Last night, watching Luton Town take on Millwall, in a Championship fixture, at the New Den, proved to be a disappointing experience.
After losing 2-0, at home, to Stoke City on Saturday, I hoped the Hatters could get back to winning ways.
I was to be disappointed in more ways than one.
Firstly, the defeat kept me wide awake until the early hours of the morning, pondering whether our good start had been a false dawn and that we were, perhaps, on the verge of a slip into a Graeme Jones form-driven scenario.
Secondly, I could not believe how we could have played so bad. The Millwall keeper, Bartosz Bialkowski, could have sat on a deck chair reading a book for all the threat we posed.
Too many passes, especially in the midfield area, went adrift or were played to the wrong person.
The cutting edge that is needed to get results was sadly lacking and, unless we can stave off the ongoing rot, this season could be as equally as tough as last season, despite the plethora of talent Nathan Jones has bought in.
Going behind, just before half-time, is never a good thing and when Martin Cranie headed Matt Smith’s header into his won net it looked, after a poor first-half performance, Luton would struggle to retrieve the situation.
The second half was not much better and perhaps our malaise was perfectly indicated when Mpanzu gave the ball away and looked skywards, in dismay, instead of making an effort to track back, which resulted in Conor Mahoney making it 2-0.
From that moment you just knew the game was up.
After the game, as reported by The BBC, Nathan Jones gave his view on events, remarking:
“I thought we were pretty passive, got out-muscled, we knew we can’t come here and have a fight with Millwall as they’re probably better than you at doing that.
“We need to really be aggressive and to play, to move the ball quickly, but we didn’t any time they pressed us.”
We didn’t, we looked sluggish and inadequate.
Continuing, Nathan further added:
“We’ve had people who are waiting for Covid tests who haven’t been able to train, it’s a whole new world and a minefield.
“We’ve been disrupted heavily in the past four or five days which has coincided with two defeats.
“It’s carnage at times, this is the world we live in in a truncated season. We’re trying to stay safe and do the right things but it’s difficult.”
Yes, it is Nathan, but all the Championship clubs are having to operate under the same rules.
This weekend, Luton Town, who slipped to 9th in the table following the defeat last night, travel to Hillsborough to face a Sheffield Wednesday team who, courtesy of a 12-point deduction, sit at the bottom of the table, can the Hatters get back to winning ways?
Sheffield Wednesday v Luton?
Sheffield Wednesday to Win!
Luton Town to Win!
A Draw!
Previous article by Mad Hatter
Luton – It Is Time For Action As Far As The EFL Clubs Are Concerned
Hi mh, I think we all agree with you on here an OK taking in what nj has said about the disruption. That was still no excuse for the performance of the players as in a previous post I made my feelings known but honestly downright pathetic. So I know that the boy is untested but a new player many in this league won’t have seen. Could Saturday be the time to throw him in along side Lee in front with the two new midfielders an lockyer in defence be the way to go for a one off game. We surely can’t give a worse performance than last night at this time.
any changes made will show that Nathan recognises last night was unacceptable.
Me and the four other people in my WhatsApp group could not believe what we were watching.
So lethargic; our defenders must have thought they were on a Sunday walk in the park, we were out jumped, outpaced and easily pushed off the ball, same as Saturday.
Our approach to the game was awful, summed up by the amount of times we gave the ball away, and people on here saying its early days, need a reality check.
In the Championship you must hit the ground running, or you get left behind.