Luton Town v Aston Villa Mega Monster Thread

[Marlon's Hairy Wood]

How good did Grealish look!

His touch, and general composure on the ball was very impressive

If you didn't know any of the team you'd have assumed he was one of our star players

[PeterWithesShin]

If we're playing like this in league games when we are fielding our strongest 11 i'll be bothered.

[pauliewalnuts]

I don't really care about the result. That doesn't matter.

What does matter is what sort of progress we make in improving on last season. Last season our massive problem was the defence, and so far this pre season we've seen exactly the same weaknesses that cost us so much last year.

It isn't encouraging.

I'm not even sure of the validity of the "it's all about fitness" / "their preparations are further ahead than ours" argument.

We keep seeing the same weakness as last season and in a few weeks it'll be Arsenal testing that defence, not a conference side.

Okore might prove himself to be very decent but if the other centre halves are Clark, Vlaar and Baker, then I am going to be worried.

[dave shelley]

The Noses lost 4-2 at Shrewsbury.

[mozza]

pre-season results dont count for much ...................a clean sheet and a win would have been nice though

[Goldie.7]

Well that was shit. Stop saying it's only a friendly when i play football 5 a side or a kick about i still put on my boots to play well. We were extremely poor and have been since we knew we were safe. Fact

[SoccerHQ]

I don't really care about the result. That doesn't matter.

What does matter is what sort of progress we make in improving on last season. Last season our massive problem was the defence, and so far this pre season we've seen exactly the same weaknesses that cost us so much last year.

It isn't encouraging.

I'm not even sure of the validity of the "it's all about fitness" / "their preparations are further ahead than ours" argument.

We keep seeing the same weakness as last season and in a few weeks it'll be Arsenal testing that defence, not a conference side.

Okore might prove himself to be very decent but if the other centre halves are Clark, Vlaar and Baker, then I am going to be worried.

Lambert teams don't do defending. Look back to his previous clubs and even at Norwich when they were promoted twice I'm not sure even those defences were among the best.

As long as Benteke is fit and firing we will be o.k particularly as we conceded shed loads of goals in some of MON's seasons lets not forget.

[supertom]

Impressed with some of the youngsters today. Donacien, Robinson, Johnson and Grealish all did well.

Luna looks more solid than Bennett.

First half we had a focal point up front in Benteke, but lacked an impact in wide positions. In the second half/60 min onwards, it was the opposite. Some better work wide, and good movement around the box but no real CF presence.

I expected more from Carruthers. When he had the ball he did okay, but he didn't get in the game enough. He needs to work harder, and he needs to get out wide more. Burke didn't look ready.

Bacuna was all energy but erratic with his touch and passing. Delph and Sylla did okay. Gardner didn't impose himself on the game enough.

KEA was poor. Both central defence combinations were very poor. Webb struggled at left back too. I don't think he's ready yet. Westwood was unusually sloppy. Both keepers did okay, couldn't do anything about the goals.

The overall verdict?
We still desperately need a quality center-half. We are also crying out for a good number 10 style player too. Without those I think we could potentially struggle. With them, we can be comfortable and push for top half up to 7th.

[PeterWithesShin]

Well that was shit. Stop saying it's only a friendly when i play football 5 a side or a kick about i still put on my boots to play well. We were extremely poor and have been since we knew we were safe. Fact

It's a friendly. Fact.

[curiousorange]

I don't really care about the result. That doesn't matter.

What does matter is what sort of progress we make in improving on last season. Last season our massive problem was the defence, and so far this pre season we've seen exactly the same weaknesses that cost us so much last year.

It isn't encouraging.

I'm not even sure of the validity of the "it's all about fitness" / "their preparations are further ahead than ours" argument.

We keep seeing the same weakness as last season and in a few weeks it'll be Arsenal testing that defence, not a conference side.

Okore might prove himself to be very decent but if the other centre halves are Clark, Vlaar and Baker, then I am going to be worried.

Lambert teams don't do defending. Look back to his previous clubs and even at Norwich when they were promoted twice I'm not sure even those defences were among the best.

As long as Benteke is fit and firing we will be o.k particularly as we conceded shed loads of goals in some of MON's seasons lets not forget.

I wish people would stop saying that as some kind of a cure-all for a shit defence. If Lambert can't build a good defence then what the hell is he doing managing at the top level?

[pauliewalnuts]

Relying on scoring more when we are defending abysmally is only going to end in trouble

[PGW]

If i were Clark and Vlaar i'd have wished the stream had remained in a crashed state......that was embarrassing.

Not impressed by Bacuna either , more impressive were some of the kids - Johnson and Grealish.

Don't get me started on KEA!!!

It is only a friendly after all but signs not encouraging.....like to see some strikers fit for Crewe game.

[PaulWinch again]

I don't really care about the result. That doesn't matter.

What does matter is what sort of progress we make in improving on last season. Last season our massive problem was the defence, and so far this pre season we've seen exactly the same weaknesses that cost us so much last year.

It isn't encouraging.

I'm not even sure of the validity of the "it's all about fitness" / "their preparations are further ahead than ours" argument.

We keep seeing the same weakness as last season and in a few weeks it'll be Arsenal testing that defence, not a conference side.

Okore might prove himself to be very decent but if the other centre halves are Clark, Vlaar and Baker, then I am going to be worried.

Lambert teams don't do defending. Look back to his previous clubs and even at Norwich when they were promoted twice I'm not sure even those defences were among the best.

As long as Benteke is fit and firing we will be o.k particularly as we conceded shed loads of goals in some of MON's seasons lets not forget.

That's not acceptable, he has to turn to build a defence.

[Olneythelonely]

It was a terrible performance, regardless of the result. Looked like Clark was at fault to me but I can only assume Vlaar didn't call for it. Our defending is as bad as you can possibly imagine at times, is any work done on it?

Im not panicking just yet, but Okore is going to have to develop a very good partnership with one of Vlaar, Clark or Baker and very quickly.

Neither Luna or Bacuna look like improving us on that showing, but 30 minutes is nowhere near enough time to judge them.

Injuries are a massive worry too, particular with Benteke going off with a knock.

[not3bad]

I remember going to see a friendly against Peterborough this time last year.  We won 2-0 and one of the goals especially was liquid football.  Twenty passes leading to a Holman scorcher if I remember correctly.  Didn't mean a damn once the season started.