And a wee three to boot.
Some great footie played, they are a very slick machine at the moment.
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A surprising gulf in class tonight given Luton gave a number of EPL teams a game last season. Rothwell motm for me, heās added forward momentum to a midfield which wasnāt always the most aggressive. We move on to the next big game. Rovers ruined our season last time out. Iām happy that weāre the best footballing side in the division, but are we the best āwinnersā? Time will tell. For now ER is a great place to watch football.
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We (Luton) were given (another) lesson last night by a sharper, slicker Leeds team and to say that we were second best doesnāt really say how far second best we were. Yes, we somehow gave a good account of ourselves last season but this season is very different and we sadly donāt even look like being a Championship team which is very disappointing given that the team personnel are pretty much those that were playing last season. One team very much on the up & the other on the way down. Norwich away on Saturday so I expect the Norwich folk on here to have a field day since we donāt appear to be able to stop the rot. What I cannot accept is the lack of fight and the lack of any cohesive game plan - do we press or donāt we press? if we do then what happens the the ball gets played over midfield & defence? Leeds found so much space and exploited it well last night.
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Luton are our bogey team!
Just seen that Lampard has been appointed Coventry manager. What do they expect him to do that Robins didnāt?
The whole thing is crazy. A couple of years back I was hoping weād appoint Robins instead of Smith, heās an excellent manager.
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If only they were our only bogey teamā¦
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I expect Coventry couldnāt believe their luck when we didnāt snap him up at the start of the season.
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Overcoming the malaise due to relegation isnāt the easiest. Luton were a great watch last season for me. Tenacity was key then I thought and that seemed to be missing last night. Hopefully the missing mojo will be found.
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Easy to forget that a competently run club has players who will be on contracts and bonuses which reduced with relegation and, if theyāve not been picked up by a promoted club over the Summer, then they already know that their options are Luon or another club at the same level or lower. Itās not a great motivation to play your best football. Edwardās is a decent man and a good manager but this is a season in which you can almost never perform miracles.
The irony being of course that the players at relegated clubs who are badly run will be on PL salaries and have an incentive to keep them and thus the badly run clubs yo yo whilst the well run ones struggle to hold their own.
Well, the Mighty Whites huffed and puffed their way through proceedings at Ewood Park this afternoon, with little sign of the slick passing attack seen over the last few weeks.
Instead, we reverted to the all too familiar Leeds of old, with misplaced passes, players unable to control the ball, and a general lack of understanding between the players.
Itās the Leeds way, Iām afraid, to do things the hard way.
Oh well.
M.O.T.
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LUFCās Achilles heel exposed again by Eustace whoās now done us 3 times on the bounce (1 with Birmingham & 2 with Rovers). The combination of not having the type of player we need to break down the low block ( a 10 & goal scoring centre mids) + Farkeās inability to out think managerās like Eustace (Saints were the same) does us every time. Essential we score 1st.
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Ten goals in two games so I canāt complain about the lack of entertainment.
Have to admit half way through the second half Iād have accepted a draw against a decent Luton side but then Nunez came on and showed what a gifted player he is. We became less frantic at the back and more threatening up front to end up winning 4-2!
Iāve had my doubts about the large fee we paid for Carnac but three goals in a week suggests heās getting used to championship football quicker than was the case with Sargent.
Our football is not good for my health but is wonderful to watch.
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Swapped Cornwall for Bolton (were I lived & worked 1983/86) for a first time reunion with good friends I made here (prompted by the sudden loss of my wife last year-they rightly said we should do it before itās too late for another of us).
Have not seen them or the area for 39 years and, whilst remembering all of them from then, I canāt recall much of the area.
Therefore spent the afternoon driving around old haunts with the football on the radio & tuned in just as we went 2 - 1 up. Totally unsurprised to hear it was all square immediately after half time & assumed this would be the only blot on my weekend, which was going well to this point. Doubley disappointing after the Plymouth result when I thought a corner may have been turned.
However, allās well that ends well & I am delighted with the result.
I am staying in a Premier Inn that is only 20 years old and was not here when I lived here. Amazingly, it is only a quarter mile from my old house and both are half a mile from Boltonās stadium. Would have liked to have seen a game but, annoyingly, their next home game is Tuesday night and I set off for home Tuesday morningā¦
PS - Actual location of my house is Horwich. Yes, we moved from Norwich to Horwichā¦
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A little more consistency and Middlesbrough FC will be top two come the end of the season. Our attacking players when on song are quite something. Burnley and Leeds next two up - should be interesting.
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I find it endlessly amusing how many people donāt rate Eustace and reduce his tactical acumen to ālow blockā. The bloke is a superb coach and has many strings to his bow. One of which is the simple ability to have players occupy the position they occupy on paper when they donāt have the ball. Theyāre 4231 going forward and 451 when out of possession. Itās easy enough to beat if you donāt match their formation and isolate the wing backs.
Sadly, and this is why I insist Farke is not and never will be a good EPL manager, he firstly refuses to change formation.
Secondly he always picks wing backs who can attack but not defend. If you play 4231 then out of possession you need a solid 5 and your 2 wingers to fall back and defend properly. Are James and Gnonto those men? I think we all know the answer to that.
Bit harsh on Leeds guys - three games in 7 days, only 2 for Blackburn and they were at home and going well.
Itās still an average of 2 points per game over the week. Watching on Sky Sports during the week someone commented that the away win rate this year in the Championship is lower than previous years - in the 30ās percentage range. Wonder what is different this year?
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Surely the only people who donāt rate Eustace are the Birmingham City owners? James and Gnonto do defend. Until Ampadu & Gruev were injured we played 2 out and out defensive mids. We now play 1 of each and neither score goals. Our squad is unbalanced. We donāt have the quality we need at either 9 or 10. Farke plays a particular way - all managerās have their style. Farkeās has made him, I believe, the most successful points per game manager in the Championship ever? Many lufc fans have doubts about his ability to keep us up if he manages to get us up. For now heās in the driving seat and can be left to get on with the job. The scouts need to find him a number 10 really.Beyond that heās an excellent Championship manager.
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I agree that heās an excellent Championship manager. That is his level. Once Parky gets us into the Championship sometime in the next 3 years Farkeās record will fall 
Interesting aside from Norwich. Whilst their fans well and truly rightly fell out with a certain ex Wrexham employee, heās been interestingly vocal on the quiet in recent weeks about the fact that one of his problems there was that Farke had the ear of the owners and used that to explicitly reject players identified to address problems all the fans could see. Iām aware from some of my Leeds living/loving friends that heās already done that once at Leeds when he rejected a well known number 10 in your division who lots of EPL clubs are looking at. Not rejected because he wasnāt good enough/didnāt fit the mould. Rejected because Farke doesnāt want a number 10.
Totally agree re: Eustace. Funny thing about Birmingham is that for all the talk that with their money they ought to go back up, and will, they look increasingly like one of those teams designed only to play football in the Summer months on nice pitches and who are over reliant on one player. They have a good, attractive system with one outstanding midfielder and one outstanding attacker. If either of those are injured or suspended they are screwed.
Iād have thought the ex Wrexham employee would have put things right after Farke was sacked. Instead things deteriorated over the next season.
Iāll need more than hearsay that Farke doesnāt want a 10 before I can accept Farke doesnāt want a 10 especially as heās playing a player of no great ability (in any role) at 10. EPL clubs ālookingā is the usual transfer rumour stuff tbf.
Meanwhile Harrogate Town get the plum tie of the FA Cup 3rd round. And that, I have to say, is what the FA Cup is all about.
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