v Luton Town (h) - 1/5/23

[joey_big_nose]

GK, defence, midfield all keep their places after an excellent performance against Burnley. Hedges, Dolan, Szmodics as well. BBDs last game at Ewood, sad to drop him. But hes the one to make way for Leonard. We aren't scoring so need to change something. 

[TimmyJimmy]

I think team selection is academic for this match. All our guys will give 100%, problem is that that's not good enough.

Hands up all those who have screamed SHOOOT!! this season only to see the moment pass and fizzel out to nothingness.

That for me is the only problem of late, it's not player selection, it's not effort, it's a consequence of having no striker and the others being to shit scared of taking a shot.

Shoot on sight in these last two matches and we'll score a few, wimp around again on the edge of the box and we'll crash and burn and I'll have a stroke screaming at the lily livered no bollocks player responsibile.

Makes sense to put Leonard in, why not he's a "striker" so should at least be prepared to smack one once in a while.

JDT, please, for the love of God, just tell them to shoot on sight, no thinking, no hesitation, just welly the damn thing. No prize if you don't buy a ticket, age old footy advice, JFDI.

[RTM08]

I'm not sure where this idea of Luton being on the beach has come from as they're significantly more potent than we are and just beat Boro. They're one of the form teams in this league! Add to that the fact that we always struggle against them and I just don't see where a resukt comes from - the away fixture was one of the biggest wastes of money I've ever spent.

At the end of the day, we came into the month with 9(?) "cup finals", and literally winning even one would have had destiny in our hands,  but they've bottled it completely (yes, January is partly to blame but winning none of that run of fixtures is still abysmal). We don't create anything and this team doesn't scrap.

Rovers 0-2 Luton

[Mattyblue]

Not sure we have bottled it. We are playing fine, but cannot score goals - we have been shafted by January (again).

Though then I suppose ‘the club’ has bottled it.

[booth]

10 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

GK, defence, midfield all keep their places after an excellent performance against Burnley. Hedges, Dolan, Szmodics as well. BBDs last game at Ewood, sad to drop him. But hes the one to make way for Leonard. We aren't scoring so need to change something. 

Yep, the truth is that when Brereton was out we were beating decent teams and playing good attacking football.

Szmod was clearly frustrated with Brereton against Burnley.

[martonrover]

1 minute ago, Mattyblue said:

Not sure we have bottled it. We are playing fine, but cannot score goals - we have been shafted by January (again).

Though then I suppose ‘the club’ has bottled it.

We don’t even look like scoring goals, creativity is also an issue.

I think the club bottling it, (or perhaps being ambivalent about promotion), is a good way of putting it.

[Mattyblue]

Having players in the box would help…

[lraC]

8 hours ago, sympatheticclaret said:

One of the oddities of English Football history, is that when the agreement to form the Premier League was signed by the 22 Clubs in the then 1st Division on 20th February 1992, it was signed by representatives of two Clubs, who, as yet, have never kicked a ball as a Premier League Club. The two Clubs concerned, Luton and Notts County, were relegated that season, and have never returned to the top flight ... 

As of this season, 50 Clubs have enjoyed at least one " season in the sun " in the Premier League .... I should much prefer it if Luton do not become the 51st ...

That's an interesting statistic and given that both have had spells in the conference, even more so.

[booth]

5 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Having players in the box would help…

People say we aren't creating anything but there's been plenty of crosses been going in over the last five games with no one even attempting to get on the end of them. That's a striker problem, and also why Thomas looks worse than he is.

We do need a decent midfielder but it's been clear for some time that we don't have any players in the squad capable of scoring regularly.

[Danny O.Brien]

Yeah Luton's front two will cause us problems. The rest of the team I'm not so sure about but they are on a great run. At home I'd be hopeful we can beat them. Just need to take our chances and get the crowd on side again. I know it's cliche but the atmosphere (until the goal) the other night was incredible. It had to push the players on. Beat these and go into the lady game of the season with a chance of the play offs and I think we'd all be happy with that.

Team wise I couldn't see much wrong with the way we set up the other night. Diaz although poor in the first half I think played a lot better after the break. He should've gone down for a penalty but i don't blame him for trying to get a shot away. He's a due a goal and although he's been missing for large parts of this season is on his day still our best forward. I'd have put kaminski back in by now but I don't think that will happen now. 

[martonrover]

2 minutes ago, booth said:

People say we aren't creating anything but there's been plenty of crosses been going in over the last five games with no one even attempting to get on the end of them. That's a striker problem, and also why Thomas looks worse than he is.

We do need a decent midfielder but it's been clear for some time that we don't have any players in the squad capable of scoring regularly.

A good number of the crosses go straight down the keeper’s throat.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Hoping for a win,expecting a draw...wont be putting us on any weekend Accy that's for sure

Ticket sales looking poor on the online booker.

1-1

13,200

[Mattyblue]

I think a lot of floating fans will have picked Tuesday as their late season game and will unfortunately be giving this a swerve… though two wins and there will be one more Ewood game for them to pick.

[Sweaty Gussets]

Luton have been on a phenomenal run. Their last 10 away matches: W5 D5 L0 G12 GA5

No defeats and only 5 goals conceded in 10 away games.  

I'm sticking my neck out here and saying we might struggle to score 🤔

 

[booth]

15 minutes ago, martonrover said:

A good number of the crosses go straight down the keeper’s throat.

No one ever challenges the keeper, including Gallagher who is usually the biggest bloke on the pitch.

[ben_the_beast]

45 minutes ago, RTM08 said:

I'm not sure where this idea of Luton being on the beach has come from as they're significantly more potent than we are and just beat Boro. They're one of the form teams in this league! Add to that the fact that we always struggle against them and I just don't see where a resukt comes from - the away fixture was one of the biggest wastes of money I've ever spent.

At the end of the day, we came into the month with 9(?) "cup finals", and literally winning even one would have had destiny in our hands,  but they've bottled it completely (yes, January is partly to blame but winning none of that run of fixtures is still abysmal). We don't create anything and this team doesn't scrap.

Rovers 0-2 Luton

I don't think they will be on the beach as such. I'm sure they'll be giving 100%. It makes sense though, that now the automatics are no longer possible, that extra 5% may no longer be there. But I do not think they'll turn up and just roll over.

April has also been a tough month for every team with so many games. I'm hoping they have a couple of players who may have been carrying niggles or are fatigued and subsequently get rested. It would be encouraging to see Morris and Lockyer not in the starting line up.

[BlackburnEnd75]

                 Kaminski

Jrc   Carter.  Hyam.    Pickering

           Travis.  Wharton.

                    Dack

Hedges.      Szmodics.    Brereton

Subs: Pears, Philips, Edun, Brittain, Thomas, Leonard, dolan 

[alcd]

11 hours ago, Groundhog said:

Yeah our set plays are shocking, if we win a free kick in a dangerous position we might as well just give them the ball back, can't remember the last time I felt excitement for a set piece.

Sorba Thomas was supposed to be a set piece king. He clearly isnt.

[Leonard Venkhater]

3 minutes ago, alcd said:

Sorba Thomas was supposed to be a set piece king. He clearly isnt.

Another duff loan imo

[yellowsubmarine]

Even a set piece king will need someone/anyone who can head the ball into the net. We only have Gally.

Felt like Thomas is a wasted opportunity, just like Giles. Giles has 11 assists this season.

[tomphil]

Thomas has been wasted and i think it's clear he isn't in their long term thinking. The other night despite our overall pressure we never really looked like nicking anything until he came on and started putting something in the box without hesitating or over playing.

He does lack in the tracking back dept though it has to be said.

[rigger]

2 hours ago, TimmyJimmy said:

I think team selection is academic for this match. All our guys will give 100%, problem is that that's not good enough.

Hands up all those who have screamed SHOOOT!! this season only to see the moment pass and fizzel out to nothingness.

That for me is the only problem of late, it's not player selection, it's not effort, it's a consequence of having no striker and the others being to shit scared of taking a shot.

Shoot on sight in these last two matches and we'll score a few, wimp around again on the edge of the box and we'll crash and burn and I'll have a stroke screaming at the lily livered no bollocks player responsibile.

Makes sense to put Leonard in, why not he's a "striker" so should at least be prepared to smack one once in a while.

JDT, please, for the love of God, just tell them to shoot on sight, no thinking, no hesitation, just welly the damn thing. No prize if you don't buy a ticket, age old footy advice, JFDI.

The thing that winds me up is, every pre-match the players go through a practice routine of receiving the ball 15 yards or so out, then shooting. During the game they forget all that and pass the ball on. 

[G Somerset Rover]

I've said it before, but if it's 0-0 and we're desperate for a goal (shock horror - we will be), our best bet would be to get Ayala on for set pieces. We're at that stage now if he's fit (lol) IMO, such is the f*ck up in the window which has cost us so dearly.

Edited April 27, 2023 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[JohnD]

14 minutes ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

I've said it before, but if it's 0-0 and we're desperate for a goal (shock horror - we will be), our best bet would be to get Ayala on for set pieces. We're at that stage now if he's fit (lol) IMO, such is the f*ck up in the window which has cost us so dearly.

Yes, without doubt more potential than Gallagher or Brereton.

[Andy]

1 hour ago, BlackburnEnd75 said:

                 Kaminski

Jrc   Carter.  Hyam.    Pickering

           Travis.  Wharton.

                    Dack

Hedges.      Szmodics.    Brereton

Subs: Pears, Philips, Edun, Brittain, Thomas, Leonard, dolan 

I think that’s a team that beats Luton.