Luton town in the big time

[Super_horns]

Really poor performance for such an important game. Never really got going, thought Sheffield United really got it spot on tactically, smothered our midfield and Barkley couldn’t have the influence on the game we need him too.

Having said that we did get in good areas, lost count of how many crosses we had but delivery was so poor.

Classic though isn’t it .

You’d almost rather have lost last week and drawn today.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Another valiant performance in defeat. Bit of a recurring theme in these games against the "top 6", we have been in all of those games at home but not got the points those performances really warranted largely through some individual mistakes.

First goal was a total howler, Bell has been great for us but this season he has made some absolutely horrendous individual errors that have cost us big time. Today of all games keeping it tight for 20 minutes and i really think the panic sets in with Man Utd and everything that goes with that shirt. They showed 0 ability to have control of the game through possession like a lot of the other big sides can, so keeping it tight was crucial and 30 seconds he has shot a massive hole in the entire game plan. Why i really wanted to see a left sided centre half option come in in January.

Fair play to him he bounced back and had a decent game post that error as we showed the usual never say die attitude. Sambi and Barkley are turely a special centre midfield pairing and that helped us steady things and give them a real game.

Dont like commenting on refs but thought Coote was the worst we have seen this season. Hate a ref with totally unearned arrogance and he has it in spades, totally bottled sending off Casemiro, and the game was just encapsulating what you get with the big teams. Nothing major major but every 50/50 goes one way. The 4 minutes injury time was a total and utter embarassment too. Arsenal & Liverpool we have 10+ minutes injury time but in both games we have been chasing for an equaliser against Chelsea and today the injury time is minimal. Not even trying to hide the bias.

 

[Super_horns]

Totally agree .

After the bad start you were well in the game but maybe didn’t create enough?

Agree on Casemiro - and it’s not the first time either .

As ever things like injury time do seem to be a lottery .

 

[oakroader]

it’s only Liverpool next…
Cmon you hatters

 

[oakroader]

Could of been a lot worse than the final score suggests
Could have been a rugby score but for some bad finishing from the scousers and some inspired goalkeeping from kaminski…
Anyhoot…let’s keep our heads up and trust in rob…

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

We’ve got major injury issues piled up now, not sure we have enough fit centre halves to play the usual shape we want too and with Nakamba out long term Lokonga for a few week midfield is looking light too. Adebayo out too who was really growing into a pre jet league striker. Bit worried it’s all going to slip away into a damp squib of an end to the season a little bit, already tough ask with our best players available. I could see another hammering today

You do have to question a little bit the January business, we were in a strong position and didn’t really strengthen and kept players like Potts and Berry taking up a valuable squad place when in reality they aren’t likely to contribute meaningfully. I know it’s hard for us to recruit but in the current situation the hindsight view doesn’t look great

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Same old story for us against the top sides at home. A valiant effort but in defeat. Watkins was so sharp that first half and difficult to contain but the goals were a set piece and another where we’ve been caught switching off.

Thought we were dead and buried as we showed no ability to create anything against their extremely well organised high line but fair play we really gave a strong response in the second half. As always you can’t question the effort as you haven’t been able too for many years now. Got back to 2-2 and deserved it with a dominating display only for us to concede the exact same goal we did against Liverpool to lose the win in that one. Too much time for the cross to come in and Kabore switching off at the back post.

A true gut punch. They all looked gutted at the end. A run of enormous games coming up, but I do worry our style is much more suited to these sort of games than being asked to get something against those around us. Really need some players back too as we had Doughty playing LCB for much of that game.

 

[oakroader]

palace,forest,bournemouth...next 3 games...
i would think,on recent performances,they would be more worried than us...
6 to 9 points should be achievable...
keep the faith...

 

[oakroader]

Jeez… don’t know if my nerves will hold out at this rate…
Alfie didn’t look like he was at the races today
Our defence has got to stop holding onto shirts and opposition body parts before we get VAR’d and punished…
But hey…we’re still in the mix and I hope the pharmacy doesn’t run out of diazepam…

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Just a great group we have. Yeah we might go down (probably will let’s be honest) but what a group of players we have. Every week they go out and fight for it, yes they make mistakes but my god do they put it all on the line for us everytime.

 

[oakroader]

11 games to go…
A possible 33 points…
Europa league qualification a distinct possibility…

 

[oakroader]

https://www.facebook.com/100064487842553/posts/pfbid02MQPiuFz3qvQ4z8zZAt1o2KCbYTMZGMiEi88oWPCw7aMDZu63YeZXodakykY46hqul

 

[Super_horns]

And it was looking so good at HT!

Big game v Forest Saturday.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Coming up with unique and interesting ways to do well but not get points has been the story of the season. Think that really sort of seals it in terms of relegation imo, will be a huge struggle to get off the canvas after that. Proud but ultimately we aren’t good enough, and that’s fine.

 

[djs]

Out injured.

Gabe Osho
Tom Lockyer
Amari'i Bell
Mads Anderson
Joe Johnson
Marvelous Nakamba
Sambi Lokonga
Elijah Adebayo
Jacob Brown
Dan Potts

6/7 of these would be automatic choices, the others would be subs.

Ross Barkley playing with a broken nose
Teden Mengi playing through an injury

Tahitha Chong
Ross Barkley - both went off injured.

Two keepers on the bench
Several youth/academy players on the bench.

Just saying.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Yep it’s been a real killer of the season really. If Sambi is there Wednesday night I think it’s much calmer situation than it turned out to be. Seems after press conference today that no one is really close to returning either and Adebayo may be done for the season. Absolutely disaster as one of the issue we had Wednesday I though was Morris was knackered and couldn’t press from the front consistently and now he’s going to have to go the rest of the way. I’m concerned it’s only a matter of time before he joins that list of injuries.

I think you do have to question the lack of incoming in January especially as at that point Lockyer, Nakamba were already known long term injuries, Andersen had never been quite right all season and just in general we were looking a bit stretched. Very tough for us to recruit at this level though I’ll admit.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Great fight and spirit shown as usual but goodness me we looked knackered. Pretty remarkable that we managed to somehow keep going as most looked dead on their feet for much of the second half.

Great to see Berry score, can’t be many who have scored in all the divisions for the same club. Pelly absolutely outstanding as well, brilliant performance from him really hope his injury isn’t serious.

 

[oakroader]

forest being deducted 4 points...

 

[Super_horns]

forest being deducted 4 points...

Handy but they will probably take if an appeal doesn’t work .

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Losing that 3-0 lead at Bournemouth is going to be really really costly i feel.

As for the deductions itself, its all absolutely ridiculous from all sides. The standards applied to Everton and those applied to Forest appear to be different despite the rule being breached being the same as the Forest panel had no insight into how the Everton judgement was reached. The judgement itself seems to imply that different panels have come to differing conclusions, this is hand waved away as that Forest were co-operative, which should be taken as read not rewarded.

Then Forest themselves releasing a statement trying to justify their incredible excesses as if they are some kind of fighters for justice of newly promoted clubs as its the "only way to compete"

if they appeal it wont be heard until after the final game of the season which is a completely unacceptable state of affairs for everyone.

 

[Super_horns]

Heard that - surely they will have to try and find a way to sort this out beforehand?

Clubs either need to be punished for it or not if they break the rules too.

4 points isn't much of a deterrent really.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Ogbene now added to the injury list with a hamstring issue. Thats now 11 first team players I think out.

Shows the effort I think that has gone into this season from everyone but a massive shame that it feels like the season is going to Peter out a bit because of this

 

[oakroader]

Next 4 games…
Spurs away
Gooners away
Bournemouth home
Man City away
Wake me up when it’s over

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Fear for us really as we could take some hammerings which we have managed to avoid all season but we’ve just ran out of players really. Severely undermanned and playing some top sides. Didn’t even have enough players for training this week so former player Kevin Foley stepped in, and ironically tweaked his hamstring, if you didn’t laugh you’d cry!

I have a faint hope that Edwards is just giving some of the injured some extra rest as we are never likely to take points in the next 2. Could get very very ugly though.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Ugh, what a frustrating season this has been. We’ve been so close on many occasions to taking points and always seem to find a way to lose them in the most heartbreaking ways.

More injuries today with Burke, Doughty, Chong all going off with injuries. Hard enough this anyway, but at the moment we can’t even make tactical changes, it’s just about having 11 bodies out there to finish the game, whilst opponents can bring in multi million pound players to change their game plans.

Oh well such is life, we can be proud as always but just really annoying we’ve been so close to doing something on many occasions

 

[Super_horns]

Very annoying .

Definitely are competitive but not quite enough.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Think we are done now looking at the results tonight, really needed Forest to have a catastrophic run and pray we get some players back but it’s not happening really is it.

Not even able to train properly at the moment with 3 more added to the list (Doughty, Burke and Chong).

Massive shame, it’s all gone wrong since the high of the 4-0 win against Brighton really.

 

[Super_horns]

Actually think you did ok but didn’t look like scoring and Arsenal were probably in 2nd gear .

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Usual story of a spirited performance but one that’s in defeat, never looked like troubling them but at sever under strength we held our own, especially second half. It’s sounds so sentimental, but you can’t be anything but proud of what we’ve done this year

Deserve a bit of luck I feel but it’s a brutal game unfortunately. If we keep Edwards we will have a chance of being pretty competitive in the championship.

 

[Super_horns]

Definitely been much more competitive than expected .

Still could win a couple at home .