Let's talk about the Luton game

[RoversAlias]

That Mpanzu looks handy.

I was impressed with him, had excellent ball control. Jorge Grant I thought was the best player on the pitch though.

[steve@dcfd]

Mpanzu bless player on the pitch followed by Kane.

Jorge Grant was like Mpanzu and Kane was very good.


In my opinion that was our worse league performance yet we won.

[Jonathan]

Mpanzu was excellent for Luton. They looked a very good side and really tested us. Agree with all that have said they’re the best team we’ve faced this season.

We weren’t at our best, probably in part because they didn’t let us play. But Kane never really got going today and that affected us, he looked a step off the pace throughout and I wasn’t surprised when McCann admitted in his post match interview that he’d been struggling with an injury all week. It showed. Thankfully Whiteman was superb in midfield again, and Blair showed great energy so we were able to get away with Kane being slightly below par. Hopefully he recovers in time for Walsall as he’s so important for us.

The team battled really hard today and really had to fight for that win. Marosi and the back four stood strong for 95 minutes, only switching off once for their goal on the stroke of half time.

12 points from the opening 7 games is an encouraging return, especially given the quality of opposition we’ve faced in that time.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

We certainly dug out 3 points from a very tough game against a very good Luton team. I this is another marker to show we've progressed from last season. We stayed resilient despite having spells where we couldn't keep possession. Maybe we rode our luck a bit but the players worked hard enough to see the game out.

I thought Whiteman played well and just about held things together. Wright was excellent as was Mason. The back 4 as a whole stood up quite well.

Blair, well what can you say, great goal and that run at the end was perhaps enough to earn his Mom.

I though Kane was slightly off it and it seems he was carrying a knock after not training for a couple of days. Marquis was in one of his moods and struggled at times along with Wilks who just couldn't get into the game.

Fair play to May when he came on and helped us push Luton back when we needed it. Created a great chance for Copps who was also not as effective as he normally is.

A very satisfying result which I don't think we would have achieved last season. We can kick on now.

[dknward2]

After today now running at 1.71 points per game.

Now Grant has said he has set a points target for the next 12 games I would imagine that it would be the 2 points a game mark hopefully we can maybe get closer to 30 points

[steve@dcfd]

DBR we can only kick on if we had quality in midfield and that’s not there.
Yes Kane is being worked to hard. But apart from a progressing Whiteman we have no one else. Blair scored, Blair Ran, Blair gave the ball away, Blair cannot pass. Works energy should not be in our first eleven.
Tayls came on for Copps who did not have a good game yet he was worst and appeared injured, should not be in the squad infact should not be signed. Anderson as yet don’t know what he does, quality?, better than what we’ve got I doubt.
So apart from Kane who GMs having to work him to death who is quality and may be Crawford the unseen one. GM as signed players who are worst than what we had. Quality is what we required and he’s not done enough to achieve that.

[selby]

  It is a funny old game, after probably not getting the reward of wins against Portsmouth and Peterborough, we got away with some sloppy work in midfield, especially in the first half,and came away with the three points against Luton.
  The positives were,
  We battled for a win.
   The goals came from two midfielders from the edge of the box.
   We won when not at our best.
   The managers half time talk altered things.
   The substitutes got straight into the game, and made a difference.
    The back four had another good game and looked solid under pressure, backed up with good goalkeeping.
  Where we did not do so well was in the first half, with Coppinger and Kane closed down quickly and targeted by Luton, our ball retention and passing was not at it's best, and our two strikers had very little quality passes to work with, were tightly marked, but battled well up front, they cannot live off scraps and shine.
  Luton looked a good side,(we probably helped them there with poor supply from midfield in the first half) Mpanzu looking a quality player dominated
 our midfield.
   In the end a very pleasing victory, and a positive five points from the last nine against three of the strongest sides in this division, gives us the supporters some hope for the future,with the next fixture at Walsall, a hard game being the next one up.
 

[IDM]

I thought Anderson looked quite useful when he came on, didn’t have much time to give a negative impression!

[drfchound]

I thought Anderson looked quite useful when he came on, didn’t have much time to give a negative impression!

He did ok without being outstanding.
However he did have an opportunity to score when he got to a loose ball on the edge of the box but took a really heavy touch and the chance was gone.

[Donnywolf]

What goes around comes around I suppose and having fully deserved a WIN at POSH and only drawing we then get a Win when the opposition probably deserved at least a Point

But its Footy and I will take the win all day long.

Agree they were a very good organised Team - only fly in the ointment was Hyltons "love child" - I will let you guess what his Shirt Number was but the Song made it to Number 1

[drfchound]

It is football Wolfie, as you say.
Luton were a very good side and as such they were always going to cause us (and will do to other teams)problems, but we defended very well which is a credit to our team.

Most of Luton’s shots were from distance and didn’t really trouble Marosi.

Some days teams play well and don’t win and win sometimes when perhaps they shouldn’t have.

Today’s performance wasn’t our best this season but it is back to the would you prefer to win at all costs or play well and lose debate.

There didn’t seem many unhappy Rovers fans coming out of the stadium.

[IDM]

Apart from raggytash maybe??

[Big MAC]

The result mean't a lot to the players today. At the end they were well pumped up!

[dickos1]

This goes back to the poll from the other week.
I feel a lot better tonight than I’ve felt after the last 4 or 5

[drfchound]

Apart from raggytash maybe??

He might have been behind me in the South, there was a bloke going apoplectic for almost all of the game.
He particularly picked out a Marosi and Kane for stick.

[sedwardsdrfc]

Talk of a lack of quality in mifdfield baffles me when we were by far better than Pompey and Posh in that area and dominated. One less than superb game and that’s forgotten by some

[dickos1]

Our starting line up midfield is very good
Whiteman, Kane, Rowe

But take one of them out and we’re struggling

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

The result mean't a lot to the players today. At the end they were well pumped up!

Even more so given I suspect they were very wound up by the tactics of Luton.

Luton were decent have to say but a bit like us weren't that great at an end product.

We dug in though. Arguably our worst performance so far this year but ground it out.

In contrast to other games took our chances today.

[Campsall rover]

The result mean't a lot to the players today. At the end they were well pumped up!

Even more so given I suspect they were very wound up by the tactics of Luton.

Luton were decent have to say but a bit like us weren't that great at an end product.

We dug in though. Arguably our worst performance so far this year but ground it out.

In contrast to other games took our chances today.

I don’t think we played badly it was just that Luton were better than us for most of the match and you have to give them credit for that. But we won a match we would have lost last season and a team that wins when the opposition are dominating is a sign of a good side.
Last week we murdered Peterborough and yet we only drew.
Funny old game isn’t it.

[Donnywolf]

Yes they are apoplectic on their Outlaws Forum. I posted a thank you to them re their Applause for Pieman and they have added loads more RIP's / puts things inperspective etc etc

Then they go mad on other Threads as their defence is suspect - letting Blair run right at them and firing off a shot unchallenged - and nobody closing down Whiteman again left unchallenged to fire in a deflected shot

They think realistically that they have come up and 8th to 13th would be a result but I think the above posts probably think they were much better than most we have played. They will imo beat more than beat them but I would like them to cut the dark arts

[sedwardsdrfc]

Our starting line up midfield is very good
Whiteman, Kane, Rowe

But take one of them out and we’re struggling

Blair has played a fair number of times in there and on the whole been decent, obviously not 1st choice but very able just all about his energy rather than technical ability. Anderson deserves a chance before we say he’s not good enough too!

We also have Crawford if we’re talking overall depth too

[Campsall rover]

Our starting line up midfield is very good
Whiteman, Kane, Rowe

But take one of them out and we’re struggling

Blair has played a fair number of times in there and on the whole been decent, obviously not 1st choice but very able just all about his energy rather than technical ability. Anderson deserves a chance before we say he’s not good enough too!

We also have Crawford if we’re talking overall depth too

And Coppinger, he is more of a midfielder than a forward isn’t he?

[steve@dcfd]

Talk of a lack of quality in mifdfield baffles me when we were by far better than Pompey and Posh in that area and dominated. One less than superb game and that’s forgotten by some

Some don’t bury their head in the sand. Yes when Whiteman, Kane and Rowe play well they are a good midfield three. But take one of them out and we don’t have any quality to replace them today prove that. Also Kane was struggling today because he played a lot of games. GM made a mistake of playing Rowe on Tuesday night when he said he need managing now we won’t see him till Christmas at the earlies. Let’s hope we don’t lose Kane or Whiteman.

For once we were lucky today but our creativity was the worst this season and we won.

[sedwardsdrfc]

Don’t think I’d pick him in the 3 central players though. He’s class but you’ve too do too much dirty work in there for cops even when he was young

[Campsall rover]

Don’t think I’d pick him in the 3 central players though. He’s class but you’ve too do too much dirty work in there for cops even when he was young

But against Peterborough and Luton we played more of a 4 in midfield. Most of today’s match we were back to a diamond in midfield. Last week it was a very flexible and fluent 4 in the middle.

[sedwardsdrfc]

Talk of a lack of quality in mifdfield baffles me when we were by far better than Pompey and Posh in that area and dominated. One less than superb game and that’s forgotten by some

Some don’t bury their head in the sand. Yes when Whiteman, Kane and Rowe play well they are a good midfield three. But take one of them out and we don’t have any quality to replace them today prove that. Also Kane was struggling today because he played a lot of games. GM made a mistake of playing Rowe on Tuesday night when he said he need managing now we won’t see him till Christmas at the earlies. Let’s hope we don’t lose Kane or Whiteman.

For once we were lucky today but our creativity was the worst this season and we won.

Today has proved that we can grind out a result when our best players don’t play well! A better result than when they do play well! It proved we can take one of those 3 out and win against one of the better teams.

 Obviously there’s potential for the squad to be streached with injuries that’s equally the same for everyone else. But if you want to condem the team now for what may happen in the future then fair enough

[dickos1]

Our starting line up midfield is very good
Whiteman, Kane, Rowe

But take one of them out and we’re struggling

Blair has played a fair number of times in there and on the whole been decent, obviously not 1st choice but very able just all about his energy rather than technical ability. Anderson deserves a chance before we say he’s not good enough too!

We also have Crawford if we’re talking overall depth too

And Coppinger, he is more of a midfielder than a forward isn’t he?

He is but we’re playing him in the front 3.
I’d still be swapping him and Blair around

[Campsall rover]

Our starting line up midfield is very good
Whiteman, Kane, Rowe

But take one of them out and we’re struggling

Blair has played a fair number of times in there and on the whole been decent, obviously not 1st choice but very able just all about his energy rather than technical ability. Anderson deserves a chance before we say he’s not good enough too!

We also have Crawford if we’re talking overall depth too

And Coppinger, he is more of a midfielder than a forward isn’t he?

He is but we’re playing him in the front 3.
I’d still be swapping him and Blair around

He didn’t play in a front 3 last week or this week Dickos though. We played a very fluent 4 across the middle last week and a diamond for most of the match today.

[sedwardsdrfc]

Our starting line up midfield is very good
Whiteman, Kane, Rowe

But take one of them out and we’re struggling

Blair has played a fair number of times in there and on the whole been decent, obviously not 1st choice but very able just all about his energy rather than technical ability. Anderson deserves a chance before we say he’s not good enough too!

We also have Crawford if we’re talking overall depth too

And Coppinger, he is more of a midfielder than a forward isn’t he?

He’s an attacking player though we’re talking about central midfielders. Copps has never been that.

He is but we’re playing him in the front 3.
I’d still be swapping him and Blair around

He didn’t play in a front 3 last week or this week Dickos though. We played a very fluent 4 across the middle last week and a diamond for most of the match today.

[dickos1]

Our starting line up midfield is very good
Whiteman, Kane, Rowe

But take one of them out and we’re struggling

Blair has played a fair number of times in there and on the whole been decent, obviously not 1st choice but very able just all about his energy rather than technical ability. Anderson deserves a chance before we say he’s not good enough too!

We also have Crawford if we’re talking overall depth too

And Coppinger, he is more of a midfielder than a forward isn’t he?

He is but we’re playing him in the front 3.
I’d still be swapping him and Blair around

He didn’t play in a front 3 last week or this week Dickos though. We played a very fluent 4 across the middle last week and a diamond for most of the match today.

We changed at half time today cause we were struggling.
I get why we play coppinger there and Blair in midfield because they constantly interchange and swap. Which makes us flexible and hard to deal with