The subject of game management reared its ugly head away to Sunderland, on Saturday.
It is a subject I’ve discussed before on Vital Luton – is-there-any-difference-in-the-terminology – and a tactic I’m not a fan of.
Yes, I can understand why it happens, points are precious in our quest to secure a play-off place and breaking up the lay disrupts the opposition.
But I still believe it doesn’t do us any favours.
Yesterday, Luton Town failed to take all three points on offer, thanks to a dodgy decision, which was the subject of an earlier article today – another-shocking-referee-costs-luton-dearly-at-sunderland – but, even though our hosts, Sunderland, grabbed a point, it appears we did ourselves no favours when it came to game management:
What a sad club , time wasting in 1st half and subs throwing ball so Safc player can’t do at throw in , pathetic
— Joshua Stokes (@stokesy2006) March 18, 2023
Time wasters. Players laughing when they doin it.
— safc (@JLwest40) March 18, 2023
Now those are just two of the many examples I could have used, but I can’t help thinking they have valid points.
Our league position shows we are the better team so, instead of managing the game with dubious actions, would we not have been better of going for that second gaol that would have broken their hearts?
But, and I’ll ask you a question, if it were us chasing the game and Sunderland were deploying the same tactics, how would you feel?
Once again, your views on the subject matter would be greatly appreciated, please feel free to leave your views in the comment facility beneath this article.
COYH’s
Luton Town v Watford?
Luton Town to Win!
Watford to Win!
A Draw!
Previous article by Mad Hatter
Luton – The Legends Series – Paul Futcher
It bugs me whoever does it. I’d have football go the way of rugby and stop the clock in the ground when the ball is out of play for certain things. Didn’t go yesterday but if we were doing it, then it’s bullshit and we should grow up. We can’t moan at others for doing it and have the double standard of accepting it from ourselves.
And as for the pen, it was going to happen again at some point. But our conservatism is what was really going to cost us again at some point. Our inability (maybe even desire in some matches) to push on and get a 2 or 3 goal cushion is a problem sometimes. It seems since WBA at home we’ve decided we must clam up when we take the lead (especially in the second half). You play that way, you’re gonna get burnt sometimes. You either accept it graciously, or change the way you play.
But no major dramas. A point is better than nothing and we’re still having a good season.
Totally agree Jim
I agree. If RE wanted to improve our standing with other teams he should stop his players from continuing this. It’s embarrassing, the players should be told to get on with the game. The officials could help by adding the real amount of added time.
Yup agree 100% , I watched the game live on I follow and was amazed when Cauley “diverted “ the ball away ! I guess it’s a tactic used d by most away teams when their winning and maybe going for the second goal would have been a better tactic but I thought we were fairly ineffective up front yesterday and by not holding the ball up gave our midfield a pretty tough ride 😔 as for the pen I think the ref had a pretty good game up till that point and I can only assume his assistant stepped in which to be honest is about time as to so many games I’ve seen they’ve been soo lame !! Anyway as the interview said if you’d have been offered 7 points from the last 3 games you’d have 100% taken it bearing in mind we’ve got a banker coming up against the “ noisy neighbours!!” COYH🎩🎩🎩
everybody likes to waste time with niggly ,and petty things, but it will always be part of this game. the players and fans enjoy it when the opposition are getting wound up, its just gamesmanship. saying that, it sure looks better when they pass the ball about to waste time, and suck there players out of defence. COYH
I have been annoyed at our tactics for sometime now we are better than this kicking the ball away and silly things that has creeper into our game , I understand it when it’s a few minutes to go just to finish the game off but not in the first half . Elijah was booked Wednesday night for silly play when in front of a free kick if I was the manager I would fine any player getting booked for something like that time wasting . RE get it sorted out and play the game right . Coyh
Hi, everyone does it. It’s annoying, but think about the is one man on the pitch who can change it. All down to the refs to manage the game, which surprise surprise, is what they are there for. Stamp it out earlier by booking players and it stops. Not really difficult, is it ?????
I thought the problem had been cracked at the World Cup with 14 minutes of stoppage time, but apparently no, we’ve reverted to type.
As a SAFC fan, totally agree. Once you had the 1st goal, and before we went 3 at the back, Luton had a great chance to cement the victory, SAFC were rocked by the goal, but instead of playing g football, the whole team started playing at Shithousery. This then became worse once the Subs were made, with outrageous time wasting, taking the pee out of the ref, this lead to your comeuppance.
You are right but you have issues too. Adebayo gets deliberately fouled and could have gone down and it’s a red card but stays on his feet so no action taken by the referee. Your lad in the penalty area is not fouled and doesn’t need to ‘fall’ but blatantly dives and gets a penalty. Neither team comes out of the sportsmanship competition very well.
If you think that Luton’s game management (otherwise known as timewasting, shithousery etc) was bad (and it was) just observe Paul Ince’s Reading team who were at it from the first minute at the SoL last month.
After Eli not cheating last week for the penalty and the fact that every club does this why would a Luton fan criticise us for doing it? Another poor piece after the racist piece done recently defending the BBC over Gary Lineker. Time to stop ridiculous commentary and get back to the great work you used to do.
My point is I’m unhappy with all teams that employ these game management tactics, as a spectator we’re getting deprived of the action we pay for, the officials should be stronger, it was a breath of fresh air watching the World Cup and seeing teams punished for game management / time wasting via the introduction of lengthy stoppage time periods. As for defending the BBC over Gary Lineker, you really have grasped the wrong end of the stick, it wouldn’t bother me one bit if they scrapped the whole MOTD slot altogether, it is out-dated and full of punditry we can well do without. Apart from that, thanks for the praise relating to previous articles.
Match of the day was brilliant last Saturday. Highlights & goals….end of ….
Under NJ we would have lost not drawn, due to a lack of game management and tactical nous.
It’s these little aspects of the game that gain points and save points.