After yet another boring week of no interesting football (the international break) City were ready to face Luton Town at Kenilworth and attempt to make it 11 games unbeaten. The Robins sat in 7th place before the weekend but are now 9th after a disappointing 3-0 defeat. All 3 goals came in the second half after an end to end first 45.
A couple of nice saves from Dan Bentley kept the Robins in it at the break. Wrongly, in my opinion, Lee Johnson did not make a half time substition. I was keen for Eliasson or O’Dowda to come on and give us width and some decent deliveries for Fam. No change came though, and we were sloppy early on in the second half. Then an absolute gem from Luton’s Mpanzu put us one behind, and just five minutes later a questionable offside call was given Luton’s way as Harry Cornick’s smart finish when 1 on 1 with Bentley put us 2 behind.
In between the two goals Lee made a double change. Moore out – O’Dowda in. Palmer out – Eliasson in. I thought this was smart from LJ, but only a few minutes later he replaced Diedhiou with debutant Rodri. I did not understand why he put two wingers who were fantastic crossers of the ball on, then taken off our best headerer of the ball and our target man.
Another goal came when Ash Williams put the ball into the net in the 90+3 minute. The final whistle could not have come sooner. By the end of the game lots of our players heads had dropped and we lost fight, instead of trying to snatch one back when the score was 2-0, we let the game slip and the final score could have been 5/6-0. Very poor performance all round. Very few bright moments from players in red shirts. Full credit to Luton, they capatilized on a shambolic performance and fully deserved a 3-0 win.
In other news, Tomas Kalas has been working on his fitness, as has Korey Smith. Unfortunately, Adam Nagy’s injury update is not as positive, Lee Johnson has said: “Not close. Very very frustrating, I think he’s had an injection today that puts him out for at least 10 days of doing nothing because of steroid,” confirmed Johnson. Did it happen/get worse going away with Hungary? “Well he’s worse than when he went away,” answered Johnson.
