The last time we played Luton...

[Archiestephens_elbow]

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard

 

[BoroMart]

...was a real turning point for us - in a bad way. We'd been on a brilliant run but the outside chance of closing the gap on Sheff U had gone, and Carrick decided to (we thought) rest Akpom and a couple of others. Luton had been grinding out 1-0 victories for months and after they luckily beat us that night would eventually pip us to third place. We fell away, losing to Rotherham, drawing at home to Coventry and then losing to them in the play-offs. Luton, historically. got promoted. Fair play to them, I thought they were a breath of fresh air in their one season up there - contrast to us under Karanka.

It would be nice if this Saturday's match could close that chapter, and we give them the beating we really should have given them. We were the better team that season - we scored 84 goals to their 57 - and of course, we had to semi-break up the side, while they went from strength to strength. I like Luton - working class town, good loyal fans, canny manager - but hopefully, it's our time now. There's nothing to fear in this league but we need to start putting a string of results together. If we do, we can have what we thought was in our grasp two seasons ago, but which started to fade from view that night...

It would be nice if we can score a winner from a blatent dive in the box, that might even things out a little.

 

[BoroMart]

My point is that people are slagging someone’s recruitment off and saying they’re a poor team when we’re only a couple of results ahead of them in the table.

their recruitment was on premiership income, thats why it was so bad. There is no way they should have a worse side than us after 200m more income in the last 18 months. The fact we've got an arguably better set of players is a serious testament to their time in the prem.

 

[viv_andersons_nana]

their recruitment was on premiership income, thats why it was so bad. There is no way they should have a worse side than us after 200m more income in the last 18 months. The fact we've got an arguably better set of players is a serious testament to their time in the prem.

What if they decided to invest the vast majority of their income on infrastructure rather than players, fees and wages?

 

[BoroMart]

What if they decided to invest the vast majority of their income on infrastructure rather than players, fees and wages?

They spent 10m on McGuiness from cardiff
4m on Fanne
5m on Giles
4.5m on chong
3m on anderson
Etc
Etc
About 40m in total in transfer fees, modest by prem standards high by championship standards. They spent a lot on wages for free signings such as Barkley and Victor Moses too.

Yet they’ve gone backwards. They’ve lost the essence of what got them there humble, hard working physical over technical.

 

[Alzi]

their recruitment was on premiership income, thats why it was so bad. There is no way they should have a worse side than us after 200m more income in the last 18 months. The fact we've got an arguably better set of players is a serious testament to their time in the prem.

Ryan Giles was their most expensive signing in the PL.

They haven't spent particularly loads this season (but did sign the lad from Cardiff for 11M) All pretty tame stuff compared to our bonkers spree under Monk.

We have actually spent more this season in termsof transfer fees.

 

[viv_andersons_nana]

They spent 10m on McGuiness from cardiff
4m on Fanne
5m on Giles
4.5m on chong
3m on anderson
Etc
Etc
About 40m in total in transfer fees, modest by prem standards high by championship standards. They spent a lot on wages for free signings such as Barkley and Victor Moses too.

Yet they’ve gone backwards. They’ve lost the essence of what got them there humble, hard working physical over technical.

They also sold Ogbene for around £8m, Giles for around £4m and apparently even got around £2m for Townsend. Fanne hasn’t even played for them yet either.

I don’t think we have any real idea what their wage bill will be right now but when they went up it was widely accepted they did it with a bottom-three budget in our league. That is some going if it’s true.

You say they’ve lost the essence of what they were, maybe their team had just reached the end of its cycle. Players like Berry, Osho, Taylor, Onyedinma etc had been there years. There are still a few there from the old days but it breaks up in the end. Like Howe’s Bournemouth side and those players who’d come up through the divisions. Once that breaks up it’s very difficult to replace it on the job.

To be honest, I think it’s refreshing to see a club decide to keep some of that money back for infrastructure and for the future. Do you want to see a club smash £80m on players and wages or do you want to see them put £80m into a stadium and sports facility that could secure the future of the club for the next 40, 50, 60 years?

 

[BoroMart]

Ryan Giles was their most expensive signing in the PL.

They haven't spent particularly loads this season (but did sign the lad from Cardiff for 11M) All pretty tame stuff compared to our bonkers spree under Monk.

We have actually spent more this season in terms of transfer fees.

We did that spree based on sales they haven’t sold anyone, but I digress, they’ve spent big by compared to nearly every other current side during the last 18 months and certainly double what we did in that spell and we had to sell some of our better players to fund it, they kept there’s.

We’ve spent about 22m last summer and this summer but sold rogers and akpom to fund it.

They’ve spent about 40m but not sold anyone of note other than ogbene to fund it.

So I think it’s a fair summary that they’ve invested pretty badly over that time compared to us

I’ve got absolutely nothing against them mind, their promotion was an outstanding achievement, IMHO they haven’t really made much of it and are at risk of undoing all that good work they did

 

[equaliser]

...was a real turning point for us - in a bad way. We'd been on a brilliant run but the outside chance of closing the gap on Sheff U had gone, and Carrick decided to (we thought) rest Akpom and a couple of others. Luton had been grinding out 1-0 victories for months and after they luckily beat us that night would eventually pip us to third place. We fell away, losing to Rotherham, drawing at home to Coventry and then losing to them in the play-offs. Luton, historically. got promoted. Fair play to them, I thought they were a breath of fresh air in their one season up there - contrast to us under Karanka.

It would be nice if this Saturday's match could close that chapter, and we give them the beating we really should have given them. We were the better team that season - we scored 84 goals to their 57 - and of course, we had to semi-break up the side, while they went from strength to strength. I like Luton - working class town, good loyal fans, canny manager - but hopefully, it's our time now. There's nothing to fear in this league but we need to start putting a string of results together. If we do, we can have what we thought was in our grasp two seasons ago, but which started to fade from view that night...

Well, it definitely had the feel of a 'statement' win today, a victory for Carrick's calm method. It feels like, quality-wise, we are back to the level we showed that season. There's no reason why we can't push on now. Scoring goals is the key. We scored a lot two seasons ago and having that knowledge/confidence that you'll score means conceding doesn't undermine confidence in such a fatal way,

I did fear the worst when I saw the teamsheet, but we got our noses in front, consolidated quickly and from then on we were purring. If we have luck with injuries, we can be top two, maybe even champions....

 

[Marvanelli]

Sorry. But that Luton team is beyond a joke. They’ve been fortunate to earn over £150m off PL in 18 months and that’s what they have to show for it?

That club has zero ambition and they are embarrassing.

Not a chance they’re anywhere near a team fighting for the top 6.

They are much much closer to going down.

Shambolic decisions that club have made since their day at Wembley.

They might have invested in their stadium and facilities. But what’s the point if they refuse to sort out the mess on the field.

I wouldn’t have a single player of them from today. There’s only Doughty that I’d probably have, as for the rest, they wouldn’t even make our bench.

 

[equaliser]

I wouldn’t have a single player of them from today. There’s only Doughty that I’d probably have, as for the rest, they wouldn’t even make our bench.

Doughty would be a perfect addition given our left back woes.

We can sign him when we go up.

 

[Linny]

That made for entertaining matches, it's why many people watch football.

Most neutrals don't watch the game to see a defence hold on to a 1-0 defeat, they watch to see goalmouth action, goals and a bit of excitement. Most people watching live games on Sky or TNT don't follow the teams that are playing.

Luton were praised for being part of those games. It makes some of our fans bitter.

It’s your bitterness towards Karanka that is coming to the fore again. It’s a strange axe to grind.