Player ratings

[Stoaty Ferret]

Kuipers - 7 Couldn't be blamed for goals, and commanded well
El Abd - 6 Worked hard but better in the middle now.
Mayo - 4 Made some shocking mistakes and general distribution was poor.
Mcshane - 6 Tries to do too much sometimes. Not his best game for us
Butters - 7 - Had a solid game and did OK against Howard.
Carpenter - 5 Looked well off the pace. Needs games to get back his fitness.
Hammond - 5 Another indifferent display and further evidence that Mcghee needs to strengthen in this area.
Carole - 7.5 Our main threat the whole game and covered very well for us defensively.
Hart - 6 Lumped too many passes and didn't run well enough with the ball, but was commited as always.
Mccammon - 6 Put himself about and hassled but didn't get the service
Turienzo - 4 On this evidence we should offload sharpish.

Subs -
Knight - 5 Little impact
Frutos - 7 Decent contribution on the leftflank
CKR - 7 Wish he had started, should have scored at the end of the 1st half, but has a good attitude and will be a good player for us in time.

Overall Luton were a good side and worked well as a unit. Brkovic and Nicholls and Foley had great games for them, and they deserved to win. MM made 5 changes (Charlie obviously couldn't play) from the QPR game and that led to a lack of cohesion in the side tonight. The way he uses the squad baffles me at times, but hopefully a win at Millwall will keep us on course.

 

[Zed Seagull]

[ MM made 5 changes (Charlie obviously couldn't play) from the QPR game and that led to a lack of cohesion in the side tonight. The way he uses the squad baffles me at times, but hopefully a win at Millwall will keep us on course. [/B]

has to rotate to rest players dont you think Stoaty? Hate to see us loose but saturday is a huge game. Some players will benefit from a rest. 4 games in 8 days is one hell of a schedule.

 

[Stoaty Ferret]

Agreed but still think we could have got something out of the game tonight. Turienzo hasn't seen the bench for months and then suddenly gets thrown on up front. What about Jake, Mcphee, even Harty up there with Mccammon.
I thought we'd get maybe a point tonight but we had no chance with the strikeforce he chose.

 

[e77]

Kuipers - 7 - Not to blame for the goals
El Abd - 7 - Solid enough. Has that gifts some defenders seem to have of getting long hoofs to find attackers.
Mayo - 4 - Off the pace. Positional sense let him down.
Mcshane - 6 - At fault for first goal.
Butters - 6 - Solid enough
Carpenter - 5 - Didn't offer leadership
Hammond - 5 - Chasing the game too much. Needs to learn to read it.
Carole - 8 - Our one attacking threat for ages and defended well.
Hart - 6 - Quiet match.
Mccammon - 6 - Tried hard but doesn't seem to happen.
Turienzo - 4 - Suspect this might be the last time we see him.

Subs -
Knight - 6 - Didn't get much service.
Frutos - 6 - Too late to change things.
CKR - 7 - Busy. Seemed to want it.

 

[London Irish]

Kuipers - 6 One good save in the second half, but little else to report

El Abd - 5 Struggled not just with his passing but both first-half goals came from his part of the pitch. Oddly enough looked better when switched over to LB
McShane - 6 Unusually tentative from him, odd to see him beaten that many times given the high standards he sets.
Butters - 7 - Agree with Stoaty, the most assured of our defenders on a bad night for our rearguard
Mayo - 5 Not a great game from him but he was up against a very underrated player in Morgan

Carole - 7 Our MOTM overall, but brought down eventually by an under-par team performance
Carpenter - 6 Competent display, our best player along with Carole early on, but a few stray passes when our shape got a bit more ragged after the hammer blow of the soft goals
Hammond - 5.5 Not involved enough but kept working
Hart - 6 Decent shift

McCammon - 6 Won his usual quota of headers and worked hard but without any real killer product
Turienzo - 6 Good to see him back and played a decent role in our early pressure before injury struck

Subs -
Knight - 5.5 Touched the ball 3 times I think
Frutos - 7 Lively cameo, a good response to McGhee leaving him out
CKR - 6 A cracking opening 15 minutes, then drifted out of the game and picked up another silly booking.

McGhee 6 Not a bad team selection, but a very promising opening was let down by poor and hesitant defending. The particular selection of these 4 strikers who have the "least" movement of our guys up front could be criticised in hindsight, the very impressive Luton centre-back duo mght have been more troubled by being moved around more by the pacier work of a Jake Robinson or OGH, but hindsight's a wonderful thing.

 

[London Irish]

Agreed but still think we could have got something out of the game tonight. Turienzo hasn't seen the bench for months and then suddenly gets thrown on up front. What about Jake, Mcphee, even Harty up there with Mccammon.
I thought we'd get maybe a point tonight but we had no chance with the strikeforce he chose.

While it's true we didn't look that menancing up front, and I think you are arguably right that McGhee might have come up with a better balanced front pairing, I think you really have to put the blame for tonight fairly and squarely on some very hesitant defending. We might have come back from one soft goal, but not two.

 

[London Irish]

Just watched some very interesting comments by McGhee on Seagulls World.

He accepts blame for the pairing of Big Mac and El Turi, (paraphrasing his words) not that each played that badly, but they didn't gel as a pairing.

Also he said El Abd showed he was more suited as a centre-back rather than a rightback, although ironically he did well as leftback, McGhee's words again.

Very reasonable comments and characteristic of the man that he accepts some blame for the under par display.

 

[Binney on acid]

Sounds like one of Kerry's better games.

 

[Schrödinger's Toad]

Kuipers 6 - Little to do, poor kicking.

Mayo 4 (Knight 6) - A nightmare, could have given away three goals on his own.
Butters 7 - Solid, good in the air.
McShane 6 - Made more mistakes than usual.
El Abd 6 - Defended well, still can't pass.

Carole 6 - Some good runs, but bottled tackles in crucial positions.
Hammond 5 - Started well but fell apart, at fault for third goal.
Carpenter 6 - Worked hard, did okay.
Hart 6 - Ditto.

McCammon 5 (Frutos 6) - Won a few headers, but poor in all other aspects, low work-rate.
Turienzo 6 (Kazim-Richards 7) - Worked hard, a couple of nice touches, shame he had to go off.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

There seems to be mixed feelings about Turienzo. From what I have heard and read, he didn't do too badly on his full debut up until he got taken off. Some nice touches, although there was a tendancy to stray offside.