Hatters v Rams thoughts

[MadAmster]

What a mixed bag that was and it showed up both good and bad in our current team.

1st and 2nd halves chalk and cheese yet again.

1st half. They had obviously done their homework and pressed high when we had possession and played route 1 and/or crosses into the general region of our box at every opportunity. Our penchant for making lovely patterns with our passes, regardless of whether it brought progress or not, gave them ample time to drop back and defend in depth. We were, basically, toothless tigers in the opening 45. Our only shot on target was a complete mis-hit from Rooney that wouldn't have worried an 86 year old granny with a zimmer frame. I was more than happy to go in at 0-0. Defensively? Well, we struggled to clear at times and made life more difficult than it should have been. On the attacking front, the almost total lack of movement ahead of them gave our defence just the 2 choices, namely, play keep ball or hit and hope long balls. When we did, eventually, get into the attacking third, we almost always cut inside into the jam-packed centre of the pitch, thereby making it even easier for them to defend against us. Our own worst enemies in fact. It's time our players realsied that, out of a game lasting 96 minutes, they will, if they are lucky, have the ball at their feet for maybe 2 of those minutes. That means that what you do off the ball is way more important than what you do on the ball.

2nd half. There was more urgency in our play and we started to dominate. They still caused us problems on the break and in a couple of passages of play in which they controlled the game for several minutes. We go 1 up, a deflected Rooney shot. To me that was an o.g. because the original shot was straight at their keeper and he would have had it. They equalise and then go 2-1 up from 2 deadball situations. That should surprise noone as we still have issues in that department. Cracking header from Martin for our equaliser. Poor defending led to their 3rd. Somewhere in between was a great stop with his right foot by Hamer. Lawro mis-hit a great chance that hit the bar via the floor, should have been a simple goal.

Other incidents from the game.

When the defender went through Lawrence in the 1st half, how was that not a penalty?

Their player went down asking for a penalty, obvious dive. Why no card?

Bogle's card. Only his 2nd foul (IMO the first shouldn't have been given anyway). It was only given because it was the 5th or 6th foul on Lua Lua (Knight responsible for most of them). Unlucky.

The "back pass". Why didn't the ref give the foul for the push in Lowe's back? When Lowe played the ball, Hamer was central in his area. He had to move 10 to 12 yards to his left to field the ball. Back pass? Most refs wouldn't have given it. Then the red card..... as soon as Lowe pulled the arm of the ref, I knew it was coming. The ref was right.

Yet again, we had an unsatisfactory ref who, had he made the right decisions as opposed to the wrong ones, could have made winning a much easier prospect.

As it was, the way it panned out, kudos to Luton who, having gone behind, went for it and put us under pressure playing to our weaknesses.

We need to sort out these perennial slow starts. Get at the opposition from the off and, FFS, go down the outside like we did for Martin's goal.

Conclusion: we could, and should, have beaten them. We didn't play the right way to beat them and, surprise, surprise, we lost.

Hamer - probably our MOTM
Bogle - unlucky with the card. Should go down the outside more often
Wisdom - I can't remember huge errors from him but his distribution was not to his usual standard
Clarke - Had a good game but again not up to the levels he ahs shown of late. A couple of unnecessary losses of possession
Lowe - Another who had a good game. A couple of errors but used his speed to get back and make amends. Stupid for the red but, as I wrote earlier, should have had a free kick and, had the ref missed that but got his "back pass" decision right, it wouldn't have kicked off.....
Holmes - another who played OK but not up to recent levels.
Rooney - Scored a deflected goal but seemed to play safe for much of the game. Average
Bird - Another who didn't play as well as he has been
Lawro - No end product. Still can't tackle. Anonymous for a lot of the game ad mis-hit a sitter
Waghorn - "put in a shift" but his 1st touch leaves a lot to be desired. I still don't understand why he doesn't jump for the long, high balls, preferring instead to back into the defender.
Knight - A couple of flashes but yet another who failed to play up to his own standards.

[AdiSalisbury]

When our MoTM concedes 3 goals, that tells a story.

[MadAmster]

When our MoTM concedes 3 goals, that tells a story.

Not at fault for any of them IMO Adi.

First one the ball comes in, ends up just outside the area and slightly wide of the right hand post (from the striker's view). A ruck of players in the way and the shot crept inside the left hand post. Keeper in a direct line between ball and the centre of the goal line.

Second is a header from 6 yards out, their player (6'1" and 91Kg) powers between a 6' and 68Kg player and a 6'9" and 74Kg player.

Both from dead ball situations...... our achilles heel.

Third? We are going for the winner, they break, nice through ball picked up, keeper covering the near post as he should have, cross put in toward far post and Bogle fumbles it in.

[Ramfantastic]

I haven't posted on here for ages but I had to reply to your player ratings.
IMO and others I have spoken too including Shane Nicholson Bogle and Lowe were very poor defensively never stopping any crosses and constantly giving the ball away. Bogle should of easily cleared the ball for there winner.
Wisdom very slow to his man for Luton's first.
Clarke left exposed and consequently ran at due to lack of protection making him look very very slow,
The red was never a red, it was not a push and I have seen far worse contact with the ref with NO action taken.

[MadAmster]

I haven't posted on here for ages but I had to reply to your player ratings.
IMO and others I have spoken too including Shane Nicholson Bogle and Lowe were very poor defensively never stopping any crosses and constantly giving the ball away. Bogle should of easily cleared the ball for there winner.
Wisdom very slow to his man for Luton's first.
Clarke left exposed and consequently ran at due to lack of protection making him look very very slow,
The red was never a red, it was not a push and I have seen far worse contact with the ref with NO action taken.

Look at my comments, I qualified them all with "not up to their usual standard". It's not like I said any of them had a worldy, now, is it?

Their first? Probably wouldn't have stood if there was VAR last night. You say Wiz was slow. He was on his man who turned and pushed him away to get the advantage.

Bogle and Lowe not stopping crosses. They may not have stopped many (any is an exaggeration) but ask yourself why. The point being, they are told to play inside, up to 20 yards from the touchline, in oredr to condense the space in the middle of the pitch. That means that they are not in a position to intercept the pass, tackle the player receiving or even put him under pressure quickly. I remember 2 crosses Lua Lua tried 1st half that Bogle put out for a corner. Lowe gave away at least 2 corners intercepting crosses.

As for Lowe's red card: I never said it was a push. The ref had his arm up telling Hamer to go away, Lowe pulled the ref's arm downwards using force that, as it's the ref, is excessive. Disssent and physical contact with the referee. It's a sending off. I too have seenfar worse contact with a ref and NO action has been taken. The point being, which you seem to miss, that you can't criticise this ref for getting it right just because others got it wrong.

Their 3rd goal, Bogle might have cleared the ball but didn't. Moving sideways he found himself in a position where it was hard to do with either foot and he got his positioning wrong and we all know what that led to. Where I agree with Nicholson is that full backs should stop more crosses, however, until such time that the Manager lets them stay closer to the opposition wide players, taking into account the angle and distance to the player, so that they can intercept/tackle/harry the wide man, they will continue to get criticised for not doing something the Manager's tactics don't allow them to do.

You might say the same about not having a player on each post at corners. A player on the near post from the corner may well have kept the shot out for their equaliser.

As you will now have deduced, it's about opinions and all are valid. We will probably agree to differ but that's OK. In this instance, I agree partially with Bogle and their 3rd goal (might have rather than should have). Disagree with them being at fault not cutting out any crosses as they do cut some out but, I agree, should stop more but don't because of the tactics they are told to adopt. Wisdom was pushed away for their first so blameless IMO. Clarke? Double teamed for the lead up to their 3rd. Ended up being the one to face off the man in possession and then, when the (very good) pass was made, he was also the one who had to chase the reciever. Where were the rest of the defence?

[swaledale]

We were ****e.. simples

[Manofpride]

We were ****e.. simples

Put in a nutshell!

[ramAnag]

Seems to me we were outfought and that isn’t ever acceptable.

It’s a mindset that will have to change to get anything out of reinvigorated Stoke tomorrow night.

[MadAmster]

Toothless 1st half. Bossed em till we got 1 up. Lost the plot until it was 2-1 down. Fought back to equalise only to go down again a minute later.

They replied to our goals within 4 and 1 minutes. Shoulsn't happen to a team that's on it. We weren't.

[macstheman]

In that first half I can only describe the players as 'lost'!! They seemed totally bewildered by what they were trying to do and I am sorry but such a situation, coupled with Rooney's and the teams general lack of pace, leaves us totally vulnerable to any half decent pressure from the opposition. Chuck in the fact that Coco seems to believe that squeezing everything into the middle of the park inevitably only produces these stagnant performances. As MA says any width by the opposition leaves us completely boxed in with half the team immediately taken out of the equation.
Time will tell if it will work in the long term but I don't hold out too many hopes!!