Luton Town v Scunthorpe United

[Maple Hatter]

Have only played Scunthorpe a total of 13 times the last of which was at Wembley in the pisspot cup. Fantastic and memorable day though for many reasons.
The Oxford win was just what we needed and should go into this game with increased confidence. According to NJ Hylton and Berry are close to a return and in Hyltons case training fully. I suspect we'll see him start on the bench and come on at some point. Collins who has scored two in two looks to have ended his bad form and will likely start alongisde Lee. Would love to see Sheehan back in the first XI in place of Rea. We've not only missed his defensive qualities but more importantly his set piece play. I also think he can play in the DM role. As for Scunthorpe I know very little about them but their midweek win against Charlton was impressive especialy in view of how impressive Charlton were against us last Saturday.
Expecting a decent game and we have every chance of getting the win.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Think we need to be careful in putting Sheehan in their for Rea for me. This happened with JJ when he came on against Southend in midfield, had a decent game off the bench and everyone called for him to start the next game there. He played against Wycombe there in the next game and was probably our worst player on the day. Like it was for JJ against Southend with them piling forward leaving a lot of space for him, the game was set up to Sheehans strengths in us looking to get balls in the box and fair play to him he did what NJ wanted him to do with some great set pieces. Not sure that necessarily warrants dropping Rea though who has done well in recent weeks.

Be interesting to see what happens with Cornick as that will likely dictate who plays the 10 and the other box to box position. If Hylton isnt fit id be inclined to play him, he is after all getting in good positions still and hopefully he will learn from that. Id love Hylton to be back as with the amount of chances we are creating at the moment I think hed be just what we need.

Scunthorpe seem a funny side, started poorly but had some good results recently, beating Charlton is an impressive result given how good Charlton looked against us. We are pretty good at home so id be pretty hopeful of getting 3 points. 6 points from this week and with big players coming back could make it a real big momentum builder for us.

 

[Bottega Don]

Not massively confident of anything today. Think we will play for a point and I would be very happy with that considering we won on Tuesday.

We are a very odd side. I would say this entire season we've looked the better side in about 2 games yet we're quite close to the play-offs.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Still no Hylton who isn’t even on the bench. Had sort of hoped we might see him on the bench this afternoon after some fairly positive comments about it in the week.

Grant back in over Shinnie which is the correct call for me as Shinnie was pretty poor in the mid week game and i personally feel is a better player.

I see Colclough is playing for Scunthorpe who we were rumoured to be in for at one point so be interesting to see what he is like.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Very enjoyable and entertaining game. Started well with Cornicks goal, not normally the type of goal we seem to score with the ball over the top and he did ever so well to catch up to his not great touch and slide it past the keeper. Equaliser gave Scunthorpe some impetus and the 2nd came a little against the run of play I thought but a lovely strike from Lee, hope his injury isn’t a serious one.

2nd half I thought we began to look a little leggy and Scunthorpe had the better of the initial stages of it but we got a second wind from somewhere and deserved to make it 3-1 with a lovely move. Can’t believe how fit Jack Stacey is to keep hurtling up and down the wing like that all game and he kept his head to pick out JJ. Could have been more but bit wasteful from Cornick, who was excellent throughout but looked a bit tired toward the end.

The Scunthorpe goal right at the end made it a little nervy but not majorly so in hindsight.

Pearson was immense in that second half batting away pretty much everything that came his way, Cornick excellent again too.
On the whole a really great week for us and with Hylton and Berry hopefully on their way back in the not too distant future things are looking good for us at the moment.

 

[BelizeHatter]

Yet again made hard work of a game. Scunny we're a handful at times and knocked it around well. Put the game to bed it seemed and still let them back in

 

[Bottega Don]

Expected result really, thought this would be a hard one to win.

Need January to hurry up so we can bring in some proper defenders, we are just atrocious defensively.

 

[Bosox]

James Justin is too good to be left on the bench. Simple as that. He's so versatile as well that there's no excuse for not finding a place for him. Play him in midfield, play him at left back, I don't care, he just has to start games now.

 

[Maple Hatter]

Good game of football and a deserved outcome. First half we looked good going forward and should have been well ahead but for the usual poor finishing. Lee's strike to put us ahead was extremely well taken but when he went off it seemed to unsettle us. Scunthorpe started to move the ball around well while we struggled. A disallowed goal woke us up and we then started to put the emphasis back on attack. JJ looked every bit the class player he is and I agree with Bosox that he should be given a run. Skillful on the ball, gets into great positions and can score as he proved by getting on the end of a good cross by the ever impressive Stacey. Thought we were gong to run away with it at the end but an injury time goal for Scunny made the last few minutes uncomfortable. I'm getting a little optimistic about our chances this season. Again we've more than matched a decent team and yet we aren't at full strength. Our style of play seems to suit league one. I still think we can improve which bodes well for the rest of the season.
Next Saturday is a very tough fixture away to Barnsley. A long trip, an early kick off and probably less than half the number of away fans we would take otherwise. Has all the ingredients for a defeat. We are due a bad performance and this could well be it. Hope I'm wrong of course.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Whilst I agree that JJ is a fantastic young player and I’d like to see more of him I don’t think shoe horning him into playing midfield is necessarily the way to go. If we are going to play on the counter, like we we were doing when he came into his own today and indeed when he played so well against Southend, then yes get JJ in midfield as that’s what he is best at. If it’s not going to be that sort of game then he isn’t going to thrive doing that.

We are lucky we have 3 really good full backs so he isn’t getting consistent games at “his” position as Stacey and Potts are also excellent.

I could see him playing there next week against Barnsley though, seems like it might a counter attack type game from us perhaps.

 

[Maple Hatter]

Whilst I agree that JJ is a fantastic young player and I’d like to see more of him I don’t think shoe horning him into playing midfield is necessarily the way to go. If we are going to play on the counter, like we we were doing when he came into his own today and indeed when he played so well against Southend, then yes get JJ in midfield as that’s what he is best at. If it’s not going to be that sort of game then he isn’t going to thrive doing that.

We are lucky we have 3 really good full backs so he isn’t getting consistent games at “his” position as Stacey and Potts are also excellent.

I could see him playing there next week against Barnsley though, seems like it might a counter attack type game from us perhaps.

JJ is a fantastic prospect who has already attracted interest from other clubs. In addition he is a product of our youth set up. It's important for the club that players come through and establish themselves in the first team in order to send the right signals to youngsters who wish to learn their trade with us. For JJ to develop and realise his potential he needs more game time. Coming off the bench for short periods or slung in for a game due to an injury and being expected to perform to keep his place isn't enough for me. JJ is a versatile player who can play in a number of positions. I think its worth the gamble in a season where the fans have no real expectations. Afterall NJ has taken that gamble on Pelly and what a season he is having. If we don't give JJ the opportunity I'm afraid he'll either be off somewhere else or just become an average squad player.

 

[BelizeHatter]

But at who's expense. Everyone else is better than him in their position.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

JJ is a fantastic prospect who has already attracted interest from other clubs. In addition he is a product of our youth set up. It's important for the club that players come through and establish themselves in the first team in order to send the right signals to youngsters who wish to learn their trade with us. For JJ to develop and realise his potential he needs more game time. Coming off the bench for short periods or slung in for a game due to an injury and being expected to perform to keep his place isn't enough for me. JJ is a versatile player who can play in a number of positions. I think its worth the gamble in a season where the fans have no real expectations. Afterall NJ has taken that gamble on Pelly and what a season he is having. If we don't give JJ the opportunity I'm afraid he'll either be off somewhere else or just become an average squad player.

To be clear I’m not saying he is bad player, or was poor yesterday or anything like that, far from it. My point is that just getting him in the side in whatever position is not a good thing for him or us. With the exception of being home grown, everything you’ve said is equally applicable to Stacey/Potts who both are ahead of him at his position.

In particular getting him in midfields as was suggested is, in my view not a smart move as a) it’s not his long term position and b) unless we want to play on the break (which we will only be plan A under Jones in specific circumstances) he doesn’t suit it, leading to a potential c) whereby he loses confidence and regresses as a player.

It’s interesting you mention Pelly as the shunting of his position around from centre half, right wing, holding midfield, he may have played right back himself once or twice if I recall, probably contributed to him never being settled and taking extra years to develop

In hindsight I guess we wouldn’t have signed a player of the calibre of Stacey when we did and allowed him to make the right back spot his own but we are where we are at this point. I don’t think Stacey is going to be around for too much longer given he was close to leaving in the summer, so I think his time is coming and building confidence with good performances when he does get opportunities is a good thing.