Comparison with Luton

S

Spikelangelo

Active member
Fascinating to see the Luton v Chelsea game last night after watching Boro play Tottenham. I was surprised to see how agricultural Luton were, given the fact that they are sixth in the table. It was a real, old fashioned lower league performance against Premier League aristocracy. Lots of effort and commitment, lots of lumping it forward, dangerous from set plays etc. It fitted the stereotype of the commentators in the FA cup perfectly - plucky minnows etc. A poster yesterday commented that this was completely out of date and that even as far down as the National League, most teams try to play possession football on the deck. I absolutely agree with that, which is why I was surprised.

In comparison, Boro looked like a Premier League team against Spurs. Really impressive , patient possession, recycling the ball from side to side until we can create an overload, usually with Jones. Also amazing levels of fitness - Tav and Jones in particular just keep running and running from box to box all game. The transformation Wilder has produced is one of the most amazing things I've seen at Boro.

So.... the laws of football dictate that Luton will come to the Riverside on Saturday and nick a 1-0 away win. It's hard to shake off fifty years of Boro fatalism!
 
They will cause us more problems than spurs if they play as well on Saturday as they did last night.

That old school kick and rush, second balls, runners from midfield worries me.

We will need to dominate the ball, which we will do if howson plays like he did on Tuesday, giving his Pirlo impression.
 
Spikelangelo said:
Fascinating to see the Luton v Chelsea game last night after watching Boro play Tottenham. I was surprised to see how agricultural Luton were, given the fact that they are sixth in the table. It was a real, old fashioned lower league performance against Premier League aristocracy. Lots of effort and commitment, lots of lumping it forward, dangerous from set plays etc. It fitted the stereotype of the commentators in the FA cup perfectly - plucky minnows etc. A poster yesterday commented that this was completely out of date and that even as far down as the National League, most teams try to play possession football on the deck. I absolutely agree with that, which is why I was surprised.

In comparison, Boro looked like a Premier League team against Spurs. Really impressive , patient possession, recycling the ball from side to side until we can create an overload, usually with Jones. Also amazing levels of fitness - Tav and Jones in particular just keep running and running from box to box all game. The transformation Wilder has produced is one of the most amazing things I've seen at Boro.

So.... the laws of football dictate that Luton will come to the Riverside on Saturday and nick a 1-0 away win. It's hard to shake off fifty years of Boro fatalism!
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'even as far down as the National League, most teams try to play possession football'

Maybe that has created an opportunity for an 'old school' side as everyone has forgotten how to counter it. Fashion turned full circle.
 
Spikelangelo said:
Fascinating to see the Luton v Chelsea game last night after watching Boro play Tottenham. I was surprised to see how agricultural Luton were, given the fact that they are sixth in the table. It was a real, old fashioned lower league performance against Premier League aristocracy. Lots of effort and commitment, lots of lumping it forward, dangerous from set plays etc. It fitted the stereotype of the commentators in the FA cup perfectly - plucky minnows etc. A poster yesterday commented that this was completely out of date and that even as far down as the National League, most teams try to play possession football on the deck. I absolutely agree with that, which is why I was surprised.

In comparison, Boro looked like a Premier League team against Spurs. Really impressive , patient possession, recycling the ball from side to side until we can create an overload, usually with Jones. Also amazing levels of fitness - Tav and Jones in particular just keep running and running from box to box all game. The transformation Wilder has produced is one of the most amazing things I've seen at Boro.

So.... the laws of football dictate that Luton will come to the Riverside on Saturday and nick a 1-0 away win. It's hard to shake off fifty years of Boro fatalism!
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Think some of that is down to the opposition. Chelsea are better than Spurs. Also Spurs played way too deep against us trying to catch us on the break.

Don’t get me wrong, I was really pleased about how we played the other night. But I don’t think we could have done that against Chelsea.

I’ve a mate who is a Luton fan and he says they don’t normally play like that.
 
MidlandsBoroFan said:
Think some of that is down to the opposition. Chelsea are better than Spurs. Also Spurs played way too deep against us trying to catch us on the break.

Don’t get me wrong, I was really pleased about how we played the other night. But I don’t think we could have done that against Chelsea.

I’ve a mate who is a Luton fan and he says they don’t normally play like that.
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I've also got a good friend who's a luton fan and he agrees with your mate - normally they play much more on the ground. The opposition obviously play a role. Against Man U we struggled against their PL high press (Dyksteel especially) and I was amazed when Spurs sat off us, which allowed us more possession. Another mate, Spurs fan, told me that only Kane is keeping them from the lower half of the league, and probably only Kane, Son and Lloris would get into our side. I think he was still a bit depressed after the game!
 
Spikelangelo said:
I've also got a good friend who's a luton fan and he agrees with your mate - normally they play much more on the ground. The opposition obviously play a role. Against Man U we struggled against their PL high press (Dyksteel especially) and I was amazed when Spurs sat off us, which allowed us more possession. Another mate, Spurs fan, told me that only Kane is keeping them from the lower half of the league, and probably only Kane, Son and Lloris would get into our side. I think he was still a bit depressed after the game!
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I was reading the Spurs board on Reddit yesterday and there were a lot of their fans saying Kane and Son were all that was stopping them from being Everton. If either of them leave in the summer they could be in trouble. Probably not of relegation but sustained midtable mediocrity. Their defence and midfield are nowhere near good enough to be challenging for the Champions League places.

Anton_Berg said:
'even as far down as the National League, most teams try to play possession football'

Maybe that has created an opportunity for an 'old school' side as everyone has forgotten how to counter it. Fashion turned full circle.
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I definitely agree with this. That's why there are always new ways of playing. The current fashion will be countered at some point and the managers still trying to play that when everyone has moved on will become the dinosaurs. Will be interesting to see who the next pioneers are. I hope it isn't back to hoofball. I much prefer watching the current style, it's very exciting football compared to when Mourinho and Benitez were both trying to win by just closing everything down so there was no attacking.
 
MidlandsBoroFan said:
Also Spurs played way too deep against us trying to catch us on the break.
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I thought the commentary changed on Tuesday: it started off claiming Spurs were sitting deep, trying to suck us in, then counter.

As the match wore on, it became apparent to everyone that Spurs were just being pushed back, forced to defend deep and, at times, couldn't really get the ball off us.
 
Frozen Horse said:
I thought the commentary changed on Tuesday: it started off claiming Spurs were sitting deep, trying to suck us in, then counter.

As the match wore on, it became apparent to everyone that Spurs were just being pushed back, forced to defend deep and, at times, couldn't really get the ball off us.
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Yeah, it was pretty funny watching it back!
 
All the talk before the game was that we have to be like Burnley if we want to be successful. We can't play with a high line and have to sit deep. We didn't play like that at all but they still persisted with it at half time and showed how we had defended successfully by sitting deep by showing clips of us defending with a high line. It was the complete opposite. Spurs sat deep, our defensive line was on the halfway line and some of our defenders were making runs into the box.

No wonder none of them made it as managers. It's criminal the amount of tax payers money we are wasting on these so called experts. Murphy particularly must have something on someone because he never knows what he is talking about and he barely has a personality to make up for it.
 
Whilst I am not a fan of agricultural football, possession football can be equally boring and predictable. Giving the ball away is a crime in possession football. So players become scared of expressing themselves, beating other players, trying to score.
The epitome of this mentality is when a side has the ball in the final third and instead of having a go end up passing the ball all the way back to the keeper. Give me passing football as long as it's not obsessive possession crap.
 
They are absolutely punching and fairplay👏

I would love to see what the squad wage bill is compered to ours and most other champo sides. Its almost not worth compering the two sides other than styles. It's night and day in terms of squad and facilities.

I'm pretty sure they said last night that they brought in 6 players in the summer with no transfer fees? That's when we were buying Payero for 4-6mil (also Uche and Crooks). It's a completely different world.

That said we should have battered them at their gaff. We were one up and as usual failed to finish them off in the first half (still a trait that we've not shaken off).

I'd say them and Coventry have been the supprise packages and deserve most credit. I'd say Cov are the best side I've seen in the flesh both home and away. They've again spent nothing👍
 
The basic concept in football is pass and support. The problem comes when the support is always behind or to the side of the player in possession. So whenever the player in possession is confronted with the opposition the only passing option is backwards or sideways. How many times do you see space in in front of the player in possession, with noone moving into it to provide support going forward. The first half against Spurs was deadly dull because both sides were playing backwards and sideways.
 
Frozen Horse said:
I thought the commentary changed on Tuesday: it started off claiming Spurs were sitting deep, trying to suck us in, then counter.

As the match wore on, it became apparent to everyone that Spurs were just being pushed back, forced to defend deep and, at times, couldn't really get the ball off us.
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Not sure I agree with all of that. Spurs were definitely playing a deep defensive back 5 allowing us the ball particularly in the first half in which we didn't penetrate much. Certainly it changed in the second half when we started to get behind Spurs higher line defence and Jones was causing mayhem. In ET their change to a back 4 and they were all over the place. We played it suitably patient first half and drew Spurs into tactics which we exploited.

The irony is we scored when they reverted to a back 5 and that also played into our hands because they then had 13 mins to chase the game.
 
iamborome said:
Whilst I am not a fan of agricultural football, possession football can be equally boring and predictable. Giving the ball away is a crime in possession football. So players become scared of expressing themselves, beating other players, trying to score.
The epitome of this mentality is when a side has the ball in the final third and instead of having a go end up passing the ball all the way back to the keeper. Give me passing football as long as it's not obsessive possession crap.
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But giving the ball away all the time isn't entertaining either. And if you're playing against a team that keeps possession you may not see much of the ball for the next few minutes. It's all about patience with possession teams, you keep working it until someone gets isolated 1 against 1 then you overload either that area or the box. We've scored loads of goals like that this season. It's not about being scared to give the ball away, it's about players using their brains and not running down aimless avenues
 
Nano said:
All the talk before the game was that we have to be like Burnley if we want to be successful. We can't play with a high line and have to sit deep. We didn't play like that at all but they still persisted with it at half time and showed how we had defended successfully by sitting deep by showing clips of us defending with a high line. It was the complete opposite. Spurs sat deep, our defensive line was on the halfway line and some of our defenders were making runs into the box.

No wonder none of them made it as managers. It's criminal the amount of tax payers money we are wasting on these so called experts. Murphy particularly must have something on someone because he never knows what he is talking about and he barely has a personality to make up for it.
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If you think the TV commentary was bad, you should get hold of copy of the match report in The Times (not on line because of their paywall) It contains the immortal line "Territorially they (Spurs) dominated from the start..." I was so surprised I looked up the stats: Boro 51%, Spurs 49%. From the report, it appears that Spurs lost to another team who may have been playing in the same game.
 
I saw the Luton v Chelsea game. I think they were better than some are giving them credit for. They were strong, quick, passed the ball quite well, broke quickly on the counter and look a team to be reckoned with on set pieces with their height. Our defenders will not be looking forward to this game with relish. It will be a battle to the bitter end and It could have a fair few goals in the game.
 
coluka said:
I saw the Luton v Chelsea game. I think they were better than some are giving them credit for. They were strong, quick, passed the ball quite well, broke quickly on the counter and look a team to be reckoned with on set pieces with their height. Our defenders will not be looking forward to this game with relish. It will be a battle to the bitter end and It could have a fair few goals in the game.
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Definitely. Luton were decent. I didn't think they looked any worse than us. Could well be a very tight game on Saturday. I just hope we don't lose!
 
coluka said:
I saw the Luton v Chelsea game. I think they were better than some are giving them credit for. They were strong, quick, passed the ball quite well, broke quickly on the counter and look a team to be reckoned with on set pieces with their height. Our defenders will not be looking forward to this game with relish. It will be a battle to the bitter end and It could have a fair few goals in the game.
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This is one of my concerns. We have Fry and crooks as 6ft+ but after that we look quite a small team. Think was illustrated quite well when Howson ended up having to mark Andy Carroll against WBA from a corner!
 
it will be a really tough game not that confident to be honest, although in the game at their place we were comfortable the better team in the first half and should have been more that 1 up . Second half they just bullied us and we were pretty pathetic and they won easy hopefully we will be totally different prospect on Saturday UTFB!
 
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