6 draws in the last 8 v 0 draws in the last 24 (Luton v Carlisle)

[shoddycollins]

Just want to get this match thread started and not dwell on what happened last night... we need to be ready to go again.

Luton will be without Steve McNulty after his red card against York, while we have Kyle Dempsey returning from suspension after he was dismissed against Tranmere. I'm almost disappointed that big Steve won't feature because he had such a good game against us on the opening day, but that was against Paynter and Elliott... Wyke and Rigg will prove a very different strike pairing for the Luton defence to handle.

No news on Gillespie, who was injured in the warm up against Shrewbsury, but Hanford had a very good game and it won't be an issue if we have to start with him again. Gary Dicker might be close to contention while Troy Archibald-Henville, who as usual wasn't risked in a midweek game should be back in defence to partner the rejuvenated Sean O'Hanlon.

Potts who is carrying a knock and was ineffectual against Shrewsbury I'd imagine will drop back to the bench to make way for Dempsey, while Brough makes way for Archibald-Henville and Grainger moves back to his familiar wide position. Sweeney who has been on form should expect to continue in the side as the more solid option ahead of Danny Kearns who might be pushing for his position.

Amoo and Asamoah will likely remain as our main options from the bench, having looked bright coming on in the later periods of games when Rigg and Wyke have worn themselves out.

No reason why we can't win this... I'm gonna go for a 2-0 win to Carlisle, with goals coming from Wyke and Dempsey

 

[Judge Dredd]

We've appealed the McNulty red and I think it has a good chance of being a successful appeal judging by the video. Of course you never know with the footballing authorities...

More worrying for us is that Wilkinson will almost certainly miss out with injury after having to go off with a muscle strain for the second consecutive home game last night. He's by miles our best defender and we miss him terribly when he is out - clean sheets in both home games when he went off, two goals conceded in each thereafter tells its own story.

 

[daviejones]

Don't mind if McNulty plays, surely if you stick someone with pace like Asamoah on him he won't be able to do too much? That would make for some very interesting impact subs at about 60 mins when either Amoo or Asamoah come on.

 

[shoddycollins]

Don't mind if McNulty plays, surely if you stick someone with pace like Asamoah on him he won't be able to do too much? That would make for some very interesting impact subs at about 60 mins when either Amoo or Asamoah come on.

I think he'd have a job on his hands with Wyke and Rigg, they might not have pure pace but they do move around a lot, popping up all over the attacking half seemingly at random like quantum particles. Add Amoo and Asamoah to the equation at some point in the game, we have shown some ability to counterattack quickly.

Bazinga

 

[Richard Cranium]

Don't mind if McNulty plays, surely if you stick someone with pace like Asamoah on him he won't be able to do too much? That would make for some very interesting impact subs at about 60 mins when either Amoo or Asamoah come on.

The year we won the Conference we played Matt Green up against McNulty and you could see how frustrated he was getting. McNulty won everything in the air as you'd expect, but that day even when we actually got the ball on the floor and ran at him we had no luck. He is an absolute shithouse. I presume if it's not overturned he will be out of the game at our place?

 

[Judge Dredd]

Don't mind if McNulty plays, surely if you stick someone with pace like Asamoah on him he won't be able to do too much? That would make for some very interesting impact subs at about 60 mins when either Amoo or Asamoah come on.

He's coped fine against pace this season bar the early games, for one reason: we play with two holding mids, one of whom especially is brilliant at protecting the space in front of our centre backs. That in turn allows McNulty to defend deep enough that he rarely gets caught in a situation where he is running back towards his own goal, and thus plays to his strengths which are reading where the ball will end up and making sure he is in the right place at the right time to deal with it.

Unfortunately, said defensive midfielder also got crocked on Tuesday so he's out on Saturday. Basically, our two most important players in terms of defensive shape and stability are now injured, and the third may or may not be suspended. It seems pretty likely that we will have to adapt the way we play somewhat in response, so how this match shapes up is anyone's guess.

 

[Judge Dredd]

I presume if it's not overturned he will be out of the game at our place?

He was sent off for dangerous play/violent conduct I assume (hard to tell with the ref we had last night!), so yeah I would think if it is upheld he'll be out for three games which would include the game at yours.

 

[Kenneth E End]

We have big big problems ahead of this game. Carlisle are playing us at the best possible time.

Positive though is that all three of Lawless, Ruddock-Mpanzu and Guttridge got (as good as) 90 minutes under their belts today, but they won't be up to proper match fitness.

 

[daviejones]

Seems that you're catching us at a pretty bad time as well, as long as last night doesn't throw us off too much. We played as well as we have all season and really deserved a point out of it, so it'll be interesting to see how things go if we play like that again. Two of our best players returning as well in Dempsey and Troy, especially Troy who we definitely miss when his knees feel dodgy. What a weapon that man is.

 

[shoddycollins]

especially Troy who we definitely miss when his knees feel dodgy. What a weapon that man is.

I don't know if it's about his knees feeling particularly dodgy on Tuesday as them always being a bit dodgy and hence he doesn't play more than one game per week.

Maybe pace won't be the way to get by McNulty, but energy could certainly do it, if you can move the ball quickly and unpredictably enough.

 

[Chippy]

I think we could get comfortably beaten - just have a feeling.

I also think we may shut a lot of the idiots up and win 3-0.

Sat firmly on the fence. We need 3 points and a good performance desperately. I expect us to go 4-4-2.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

If it were that simple to put a pacey striker up against McNulty then someone would have done it and had success by now this year.

Bloody pray his red is rescinded as I wouldn't like seeing Franks and Lacey together, they'd get bullied.

I want to see some changes in our shape, it's gone stale in my opinion and we need a freshen up in the way we are setting up. I don't think we will however, I've got a horrible feeling all we are going to do is bring Robinson in to replace Doyle and swap Cullen and Stockley over.

 

[Judge Dredd]

I expect us to go 4-4-2.

I want to see some changes in our shape, it's gone stale in my opinion and we need a freshen up in the way we are setting up. I don't think we will however, I've got a horrible feeling all we are going to do is bring Robinson in to replace Doyle and swap Cullen and Stockley over.

I think we definitely would have gone 4-4-2 had Doyle not been injured. Cullen basically made himself undroppable yesterday while Drury looked like he could do with being taken out of the firing line.

But without the reliability of the Doyle/Smith axis, I suspect Still would be hesitant to go with 2 up top and the two very attacking wingers. It's one thing going super attacking like that when you have two experienced centre mids who can reliably hold the fort on the own, but if we have to drop in an attacking mid like Drury or worse, a youngster like Robinson, it might be a case of too much change too soon.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Still just seems to really like the extra man in midfield which makes me think we wouldn't go 442. Whenever he is asked about it in press conferences he never seems all that keen to me. Plus we haven't played it all year, and he always seems quite hot on making sure players know "the system".

By and large we have used 2 this year so I think if it's 2 up top we go 352 or we stay as is at 4231 with a few changes in personnel which I think is most likely. Hope I'm wrong as, as I said above, I think things need freshening up.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Still just seems to really like the extra man in midfield which makes me think we wouldn't go 442. Whenever he is asked about it in press conferences he never seems all that keen to me. Plus we haven't played it all year, and he always seems quite hot on making sure players know "the system".

By and large we have used 2 this year so I think if it's 2 up top we go 352 or we stay as is at 4231 with a few changes in personnel which I think is most likely. Hope I'm wrong as, as I said above, I think things need freshening up.

To be fair he started last season with an obvious plan to use 4-4-2. Then we were utter dog shit mostly, had our worst start ever to a Conference season etc. Switched to 4-2-3-1, got the best out of our two best players and the rest is history. It's not hard to see why he is loathe to revert back, although at least until Guttridge is fit enough to play I would prefer that we went for it.

 

[shoddycollins]

We played 4-2-3-1 away from home for a short while in an attempt to grind out results and it worked against Morecambe and Wimbledon, and almost worked against Newport... but in our last away game we won playing 4-4-2. Since Rigg and Wyke have formed a hard-working and effective partnership it might be tempting to try it again since they do a lot to break up the game between the opposition defenders and midfielders it's not like having two out and out strikers who leave you short defensively; but then I'm sure the caliber of opposition and the way they play will be factored in, and we might go back to 4-2-3-1.

 

[hellogregory]

It's a disgrace if that red card isn't overturned. But it's the FA so nothing would surprise me.

I wasn't that impressed with mcnulty at BP, he was slow as fuck, but Amoo was absolutely shite that day and didn't feel the need to run. Billy Paynter managed to hit the post that day from about 1 yard out, it was written in the stars that Luton would win that day.

Rigg and Wyke aren't pacey, they are just hard working and won't be intimidated by the bouncer (assuming he gets his red overturned).

 

[hellogregory]

Gillespie being out for the season (probably) is a huge blow, I don't care how many good saves Hanford made on Tuesday, he's not in Gillespie's class.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Sounds like Wilkinson might actually be fit, although very touch and go. It would be huge for us if he was, but at the same time we don't want to rush him back too soon and risk longer term injury.

Our defensive midfield screen is out for at least three weeks though. Doyle as one of our midfield three has been the one constant in our undefeated home run (and general upturn in form after the inconsistent start), so losing him is a pretty big blow.

On the plus side our best (only, really) left back is fit to play after two games out, so that should go some way to rebalancing us defensively.

 

[hellogregory]

Just seen the York red card from the same game. That's an even worse decision than Mcnulty's.

 

[hellogregory]

McNulty appeal rejected.

I don't even think the FA look at the appeals below Premier League level. Waste of time.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Oh dear, if Wilkinson isn't fit then we are in trouble I think.

 

[shoddycollins]

The only thing I can think that they might think it was a definite red, was if the referee felt that he had left his studs up deliberately when bringing his leg back down, certainly it was a ball he had every right to go for, and the York player never in danger of a high boot, he got clattered but it was just McNulty's momentum and the York player knew he was about to get hit.

However that's just speculation. From the replay you can't see whether McNulty's studs touched the York player's leg, or if they were even showing but it's the only thing I can think of.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

I think he definitely caught him on his lower back/arse, but it was just his momentum which he can't do anything about bar not challenging for the ball at all which obviously isn't an option for a centre half. Just a really unfortunate coming together and if McNulty is a step quicker it doesn't happen as he gets there first.

 

[hellogregory]

Well I think any fan/manager/player would feel really hard done by if a player of their club got sent off for that.

 

[Judge Dredd]

I think he definitely caught him on his lower back/arse, but it was just his momentum which he can't do anything about bar not challenging for the ball at all which obviously isn't an option for a centre half. Just a really unfortunate coming together and if McNulty is a step quicker it doesn't happen as he gets there first.

He definitely caught him!
https://twitter.com/braddhalliday/status/565582282267033601

Completely accidentally though by the looks of it, it wasn't even a dangerously high foot. Weird one.

 

[BelizeHatter]

Four game ban too. Oh well just have to get on with it.

 

[Chippy]

I wouldn't be surprised to see us bring somebody in on loan before the weekend, either an anchor man or a centre half

 

[Judge Dredd]

I wouldn't be surprised to see us bring somebody in on loan before the weekend, either an anchor man or a centre half

I'd be a bit surprised. Still ruled it out completely in his interview today and he's usually pretty up front about those kind of things. Wilkinson being 50/50 for fitness on Saturday suggests he will miss at worst one game so it is understandable that Still wants to show faith in the two back up central defenders.

No need to get another centre mid in on loan... yet. Next week

 

[Kenneth E End]

McNulty appeal rejected.

I don't even think the FA look at the appeals below Premier League level. Waste of time.

The referee himself makes the decision to overturn a decision.