Luton Town fell to their third defeat in four Championship clashes yesterday afternoon, with Cardiff City running out as 2-1 winners at Kenilworth Road. 

Since returning to the Championship in 2019, the Hatters have now lost all five clashes against the Bluebirds.

Nathan Jones' side put in a dismal performance in their latest defeat against the South Wales club, with the Hatter unable to find any sort of rhythm on a wet and windy day in Bedfordshire.

Luton have recently lost pace with the play-off chasing pack in the division, stretching their distance from the top-six to seven points.

Here, we take a look at three things we learnt about Luton during their 2-1 defeat at home to Cardiff...

 

 

Set-pieces are an issue 

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James Bree has struggled with consistency with his set-pieces this season, and with Luton possessing a player as dominant in their air as Sonny Bradley, the dead-ball scenarios are typically an excellent opportunity for the Hatters. 

Bree once again struggled with his set-pieces yesterday afternoon, and whilst the majority of his corners failed to beat the first man, he went the other way and hit the ball too hard with Luton chasing an equaliser going into stoppage time. 

It is a surprise that the responsibility of taking corners and free-kicks has not been passed onto someone else, with the Hatters possessing real technicians like Jordan Clark and Henri Lansbury, although the latter was benched yesterday afternoon. 

Luton are missing Luke Berry

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Not many Luton fans would have thought that Luke Berry would have seen much game time this season, and even fewer people would have expected him to be missed as much as he is right now. 

Perhaps the most intelligent player in the team, Berry has a knack for arriving bang on time and contributing with important goals.

However, he also helps Luton take control of the game and get the ball on the ground, with the game screaming out for that yesterday. 

Berry is also an excellent presser of the ball and that could have helped in the horrible conditions at Kenilworth Road. 

Changing the team too often 

Nathan Jones admitted to getting things wrong yesterday afternoon, citing the number of changes he made as a mistake. 

Luton had performed well in the last two matches, but they named five changes for the visit of Cardiff. 

This seemingly disrupted the performance, although, the three-game week certainly justified a number of changes. 

It will be interesting to see how he sets up when Luton travel to Blackpool next weekend.