Written by kirsikka
A mixed bag of a game. We didn’t look terrible going forward in the first half yet looked extremely vulnerable at the back. It could easily have been more than two at half time.
A different game in the second half where we hunted them down and put them under pressure, and their defence cracked. It could easily have been more than two for us.
And then the injury time kicker…
Promotion candidates have to show fight at times, games will go against you for all sorts of reasons. Good to see we showed it in abundance today to get back into the game. Even if it didn’t work out.
Happy for Rogers that he got a goal as it’s been a tough experience for him here so far.
It’s getting tight at the top now. We need to start racking up points to try and build a gap again as Blackburn are motoring.
Lots of food for thought back on the training ground this week to try and resolve those defensive frailties that weren’t there earlier in the season. It looks very shaky right now and the first choice CB pairing is there so…
Postive performances:
Stacey: What a run for the goal that really got us going. More of that kind of action, please.
Christie: Involved in most of the good from AFCB today.
Room to improve:
Solanke: A lone furrow ploughed today. Not sure if it was hard work with no reward or a quieter game but he was pretty much anonymous.
Anthony: Not really involved during his 45 on the pitch.
Runnerrunnerru said…
Just an armchair football fan opinion on an Internet forum, so please don’t feel the need to tell me how upset about it you are.
The management has a fundamental misunderstanding of the footballing style/culture of this team and our relative strength in the league.
As an example, we play one of the best strikers in the league, up top, on his own, while playing 2 very defensively minded midfielders together, which cost a lot of money but are hugely overrated, against a team like Luton.
At the moment we are not far off when Tindall was playing 5 at the back at home to Luton last season and losing.
We are competing in this league playing with the handbrake on and being happy with a point before throwing even that away. Crap. Expect more.
Waz afcb wrote…
I’m sorry but re Stacy. It’s not a lot of good him going on the kind of run he did to get the assist if he’s at the same time going to be such a defensive vulnerability, his positioning for the first goal was abysmal. Yet again a Stacy brain fart costs us a goal. The guy is a liability.
We got back into the game despite the horrific defending and then we did what we always do when trying to manage a game, took our foot off of the gas and let them bombard our penalty area. The momentum was with us yet we are still the ones who end up hanging on for dear life. it’s on Parker.
Anthony should be nowhere near the starting eleven right now, awful again.
We should only persist with this very unique formation if we are actually going to play with two players who are suited as playing as number eights. Lewis Cook is just a waste of space out there at the moment. Either drop him deeper or drop him completely, he’s not even that great in his actual position.
Solanke is so isolated that it’s criminal. What can we expect him to do when we are not supporting him properly?
Our defending is diabolical. All an opposition side has to do against us is start pumping long balls into our back line and the lot of them absolutely sh*t their pants.
Positives for me:
-Christie is better when central. It’s clearly where he should be playing as he only ever tries to come in field anyway and is not really the type of player to take on a full back.
-Travers again was good, with good saves and command of his area. Not at fault for any of the goals.
-Marcondes drifts in and out but crucially he does at least have moments where he provides a goal threat. Definitely more of an out and out number ten though.
-I actually thought Davis had a good game today. The only defender who didn’t look vulnerable and good going forward.
-Lowe did okay when he came on but compared to Anthony all he really had to do was complete a couple of passes to better him.
Final verdict:
As I’ve said before, there are just too many vulnerabilities in this team for us to be promoted automatically. You can take your pick, whether it be; ability to manage a game, defending against teams who play directly, over-reliance on a few individuals, not enough creativity in the number eight positions, the weaknesses are definitely there. – Join the conversation, click here.
Man of the match against LutonMarcondes
StaceyChristie
Davis
Someone else
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Matt Stevenson wrote…
The first was on 13 minutes when Christie met Anthony’s cross-field pass and Shea saved towards his bottom right corner (rated about 1 in 5). That was it for us in the first half. Luton’s first real chance was on 18 mins when Travers saved a Reece Burke header at close range, their next was when the ball ricocheted into Kelly after the Adebayo shot and which gave Luton the lead after 30 minutes. The Hatters’ second goal was a long-range shot that wouldn’t normally go in, rated only 3% and left us 2-0 down at the break. You got the feeling that Campbell only chanced his arm as he had no pass on. It didn’t go in, but on 45 minutes Lerma almost scored a screamer (another 3% chance) which on the tv looked like it was heading in.
We started better in the second half (Lowe replaced Anthony) and Luton didn’t have a shot until the 74th minute at which point it was 2-1. For our goal, Stacey did very well, running back to get the ball then driving down the wing, cutting inside two players and crossing for Marcondes who bravely put his head in to score (47%). Rogers replaced Cook in the 76th minute, and 2 minutes later made it 2-2. It was good play from Lowe, who used Stacey as a decoy and then squared it to Rogers, who smacked it goal bound, and whilst the keeper got a hand to it, he couldn’t stop it (rated 1 in 10). Whilst many AFCB fans were willing us to push on for the winner, that was our last shot of the game, and then with the last kick of the match Naismith chopped inside Lerma, who had dived in to block a possibly powerful shot, before he placed one expertly in Travers’ bottom right corner. Normally with that many defenders in the box, it would have been blocked, so I’m not blaming Lerma. It was rated only 1 in 25.
Even though we didn’t play well, losing to an own goal, and two shots that rarely go in was harsh to take. The one crumb of comfort is that I think we got away with it in the home game, and maybe 2 points from the games were fairest, and we did get 3. It’s little consolation though. – Join the conversation, click here.
