not saying we are going to storm to promotion, but I don’t think 12th is our ceiling either. I definitely think we’ll be in the mix for the top 6 come the spring.

Considering how poor for our standards we have been, the only teams to genuinely outplay us are Leeds and Brentford. We have been competitive against everyone else. There is even an argument for us having as many as eight more points on the board if we had been a little more clinical at key times.

So really for me the alarm bells are not ringing yet. Now if we are 15th in February, I’ll hold my hands up and say you were right to be concerned.

[Jourdan]

8 minutes ago, Ellafella said:

2 shots on target for a home game which includes a freak goal that was a cross against opposition lower than us in the table. I find that does not auger well when we’re 10 games in. 

I guess it depends on perspective.

In the Championship, I think those kind of games will happen frequently throughout the season.

There are going to be peaks, troughs and off colour performances over a 46 game season. They will come after 5 games, 10 games, 20 games, 35 games - it doesn’t matter.

If you want to do well, when you have a game like today, you just have to make sure you are on the right end of them more often than you are not.

Was today any worse than many uninspiring and forgettable games at home under Lampard or Rowett?

 

[DarkFruitsRam7]

https://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/2019/10/cocu-happy-with-victory-and-clean-sheet-against-hatters

After hearing his first couple of interviews when he initially joined the club, I said that Cocu is a very dry man. It was said in a light-hearted way, but I meant it really.

However, after seeing more of him, I’ve come to the conclusion that I was wrong. He might not be as charismatic as Lampard, and he might not crack jokes like Rowett, but he does come to life in a subtle kind of way. His eyes light up quite frequently when he talks about something that he’s passionate about. See the interview above, where he says that he would claim that he shot if he was Lawrence.

I really like the bloke and he’s the perfect replacement for my desperation to see Keogh succeed. Please make substitutions earlier though?

[jono]

Oh lovely 3 points, a clean sheet, at home. Wonderful

In all honesty thought it was a bit of a meh game though. 

Luton ran around a lot, moved the ball quite well and pressed our slothful CB’s. We sat too deep, moved the ball mostly slowly but had enough skill to blunt their knife, mind you the knife was bog standard 18/8 stainless from Aldi rather than precipitation hardened 17/4 surgical steel so i’m not sure that’s a lot to be proud of.

 Clarke, Pato, Shinnie and Bielik get a mention in dispatches, Malone is better than many think, but no one shone brightly. Again too many touches just not good enough. We are not right yet but it’s like a string or two are out of tune. But we mustn’t forget how young players like Clarke and Bielik are. There’s time. Holmes fully fit, Jack to come back (this “groin” thing seems recurring) 

Glad Lawrence got his goal regardless of how it went in. He’s effed up, he knows it, he lost his mum, he’s been stupid beyond reason and he’s going to be punished by the law. I wouldn’t go to watch a public hanging and despise mob mentalities so keep your head together lad, take what’s coming in the next couple of weeks and learn from it. 

Win the next game and we are in the top half, we’ve had a bunch of bad luck and played a lot of the big hitters. It’s the end of the beginning. 

 

 

[SaintRam]

43 minutes ago, Brummie Steve said:

Winning by an own goal and a deflected cross?

2-0 3 points I'll take that!

(Some of the old entertainment wouldn't come amiss though.)

Very doubtful it was intended, but I do not think it was deflected. 

It just moved a lot in the air cos Lawrence drilled it.

 

It's an interesting topic, "did he mean it?" - cos if he meant to cross it, 99 times out of 100 it was a properly bank cross hitting it like that.

[wixman1884]

I know last season has been largely romanticised by some, but I don't think we were looking any more cohesive, especially at this point, and back then we had some world class loanees to rely on too.

We're far from clicking as a team, but I still think a late play off run is a strong possibility when things start to come together.

[MaltRam]

3 points and a clean sheet. Not lost since the Brentford debacle, 5 unbeaten now.

Couple of weeks off. Rest, re-organise, recuperate.

Paterson getting involved, Chrissy Martin back, Shinnie debut, Bogle back, Wayne Rooney in 2 months...reasons to be cheerful.

 

[BramcoteRam84]

This has been an excellent week. 7 points out of 9 is a decent return and much needed. The goals may have been fortuitous (though I think Tom meant the shot, assisted by poor goalkeeping) and it wasn’t a great performance but we did enough to win which was the main thing.

Shinnie, has to play moving forward, just what we’ve missed. Flo Jo can’t have any more chances now - he’s blown it for me, has to be dropped. Martin has easily his worst game since returning but I’d continue with him. Paterson looking an astute signing

we are where we deserve to be right now. We’re a mid table side who can hopefully strengthen midfield in January to help us become playoff contenders.

Unspectacular but a solid victory today.