Midfield?
Luton 1 Burnley 0, 5th September 1998
Firmo
We always win here, don’t we? We
enjoy coming here. We’d been a bit pissed off before the game that we hadn’t
been able to find a bookie where, given the goal inflation of the last couple of times,
we’d planned to slap a confident few quid on a 4-3 win. However, I checked the papers
the next day and it really was 1-0. Damn.
Early signs were not promising. By the time
we’d worked out who was playing where, we could see that Luton were all over us, and
it was easy to see why. Although we’d clearly come to play for a point, this was a
team selection which worked neither on paper nor pitch. With new signing Brian Reid
brought into the centre of defence alongside Brass and Swan, we were playing five at the
back that never for a minute looked like it might turn into three. This was largely
because the alleged wingbacks were Armstrong and Robertson, midfielders both. With two
wide players on top of this, and one of those the hopelessly out of form Paul Smith, we
had a central midfield comprising entirely one, and that of course was a habitual centre
forward played out of position. Oddly enough, this left the front two entirely isolated,
and with Payton having one of his less effectual games in the face of our long ball
tactics, our fate was pretty much sealed.
The only surprise was that it took as long as it
did to go behind. We did a reasonable job of weathering the storm in the first half, with
Reid impressing, Brass and Swan solid and Ward enjoying his usual quietly reasonable game.
However, they came close enough times to keep us worried, hitting the bar twice, and we
were relieved when half time came. We lacked any ability to win or hold the ball in
midfield, we couldn’t make use of it wide and the attack never had a chance to
maintain any kind of pressure. When they scored, it was consequently hard to imagine we
might get one back. It was entirely appropriate that the best player on the pitch should
play a substantial part in the goal, as he did in everything else. It’s a little
depressing, if predictable, to state that that player was of course Steve Davis. His
header was parried by Ward but not cleared, and Douglas has an easy task to score from the
rebound.
Perhaps by way of an admission that it
wasn’t really working, we pushed Swan up front for most of the second half, reverting
to four at the back and looking the better for it. In the battle of the number fives,
however, there was only one player in it, and time and again Davis won balls in the air
against Swan. Odd, I never rated his aerial ability that highly, but Davis has if anything
got better since he left, and all our talk of taking him back seems misplaced, not only
because we cannot afford him, but also because he can surely do better this time.
Luton had more chances, and towards the end we
came close twice. The petulant Jepson, who eventually got the booking he’d been
after, should have at least been on target when he headed wide in front of goal, and at
the last a Swan header was well saved and pushed onto the bar, before being cleared off
the line by the inevitable Steve Davis. But Smith wasted what corners we got and blasted
one late free kick from a promising spot over the bar. Smith’s position is looking
increasingly untenable, and it is strange that none of the subs were used. Ternent was
also disappointingly unanimated. Perhaps he was thinking about how quickly he could get
out of the ground to watch England play Sweden afterwards. England’s performance was
about as impressive as ours.
Afterwards, I attempted to break up a raging
argument between two of our members over who was the worse right back - Robertson or
Moore? I intervened with my peace-keeping formula: they’re both crap, whatever
position they’re played in. It looks more imperative than ever that we sign two
specialist full backs but, above all, a hard man in midfield. Has anyone explored the
possibility of cloning John Deary?
Apart from that, I sustained impressive
constellations of bruises on both knees, due to the hilariously inadequate seating
arrangements, which take no account of anyone ever wanting to leap out of their seats. I
hope that, by the time they fade away, we’ll have a midfield to speak of.
Team: Ward,
Robertson, Armstrong, Brass, Swan, Reid, Little, Jepson, Cooke, Payton, P Smith. SNU: C
Smith, Carr-Lawton, Scott.
