Swindon Town vs Luton Town Official Matchday Thread

[Arriba]

Their budgets are world's apart. Di canio had an open chequebook.

[Ticker45]

I have seen crap performances at the CG over many seasons but I cannot ever remember such a second half capitulation by a Swindon team before. Like most people on here I would suspect, just seeing ten outfield players give 100% in effort and graft would go a long way to being acceptable, but not the abysmal shrug of collective shoulders I witnessed yesterday after each goal was conceded.

It is painfully obvious to me that where I thought three players in the transfer window might be good enough to lift the team it looks more like we need at least six and that may be an underestimate.

[joteddyred]

Vigs hasn't looked great this season, but mainly because we know he can play better because we have seen him do so. So yes, poor attitude, maybe (coupled with shit man-management from Flitcroft), but to leap from that to "shit keeper" is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Massive overreaction.

This.  Fundamentally there was no real issue until the 4 match ban.  Can't help but think Flitcroft has actually created the issue by not giving him his place back when tbe ban was completed.

[normy]

During the second half I wondered whether the cause of our surrender was lack of fitness, or whether some of them don't have the engine to keep running and covering, or was it a mental thing. I would like to know if they are as fit as they can possibly be, which is all you can ask as a basis.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

Yet I saw them at Yeovil. Go 1 down early and won it with 2 late goals.

Let’s not forget that away from home we are a formidable team. It’s just so obvious that the style away from home is not suitable for playing at home.

We are not the only team suffering from home-itis. Bradford are similarly inept at Valley Parade yet very strong away. Exeter were similar last season.

[Legends-Lounge]

From PaulD. ‘Vigs hasn't looked great this season, but mainly because we know he can play better because we have seen him do so. So yes, poor attitude, maybe (coupled with shit man-management from Flitcroft), but to leap from that to "shit keeper" is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Massive overreaction.’

This.  Fundamentally there was no real issue until the 4 match ban.  Can't help but think Flitcroft has actually created the issue by not giving him his place back when tbe ban was completed.

Paul, i’ve only been to four games this season but here’s my thoughts. Vigs came from Liverpool where at some point he’s maybe thinking that the big time is just around the corner. He then gets loaned out to us and shows some promise, the club buy him because clearly Liverpool don’t think he’s good enough for them. Now he is plying his trade in div4 after a relegation season and no one came in for him during the summer. He has had his fair share of spats and gotten away with it until Flitcroft comes In and has dished out what us oldies would call good old fashioned discipline. Charlie boys stands in a does okay, luckily Vigs gets his place back. It’s up to him to step up to the plate and perform for his employers in order to earn a better club. I agree with you he is NOT a shit keeper. We don’t know what caused that melt down for the four match ban but I suspect he has a problem with authority and self discipline, a poor mans Nile Ranger if you like. JTR, why should DF have given him his place back automatically his ban was over? I wouldn’t have. The ban was the FL/FA punishment, the clubs would/should be an internal fine, apology to the rest of the team and second choice until you earn the respect of the management and players to get the No.1 shirt back.

[Reg Smeeton]

During the second half I wondered whether the cause of our surrender was lack of fitness, or whether some of them don't have the engine to keep running and covering, or was it a mental thing. I would like to know if they are as fit as they can possibly be, which is all you can ask as a basis.

Our problem is not so much lack of fitness, but slow recovery time.  As pointed out we've a 100% losing record on Tuesdays in the league. Now this is the sort of thing clubs have fitness and conditioning people to look after.  I believe we have a body, but what sort of back up facilities do they have?  I'd imagine that in a career sense STFC is definitely mid table Div 4 at best.

So for example it's difficult to see us being able to get up for NYD a Monday after the Notts game.... and not because they've been out on the lash

[swindonmaniac]

Forget the Di Canio era, loved him or hated him, thats all in the past. Personally I loved the guy and if Flitcroft had half the passion Di Canio did we would not be in the position we are in.

 Yesterday's fiasco was a fucking discrace, I can normally stomach it until end, but yesterday I was back in the boozer with 15 minutes to go.    Don't blame one player in particular,  other than Woolery I thought they were all shit.  Several people on here keep sticking up for Vigs, I don't think he's much better than Reece-Cooke, at least he calls for a ball, when's the last time you heard Vigs shout ?,  
Not sure about  'Power out' would love to see him go, but at the moment what else can we or he do ?.
 Flitcroft, I'm afraid, he's had his chance, but again what options do we have ?.
Was looking forward to the Christmas period after the Crewe result but it seems as though the wheels have fallen off again, that short period of false hope is with us again,  not sure if I can stomach it again on Saturday and I probably won't be alone.

[sir windon]

With regards to Vigs I fully respect everyone's opinions and most of us try to defend our players......but. it doesn't wash with me that he was once at Liverpool...he's not now. I think the keys to being a good goalkeeper, as much as agility and natural ability, are temperament, presence, communication and responsibility. We've been more secure without him. He's been found out. Not up to the job.

PS: Derek Acorah was also on Liverpool's books once upon a time.

[ReadingRed]

I have seen crap performances at the CG over many seasons but I cannot ever remember such a second half capitulation by a Swindon team before.

I was watching our response after the goals. When Luton scored, they spent 2 or 3 minutes celebrating with their fans while our players trudged miserably back to our kickoff positions and hung around for a couple of minutes - they looked like they were just waiting for the opposition to come at them again.

Wouldn't it be better for the conceding side to have a quick huddle, gee each other up, maybe even delay the restart till we're ready, and get a bit of team spirit back before the game restarts.

Not just a Swindon thing, I wondered why other teams didn't do something similar.

[Saxondale]

I thought the ref allowed far too much time for Luton players to celebrate.  Im sure most refs tend to go over and usher them back not just wait like this guy did.  Probably didnt help our headless, leaderless little bunnies.

[THE FLASH]

I thought the ref allowed far too much time for Luton players to celebrate.  Im sure most refs tend to go over and usher them back not just wait like this guy did.  Probably didnt help our headless, leaderless little bunnies.

That didn't bother me.....all I wanted was the ref to book the fella that tried to take out Woolery pissing it down the wing... Obvious booking that and would of been my only sour grapes consolation.

[johnritsons toupe]

Flitcroft single-handedly created the 'problem' that we now see as our players not performing or enjoying playing at home by banging on about there being a hangover from last season. He mentioned it in a couple of early radio interviews, which struck me at the time as him getting his excuses in early, and he's still banging on about it as recently as yesterday.

It's a fucking limp excuse that suggests that the home crowd are cunts, his players are pussies or that it's all Williams' fault for us being so shit last season that the crowd are quick to turn on them.

Based upon the assumption that he wouldn't openly slate players that he brought in himself, and upon the fact that he didn't see us play much last season, he must have been told by players, Power or staff members that it was toxic here at times under Williams last season and so he's using that excuse to buy himself time for shite performances and results at home.

Regardless, I've heard enough from this fucking idiot to last a lifetime. It's rhetoric, bullshit and childish management-speak every fucking week and its fooling no one, least of all Lee Power hopefully.

As we're all aware, this is a results based business and we're failing to perform at home.

Sometimes even the best and most accomplished managers can get the sack, if only because they are the wrong fit for a club at the time.

Flitcroft is the wrong fit for this club right now.

Regardless of away form, Swindon Town play in Swindon, in front of Swindon fans. It's where we get our sustainability from - gate receipts and revenue.

If home results are shit but performances look promising (or at least seen to be heading in the right direction) I think our fans have a great track record of sticking with struggling managers and players.

If home performances and results are shit, and there are no signs of a likely improvement or the ability of any particular manager to change things positively, the manager, chairman / board and players are going to know all about it.

In this case, town fans maybe a bit more sensitive to failure. That's probably not surprising given the shit that we've seen in the last few years, let along being fucking relegated last season.

The fact that Flitcroft is getting pelters right now is down to him, and it's going to get a whole lot worse. He knew the score when he took the job.

He's failing. The club are loosing revenue. Fans are staying away. Those who attend are fucking disgusted with most home performances and results.

If a manager puts out his own side, then openly claims that his players are afraid (or have a collective mental problem) playing at home in front of their own supporters, then he needs to walk away.

I don't believe we have a poor side. Limited, maybe, but we're not shit, as away results and performances have indicated (and yes, I credit Flitcroft with that success - but it's no good being good at half the job).

I think we can almost guarantee that someone like Martin Ling (with good health) would turn our home form round virtually overnight, and there are countless others that would do too.

We have a shit man manager who has unfortunately given our players a ready made excuse to fail at home whilst at the same time pointing a finger at home supporters for creating the problem.

A schoolboy management error: Lee, please relieve the man and his sidekick from their STFC duties.

[chalkies_shorts]

I think given the shit served up for the last 3 seasons at home the fans have been far better than the club should expect. I've not heard it get really bitter. It's more of a few songs that fizzle out into a collective shrug of the shoulders. If players can't take that then they have no future as professionals. I think generally the fans have been good.

[ronnie21]

During the second half I wondered whether the cause of our surrender was lack of fitness, or whether some of them don't have the engine to keep running and covering, or was it a mental thing. I would like to know if they are as fit as they can possibly be, which is all you can ask as a basis.

FWIW I think most teams have come to t he CG look faster an fitter than us!!  And most of them are far better organised on the pitch.