Same old, same old, same old. I feel I’ve written the same thing for at least a month: it was once again a shocking performance from Blues. This game was a must-win after dropping to 23rd following Sheffield Wednesday’s victory over Wycombe, and once again we lost it and lost it without a fight.

I said on Twitter after five minutes, hoping I wasn’t speaking too soon, that Blues had made a good start. Halilovic and Bela were comfortable on the ball and Luton were pinned into their own half. However, after those 5 minutes, Blues offered little more throughout the game. Luton were also nothing special which makes Blues performance even more frustrating. 

After 30 minutes, this season was summed up after Blues were undone by a set-piece once again, and worse by a long throw which failed to produce a goal for Blues throughout Pep’s reign. It was very poor defending from George Friend who has received a lot of praise and rightly so. After an initial save from Etheridge, Potts had the simplest of rebounds, tapping into an empty net. 

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Nothing changed after half time and Halilovic who was arguably our only player who was going to get us back into the game was taken off. More baffling substitutions were made as Cosgrove and Jutkiewicz came on as Bela and Sanchez left the pitch. I will never understand why we would bring on two targetmen and take off our wingers who can get down the touchline and swing in some crosses. Speaking of which, I don’t understand these short corners. There is the off chance that once in a while the defence will be sleeping, however, most of the time go from a good chance to put the ball in to box to passing it around on the halfway line. Our only shot on target was a header from Gardner straight into the hands of Sluga.

I am lost for words to describe this situation we find ourselves in. That was a good lineup yesterday, a lineup with more quality than these teams around us. In Halilovic, Sanchez and Bela, we have players who can get on the ball and take it forward. We have Hogan who can make runs in behind. We have arguably the best ‘keeper in the league’. I just don’t understand why we are so defensive against teams such as Luton and Wycombe. Why are we trying to hoof the ball forward when Hogan isn’t a target man? 

Against Reading and Bristol City in December, which was arguably our best performances under Karanka, we kept the ball on the deck, played some good football and were awarded with 6 points. There was no urgency for a goal during the whole game. Luton were winning, yet they were the team with more urgency to get a goal. 

Nathan Jones was loud and yelling at his players for the whole game, yet, Karanka didn’t show a shred of emotion. In his post-match interview, he said he wasn’t confident we could stay up. If I was a player that comment wouldn’t inspire me at all. I can only see one outcome with Karanka in charge and that outcome is League One. 

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We’ve rode our luck throughout the years and I think our luck is running out. These times are bleak as we now have more must-win games coming up in Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday. However, I have no confidence that we will even get a point.