Luton Town Can Take Heart From Another Home Defeat
Soccer Football - Premier League - Luton Town v Manchester United - Kenilworth Road, Luton, Britain - February 18, 2024 Luton Town's Carlton Morris celebrates scoring their first goal REUTERS/Hannah Mckay NO USE WITH UNAUTHORIZED AUDIO, VIDEO, DATA, FIXTURE LISTS, CLUB/LEAGUE LOGOS OR 'LIVE' SERVICES. ONLINE IN-MATCH USE LIMITED TO 45 IMAGES, NO VIDEO EMULATION. NO USE IN BETTING, GAMES OR SINGLE CLUB/LEAGUE/PLAYER PUBLICATIONS.
Once again it is the morning after the night before and once again we’re contemplating another defeat.
Two consecutive home defeats, in the Premier League, does not auger well for our survival and a win for Everton, against Crystal Palace, tonight could see the Hatters dumped back into the relegation places.
But whereas there was an air of despair after the home defeat by bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United, a week or so ago, the performance the team provided, against Manchester United, on Sunday, was far, far better.
Indeed, if we hadn’t of got of to such a poor start, conceding two goals in the opening six minutes with one coming after just 35 seconds, we could well have beaten the Old Trafford based club.
When Amari’i Bell made an error, letting in Rasmus Hojland to round Thomas Kaminski to net and then the same striker deftly turned in a shot, that was going wide, into the net with his chest, the Hatters could have folded and gone on to suffer a heavy defeat, but our club doesn’t operate that way.
Despite being without our top-scorer, Elijah Adebayo who picked up an injury during the warm-up, the XI selected got at Manchester United and once Carlton Morris bravely reduced the arrears, with a brave header, it was one way traffic for the remainder of the first half.
Manchester United were hanging on and the likes of Harry Maguire and Casimero looked far from the accomplished internationals they are meant to be, indeed, Casimero was lucky to stay on the pitch after a series of rash fouls.
Clearly rattled, Eric ten Hag made two substitutions at half-time taking off the two previously mentioned offenders.
Our visitors came more into the game in the second half with Kaminski, and the defence, performing wonders to prevent the Hatters conceding a third goal with some superb work when faced with one-on-one situations.
The Hatters never gave up and almost forced an injury time equaliser, in stoppage time, when a header from the impressive Ross Barkley clipped the top of the bar, but it wasn’t to be with the Hatters penchant of losing by a single goal, so many times, continuing.
Next up is a midweek trip, on Wednesday, to take on the league leaders Liverpool, it could be a case that things could get worse before they get better but the stoic way we continue to go about our business convinces me we have more than a fair chance of staving of promotion come May.
COYH
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