Oh my gosh….. Please don’t wake me up from this lovely dream I’m having… It’s one where our beloved football team have gone from being weak in defence and impotent in attack to near rock solid at the back and a real threat, with a never say die attitude in attack… Just how long this dream can keep going remains to be seen but right now, I’m happy to just keep living in the moment. Fresh from our last gasp turn around against the high flying Canaries at the CCS, our in-form blue shirted wonders now face the tough prospect of a visit to the ‘quaint’ surrounds of Kenilworth Road and a match against recently relegated Luton Town. Will the Hatters be doffing their caps to us as we waltz away with another 3 points come the final whistle? Who knows, but sometimes, just sometimes dreams can come true…. Just going to double check – ah yes, this is the Bluebirds board this time Who Are You? The last time we faced Luton was of course a couple of seasons back as a result of their unexpected promotion to the Premier League at the end of the 2022-2023 season. They made a good fist of trying to stay in the top flight last season and enjoyed some memorable games (a thumping win against Brighton 4-0, a draw against Liverpool, the remarkable 4-4 v Newcastle and pushing Arsenal all the way in a 3-4 defeat all spring to mind), but sadly for the Hatters, the wins were just too few and they eventually started to run out of steam towards the last few weeks of the season, seeing them finish in 18th spot, 6 points from safety. Since relegation, the club have stuck by gaffer Rob Edwards, which was good to see, however, given their somewhat shaky start to this season, just how much longer that loyalty will remain is potentially coming into question. Edwards is of course a proud Welshman – hailing from that well known Welsh town of Telford. He played 15 times for Wales and during his playing career clocked up over 100 appearances for Wolves, a club he’d go on to take charge of as interim manager during the 2016 season for just 2 games. He cut his teeth managing Telford before going on to do an excellent job at Forest Green. His success there took him onto an ill-fated spell at Watford where he lasted just 11 games. Since taking the role at Luton he has clocked up 90 games in charge. The Luton squad still contains many of their bigger/better players from their Premier League campaign and have further added to that squad with the captures of big names such as Victor Moses and of course our very own Mark McGuinness. They have retained key strikers Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo, as well as the experienced Tahith Chong and Jordan Clarke in midield. Another ex-Bluebird link is of course Alfie Doughty, who it must be said had a decent Premier League campaign. Just as an aside, it'll be a sad day when Luton move away from Kenilworth Road... it may be outdated as a stadium in modern terms but it is definitely one of the more interesting grounds nowadays - even if it hasn't changed much in it's time. Last Time Out & Form Last time out saw the Bluebirds slip to a narrow 1-0 loss at Kenilworth Rd in what was Sabri Lamouchi’s fist game in charge of the Capital City club. Luton’s winner came in the 88th minute courtesy of Adebayo and was a bitter blow for the Bluebirds who up to that point had given a good account of themselves under their new boss. In saying that, Adebayo passed up a golden chance to give the home side the lead earlier in the contest, seeing his 70th penalty well saved by Ryan Allsop, whilst the Bluebirds passed up several opportunities to breach Ethan Horvath’s goal at the other end in a close fought match. Form wise, it has to be said it’s a little surprising just how slow a start Luton have had on their return to this level. A 1-4 reverse to fellow relegation sufferers on the opening day dented confidence levels and it took until the 5th game of the season for Luton to record a league win. Since then they have managed just a further 2 wins and 2 draws and seem to be defensively shaky, and with more defeats at home than wins there could just be a glimmer of hope that our boys can keep their unbeaten run going. In, Out Or No Sign Of Them About After the forced re-shuffle on the weekend I’d fully expect more changes for this one. It’s almost certain Perry Ng will be back in his regular right back berth, despite Andy Rinomhota deputising surprisingly well on Saturday (he was apparently picked specifically for his athleticism, pace and strength – a good spot by Omer Riza). Alex Robertson remains a doubt though sadly with his troublesome hamstring and I can’t see him being risked, so he is likely to miss out again. Odds are Siopis will continue in his place. After his goal scoring and game changing cameo on Saturday, it will be interesting to see if Callum Robinson is risked from the off. I suspect he will be just because our movement with him in the side may well trouble Luton’s faltering defence. Predicted Starting 11 Alnwick Ng Chambers Goutas O’Dowda Tanner Colwill Turnbull Siopis Robinson El Ghazi The Odds Bods Oh it’s an itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, bloody useless, Warren Feeney that we have showing the odds for this game…. In a combined 97 games for us and Luton he managed just 8 goals (0 for us) – that’s up there with Ugbo I reckon! Top Boy Top Trumps As an ex-Bluebird central defender comes up against his old team mate, I just had to compare the two of them. Considering Dimi was free, I think we got a good deal and the profit on McGuinness should be well worth the sale in the long run. Match Day Melody Hopefully our boys can go the Full Monty and strip the Hatters of all 3 points…. Blooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds!!!
FFS Brizzle. Don’t mention the words impotent and rock solid or Masky will get confused! Another masterpiece.
Despite the **** poured upon you for one small error, you continue to shower us with delights! Long may it last and may the **** stirrers rot in hell!!!
No Robertson at all, no Reindorf on the bench (not surprising given he played for 21s). Attacking options from the bench look light. Cardiff City XI: Alnwick; Ng, Goutas, Chambers, O'Dowda; Siopis, Turnbull; Tanner, Colwill, El Ghazi; Robinson. Subs: Horvath, Daland, Fish, Bagan, Rinomhota, Willock, Ashford, Meite, Kanga.
Chuckle Brothers on the bench again. Absolutely pointless. A better balanced bench apart from those 2 clowns.
Predictable starting eleven. A predictable starting X1. Indeed the forward options off the bench aren’t that great
Really not quite clicking for us tonight. We're really missing Robertson by the looks of it. Can't seem to hold the ball well enough. Don't know if it's my imagination but the ball seems to be bouncing really high off the turf too... Not as bad as their plastic pitch days though.
Ah well, it was going to happen sooner or later. Great run. Dust ourselves off and go again. Knew I'd jinx things by predicting a win.
Ran out of gas. Too many players not at the races. Unsure what Riza’s plan was really? Breaking it down to key moments centred on El Ghazi who missed a golden chance early on and in the same penalty area lost Brown to give him a free header. Horrible game to watch. Bump in the road so now need to get their mojo back on Saturday. Alex Robertson being fit would help the cause no end.
Yep, we were never likely to go the rest of the season unbeaten (however nice that would have been). Credit to Luton, they scrapped for every ball and just never let us settle into our game for any prolonged period. That, combined with us being a little off colour too was enough to swing it in their favour. We had the odd moment where we could have done better but you can forgive them for not maintaining the standards we've set recently, a lot of football has been played by the same players... It's all about how we bounce back again now.
We need to get a result to get us away from a pack of teams hovering above the trap door. There are just 4 points separating 9th to 22nd.
