Chris_R

People criticise because they want things to be better. You can complain without being unhappy. Comments in a match thread, as has been said, are based on people's passion and emotional investment into what's happening. Nobody is going to think in the heat of the moment "Oh it's OK, he's a human being who's trying his best" when someone misses an open goal or whatever. And to be honest, I don't want our fans to be like that. We NEED passion. Sure, step back and calm down afterwards, but in the moment? I don't want us to be robots dispassionately accepting people's faults, not here and definitely not at the match. There's a line of course, nobody should be berated as an individual. I was massively critical of Dan Burn during the Luton match but that's critical of his limitations as a footballer. I would never make that a personal attack and it should never become one. But it's absolutely fair and valid to say "Player X is shit at this particular thing" or even "he should never play there again because we have better options". And in the heat of the moment, a misplaced pass or shot can 100% be called out and castigated without that affecting our overall view of a player. Moments turn matches.

Not sure anyone hates him, or even dislikes him. He seems like a great bloke. He comes across really well, talks well, seems intelligent and works hard. He's a local lad living the dream, and he's been integral to the last 2 years where he's done a lot of good stuff. He has a unique attribute in being massive that can really help us out in some circumstances. However, it's become clear his deficiencies are too large to carry him in the team and without the protection of a strong midfield and a willing runner ahead of him who can track back, he's too exposed. Nothing wrong in people pointing that out.

Trippier had a loss of form, from being otherwise fantastic. There was a very high chance he'd come out the other side of a bad patch. Burn's problem is he's really, really slow. He's always been really, really slow and will never get any faster. As others have said, previously we've had players who can get back and help him out. Recently that's not been the case and that's why he gets rinsed.

Especially as we bought Targett, have Hall on loan and Livramento has played excellently there. Burn keeps getting picked despite there being better options, seemingly just because he's tall. Must be infuriating being one of the other lads and being unable to get a game despite knowing you're clearly a better footballer. Normally a player can go to the manager and ask what they need to improve on, but 'be taller than Dan Burn' isn't really something they can go away and work on.

Burn pulled his shoulder. Probably one of the most blatant fouls you'll see. You can argue the player could have stayed on his feet but that's irrelevant, once Burn pulls him, every player will go to ground and rightly so. I'd expect ours to do the same.

In the match thread, there were plenty of comments from people very surprised / disappointed that he came out for the second half. Today's result was entirely avoidable.

Should not start again unless there's an injury crisis in defence. Too easily exposed by anyone with any pace. If I was an opposition manager, I'd just stick my fastest player against him and tell them to run around him. Not past him, because he can stick a leg out, but just run around him because he's got zero acceleration.

Seriously getting fucked off with Dan Burn now. Baffled at why he's absolutely undroppable when he's so thoroughly flawed. He's been found out too many times, he can't cope with pace and enough's enough.

Went to lace his boots up for the second half and his leg fell off.

Yeah he's a one-trick pony. We gain a bit of height and stature, but lose a hell of a lot going forward and are vulnerable against pace. I think he's a great bloke, but I'd rather we played a traditional fullback who could run in both directions.

Lots of people blaming us for playing poorly, but maybe there's credit to Luton for not letting us play well? When we do that to other teams and the commentators / other fans say they didn't play well against us, we're often raging at not getting enough credit. I think there's an element of that here, Luton have stopped us playing as they have against many sides this year. That's not to say we can't do anything about it and that we can't improve and cut out some individual errors, but let's not just dismiss the role the opposition have in how we've (not) played. They've harried us into misplaced passes, pressured us deep, made us make mistakes.

Schar just gave up on tracking Barkley. Love the bloke, but that was shit. Left him to tap it into an empty net.

Whenever Anthony G picks gets to a loose ball in the box, I can't believe no commentator has yet taken the opportunity to shout "GORDON'S ALIVE!" Really needs to happen.

I'd at least have Isak on the bench. Luton have already shown us they're not going to just roll over this year. Don't start him, by all means, but we need him as an option if he's fit enough.

They were a big draw in L1 for some of the smaller teams. Nobody gives a shit about them in the Championship, that's their level. Leicester, Leeds and Southampton all far bigger clubs than they are over the last 20-30 years, which is the only relevant time period for spectators - maybe even less.

This.

I heard the barber nicked the top of his ear, and he's now out for the season.

I'll bow to your superior knowledge. Derbies aside, if this lot were playing in my garden I'd close the curtains.

To be fair all he did was run at defenders who backtracked away from him then had a couple of potshots. Granted it was more than the rest of them did, but it's hardly a sign of quality. He didn't actually "do" anything that a pub level footballer couldn't have done. (Not calling him a pub level player, just saying his 'positive contributions' against us didn't require any level of skill, just the ability to run forwards completely unopposed, and then kick a ball at the goal without scoring)

Please don't up his thread like that, this close to deadline day!

Of course it would look suss. My point (which isn't entirely serious) is why bother not looking suss, they're already doing everything in their power to stop us competing. They can't do more. Might as well shithouse things off the pitch as well as on it.

Should've loaned Tonali to one of the Saudi clubs. What you gonna do, PL? Make our lives difficult in future?

This is going to sound far more harsh and blunt than it's meant to, but the most likely reason Robson has a statue whilst Keegan doesn't is that Robson's dead. The living don't often get statues because their legacy isn't complete. I'm sure Keegan will get a statue in time but I hope we don't see it for a very long time.

Part of me is wondering if, like Matt Targett, he's suffering from just not being Dan Burn. Howe seems to consider Burn utterly integral to everything we do, and I get that to an extent because he does have some unique attributes that other fullbacks just don't have. But he along with that he holds us back in some ways - His positives are also his negatives. But he seems undroppable and of course that's Howe's call, but as with Targett last year many of us are wondering if things would be better with a more conventional, attacking fullback.

And Hall. And to be honest Dummet has never let us down, and even Ritchie hasn't looked out of place when he has been on. I think Hall is the one that's most baffling though. Can only assume there's a problem there because it's refusing to use him is just strange and confusing.