2024-25 Championship Match Day Thread

[Super_horns]

Fantastic second half for us.

Excellent play and 3 goals the least we deserved .

 

[SF_]

Mike Marsh has just continued using Lowe's exact tactics and setup. Unsurprisingly getting the same results.

He's left the club now. Hopefully the rest of Lowe's backroom staff follow.

Can't remember the last time we got a result at Swansea.

 

[91SPP]

Mike Marsh has just continued using Lowe's exact tactics and setup. Unsurprisingly getting the same results.

He's left the club now. Hopefully the rest of Lowe's backroom staff follow.

Can't remember the last time we got a result at Swansea.

I’m genuinely intrigued where Preston go from here, because there’s a supporter demand for more expansive football - irregardless of the risk.

Brian Barry-Murphy is the favourite, I’ve just checked and he was the manager of the City u23s who came to Derby in the paint trophy and handed us probably our most demoralising loss in the club’s history. The city team had some unbelievable quality: Rico Lewis, Oscar Bobb, Carlos Borges, etc. it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise, but at the time we were getting dealt by a team’s youth side. They were playing some unbelievable stuff too, maybe he can be a good pick up but a huge gamble.

Dave Challinor might be a good bet, he’s done well at every club he’s been at and already lives in the area.

Preston have quality in the team, but feel like a wrong appointment could lead to a season full of turmoil. It’s a big decision.

 

[SF_]

I’m genuinely intrigued where Preston go from here, because there’s a supporter demand for more expansive football - irregardless of the risk.

Brian Barry-Murphy is the favourite, I’ve just checked and he was the manager of the City u23s who came to Derby in the paint trophy and handed us probably our most demoralising loss in the club’s history. The city team had some unbelievable quality: Rico Lewis, Oscar Bobb, Carlos Borges, etc. it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise, but at the time we were getting dealt by a team’s youth side. They were playing some unbelievable stuff too, maybe he can be a good pick up but a huge gamble.

Dave Challinor might be a good bet, he’s done well at every club he’s been at and already lives in the area.

Preston have quality in the team, but feel like a wrong appointment could lead to a season full of turmoil. It’s a big decision.

I think I'm open to Alex Neil coming back. We were great to watch when he got us to 7th, but he had all of his best players sold and he just lost the will.

David Wagner would be my first choice but not sure if he'd be interested.

I wouldn't be upset with Heckingbottom.

It's not necessarily expansive football we want, just watchable football, what Lowe delivered was the worst I've ever seen supporting this club. We're certainly in no position to bring in some daft, attack or nothing type. That shit would take us down with our defenders.

 

[BarrieOwl]

I think I'm open to Alex Neil coming back. We were great to watch when he got us to 7th, but he had all of his best players sold and he just lost the will.

David Wagner would be my first choice but not sure if he'd be interested.

I wouldn't be upset with Heckingbottom.

It's not necessarily expansive football we want, just watchable football, what Lowe delivered was the worst I've ever seen supporting this club. We're certainly in no position to bring in some daft, attack or nothing type. That shit would take us down with our defenders.

Barry-Murphy played briefly for us, I barely remember how inept he was.

Big week for Preston now and Risdale has to get the appointment right.

 

[SF_]

Barry-Murphy played briefly for us, I barely remember how inept he was.

Big week for Preston now and Risdale has to get the appointment right.

We brought him over from Cork originally, didn't make the grade at this level. League Two and Bury/Rochdale was obviously his level.

Seems a very good coach but he'd be a gamble, wouldn't be totally averse to him though.

 

[masi51]

Had around 80 applicants for the Preston job. Must be a left field candidate. If they do not sort it out soon it will be a long hard winter.

 

[SF_]

Had around 80 applicants for the Preston job. Must be a left field candidate. If they do not sort it out soon it will be a long hard winter.

We need someone in this week, we're rudderless right now.

 

[BarrieOwl]

As good as we were last week we've been equally as awful today.

 

[nelsonpfc]

Thought going up a league we'd get better refs. Both matches so far the refs have been so anti Pompey and totally incompetent. I know we rode our luck at Leeds in the first 15 mins especially, but with VAR Leeds 2nd and 3rd goal disallowed. First one (goal 2) Williams is tracking Gnonto closely then Rutter pulls him to the ground by his arm. Then 3rd Ampadeu goals through the back of Lang. Ref v Luton fair play wouldn't allow Luton to take the piss on slow goal kicks, but books the goalie even though it was the CB who was taking his time, however Luton Goalie took our Lane through on goal and then up ends Ogivile so would have got a straight red anyway I feel. Then decided he's given Pompey some decisions then doesn't give anything else. Shaughnessy blatantly fouled as he's about to tap in after the ball bounced around the area. 2 points is not bad when you considering we have our 1st and 2nd choice forwards out, our best winger out and our 1st and 2nd choice CBs out injured. No 2nd choice LB either. Annoyingly we probably should be sitting pretty on 6 points of the refs hadn't done us over. We still need to be more ruthless and professional in this league which will come.

 

[Kenneth E End]

C'mon Nelson, you're better than that. You know full well that Kaminski weren't trying to timewaste and the referee didn't "do you over" - why would we do such a thing against a promoted side considering we've got the majority of our Premier League squad intact? It is a game that Luton were very much on-top of at the time and the situation killed our own momentum. We didn't exactly "shithouse" our way in the PL. 11 v 11 Luton win that.

I'd put that situation down to disorganisation and stupidity more than anything. The referee clearly warned both of them, but they were equally as stupid to allow him to make such a decision.

Apart from that, I thought the referee was fairly balanced. I was a country mile away from the penalty shout not given, so can't really comment on that.

As for Luton's own performance... clearly better than v Burnley and was good to get a defender back in Bell, albeit lacking in match fitness. We still need a lot more in midfield and there is more fluidity and a lot more quality still to come. It looks like Andersen, Krul, Brown and Burke could be back around the time of the international break, so as I said before, we just need to get through these next two matches and get at least 2-3 in before the end of the month.

 

[jhe10]

"Anti Pompey". Arf.

 

[Don Tonberry]

I don't think the ref was anti-Pompey, he was just shit. Blatant penalty not given on Shaughnessy and Kaminski should have been booked before he actually was for timewasting so he can have no complaints for his dismissal which may well have cost Luton any realistic chance of winning.

I think if we were at full strength we probably win that with Luton down to ten for so long, but I can't complain at two draws (which could easily have been wins) against two of the parachute clubs given how threadbare our squad currently is.

With the right additions I think we'll be fine but I've really enjoyed the two Championship games so far. I like us being underdogs again after 12 years of being favourites for most games.

 

[nelsonpfc]

C'mon Nelson, you're better than that. You know full well that Kaminski weren't trying to timewaste and the referee didn't "do you over" - why would we do such a thing against a promoted side considering we've got the majority of our Premier League squad intact? It is a game that Luton were very much on-top of at the time and the situation killed our own momentum. We didn't exactly "shithouse" our way in the PL. 11 v 11 Luton win that.

I'd put that situation down to disorganisation and stupidity more than anything. The referee clearly warned both of them, but they were equally as stupid to allow him to make such a decision.

Apart from that, I thought the referee was fairly balanced. I was a country mile away from the penalty shout not given, so can't really comment on that.

As for Luton's own performance... clearly better than v Burnley and was good to get a defender back in Bell, albeit lacking in match fitness. We still need a lot more in midfield and there is more fluidity and a lot more quality still to come. It looks like Andersen, Krul, Brown and Burke could be back around the time of the international break, so as I said before, we just need to get through these next two matches and get at least 2-3 in before the end of the month.

Doesn't matter if he was time wasting on purpose. The ref warned him to stop taking ages of the goal kick before that. He's an idiot for doing it within a few mins of that. Regardless he still takes out both Lane and then Ogivile straight after so probably lucky to only get 2 yellows not a straight red for being reckless. If Lane or Ogivile get the ball cleanly they both have a reasonably empty net to put the ball into. We didn't make many chances and Lutons defenders showed our forwards what top level defending is all about. Mengi was imperious especially.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

No issues with the booking for timewasting. I don’t think they were intentionally doing it but the ultimate outcome was they were taking way too long on the goal kicks so fair enough. It looked more like Mengis fault to me as Kaminski tried to wave him off and Mengi ignored it but I totally understand the ref booking Kaminski for it, he’s the one who should be in charge of the situation. Thought Edwards comments on it were pretty naive and unusual for him to comment on anything ref related

Thought the penalty shout was a bit 6 of one and half a dozen the other and the ref didn’t have a great view of it. Looked like the Portsmouth player over balanced as much as anything Walters was doing, who wasn’t even holding him. In the “seen them given” category but not a stonewaller for me

 

[nelsonpfc]

No issues with the booking for timewasting. I don’t think they were intentionally doing it but the ultimate outcome was they were taking way too long on the goal kicks so fair enough. It looked more like Mengis fault to me as Kaminski tried to wave him off and Mengi ignored it but I totally understand the ref booking Kaminski for it, he’s the one who should be in charge of the situation. Thought Edwards comments on it were pretty naive and unusual for him to comment on anything ref related

Thought the penalty shout was a bit 6 of one and half a dozen the other and the ref didn’t have a great view of it. Looked like the Portsmouth player over balanced as much as anything Walters was doing, who wasn’t even holding him. In the “seen them given” category but not a stonewaller for me

Regardless of all that we didn't create anywhere near enough in the match to win it and Luton played 10 v 11 perfectly in the second half

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Regardless of all that we didn't create anywhere near enough in the match to win it and Luton played 10 v 11 perfectly in the second half

Yes can imagine it was frustrating and disappointing having had us go down to 10 to not cash in on that. Thought Mengi in particular showed his class and we were fairly comfortable defensively, a rare thing for us recently

 

[SF_]

Luton at home on Saturday, They seem like they're suffering from a relegation hangover a bit.

No idea how we will set up, the fans want a back 4 but recruitment has been driven towards 3-5-2.

With only 3 or 4 days with the players, I can't see Heckingbottom trying to implement too many new ideas, and I can't see us jumping right into a brand-new system. I never want to see Robbie Brady at wingback again.

I'd like to see something like this:

Woodman
Storey, Lindsay, Hughes
Potts, Whiteman, Thordarson, Okkels
Osmajic, Riis, Frokajer
​

Focus on pressing and countering, playing out from the back is just not an option with those three.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

I think only real question mark (all things being equal and no further signings) for us is defence and whether he puts McGuinness in right away or not. That would shift Walters who has played RCB out of the side but he may wish to play him RWB and drop Ogbene. Dont think he should as Ogbene is a real threat with his pace.

Obviously Shea is going to come in in goal which is a blow as whilst i like him, he is not near the level of Kaminski.

The rest i cant see him moving from although again id like to see us putting an extra body into the midfield rather than having Chong play the kind of betwixt and between position he has so far, which in my view hasnt worked for him or us from a balance perspective.

I actually think we have players better suited to a 433 now but he won't do that at all this season i dont think as youd need to drop one of the strikers which would be very difficult for him.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Relegation hangover… Luton have won one competitive game of football since January!

I feel we may start to get our shooting boots into gear… whilst we’ve only got the one goal so far, we’ve had chances.

Fancy this will be the line up if all goes to plan this week…

GK James Shea
RWB Reu Walters
LWB Alfie Doughty
RCB Teden Mengi
CB Mark McGuinness
LCB Amari’i Bell
CM Shandon Baptiste
CM Jordan Clark
AM Tahith Chong
FW Carlton Morris
FW Elijah Adebayo

Subs: Jameson Horlick, Tom Holmes, Tom Krauss, Liam Walsh, Chieo Ogbene, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Joe Taylor, Cauley Woodrow

Not Used: Andros Townsend, Allan Campbell, Louie Watson, Joe Johnson, Zack Nelson, Aribim Pepple
Suspended: Thomas Kaminski
Injured: Tim Krul, Jacob Brown, Tom Lockyer, Mads Andersen, Marvelous Nakamba, Reece Burke, Daiki Hashioka.

 

[91SPP]

Not our first team, but looks like our u21s beat a strong-ish Preston side who played infront of their new coaching staff and involved most of the fringe players today. I have no idea who played for us, all I know is that Dejaune Brown and Max Bardell scored the goals, but seemed to be a lot of disappointment from the Preston fans based on the strength of the line up.

 

[SF_]

Not our first team, but looks like our u21s beat a strong-ish Preston side who played infront of their new coaching staff and involved most of the fringe players today. I have no idea who played for us, all I know is that Dejaune Brown and Max Bardell scored the goals, but seemed to be a lot of disappointment from the Preston fans based on the strength of the line up.

Disappointment from who? Ha. That's laughable.

We played Osmajic (who missed pre-season), Okkels (the brand new guy), Kesler-Hayden, and young Kian Best who would be considered for first team contention, and I think they were all taken off at half time.

The rest were just youth players/ 1st years and we only have a Cat 3 academy.

 

[91SPP]

Disappointment from who? Ha. That's laughable.

We played Osmajic (who missed pre-season), Okkels (the brand new guy), Kesler-Hayden, and young Kian Best who would be considered for first team contention, and I think they were all taken off at half time.

The rest were just youth players/ 1st years and we only have a Cat 3 academy.

I was just going based on Twitter comments, to be honest. I was surprised really, because I think our u21 side is still pretty undercooked from administration and have largely been the whipping boys for the most part since then as we lost a lot of good academy players during that time, most of the older ones had to cover the first team and then the best of the younger sides were picked off - notably Omari Kellyman who just joined Chelsea for £20m. Most of the efforts have been on rebuilding a younger age group which seems to be in better shape. Our u18s finished last season beating Liverpool 5-1 and started this season beating Liverpool 5-1. I think the hope is that in 2, 3 years time we will be back to square one.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Whisper it quietly, Luton are finally getting some defenders back. They're like buses!

Mads Andersen and Reece Burke are going to travel to Preston today. Marvelous Nakamba will likely get some minutes in the EFL Cup on Tuesday night at Loftus Road. Our new signing Krauss is injured and will be back after the international break.

Burke most recently played in May I think. Nakamba and Andersen I don't think have played since 2023.

Jacob Brown is still sidelined. Tim Krul is also recovering from injury so we'll have our 3rd and 4th choice keepers at our disposal tomorrow.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

McGuiness and Walsh also travelling with the squad, so from looking thin things are easing slightly for the first time since around the end of January.

 

[Tea Towel]

Some suicidal defending last night from the Owls. We will be absolutely fine and I’ve got every faith in Rohl to sort it

Sunderland and Leeds are just better teams unfortunately

 

[SF_]

That Matteo Joseph looks a player and Gnonto, despite being a little nob head, is far too good for this league. Not convinced he'll still be there come deadline day.

Arronson seems to have replaced that Rutter pretty comfortably, despite the Leeds fans crying and claiming the season is over.

Them and Sheff Utd competing for 2nd.

I still think that Meslier is shite though.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

We have played ok but Edwards seems to be turning us into pretty rather than effective in an attacking sense and the 2 man midfield creates big gaps for teams to exploit.

I understand we can’t be stuck in the mud and we need to evolve but the shape is wrong and Ill balance and he really needs to re-think his approach. Most of this squad has been shown to thrive in a certain kind of high energy, physical pressing system that looks to be quite direct and what we did in that half is pretty far from that and is leading to a “nice” but ineffective team

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Ended up having loads of shots and most of the play that second half but nothing really clear cut. Just nowhere near threatening enough, the system needs major re-think but I’m worried Edwards is entrenched in it now. The 2 in midfield and Morris playing this kind of strange hybrid position just doesn’t suit us, it was a “of the moment” thing last season but our needs are different now.

Frustrating as I think you could see all of our current issues with this shape in pre season

Very Luton for us to be the side to break Preston’s poor run with too.

 

[Super_horns]

Good to get the win .

Tough game against a strong physical side.

Cracker by Bayo and Sissoko showing the value of following up a shot ..

Good work by Baah before hand .