Aitor slams lazy Blues
LUTON TOWN
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UNDER-FIRE Aitor Karanka questioned the effort of his Birmingham flops after their woes deepened.
The Spaniard’s side remain in the bottom three of the Championship after a dismal display in which they failed to seriously test the visitors.
Dan Potts got the goal that saw the Hatters leave St Andrew’s with maximum points for the first time since 1986. Blues have the worst home record in the division – having collected just nine points – and are without a win on home turf since October.
Karanka is fighting to save his job and said: “The effort concerns me because we knew Luton were good at long balls and second balls and when they won EVERY second ball it meant that they had more effort than us.
“We showed the players their set-pieces and throw-ins... but from one throw-in they scored the goal and every single corner they headed the ball.
“So that is why I talk about the effort. It’s difficult for me to understand the game when we needed three points and Luton were six points ahead of us before the game and they showed they wanted to win it more than us.
“So I have to analyse it and keep calm because I don’t want to say anything bad now.”
Potts pounced to head in the opener in the 31st minute after a long throw from Harry Cornick caused chaos.
James Collins’ closerange effort was kept out by Neil Etheridge but Potts nodded in his first goal of the season from close range.
He could have had a second but directed a header from a corner off target, while Etheridge did well to turn away a Jordan Clark effort.
Shot-shy Blues carried little threat after the break, their only opportunity was Gary Gardner’s tame header, which was easily collected by Simon Sluga.
Luton’s goal was just their seventh on their travels this campaign but boss Nathan Jones felt it was a deserved win.
“You’re never totally comfortable but I felt we restricted them to very little,” he said.
“We’d like to score more away goals but we are very difficult to beat.
“We had to go out and do the basics in the second half and I thought we did them really well.”
BIRMINGHAM: Etheridge 7; Valery 6, Dean 5, Friend 6, Pedersen 6; Gardner 6 (Cosgrovge 69, 5), Jose 5; Sanchez 5 (Leko 54, 6), Halilovic 5 (Harper 54, 5), Bela 7 (Sunjic 69, 5); Hogan 5 (Jutkiewicz 69, 6).
Unused subs: Colin, Clarke-Salter, McGree, Prieto.
LUTON: Sluga 6; Pearson 7, Bradley 7, Lockyer 7, Potts 7; Mpanzu 6, Rea 6, Dewsbury-Hall 7; Cornick 8, Collins 7, Clark 7 (Naismith 70, 6).
Unused subs: Cranie, Tunnicliffe, Berry, Hylton, Lualua, Adebayo, Ince, She
MAN OF THE MATCH: Harry Cornick. Full of energy and industry. And his long throw led to winner. REFEREE: Gavin Ward 5.
CRYSTAL PALACE were caught cold — freezing cold — against Burnley as two goals in the opening 10 minutes killed this game off as a contest.
Johan Gudmundsson took advantage of a mix-up between Scott Dann and Patrick van Aanholt to tuck home the first.
Before Jay Rodriguez rose virtually unchallenged to head home Dwight McNeil’s corner.
Palace were stuck in first gear and barely got out of it, with Matt Lowton’s cracking volley within two minutes of the second half starting putting the seal on a dreadful day for Roy Hodgson’s men.
It was Lowton’s first Premier League goal for Burnley and only the third of his career in the top flight. And the others, for Aston Villa, were brilliant volleys as well.
“What pleased me the most was the fact the tempo was good,” said Burnley boss Sean Dyche.
“And there have been a few questions of how many goals we’ve been scoring. It’s not like we haven’t been trying. People sometimes forget that.
“But the front two — Ashley Barnes and Jay Rodriguez — were excellent, and Johann has come back to full fitness and sharpness but he just felt a bit of tightness in a calf.
“And then Matt scores an absolute class goal, not only the finish but the build-up to it and that makes for a very pleasing day for myself and the club.”
This made it three defeats on the spin for Palace, who haven’t scored in that time.
Hodgson (far right) added: “I’d be being kind if I made it as simple as we got off to a slow start and left ourselves
too much to do.
“Of course, we did get off to a bad start — conceding two goals so early on is going to make life extremely difficult for the rest of the game.
“But that would be unkind on Burnley, whose performance was so much better than ours. I will have to think deeper and ask more questions of ourselves rather than, ‘We were just unlucky’.
“I’m afraid the bottom line is we lost to a better team and the 3-0 scoreline tells it all really.”
Burnley captain Ben
Mee suffered what looked to be a terrible head blow late on as he clashed with Palace striker Jordan Ayew and was taken to an ambulance.
But thankfully he was well enough to walk back to the dressing room.
Dyche added: “Ben’s okay. The medical team have to do things right.
“But it was very pleasing to see him walk down just behind us five minutes after he had to go off and he’s fine in the dressing room.”
Dyche also paid tribute to
Ian Woan, Burnley’s assistant boss, following the death on Friday night of his father Alan, a former inside-forward for Palace.
He added: “My assistant Woany lost his father overnight to complications from Covid.
“The reason I say that – and I’ve checked with him – but his dad used to play for Palace and it’s relevant for Ian and his family to remember his career and not just him as a fella.
“He said he had a great life, he was 90, and he has done well today, Woany, coming down.
“He showed his commitment to the cause and it’s what his dad would have wanted him to do, because I knew him and he’d have said, “Get on with your job”.
I’m afraid the bottom line is we lost to a better team and the 3-0 scoreline tells it all really