It's not often that a team starts the season six games unbeaten but gets booed off the pitch for at least half of those matches. Then again, it's not often that a team sitting in third place in the league plays so poorly for four of those matches, only conceding one goal in the process. To put it in a nice way, it's been a bizarre opening to the season. What I expected to be our toughest challenge (Mansfield at home) we coped comfortably with, and that performance left me with confidence for the season ahead and eagerly awaiting the rest of the season. Four matches later, that confidence has mostly disappeared, despite 8 points out of 12, which is still probably promotion form, or at least play-off form.
Looking at the match before, it looked as if a visit to Kettering would always be a tricky proposition, and it turned out that way. However, it was only a difficult match because the midfield and forwards made it difficult, not to mention the tactics we employed. Luton lined up with the same centre-backs that hadn't conceded in two matches, but Blackett and Reynolds were dropped in favour of Keane and Murray. Newton replaced Basham and played on the right, with Burgess on the left and Nicholls and Jarvis in the centre, and Craddock and Gallen up front. An early change had to be made though, with Burgess being replaced by Blackett after a late challenge from a Kettering player. And it was the home side that had the better of the first half, with Tyler clawing one effort off the line and pushing another shot from outside the area behind the post. Tyler was in great form - not so the rest of the team. The rest of the team lacked creativity and vision when going forward, leading to few chances being created. A mix-up in the Kettering back line saw Newton given a half chance that was comfortably saved by Harper, who wasn't tested at all in the first half. The general tactic seemed to be to lump the ball up to Gallen in the air and hope that he would miraculously outjump Exodus Geogahan and Ian Roper in the air. For most of the first half the two large and immobile centre-backs were at ease with everything that Luton had, and didn't have to use much energy to deal with Luton going forward. So with the team booed off again at half time, for the third straight match at least, we hoped that the break would help us regroup and come out in the second half ready to attack.
There was some improvement after the break, but not a lot. The closest we came was with a shot from the edge of the area from Gallen that went just over the bar after good work by Murray on the wing. Also, just into the second half, Roper decided to try and shield the ball back to Harper with Craddock just behind him. Harper couldn't clear very well, and Craddock poked the ball just wide of an empty net. In fairness to Craddock, from my view he was stretching to reach the ball and was faced with a difficult angle, so I'm not sure it was as much of a gilt-edged chance as it looked. However, it was as close as Luton or Craddock came to the goal all day. The only other good thing about the second half was that Kettering weren't able to muster any good chances either, and the defence and Tyler coped well with everything that was thrown at them. But the tactics employed by Luton were shocking when looking at the Kettering team. The Kettering team were the biggest team we've played this season, yet we continued to lump the ball forward and hope that Craddock or Gallen would win a header. And with Roper and Geogahan not that good on the floor, you'd have thought that any time they had the ball at their feet, they'd be put under pressure, but that wasn't the case. Donnelly was introduced for the ineffective Craddock with about half an hour to play, and within two minutes he was putting defenders under pressure and forcing them into panicky clearances. In fact whenever we did do this, we made their defenders panic a little, but unfortunately instances like that were few and far between. Just like Forest Green, any goal that was going to come would have been from a defensive error, and we didn't put enough pressure on them to force an error.
So after a trip to Northamptonshire, Luton gained a point, but the performance left a considerable amount to be desired. Kettering weren't the greatest of teams, yet they looked comfortable when dealing with us, and we surely should have tested them much much more than we managed. After the Gateshead match, the general feeling was that we can't have many games where we play like that if we want to win the league. We've now had three more matches like that. Saturday, we looked dangerous when we got the ball down and played - why couldn't we do it more often? I don't mean to be disrespectful to any of the teams we've played so far, but we know our players are individually better than theirs, they simply aren't showing it. Gallen ran out of steam with about half an hour left - as he has done so often last season and this season, so why was it Craddock that was replaced when he had more to offer? He may have played badly, but Gallen was never going to do anything in that second half. I still think Gallen should be moved back to midfield to assist the rest of the absent midfield. Jarvis did look better than he had done, but still didn't look that strong. Nicholls was off the pace considerably and absent a lot of the time, and his corners were awful. And whenever the wingers received the ball, they received little back-up and support. Wouldn't it be an idea to give them someone to pass to? I don't think the booing would have been so loud had it not been the fourth game in succession where we looked clueless. The right words are coming out of the dressing room onto the website and into the media, but nothing seems to be being said or done on the training ground or in the dressing room.
Ratings:
Mark Tyler - MOTM. The only player to get applauded off. Tyler is already showing that he is an excellent signing, and we surely won't make let in too many with him in goal. 8
Keith Keane - Maybe would have been better utilised in the centre, but apart from the incident where he got booked, did his job well at the back, although didn't contribute much going forward. 7
Freddie Murray - Looked fine at left-back but was moved forward after the injury to Burgess, where he did very little. 6
George Pilkington - Another solid performance at the back from Pilks. Since his mistake at Mansfield that gifted them their opener he has rarely put a foot wrong. 7.5
Alan White - May be criticised for his distribution, but surely if that was excellent, he'd be playing at least a level above. Looked solid again with Pilks at the back - yet to concede a goal in Luton colours this time around. 7
Kevin Nicholls - Absent for much of the match, except for when he took set pieces, which were generally rubbish. Looks off the pace a little bit, and he may not be match fit yet. 5
Rossi Jarvis - Did put some challenges in, but showed no creativity in the centre. 6
Adam Newton - Wasn't the dangerous winger we saw against Mansfield, was given little support and kept drifting infield in frustration. 6
Andy Burgess - Went off injured - did very little before then but slightly harsh to judge him by that. 6
Kevin Gallen - Wasn't helped by long balls being lumped towards him - surely we must have realised he'll never beat Roper in the air? Would be better utilised in midfield in my opinion. 6
Tom Craddock - Again, wasn't helped by the long balls, but he probably didn't sweat much, as he didn't seem keen to chase things. 5.5
Subs
Shane Blackett - Solid enough at the back, rarely ventured forwards. 6.5
George Donnelly - If he is 6 foot 2 then I think I can qualify for being 7 foot. Looked lively in the first few minutes of his arrival, but we didn't get him into the match after that. 6.5
One other thing worth mentioning - did anyone tell the police that it was Kettering vs Luton playing and not West Ham vs Millwall? With the presence outside the ground, you wondered whether it was actually a non-league game they were policing. Having police dogs and a helicopter were just a complete waste quite frankly. No wonder policing costs are so high for some matches when they haven't got a clue what they're doing - all they're doing is making sure that there was something for people to get aggravated about. Their tactics for considering which games will involve trouble is obviously to go on to internet messageboards, see a post from someone like 'Kettering Ken' saying how they're ready to fight or whatever, see a few Luton fans sarcastically reply, and then they react as if the posters were the heads of raging bloodthirsty mobs. Still, there was no trouble on the day, so no doubt they'll take the credit for that.
