Luton embarrassment

In a game which started reasonably well for the Hatters, an unfortunate penalty kick started the rot and then the wheels most definitely came off!

Mick rang the changes after losing at home to Swindon, but if anything the team looked less organised and less balanced.

Harford is on a hiding to nothing with the way the squad has unbalanced numbers in different departments. To be fair Chris Perry only works as a central defender with a big bloke next to him, and the same applies to Keith Keane. Keano looks solid with a Coyne or a Fojut alongside him but with Perry the lack of height really shows and teams will exploit that.

For long periods Hutchison looked a good stand in, e.g. at Liverpool, but he does not have the fitness or concentration to do it for 90 minutes. As Mick has said that there are too many strikers, perhaps as they are tall and can head a ball, Furlong and Andrew could be tried in central defence now that Sam Parkin is getting back in the fold.

Sol Davis returned to the squad, but naturally looked a yard off the pace after such a long time out, and he looked reuctant to tackle. I’m sure a couple of injury free games will have him looking the part again.

Mick adopted the 4-5-1 formation favoured by Kevin Blackwell, with Talbot playing on the right wing. This seemed a bit strange when he did his best wide play work playing down the left against Jamie Carragher. David Bell took the wide left berth, when he can play as well down the right. Strange indeed.

However, with many of the squad doing product sponsorhips for Zimmer Frames, the rush of games at two a week, was always going to catch them out, and it’s either rest them or lose them through injury.

I’m still trying to get my head round sending Ed Asafu-Adjaye out on loan when he is a Central Defender and we only have one in the first team squad. He made the bench a few times under Blackwell, and yet now there is a vacancy in the team, we farm him out.

It looks as though we are going down whether by our own devices or due to penalties potentially yet to be imposed, so why don’t we get the lad in and see what he can do? It was the making of Curtis Davies and Leon Barnett when they came in under similar circumstances.

It’s always embarrassing to get stuffed 4-0 but I am sure that Mick has since pointed out to the players, that:

1) Perry’s tackle was unnecessary as the ‘Pool player had overhit the ball and was unlikely to reach it, so the penalty issue should never have arisen.

2) We have conceded frequently from free kicks around the box, so why did Mr Perry feel it was necessary to concede another? (Which Thompson thrashed into the net.)

3) A game is never over till the final whistle, and when you are two down, don’t let your heads drop, go to sleep and concede two more.

4) If you hoof it out of defence when all your players are back defending, then there is no one to receive it and it comes straight back at you.

5) If you don’t keep to your basic shape, then you are going to invite pressure at the point where the shape is lost. i.e if full backs overlap and lose the ball then midfielders need to cover for the full backs until they can get back.

These are some of the basics that I’m sure Mick was referring to when he said he wanted them to go back to basics.

I don’t blame Mick Harford, and I don’t agree with the comments that he’s not a manager. Everyone needs experience, and he is sure as hell going to get some over the next three months or so! We don’t know if he is a manager or not until he has had some time to work with the squad he has,unbalanced though it be, and unless he gets the permanent job for next season, with the ability to bring players in, we may never know how good a manager he could be.

Hartlepool were there for the taking early on, but we were just not good enough to do it, and on the 90 minutes, the home side deserved the points, if 4-0 did flatter them somewhat.

Meanwhile, the club have issued a Press Release confirming that no one left the club at the end of the transfer window.

Great! The pressure’s off! All Mick has to do is find a blend that works and motivate the players to give 100%. If they are not good enough when giving 100% then that’s another matter, but some players do not give 100% every time they pull on the shirt and that leads to supporter unrest.

Just don’t imagine that Mick has a magic wand. You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear!