We edged the first half, possession looked even, but we had more chances. A good move led to a France shot being blocked and when the ball came back in, France headed wide. Luton's keeper made great saves from Brown and France before Barmby had a goal chalked off for offside. Even though we'd been better, Boaz had to make 2 outstanding saves late in the first half, and he made two others from chances that were offside. Second half was more scarce on chances for us, just a lot of half chances, while Boaz made another 3 great saves. Luton got on top and the goal was coming. A good cross that we didn't deal with and Howard smashed home at the far post. Boaz was furious and rightly so.
From back to front. Boaz had a great game. A couple of poor kicks, but overall, outstanding. Coles started well, but was stretchered off with a very serious looking injury. Cort was very poor. He didn't get anywhere near Howard all afternoon and the game passed him by. Delaney was much better, he coped better with Howard and did well against the pacey Feeney. His distribution was better, in most part due to the inclusion of Dawson, who really wanted the ball off him. Dawson did well, had a tough afternoon with Elliott and then Barmby in front of him and doing little to help out. Coles' replacement was Joseph. I have to admit to wanting to cry when he came on, but he did very well.
Midfield was where we lost the game. We weren't a match for them at times. Welsh was in the middle by himself. Green was very poor. Bullied off the ball, and wasteful on it. Welsh did some good things, but was also wasteful at times and runs out of steam. France was the biggest threat, supported well and made himself an option. Elliott, not for the first time, was poor. Rarely involved, picked a couple of wrong options and was anonymous during a short shift up front. He wasn't helped by the fussy ref who gave several decisions against him.
Barmby had another poor game. He just wasn't involved enough. Playing in a gap between midfield and Chris Brown couldn't have helped, you could have walked an army through it. When he was pushed left, he wasn't involved whatsoever. Brown had a good game. He ran, he worked defenders, he won some headers and he made good runs, but he's not a striker. He's not going to score a lot of goals. He needs a partner alongside him - not Barmby. Fagan had nothing to work with when he came on. Our game had died by then. Burgess was wearing lead boots. He needs 10-15 games on loan somewhere.
We are looking very disjointed, and very understrength. When the opposition midfield contains the superb Nicholls, you have to match them. Welsh did his best, but was outrun. Jan Molby made the biggest mistake of his life by not buying Nicholls after that 4-0 defeat at Boothferry a few years ago. Our bench has nothing on it. Our team is struggling. The blame lies with the manager. He had the backing in the summer to be ruthless, cut the deadwood and bring in quality. He chose not to, and we look the poorer for it. Secondly, he left out Woodhouse after a terrific performance on Tuesday. Tinker Taylor has reared his ugly head this week.
While it's too early to panic, there is a problem. People being overly critical will not help, but neither will the usual suspects claiming that we should all shut up and be grateful just to be where we are. That sort of complacency will lead to relegation. We have played two very average sides this week. We have been out-muscled and out-run, and have 0 points, when 2 would have been the absolute minimum required. On the whole, this week's 180 minutes have been unacceptable.
Ratings: Boaz 8, Coles (MJ 7), Daws 7, Cort 5, Delaney 7, France 7, Elliott 5, Green 5, Welsh 6, Barmby 5 (Fagan), Brown 7 (Burgess).