Luton Town v Oxford United 15/8

[Kenneth E End]

Big game this, early in the season as two of the favoured teams go head to head at Kenilworth Road. Both teams come off fantastic victories on Tuesday night in the 1st Round of the League Cup against Brentford and Bristol City.

Luton have tried to use as many of their first teamers as possible, and with a last minute equaliser against a tricky Accrington side and the impressive win last night with players that aren't automatic first teamers, John Still and his management team will have a headache with what team to pick. One slight concern injury wise is the status of Stephen O'Donnell - impressive at full back, he may not be risked after picking up a knock versus Bristol City.

I think he'll go with this... (but really it could be anything!)

Subs: Justham, Potts, O'Brien, McQuoid, Guttridge, Benson, McGeehan.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Well I no longer have a clue what team we will go with, but I can almost guarantee that it won't be that one!!! McCourt and Green as wing backs, crikey, glad you aren't our tactician Kenny!

3-5-2 worked very well against Bristol, but it'll be a very different game on Saturday. Oxford don't play 3-5-2 either and Still seems to use that formation almost exclusively to "match up" against another team that does play it rather than his own "Plan A". I reckon Ruddock will be on the bench, he came through 90 minutes on Tuesday which is his first full competitive game in about a year I would guess so I think we'll look to break him in a bit gently. I think we'll probably revert to a back 4 with Cuthbert at right back and Griff on the left (for me Griff is still solidly ahead of Potts at the moment).

I will be a bit gutted if Marriott doesn't start, but I also won't be surprised. I can see Still starting with CMS and Benson and using Marriott as an impact sub. He made some comments on 3CR after Tuesday's win along the lines of not wanting to overburden a 20 year old with expectation etc. I hope I'm wrong though, he was so good on Tuesday and his confidence is sky-high.



On a different note, Oxford's ticket sales so far have been properly, properly tinpot (570 as of yesterday I believe). Maybe the result at Brentford will prompt some late changes of heart.

 

[Sergei from IT]

This may well change - we have a new player having a medical tomorrow who, if signed, will probably replace rose.

 

[mase]

Player in question is former Everton youngster John Lundstrem, be surprised to see him start though.

Currently only 650 tickets sold. I have a car of three of us heading down though, looking forward to it, even if I do think you'll be too strong for us.

 

[Chippy]

Praying for a nice home league win to follow up Tuesday's effort. A good start is something we need I feel.

Fancy us to steal it 2-1 in an unconvincing performance, which I would happily settle for.

Less than 700 by the way. Pathetic

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

This will be a tough game I feel, Oxford look a decent side on paper and tipped to do well by many.

Interested to see how we line up as I really don't have a clue anymore, intrigued by the possibilities up front in particular, Benson and Mackail Smith to rekindle their old partnership or perhaps even Mackail Smith and Marriott, probably too similar though.

 

[oakroader]

hope we don't have our own "tinker man" to criticize in months to come....i for one,would gladly settle for a successful 2nd half of the season where Still's commitment to keeping the same team proves correct rather than trying to pander to us armchair managers choosing the team on his behalf match by match.

 

[Kenneth E End]

This will be a very difficult game tomorrow, but I just don't rate Michael Appleton as a manager - up against John Still, one of the best managers in the lower divisions. This fixture last year was played totally the wrong way by Oxford and we exploited it.

 

[oakroader]

Poxford actually have a very strong backroom staff behind Appleton.they have ex twatford captain les Taylor and Derek fazackerley ex England coach along side Kevin Keegan. I reckon they will be there or thereabouts ...godamit!!!!!

 

[Kenneth E End]

Bit of a strange occurrence; Brentford play Bristol City today, who lost to Oxford and Luton on Tuesday night, who also play each other today!

Oxford have sold around 860 tickets for today's game, which is a bit disappointing considering the distance between the two clubs. It again proves that we're right in only giving 1000 tickets to every team in the division. Looking at an attendance of around 9,000 today.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Like what Oxford have done with their kit this year, maybe for the 2017/18 season we could do something similar as an excuse for dropping the Orange.

 

[oakroader]

hark at gok wan here...

 

[Judge Dredd]

Oxford have sold around 860 tickets for today's game, which is a bit disappointing considering the distance between the two clubs. It again proves that we're right in only giving 1000 tickets to every team in the division. Looking at an attendance of around 9,000 today.

Where does the 860 figure come from? I've seen a couple of people mention it on Outlaws, but the last update on Oxford's official twitter (Friday morning) said they had 290 left, which would translate to about 750 sold.

Either way, it's a second disappointing following in a row from Oxford. Funny as their forum were kicking off hard about us changing the allocation to 1,000 last season, yet have failed to fill it both times! No doubt all the usual excuses will be out - "but Luton's a shithole... the police are mean to us... there's nowhere to paaaaark"

 

[Kenneth E End]

Where does the 860 figure come from? I've seen a couple of people mention it on Outlaws, but the last update on Oxford's official twitter (Friday morning) said they had 290 left, which would translate to about 750 sold.

Either way, it's a second disappointing following in a row from Oxford. Funny as their forum were kicking off hard about us changing the allocation to 1,000 last season, yet have failed to fill it both times! No doubt all the usual excuses will be out - "but Luton's a shithole... the police are mean to us... there's nowhere to paaaaark"

Saw it on Oxford's forum - if parking is one of their excuses, Luton has nothing on Oxford! If you don't get there an hour before, you're stuffed. Had to walk about 30 minutes last year to get to my car. And obviously there was the infamous traffic warden issue the previous time we went down there.

 

[Sergei from IT]

Bit of a strange occurrence; Brentford play Bristol City today, who lost to Oxford and Luton on Tuesday night, who also play each other today!

Oxford have sold around 860 tickets for today's game, which is a bit disappointing considering the distance between the two clubs. It again proves that we're right in only giving 1000 tickets to every team in the division. Looking at an attendance of around 9,000 today.

What you failed to mention is those 860 have to be less than 5 ft 3 to be able to sit in the Oakroad end..
Get the facilites up to standard then more people would be interested.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

I never understand the parking excuse. When I come in from outside Luton in the car I normally get there about half hour before kick off and get a space in one of the roads about 5/10 minutes walk from the ground off Ashburnham Road with no issue. Bigger games I normally have to park up that hill but it's not far at all really.

From my point of view there is plenty of street parking to be had if you know where to look an aren't lazy.

 

[Judge Dredd]

What you failed to mention is those 860 have to be less than 5 ft 3 to be able to sit in the Oakroad end..
Get the facilites up to standard then more people would be interested.

That piss poor excuse fell under the catch-all "luton is a shit hole". Just stand like every other person in the Oak and the legroom is no issue. Who sits down at away games anyway?

 

[oakroader]

if the hatters beat Poxford will our fans consider the league's all done and dusted ....nope,we wont..but if they beat us will they consider themselves champions in waiting ??

 

[Judge Dredd]

Tyler :-(

Got what we deserved in the end for being so negative in the last 20 mins. Crazy tactical decision to switch to a narrow diamond too, invited their full backs to push on. Kenny End jinxed us by bigging up John Still's tactical nous, that was an awful decision from him.

Should have put the game to bed before half time really, CMS missed two glorious chances. McGeehan missed a sitter a minute before the equaliser too, although it would have flattered us big time based on the second half.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Draw was probably fair but having been 2-0 up its tough to take. We started so well as well really high tempo and Oxford where really struggling to live with it, Mackail Smith had a great chance that he should have tucked away in that period.

Second half we were very, very poor, 2nd goal whilst good tenacity from Mcgeehan (bad defending too) was very much against the run of play and tactically I'm not sure what Still was thinking in the second half. Heard on the radio he's been having a go Griffiths after the game in the huddle but he needs to take a look a himself as he got it wrong and in my opinion the tactical changes he made are why we threw it away.

Also what the hell where we playing at keeping the ball in the corner with 10 minutes to go?! Especially as Oxford had struggled to defend corners at times. Deserved to concede those 2 goals just for that negativity!

 

[Vanni]

Like what Oxford have done with their kit this year, maybe for the 2017/18 season we could do something similar as an excuse for dropping the Orange.

I like this classic one a lot -

and the 80's ones are good looking too, though the second one has a lot of blue imo.

 

[Kenneth E End]

I'm positive despite throwing away a 2 goal lead like that. The first goal we can do nothing about - our luck wasn't in on that aspect. But we invited the pressure on and after our second just totally went to sleep and took our feet off the gas. A game of fractions - if McGeehan buries the chance he had at 2-1 up just before their equaliser we'd be toasting a very good victory right now.

Very naïve at times - timewasting with 10 minutes to go in the corner was never going to achieve anything apart from putting yourself under pressure. It was negative.

Nathan Doyle was very poor today, uncharacteristically. He seemed half a yard off the pace - needs to improve on that fitness to stay in the team, which he'll be lucky to do on Tuesday night.

Positive though is that the first 30 minutes we played some sensational football, which is good thing going forward. We will get better as these players get to know each other a lot better.

 

[SVH]

Don't worry Luton fans, we know how you feel today.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Does anyone know why Alex McDonald's header was ruled out by the referee? Absolutely nothing wrong with it; he just got ahead of O'Donnell who didn't attack the ball at all.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Clear foul for me, he puts one hand on top of each of O'Donnell's shoulders and pushes himself up while ensuring SO'D couldn't jump himself. Ref blew up before the ball had even hit the back of the net and rightly so.

 

[LordJord]

Is there a reason oxford didn't wear their home kit? I get it's an away game but looked on TV to clash a fair bit!

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Is there a reason oxford didn't wear their home kit? I get it's an away game but looked on TV to clash a fair bit!

Just seen some highlights and it does look like a clash. In the flesh it didn't really though.

 

[Sergei from IT]

Clear foul for me, he puts one hand on top of each of O'Donnell's shoulders and pushes himself up while ensuring SO'D couldn't jump himself. Ref blew up before the ball had even hit the back of the net and rightly so.

Absolutely right. Just the same way as Wilkinson held down Mullins to score the opening goal.
I do wish referees were more consistent.

I'll concede the first 20/25 minutes to Luton but apart from that they never really got a look in. Another 5 minutes play and we would have won by a couple of goals at least.

 

[Chippy]

Absolutely right. Just the same way as Wilkinson held down Mullins to score the opening goal.
I do wish referees were more consistent.

I'll concede the first 20/25 minutes to Luton but apart from that they never really got a look in. Another 5 minutes play and we would have won by a couple of goals at least.

Are you ill?

 

[mase]

Absolutely right. Just the same way as Wilkinson held down Mullins to score the opening goal.
I do wish referees were more consistent.

I'll concede the first 20/25 minutes to Luton but apart from that they never really got a look in. Another 5 minutes play and we would have won by a couple of goals at least.

I don't think we'd have won by a couple.

I do think bar the opening 15-20 minutes, we were better in the first half bar the stupid goal to give away. Paddy McCourt looked like e was going to take the piss all afternoon but quietened down after about 15 minutes. CMS is a cut above this league and is my bet for top scorer. Referee was infuriating for the away fans, so inconsistent with his decisions.

Second half was much of the same although we never looked threatening until the last 15 minutes, which is annoying. Luton fans were pretty quiet up until they were 2-0 up and then they decided to make a bit of noise. The only times they sang in the first half was when they were goaded by the away fans for being quiet.

Only around 700 of us but made enough noise and observed the minutes applause both before and during the game Get more leg room on a Ryanair flight though! I'm 6 foot 3 so very pleased we were able to stand all game. Also, Bar32 is a dive but great jukebox!