I get that he was a short term appointment after the Alex Neil debacle, but surely the club can see how well he works with these young lads, not to mention how good the football is
first leg: slow start but got our game together and then they were never going to score, always had that feeling we really needed at least another goal to take down there...ref was ok but they should have had one lad sent off but at least getting his cards out early put an end to their game plan, maybe why we also took control. second leg: one thing i will give luton is that they came at us from the off and shackled our game, i was quite impressed by the hard work from them but then the sly shirt holding/hanging onto arms/sly kicks became more and more obvious and that guy on corners simply there to obstruct/block/hang onto patto was ridiculous, he pretty much stood right in front of patto or backed into him every time at one point he literally had both arms around him and the ref did nothing. i am usually the first to congratulate a team that did a good job against us as losing to a good team is nothing to be ashamed about but losing to a team that just reminded me of the 'div 3 scrappers' is never easy, i expected the 'bullying' against the lads and have nothing against it, anyone would use size advantage and therei s nothing to say they 'had to give us a chance'...it is a physical game, but to resort to those constant sly fouls and getting away with them every time was too much, it might have worked in div 3 and it seems to have worked in the championship but it will never work in the premier (should they make it). now that rant is out of the way, anyone else think if this game was a week after the first leg we would have fared better...very lethargic, passing was dreadful, seemed low on effort until much later in the game and yet i cannot and will not blame them for any of it. people say about ross being injured, they seem to forget we had both strikers out for weeks at one time then simms was 'recalled' by everton (and probably wrecked his learning), i think we may have started with a 'regular' back four but that did not last long and the only ones we have had have not been 'proper' CB/CH's, the midfield has carried a few injuries along the way but mainly held up to the task but evans and embelton have lost a few games...it is no wonder we had the youngest team on the pitch so many times we just did not have anyone experienced to come in. MotM for me is, once again ekwah...with a close neil, both seemed to have a bit more fight about them on a night when our game was well stifled and our passing was amiss. finally, many, many thanks for these match threads RTB...really look forward to them and the following discussions.
Two things we cannot do is defend crosses and beat a battling team, crap end to the season that shambolic and Mowbray will be pleased we are not playing the Boro, really pissed of with that attitude of the players but we never win championship play offs and never will.
I think it was a one season thing with TM anyway, probably at his request but the club had to announce a longer contract after the whole Neil contract debacle. Speake soon mate.
Sacking Mowbray would be madness. Give him a more well rounded squad, a season with fewer injuries which is bound to be the case and he'll have us up there again. I do trust the club but replacing Mowbray would really make me wonder. The bloke is smashing it.
As a bit of a tangent, I would like to thank @RTB for all his hard work for this season in creating threads like these. Looking forward to the first of the new season
Seems a shame if TM is out, but got to admire the ambition if they think there's someone better for the long term.
Gooch is one of the leaders in dressing room and in pitch battles you want your leaders on the pitch. Also Anderson looks like a twig, needs a summer in the gym.
Needs a season in league one, if it’s true we’re after Cashin from derby I’d be tempted to offer Anderson on loan as part of the deal
Looks like TM and Speakman have fallen out from a philosophy perspective (I’m probably wrong and reading too much between lines)
I haven't seen that much of him but he looks like he needs intensive time in the gym to bulk up more than a loan. I think he's looked reliable when we've brought him on, despite being built like a Twiglet factory reject. Presumably at some point Danny Batth looked like that.
If the stories about VAR being brought into the championship next season are true, they'll get crucified next season. And VAR is in for the play off final, so who knows there.
Speakman does seem stubborn enough that if he intended purely for Mowbray to see this season out until a proper long term first choice becomes identified and available, that he would follow through with that no matter how well Mowbray did. Im against it. But I can see Speakman doing it. And it sure as hell ties in with Mowbrays comment ties in with “politicians who think they know better”
