MATCHWATCH : Luton Town (h) sponsored by Tony Barrass

[CountryRoyal]

Didn’t watch the game but another goal from outside the box. Sure some of them are really well struck but at some point you have to call in to play Rafael’s positioning.

[Nameless]

Didn’t watch the game but another goal from outside the box. Sure some of them are really well struck but at some point you have to call in to play Rafael’s positioning.

Nothing to do with positioning today.

The one’s I’ve seen have been pretty well struck, but he’s saved well struck shots.
He seems to mistime his dives in some way....

[Pepe the Horseman]

Didn’t watch the game but another goal from outside the box. Sure some of them are really well struck but at some point you have to call in to play Rafael’s positioning.

Was another shocker from Rafael, but he's also made some cracking saves recently. Kept us in the game against Norwich. Difficult one. Would you drop João after missing a couple of sitters?

[Nameless]

It would be huge call to drop your experienced keeper for a young rookie on the basis of a relatively small number of individual mistakes (even if some of them might have cost points). It’s not like he has being playing badly generally, or there are any issues between him and his defenders.

[karbota]

Jeez. Awful second half. Rafael again lets a poor one in. Time for change in goal.

Apart from the Rafael clanger it was acceptable enough. Luton were piss poor but didn’t do a lot

So badly need Joao, Puscas or Meite back up top

No we don't!. Surely we can do better with the 8 million we get for Olise. For starters get Shane Long back, Swift will soon be fully fit and Baldock has been a revelation (another assist today). On their day both Joao and Meite are both strong players but far too lazy, also sulky and heads drop when things don't go their way. Time for a change this coming window, got to get some passion and fight back.

[Nameless]

Didn’t watch the game but another goal from outside the box. Sure some of them are really well struck but at some point you have to call in to play Rafael’s positioning.

Was another shocker from Rafael, but he's also made some cracking saves recently. Kept us in the game against Norwich. Difficult one. Would you drop João after missing a couple of sitters?

No, because you expect strikers to miss chances.if a striker gets 3 chances in a game and scores one he’s probably doing his job.
However keepers need to save everything, if He concedes 1 in 3 shots he faces it’s probably not good enough

[Nameless]

Jeez. Awful second half. Rafael again lets a poor one in. Time for change in goal.

Apart from the Rafael clanger it was acceptable enough. Luton were piss poor but didn’t do a lot

So badly need Joao, Puscas or Meite back up top

No we don't!. Surely we can do better with the 8 million we get for Olise. For starters get Shane Long back, Swift will soon be fully fit and Baldock has been a revelation (another assist today). On their day both Joao and Meite are both strong players but far too lazy, also sulky and heads drop when things don't go their way. Time for a change this coming window, got to get some passion and fight back.

Not even a good attempt.
Try harder in the new year....

[Pepe the Horseman]

Didn’t watch the game but another goal from outside the box. Sure some of them are really well struck but at some point you have to call in to play Rafael’s positioning.

Was another shocker from Rafael, but he's also made some cracking saves recently. Kept us in the game against Norwich. Difficult one. Would you drop João after missing a couple of sitters?

No, because you expect strikers to miss chances.if a striker gets 3 chances in a game and scores one he’s probably doing his job.
However keepers need to save everything, if He concedes 1 in 3 shots he faces it’s probably not good enough

Does he though? Genuine question.

[bcubed]

Was another shocker from Rafael, but he's also made some cracking saves recently. Kept us in the game against Norwich. Difficult one. Would you drop João after missing a couple of sitters?

No, because you expect strikers to miss chances.if a striker gets 3 chances in a game and scores one he’s probably doing his job.
However keepers need to save everything, if He concedes 1 in 3 shots he faces it’s probably not good enough

Does he though? Genuine question.

No keeper saves everything

[URZZZZ]

Certainly wasn’t against the decision to drop Olise - gives us a fresher player against a better side on Wednesday and the players we had out there were more than capable today of winning

Liked the balance of the defence better today too than against Brentford, having a right footed player at RB and left footed player at LB is always advantageous IMO

8 - Laurent
7 - Morrison Holmes McIntyre Rinomhota Aluko
6 - Esteves Semedo Swift Baldock
5 - Rafael Ejaria

[Crowbar6753]

Good first half, our fully fit first eleven would have run amock Luton were that poor. Terrible second half, slow tempo and terrible passing, let Luton back in it.

Rafael - 5 Not much to do, kicking was poor as always, and his shot stopping from outside the box is terrible, the mistakes are starting to add up and cost us. Southwood must be wondering what he has to do to get a start.
Morrison/Holmes - 7 Good game from both center backs, looks like this pairing for a while now i guess.
McIntyre - 7 Great goal and a good game overall. Needs to be a bit smarter when challenging near the box, will come with experience.
Esteves - 6 His best game to date and was tidy and strong throughout.
Rinhomota - 7 Better from Rino, looks like the extra fews day break helped.
Laurent - 8 MOM Our best signing for years, wow has this guy got a great engine and never say die attitude.
Aluko - 6 Would have been a 7, but faded in the second half, after a great first half.
Semedo - 6 Only a 6 because he scored, poor passing and just seems to go missing during the game. Took his goal well though.
Ejaria - 5 Our weakest link today, he's either good or bad. Far to slow and negative again today. If we had replacements i would drop him.
Baldock - 6 He deserves a 6 for the assist and for all his running, i'm just not sure wether its him being poor or just the lack of quality service.

Sub Swift - 6 Great to see him back and was starting to grow into the game at the end, he makes the game look easy at times and will be a great asset over the second half of the season if he can stay fit.

Anything like the second half on Wednesday and we are in big trouble.

[Hound]

Certainly wasn’t against the decision to drop Olise - gives us a fresher player against a better side on Wednesday and the players we had out there were more than capable today of winning

Liked the balance of the defence better today too than against Brentford, having a right footed player at RB and left footed player at LB is always advantageous IMO

8 - Laurent
7 - Morrison Holmes McIntyre Rinomhota Aluko
6 - Esteves Semedo Swift Baldock
5 - Rafael Ejaria

Other than pushing Esteves to a 7 I’d go with those. Agree the defence looked well balanced generally

Swift was starting to move into 7 territory towards the end

[Bristol Paul]

Certainly wasn’t against the decision to drop Olise - gives us a fresher player against a better side on Wednesday and the players we had out there were more than capable today of winning

Liked the balance of the defence better today too than against Brentford, having a right footed player at RB and left footed player at LB is always advantageous IMO

8 - Laurent
7 - Morrison Holmes McIntyre Rinomhota Aluko
6 - Esteves Semedo Swift Baldock
5 - Rafael Ejaria

Other than pushing Esteves to a 7 I’d go with those. Agree the defence looked well balanced generally

Swift was starting to move into 7 territory towards the end

Agree with those other than would give Baldock a 7 as I think he runs and harries non stop and forced Luton to go long quite a lot by doing so. Also has some nice touches and tricks, and being played out of position as a sole striker.

Ejaria worries me in that he lacks any product mostly and kills attacks my just being far too slow and turning back onto his right foot always. Compare him with an out and out winger like Mo Barrow when we had him who stretched the game and always attacked at speed. Starting to think Ejaria is more of an impact sub or central midfielder, certainly doesn’t cut it as left sided winger for me.

Cabral just needs dropping, his shop stopping from distance his very poor, and other teams must now be targeting a shoot on sight policy.

Overall, happy with where we are as a team, especially given the injuries, and far better than previous years so would be happy for a top ten finish this year.

[royalp-we]

Certainly wasn’t against the decision to drop Olise - gives us a fresher player against a better side on Wednesday and the players we had out there were more than capable today of winning

Liked the balance of the defence better today too than against Brentford, having a right footed player at RB and left footed player at LB is always advantageous IMO

8 - Laurent
7 - Morrison Holmes McIntyre Rinomhota Aluko
6 - Esteves Semedo Swift Baldock
5 - Rafael Ejaria

Other than pushing Esteves to a 7 I’d go with those. Agree the defence looked well balanced generally

Swift was starting to move into 7 territory towards the end

Agree with those other than would give Baldock a 7 as I think he runs and harries non stop and forced Luton to go long quite a lot by doing so. Also has some nice touches and tricks, and being played out of position as a sole striker.

Ejaria worries me in that he lacks any product mostly and kills attacks my just being far too slow and turning back onto his right foot always. Compare him with an out and out winger like Mo Barrow when we had him who stretched the game and always attacked at speed. Starting to think Ejaria is more of an impact sub or central midfielder, certainly doesn’t cut it as left sided winger for me.

Cabral just needs dropping, his shop stopping from distance his very poor, and other teams must now be targeting a shoot on site policy.

Overall, happy with where we are as a team, especially given the injuries, and far better than previous years so would be happy for a top ten finish this year.

Agree with all of this and Ejaria is certainly not a left winger. He’s done well considering it’s not his natural position. With Swift coming back I think we will see Ejaria, Swift and Olise playing more fluid roles and switching things up. Which will cause havoc for a lot of teams we face. Exciting!

Edit: Don’t agree with the Rafael part - regardless of the errors he has made he has forged an excellent understanding with our defence this season. As nail biting as it can be sometimes we successfully play our way out of trouble on many occasions each game, which goes unnoticed.

[Hound]

One of our main tactics was ejaria cutting inside and picking out Joao or Meite in the area coming in from the right

Without those two I think it’s taking away quite a bit of his effectiveness

[South Coast Royal]

Very pleased with the result which is probably all that matters with the long injury list but also the likes of Esteves, Holmes and McIntyre got another game under their belts which is important in their progression and might not have happened without the injuries.

Like many others, I am no great fan of Aluko but he made the best of his opportunity yesterday against a team that varies from quite good to quite poor which kinda sums up a lot of teams in The Championship.

I am glad Velcro took our advice and played McIntyre where we said he should play and Esteves where he should play and Holmes where he should play.

Not much of a game to watch but two excellent goals.
We are hanging on in there and, as we say most weeks, this is better than we expected.
Playing 3 of the top 4 in the next month could decide how much longer the dream can stay alive.

[Zip]

Ejaria looked very sluggish from what I saw in the second half. Not really on it.
I do think the time has come to give Southwood a chance. Rafael has made too many mistakes and is an accident waiting to happen with his clearances. I get nervous when the ball is at his feet. He takes far too long over some clearances.

[Snowflake Royal]

No, because you expect strikers to miss chances.if a striker gets 3 chances in a game and scores one he’s probably doing his job.
However keepers need to save everything, if He concedes 1 in 3 shots he faces it’s probably not good enough

Does he though? Genuine question.

No keeper saves everything

Thanks for that sherlock.

Cabral has made 41 saves, we've conceded 27 goals. That's 41/68 = 60% shots on target (excluding blocks) saved. Which means he's letting in slightly more than 1 in 3.

I'd like to see some numbers on shots from outside the box on target vs saves and compared to other keepers, but I can't see the stats broken down that way.

[Nameless]

Does he though? Genuine question.

No keeper saves everything

Thanks for that sherlock.

Cabral has made 41 saves, we've conceded 27 goals. That's 41/68 = 60% shots on target (excluding blocks) saved. Which means he's letting in slightly more than 1 in 3.

I'd like to see some numbers on shots from outside the box on target vs saves and compared to other keepers, but I can't see the stats broken down that way.

It’s a hard analysis to do in a meaningful way. Does it include penalties ? What is a ‘save’ ? Does a save that might not have gone in count ?
As you say, understanding if there is a ‘standard’ ratio of saves to goals would be interesting. Does having a solid defence who allow very few chances mean that a good keeper has a statistically skewed ratio ?

[Snowflake Royal]

Cabral - 5 poor kicking, dived over the goal. Made some decent point blank saves but largely because Luton were toss and often the whistle had gone anyway. Southwood needs to start.
Esteves - 6 better from him, didn't do a lot wrong, but under little threat from Luton.
McIntyre - 7 +1 for goal -1 for what should have been a pen. Comfortable at LB, dominant in the air. Not sure how he'd do against a better winger, he's quite slow. Great great goal.
Holmes - 7 I love this guy, classy
Morrison - 7 solid
Rino - 6 decent game, stepping back and letting Laurent shine
Laurent - 8 what a player we've got here
Ejaria - 5 I hate the way he plays. No tempo, walking pace, too often stops when he should go, hard for team mates to read what he'll do, falls over, tries to beat 4 players rather than pass, doesn't try to beat his man when 1v1
Semedo - 7 good game, good goal. There's a player in there, just drifts in and out a bit and is a bit ok all round
Aluko - 6 (-1 for being Aluko), drifted out of the game completely second half
Baldock - 7 runs all day, always looking to get in behind, great interplay for his assist. Would do much better if we played to his strengths rather than mostly ignoring them.

Swift - 6 decent game coming back. Would still like to see earlier passes from him


Really missed the inventive reverse and round the corner passes from Olise. Ejaria and Swift are rarely going to feed Baldock IMO because they dwell on the ball, whilst Baldock is always looking for the quick release to run in behind off the shoulder.