Andy Munro watches Blues lose to Luton Town.
There wasn’t much in this match, but if one side deserved to edge it then it was the visitors. When they attacked, they did so in numbers with midfield support, which was something Blues never really achieved. The normally reliable Gary Gardner had a game to forget whilst Tahith Chong continually struggled playing on his ‘wrong’ side, promising a lot but delivering very little. George Hall looked like a little boy lost rather than a multi million pound prospect and the only player ‘at it’ was the non stop Hannibal Mejbri, who showed more energy than the rest of the midfield put together.
The back line was generally decent, with Maxime Colin again the pick and Emmanuel Longelo good going forward but too often defensively caught out. John Ruddy behind was solid enough and had no chance with Luton’s goal but his distribution was unusually poor and could only be described as Etheridge-like.
However, the main problem was up front where the Juke battled manfully but with his increasing lack of pace he needed both midfielders and Scott Hogan near him to take advantage of his flick ons. Hogan missed a sitter in the first half with what can only be described as a fifty pence-piece header and although he hit the bar in the second he again looked off the pace and lightweight. Unless loanee Reda Khadra recovers from injury, it’s going to be hard to put any half-decent defence under pressure.
Two massive games against Wigan and Rotherham beckon and we need a minimum of four points if we aren’t going to endure another dose of squeaky bum as the season draws to a close. Is John Eustace the man to do it? Only time will tell. However this side was, on paper, more valuable than Luton’s so maybe they need a rocket up their posteriors Warnock-style and maybe JE is too nice to do it.