BFTG - Luton

[Lower West]

Not sure how Meite, Loader, Joao and Boye will all fit in when they’re all fit. McCleary has now earned his place on the bench so it’s most likely two from four out of that lot

We could have a fully fit squad for Brentford. Serious competition for places. The next two games will be tough but we should be targeting four points.

Yeah. Assuming it’s the same XI, Think I’d go for a bench of Walker, Blackett, Obita, Pele, McCleary, Boye, Meite for now against Brentford. Bowen said Joao likely won’t make Brentford but not sure who he comes in for if he does. Possibly Meite? Or even leave one defender on the bench. Difficult decisions but confident Bowen will make the right choice

Bowen doesn't have the baggage of having signed any of the players. Listening to the BBCRB post match interview with Bowen. Seems as if McCleary's professionalism day in day out, earnt him the right to sit on the bench. Sends a clear message to anyone who wants to make the starting 11. Longer term I wonder if it will be Pele and Joao that will fail to make the grade under Bowen. Boye has shown enough this season to suggest that his a Bowen type of player, i.e. a winning mentality.

[Royal Monkey]

Made it down for this one , a fantastic team performance against one of the worst sides I have seen in a long time. As others have mentioned Swift and Richards were outstanding.
I left Nottinghamshire at 3am straight after a night shift to come down to Reading. I left Reading at 7pm to go home I’m am currently sat on the A34 just b4 the Abingdon turn off and it’s 10.20 pm been sat here nearly 3 hours cos of accident shutting the road and I’m still about 140 mile from home!!! I left my house over 29 hours ago all I can say is I’m bloody glad it was a good game

[Snowflake Royal]

Just how clueless have the last two managers been in knowing the players and the systems to get the best out of players.
So many times I posted on here just what an utter ineffective showpony Swift was.....yet now he is the player we have all been dreaming of and doing what we all wanted to see him do.
Baldock is another one, disgarded by Mr "nicey nice" Jose Gormless and showing exactly what we have been dying to see.
Thank god we have landed on our feet with Mark Bowen.

There's no need to be rude about Gomes. Nice guy, trying his best. Just out of his depth. Did as much as anyone if not more to get rid of the toxic atmosphere of the previous years.

[Snowflake Royal]

Not to be a downer but he hasn't had much choice about the starting XI has he? Hard to praise a man for picking the only viable team.

I'm not criticising him btw.

Blackett vs Richards vs Obita
Blackett and McIntyre vs Moore, Morrison and Miazga
Pele vs Rinomhota and Ejaria
Meite vs Puscas
Plus McCleary, Gunter, Loader, Olise, Barrett...
3-5-2 vs 5-4-1 vs 4-4-2 vs 4-3-3

[andrew1957]

Whenever we win well people say we were playing a very poor side. There is no doubt that Luton are limited but I think we would have beaten almost any Championship team playing like that today and so to me it is about how well we played and not how poor Luton were. The question is can we play that well against stiffer opposition like Brentford and Leeds.

But a fantastic performance today. Everyone did well. I thought that Richards was great and vying for MOTM with Swift. Baldock was also excellent but to be fair so were all the players. There were no weak links today and they all put in a shift.

And as for Bowen - when he was given the job it did seem an bit of an odd appointment at the time, but I was one who thought we should give him a chance and what a job he has done so far. 10 out of 10 today.

1/ its great to see a settled team with only enforced changes made (in this case just Obita) after a win. I have never understood it when managers tinker for the sake of tinkering. It must be frustrating for a player to do well only to be dropped next game.
2/ his first 11 pick is spot on as far as I can see.
3/ his subs were spot on and timely. We were fading a bit second half and the injection of Meite and McCleary definitely put pressure back on Luton - who cracked and made a mistake for our third goal.
4/ thought he said all the right things on BBCRB after the game.

The next two will be tough games. It might be a stretch but I will be very happy with two draws or a win and a loss. We can but hope.

[From Despair To Where?]

Still early days but 4 games, 10 points, 2 clean sheets, 8 goals for with 7 different scorers and only 3 goals against.

Bowen is talking a good game and getting a bang on response from the players.

[Snowflake Royal]

Really interesting to see how the team reacts to their defeat / poor result under Bowen.

Still plenty of work to do to pull away from the bottom. And we've had mini runs before and then failed to keep it up. This feels a bit different though.

[URZZZZ]

We could have a fully fit squad for Brentford. Serious competition for places. The next two games will be tough but we should be targeting four points.

Yeah. Assuming it’s the same XI, Think I’d go for a bench of Walker, Blackett, Obita, Pele, McCleary, Boye, Meite for now against Brentford. Bowen said Joao likely won’t make Brentford but not sure who he comes in for if he does. Possibly Meite? Or even leave one defender on the bench. Difficult decisions but confident Bowen will make the right choice

Bowen doesn't have the baggage of having signed any of the players. Listening to the BBCRB post match interview with Bowen. Seems as if McCleary's professionalism day in day out, earnt him the right to sit on the bench. Sends a clear message to anyone who wants to make the starting 11. Longer term I wonder if it will be Pele and Joao that will fail to make the grade under Bowen. Boye has shown enough this season to suggest that his a Bowen type of player, i.e. a winning mentality.

Yeah, pretty much agree

The reality is now that players will play for their manager. It was becoming increasingly obvious IMO that they weren’t playing for him because there was nothing there, especially when you compare that to what we’re seeing now

Nice to see McCleary on the score sheet (overdue after over 30 months ), and agree his professionalism has helped him. To succeed in this league, you need a strong but as you say winning mentality

[Franchise FC]

Rafael - Nothing to to do. Kicking poor though. 6


Yiadom - Not his best game. Sometimes needs to play the ball down the channels rather than dribbling his way out. 6

Miazga, Moore and Morrison - Never troubled by a toothless Luton attack. 7

Richards - Good performance from Omar. Defended well and got forward as much as possible. Only slight criticism is that he does get the ball in to the box enough like Obita does. 8


Rinomhota - Not quite at his best today with a few lapses. Some good blocks and interceptions though. 6

Ejaria - The only thing Luton did quite well today was keep Ovie fairly quiet, bar the goal. 7

Swift - While they were concentrating on Ovie they let the MotM pick up plenty of space and he used it well. Good range of passing and did his work off the ball as well. That's the John Swift that we need to see more regularly. 9


Puscas - Should have scored in the first half but dallied for too long and the chance went. Only other chance was a header that he was stretching for. 6

Baldock - No real chances but worked his backside off. 6

Subs:

Mccleary- Great to see him get his goal. Chased it down well and a lovely cool finish. The rest of the team were clearly pleased for him. 7

Loader - Lots of energy which was good to see, needs a goal. 6

Meite - Not on long enough. N/A.

Are you sure we won ?
Those remarks and marks suggest something quite different

[JR]

Couldn't watch as I had to go to a gender reveal party. Anyone fancy giving a detailed summary?

I’m all for prioritising family/friends, but this is pretty embarrassing. Do people really do such things?

[JR]

Whenever we win well people say we were playing a very poor side. There is no doubt that Luton are limited but I think we would have beaten almost any Championship team playing like that today and so to me it is about how well we played and not how poor Luton were. The question is can we play that well against stiffer opposition like Brentford and Leeds.

But a fantastic performance today. Everyone did well. I thought that Richards was great and vying for MOTM with Swift. Baldock was also excellent but to be fair so were all the players. There were no weak links today and they all put in a shift.

And as for Bowen - when he was given the job it did seem an bit of an odd appointment at the time, but I was one who thought we should give him a chance and what a job he has done so far. 10 out of 10 today.

1/ its great to see a settled team with only enforced changes made (in this case just Obita) after a win. I have never understood it when managers tinker for the sake of tinkering. It must be frustrating for a player to do well only to be dropped next game.
2/ his first 11 pick is spot on as far as I can see.
3/ his subs were spot on and timely. We were fading a bit second half and the injection of Meite and McCleary definitely put pressure back on Luton - who cracked and made a mistake for our third goal.
4/ thought he said all the right things on BBCRB after the game.

The next two will be tough games. It might be a stretch but I will be very happy with two draws or a win and a loss. We can but hope.

This is all spot on, brilliant today.

It also massively frustrates me that whenever we win well that apparently the opposition are useless. It’s lazy commentary

[URZZZZ]

Since Bowen has joined, no team in the Championship has a higher average PPG (taking into account we’ve only played 4 and every other apart from Forest has played 5)

The bad news is Brentford and Leeds have the next two highest. On this form, we can give it a go against anyone

[windermereROYAL]

Have to take issue with people saying the teams we are playing are poor, Preston great before we played them and great since, Millwall for the first hour were branded as poor, won the game before and won today, Luton been scoring goals and losing narrowly and ran Fulham close at the cottage. maybe we should get some credit for making these teams look ordinary eh?

[Zip]

Just want to add two more things.
I thought the football we played at times was absolutely outstanding, I don’t care where Luton are in the League it was a joy to watch.
Also chuffed for GMac. I have said before his treatment along with Gunter’s was totally unnecessary. Both are good pros who deserved to be treated a lot better.

[sandman]

Rafael - Nothing to to do. Kicking poor though. 6


Yiadom - Not his best game. Sometimes needs to play the ball down the channels rather than dribbling his way out. 6

Miazga, Moore and Morrison - Never troubled by a toothless Luton attack. 7

Richards - Good performance from Omar. Defended well and got forward as much as possible. Only slight criticism is that he does get the ball in to the box enough like Obita does. 8


Rinomhota - Not quite at his best today with a few lapses. Some good blocks and interceptions though. 6

Ejaria - The only thing Luton did quite well today was keep Ovie fairly quiet, bar the goal. 7

Swift - While they were concentrating on Ovie they let the MotM pick up plenty of space and he used it well. Good range of passing and did his work off the ball as well. That's the John Swift that we need to see more regularly. 9


Puscas - Should have scored in the first half but dallied for too long and the chance went. Only other chance was a header that he was stretching for. 6

Baldock - No real chances but worked his backside off. 6

Subs:

Mccleary- Great to see him get his goal. Chased it down well and a lovely cool finish. The rest of the team were clearly pleased for him. 7

Loader - Lots of energy which was good to see, needs a goal. 6

Meite - Not on long enough. N/A.

Are you sure we won ?
Those remarks and marks suggest something quite different

Do they? Oh well.

[Snowflake Royal]

Have to take issue with people saying the teams we are playing are poor, Preston great before we played them and great since, Millwall for the first hour were branded as poor, won the game before and won today, Luton been scoring goals and losing narrowly and ran Fulham close at the cottage. maybe we should get some credit for making these teams look ordinary eh?

We've had plenty of credit for how we played. Everyone has been saying how well we played, how much better we are. It doesn't change the fact that Preston were utter horseshit. Loads of unforced errors.

Millwall are simply a bit of a limited side as are Luton. I actually thought Luton played ok. They pressed us quite well high up first half, and applied plenty of pressure second half. The division is extremely average this year, so it's no surprise everyone is beating everyone.

[CountryRoyal]

Just want to add two more things.
I thought the football we played at times was absolutely outstanding, I don’t care where Luton are in the League it was a joy to watch.
Also chuffed for GMac. I have said before his treatment along with Gunter’s was totally unnecessary. Both are good pros who deserved to be treated a lot better.

I wish we had scored when we played it it from the back down the line on our left. Would have been goal of the season

[Zip]

Just want to add two more things.
I thought the football we played at times was absolutely outstanding, I don’t care where Luton are in the League it was a joy to watch.
Also chuffed for GMac. I have said before his treatment along with Gunter’s was totally unnecessary. Both are good pros who deserved to be treated a lot better.

I wish we had scored when we played it it from the back down the line on our left. Would have been goal of the season

It was sublime and one of several free flowing moves.
One other thing. Swift has really improved his physicality. There were several times when it was him forcing an opponent off the ball. It was the other way around on a consistent basis a year or so ago.

[Westwood52]

Yes Luton were the worst team to visit the Mad Stad in a very long time,but they did have a system;it was just on numerous occasions they made some pretty crass errors.
We on the other hand were with the odd exception very good.
Quite where we are exactly will be determined in the next two games.
IMHO

Rafael 7 Next to nothing to do.Again.
Yiadom 7 Quiet first half,but back to his best second half.
Miazga 7 Little to do.
Morrison 8 Never stressed defensively.Great goal ,but unmarked.
Moore 6 Bit dodgy at times,and not at his best.But it was never a problem.
Richards 8 Where did that come from ? His best game in a Reading shirt.Rinsed once but got back at his man.
Rino 6 Missed some simple passes and a bit agricultural at times.But he does provide so much drive.
Ejaria 7 Great goal,best of the three.Brilliant when he sent two of their players to another planet.But once again disappeared 2nd half.
Swift 9 MOM. given time and space absolutely destroyed them.
Puskas 5 Worked hard,but really needs something to go for him.
Baldock 8 Should have hit the target 1st half.However his movement and effort was exceptional.

Macca Could have had a hat trick in ten minutes
Meigte Usual blunderbus.
Loader Not enough time

Probably an easy game,but the ref was the best we have had for a very very long time.

Oh and I got soaked.

[NewCorkSeth]

Not to be a downer but he hasn't had much choice about the starting XI has he? Hard to praise a man for picking the only viable team.

I'm not criticising him btw.

Blackett vs Richards vs Obita
Blackett and McIntyre vs Moore, Morrison and Miazga
Pele vs Rinomhota and Ejaria
Meite vs Puscas
Plus McCleary, Gunter, Loader, Olise, Barrett...
3-5-2 vs 5-4-1 vs 4-4-2 vs 4-3-3

I respectfully disagree that that list quantified tough decisions.

On the formation, after the first game, it no longer factors. He wasnt going to switch it after a win.

Blackett was recoving from injury and the lads had just kept a clean sheet. He was never going to slot him in and after the Millwall performance without Moore I think it became obvious Blackett was 4th choice.

Likewise, Meite was recoving from an injury. That's the front 2 sorted automatically.

I would say the only 2 positions where there has been doubt over who should start has been Rinonhota v Pele and Obita v Richards. Tellingly they have been the positions most changed. Remember Pele was going to start against Forest.