Pre game there was much guessing about line ups and how seriously both managers were treating the Cup. The previous days games had seen some upsets after extreme cosmetic tinkering and a lot of empty seats around the nations grounds in general. Sad to see the glory and excitement of what was once the premier club trophy in the world reduced to the role of a distraction for many. For me I am fairly ambivalent towards it, reach the quarter finals and I just may get interested.
A fairly warm but damp misty day was the morning backdrop to the build-up for the game much like my mood for the match itself, dull and grey. Come three o’clock the cloud had cleared and clear blue skies allowed the winter sun to lighten the mood. The Boro line up seemed a bit unbalanced and strange, Chambers back at RB where he started his career but hasn’t looked comfortable in that role for Boro. The “injured” Leadbitter starting, Stuani and Traore both in so who would be going left, once we kicked off it was to be Traore with that “honour” not that he will be remembered for it.
Downing, Rhodes and Nugent missing would indicate perhaps that their futures lay elsewhere but Ayala was included so not sure what to read into things. Would we go with three at the back and Traore and Friend wide with two up front in Stuani and Negredo? No we stuck with Chambers at RB and Friend at LB with Traore in for Ramirez.
The Boro bench led to more plots and sub plots, Downing and Rhodes on the bench along with Gestede, who is staying and who might get a run out and who might be going? The Owls had former Boro man Reach starting and our nemesis Nuhui on the bench.
Wednesday took the field in probably the worse away kit seen at the Riverside, why clubs need to change to black and vibrant orange when they play in blue and white is beyond me. The opening fifteen minutes were a fairly low key affair, the nearest we came was a Stuani cross with Negredo nowhere near it, in truth Wednesday had slightly edged it. Leadbitter was lively which was good to see buzzing around and set up Friend to release Traore but it came to nothing.
Carvalho was very animated on the touchline which was just as well because so far Wednesday seemed to be the only side likely to create something. This was about as dull and dreary as you could imagine, in fact even more dull and dreary than even I anticipated this morning. Boro seemed flat and lacking ideas with absolutely no spark. Unfortunately this seemed to transmit itself to the Wednesday players as well. Purgatory personified!
Chambers, Ayala, Espinosa and Friend all seemed comfortable, Traore looked “over coached” and lacking the desire to find third gear let alone fourth. Then on 25 minutes some excitement at last with Negredo of all players getting himself booked for a frustrated tackle. There was very little for the neutral observer to work out which of these sides were the Premiership one. News trickled through nearing 30 minutes that Plymouth had managed a clean sheet and a replay against Liverpool and just at that Grant swung a ball in and Ayala managed to get a half shot away over the bar, at last an attempt on goal.
If ever there was any doubt that the FA Cup has lost its shine then this game typified it, you could have nipped out and done your weeks shopping, come back and missed nothing. The complete lack of intent against any opposition let alone lower league opposition was probably the worst witnessed at the Riverside. This was dire in the extreme, in the end the Wednesday fans thankfully started a sing song in an effort to break the snoozefest. Then Traore broke through but scuffed his shot, which summed up the game in general and his contribution in particular.
Wednesday then broke out and Forestieri went hunting but it petered out with a well-timed challenge. Phew that brief high nearly woke me from my snooze. Sadly we seemed to set ourselves up to draw in a knock out cup. Negredo picked up a whack to his face which resulted in a slight delay then thankfully the half time whistle went to end the misery. There were conversations going on around me about Christmas and New Year and getting back to work as fans interest in the game waned then had just about gone. Then reality hit, there was another 45 minutes of this to endure as the players trudged off.
The second half commenced and Carvalho had clearly told his troops, go out there and get at them as this Boro lot just haven’t turned up. The Owls pressure was building up but for all their efforts their shots tally was equally as abysmal as Boro. A free kick awarded to Boro outside the box saw Grant step up to take it in the absence of Ramirez. The ensuing daisy cutting thunderbastard free kick and hit the far corner of the net, 1-0 and suddenly the game sprung to life.
Immediately from the kick off Wednesday broke and Ayala interrupted proceedings with a forearm smash and earned a straight red for his troubles. There were definitely covering defenders but I suspect the Ref saw the physicality of the forearm as deliberate intent rather than a clumsy challenge. Subs were then forced upon AK and he hauled off the ineffective grass stain collector Traore and brought on Downing whilst Fabio came on for Clayts. An astute set of subs even though enforced given the circumstances as Chambers moved across and Fabio slotted in at RB whilst Downing’s experience could cover for Clayton but also pick a pass out offensively.
The game opened up as Wednesday went for it and ten minutes after Grants goal Negredo capitalised on a comedy of errors in the Wednesday box when their rookie keeper Wildsmith kicked the ball off the closing down Alvaro rebounding off his back side into the net but they all count, 2-0 despite the ten men and game effectively over. In the dying seconds de Roon who was energy personified in the second half hit a cracker from the edge of the box and ended the contest with a knockout blow, 3-0.
A game of two halves, the first possibly the worst in living memory and the second seemingly headed for nothingness until a free kick and a sending off within 60 seconds. The score line looks credible but the story behind it far from convincing or satisfactory. Boro go into the hat however for round four with twenty thousand relieved home fans.
Should have mentioned that I thought Guzan looked OK and Stuani put in a very credible decent second half performance!
Travelling home from Glasgow around half time. Mrs Powmill and junior humoured me and allowed me to put 5-Live on the radio. The report came through and the match sounded dreary and I thought the worst. Surrendered the radio to the other two for music and didn’t get any urge to find out what was happening (or more truthfully, no urge to find out what else wasn’t happening).
So when I did eventually get home and have look through the results I was very surprised.
My little ramble there is more about expressing the way I feel about the way the team is performing these days, apparently without the drive to win…. Hence my loss of interest to follow the 2nd half in real time. OK, I did miss out on something to cheer about in the car and I am delighted that we did, on paper, win convincingly, but as RR’s report (thank you again for a good write up RR) says, the story behind the win was far from convincing.
Glad to go into the draw for the 4th round, but still a little anxious about how we are going to perform next time out against Watford.
Worth the drive despite the first half being an anagram of ride.
Some pluses?
Lets start with the crowd, a reasonable turn out and all credit to the Owls fans.
Stuani had a decent second half..
Well done to Negredo for closing the keeper down. Was it lucky? No, he did the same in the first half and it flew wide, he made sure he challenged the keeper when he could, the fact he blocked it wasn’t luck, the ball could have gone anywhere but if you don’t buy a ticket you cant win.
Negatives?
The first half, Traore, Ayala.
One point of interest, I was having my pint at the Navi and I was stood next to a small group of Owls and Boro fans pre match. Our friends from South Yorkshire were moaning about one up front, possession football, sideways passing, etc.
Thanks Redcar Red , great report again
RR, great match report as ever.
As you say, a win, but not really one in convincing style. I do think that the fans who pay good money to turn up to support the team deserve more entertainment for their money than was served up in the first half. Taking money under false pretences springs to mind but good to be in the fourth round draw.
RR
Good match report as usual and exactly how I remember it.
I still think the ref thought Ayala was the last defender so Boro wil have to wait for his report to decide if they are going to appeal the red card
Fabio slotted in seamlessly and looks he perfect right back pairing for the back four. Espinosa didn’t put a foot wrong and De Roon had possibly his best match.
Instantly forgotten just hope for a home draw and either Man U Liverpool or if they make it Newcastle to fill the ground and bring in some revenue
Great report well done this blog is the best in the business
And thanks to our new Blogmeister
Great report RR, much appreciated.
I was listening to 5live in the car. When I heard Ayala had been sent off, my immediate reaction was to wonder if it was an act of sabotage to wind up AK, an aggressive pursuit of a club exit.
3 goals, 1 clean sheet and in the 4th round.
If we make the quarters and stay up, that must qualify as a successful first season. Something to build on. A couple of big ifs in that sentence, admittedly.
Agreed. Very good report. Thanks to both.
Well done RR, a report much appreciated but did we really learn anything? The main thing is we won and into the hat.
UTB,
John
5 THINGS WE LEARNED
1 Fabio is our best right back in the squad. When he came on he slotted in seamlessly into the back 4 and it instantly looked slid and unbreachable. He looked solid was strong in the tackle and his distribution was good.
2 We have a good selection of centre backs in the squad and whilst Ayala was ring rusty in the first half amd his touch was lacking at times he grew into the game. It was unfortunate that his attempted karate chop of Forestieri resulted in an immediate red card.’of the other centre backs Chambers and Espinosa were sold amd the distribution of Chambers was superb and resulted in some good attacking moves from deep positions. When initially playing at right back he also got forward on many occasions getting crosses into the box.
3 Adama Traore is not a left winger. He didn’t really settle on the left hand side and was caught out more tj once. His best runs were when he drove through the middle and it is obvious that a lot of work is required on the training ground to make him into an effective player. He is still exciting to watch though when he gets into his stride.
4 Martin De Roon had probably his best game for Boro since he joined. Admittedly it was against Championship opponents but he covered every blade of grass. He had more than one attempt on goal and the goal that he did take was opportunist and ancredot to the hard running that he did in this game. His distribution still requires some work but overall iny opinion the man of the match.
5 Substitutes After all the arguments about AK not using substitutes his hand was forced today by the Ayala sending off. Moving Fabio to right back and Chambers inside was what most supporters would have expected but taking off Clayton and bringing on Downing to support the defence and allowing Friend to rampage forward caused Sheffield Wednesday problems. So no Rhodes or Gestede but three goals and in the hat for the next round
Thanks OFB, not seeing the game on the box is a frustration and maybe a side with a new purpose, staying up, is gradually being pieced together. Plus as you quite rightly say we are in the hat with the clacking balls!
UTB,
John
And when we do appear for our 2 minute slot on motd BBC have to rely on Radio Tees commentary team to provide the voice over.
I suppose when we are home to Man U in the next round we will have better coverage
Same as, same as, eh? Plenty positives yet also plenty doubts.
Reports tonight that Nugent on his way to Derby for £2m plus add ons
Sorry to see him go he always played with a smile on his face
The cup is all about the result. In this regard you can’t grumble….. However, the lack of creative players starting the game was criminal. Who was going to create a chance?
I’ve never seen a more negative line up.
Luckily, leadbitters free kick opened things up and surprisingly we seemed to play better with ten men. Although I do think AK got the subs right today.
I also thought stuani had a good game second half, as did Fabio when he came on, de roon and George friend.
Think Ayala and Espinosa looked very comfortable together and despite the sending off which appeared incredibly harsh thought he played really well.
Finding it really hard to get motivated about the boro at the moment. Just think we are so negative. Can’t understand the signing of gestede, as according to the villa fans/Birmingham press he can only play with wingers and in a front two. Even then he only scored one in seven games so what he’ll be like for us I don’t know.
If it does mean a change in system then as RR said why haven’t we once tried Rhodes and negredo together.
I just have this nagging feeling that AK a man who I am really struggling to like will get rid of Ayala and Rhodes in this transfer window. Two players who in my opinion could in a different side be top drawer players. In the last transfer window for all of his signings he sold adomah a player who I used to love watching even if he was inconsistent. I can’t help but feel that all flair, creativity and unpredictability will be driven out of the club and replaced with functionality and rigidity. It might get results at times but it’s pretty painful to watch. Winning by a war of attrition.
Reported on Radio Tees this morning that Downing has been told he can leave the club on loan.
Still think there are issues there from Karankagate
Glad to see De Roon getting better all the time. He looks like the kind of team player who will always play his heart out for the club.
I’d like to see us draw Arsenal away. No pressure and plenty of money and we did Ok there last time.
UTB
Werder
Could we also put a link on the blog to
http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/Sport/Football/Premier+League/Middlesbrough
It collates most of the reports for the Boro including match reports and rumours
🔴 OK, I’ve placed it in the Links list under ‘Collated Boro News’ – Werdermouth
Excellent start to the new blog. Well done RR and Werder.
And well done to Boro, too. Three goals and in the hat for the next round.
A win is boosting morale up. Nice. Up the Boro!
Great start to the new blog, thanks again for all the time and effort put in.
As always great report RR, look forwad to alternative views.
Nice to get a win, shame about the sending off. That will scupper any thought of a transfer probably.
Another home draw would be nice for the fans.
TYanks for the usual high standard report Redcar Red for those of us unable to make the match. I always feel that I have been there based on your observations and asides!
From what I have seen this season, a mix of Sky, actual attendance and highlights, I would tend to agree with what OFB says in what we have learnt.
Ok, we are in the next round and a money spinner would be good and maybe progress as I do like a good cup run. However, realistically, survival is the key, winning the FA cup and going down is not an option. I haven’t recovered from the three R season!
WAtford will be an important test of where we are and what the intent is and how relaxed or otherwise we supporters will be for the rest of the season- ok it’s Boro so tense and nervous it will be!!
UTB
Not only was Ayala’s challenge reckless he made it on the player least likely to help him, Forestieiri has difficulty resisting gravity at the best of times.
A bit of a technical hitch this morning – after reading through the WordPress documentation, I decided to remove the static home page (as it’s no longer needed) and make the Blog page the home page. For some reason the display of Blog Posts has gone from the Blog Page – this was not flagged up as a possibility so I’ll need to look into it.
You can still select all the Blog posts in the right-hand sidebar – thanks in advance for your patience while I try not to test the swear filter!
Werder
We appreciate your efforts hope it doesn’t take too much of your time up.
I had issues last night when writing 5 things we had learned using an iPhone in bed whilst Mrs OFB was sleeping.
Predictive text and typos abound so sorry to all for the number of mistakes in it.
I’ll put it down to trembling hands. Not the thought of lying next to Mrs OFB but the trembling of watching such an exciting game of football at the Riverside earlier (not ! )
I seem to have lost “connection” from all devices other than from my home laptop. Apparently not recognising my password, a part of me wants to tick the box “forgotten password” to reset things but another part is worried I may lose all access including from my laptop. Will probably try and sort it midweek when I’m feeling braver!
My admiration goes out to Werdermouth for setting this up as the small initial involvement I when we were working on parallel sites initially took some doing. Last night we were pinging emails back and forth in trying to get the inaugural match report up and running.
Once bedded in it will be a lot less time consuming I’m sure but there has been a heck of a lot of unseen work to get this site up and running so quickly and a huge debt of gratitude goes to Werdermouth and of coure AV before him.
There is an argument that we may be overestimating the ability of Ayala and Rhodes because of our attachment to them as promotion heroes. We are not the first club to replace heroes after promotion and we will not be the last. It’s the way of the game, cruel though it is.
I don’t believe AK is the problem, per se. But perhaps the culture that spawned him is. I point you to Jorge Valdano’s reaction to a Champions League semi-final between Mourinho’s Chelsea and Rafa’s Liverpool at Anfield in the mid-noughties…
“Football is made up of subjective feeling, of suggestion – and, in that, Anfield is unbeatable. Put a s*** hanging from a stick in the middle of this passionate, crazy stadium and there are people who will tell you it’s a work of art. It’s not: it’s a s*** hanging from a stick.
“Chelsea and Liverpool are the clearest, most exaggerated example of the way football is going: very intense, very collective, very tactical, very physical, and very direct. But, a short pass? Noooo. A feint? Noooo. A change of pace? Noooo. A one-two? A nutmeg? A backheel? Don’t be ridiculous. None of that. The extreme control and seriousness with which both teams played the semi-final neutralised any creative licence, any moments of exquisite skill.
“If Didier Drogba was the best player in the first match it was purely because he was the one who ran the fastest, jumped the highest and crashed into people the hardest. Such extreme intensity wipes away talent, even leaving a player of Joe Cole’s class disoriented. If football is going the way Chelsea and Liverpool are taking it, we had better be ready to wave goodbye to any expression of the cleverness and talent we have enjoyed for a century.
“The lives of Mourinho and Benitez have crossed in a world that is ever more scrutinised and exposed by the media, which is why they look at each other with such distrust, but they have two things in common: a previously denied, hitherto unsatisfied hunger for glory, and a desire to have everything under control.
“Both of those things stem from one key factor: neither Mourinho nor Benitez made it as a player. That has made them channel all their vanity into coaching. Those who did not have the talent to make it as players do not believe in the talent of players, they do not believe in the ability to improvise in order to win football matches. In short, Benitez and Mourinho are exactly the kind of coaches that Benitez and Mourinho would have needed to have made it as players.”
His words were laced with extreme frustration and anger, but you see his point. And many fans were quick to agree with it.
One replied by pointing out the way Mourinho “publicly crucified Joe Cole for some tricks”, and added that even if he did sign him, Mourinho would have had Maradona glued to the bench all season, forcing him to admire the work rate of Drogba and Lampard’s power.
Great Post Si
Simon
Loved the blog, but, and there is always a but, a slight flaw in the great rant at the heart of it(the blog)
Yes, raw talent is great, yes it hurts when some oik tells the talent to carry out some basic instructions, yes it hurts more when the talent ignores the boss and gets benched. But,(that word again) football is full of teams with talented players down among the dead men. The only reason that some teams win things with raw talent is because they corner the market in talent(there is a slang name for it, it’s called lots of money, yes I know it doesn’t scan, but what can you do?)
Back to the main point, the reason the successful managers rise to the top is because they realise that talent must be channelled and disciplined or you life will be filled with glorious wins over the top teams and equally inglorious defeats against bottom teams, because that is what talent does to the fans. (hands up any boro fans suffering recall?)
finally, just a small point, if we loan Stewie to Palace we will be helping the enemy, big time. This makes me distinctly unhappy.
Can’t agree more with all that, Plato. It’s just easy to see why Valdano feels like he does. Tellingly many of those who preach the need for outright purism in the game, ie the let-the-good-players-play crowd, have never managed. See: Eamon Dunphy. His entire writing style is from the point of view of “the gifted footballer hard done by thanks to the egotism of the establishment.” Like himself, maybe.
OK just a quick technical update so if you don’t want to know the result look away now…
I’ve done a manual override of the WordPress template for the Home and Blog pages and hard-coded in the graphics and opening paragraphs of each of the Blog posts with a ‘Continue reading…’ link to the article. I suspect I will need to apply a different template but that is something I’ll not risk without delving deeper – anyway it seems to work but it’s not ideal in the long term.
Duh???
You lost me after quick technical update…..
I changed my favourites to this page rather than the opening Diasboro page:
https://diasboro.club/blog/
This brings up the opening page in the format that AV used in his Blog, I don’t know if that helps Werder or perhaps we are at cross purposes?
🔴 The problem was I originally set up Diasboro using a template that had a static home page so that I could display a message in case Untypical Boro suddenly ceased to exist – but that means it will always be the root page (i.e. https://diasboro.club) and the first point of entry.
There really is no need for this page anymore now we’ve migrated and apparently replacing it with the Blog page was supposed to be a simple matter of changing a particular settings – but for some unknown reason the display of posts disappeared and I think maybe there was a clash with the existing template as it is based on having a separate Blog page.
There’s always a solution to these problems but it’s not a good idea to experiment with a live blog so I’ll bide my time – Werdermouth
Werda
I thought I was the only one to decide on a course of action (computer wise) and then take ten, and then think better of it, and then decide that I might lose everything in the world worth fighting for and just carry on.
First of all thanks again Werdermouth for all your efforts, very much appreciated.
I’m with OFB, once you’d mentioned ‘technical updates’ I’d gone….
Also, many thanks to RR, great piece.
I was surprised to see Ayala and Rhodes playing/on the bench I’d assumed both were up for sale and therefore wouldn’t be involved. Having a player on the bench who you’re prepared to sell seems strange as he may end up cup tied. But, then maybe being cup tied doesn’t effect a players value these days.
OFB’s report that Downing has been told he can go out on loan surprised me, I’d like to know what the issue is because I think Downing has a lot to give still, but maybe I’m looking at it through rose tinted Teessider ‘one of our own’ glasses.
It was also good to read that we had a decent crowd, thanks in no small way to the Sheff Wed fans.
Personally I’d like an ‘easy’ 4th round draw, I’m happy to save the big boys for the later stages of the tournament when it starts to get a bit more exciting.
Plymouth at home but then again that’s what Liverpool probably thought!
Perhaps Rochdale or Lincoln at Home.
Anybody at home would suit me. Personally I would like another go at Spurs or Liverpool or Chelsea to see if we can handle them better after being in the premiership for half a season.
Failing that id like Man U or if they get through to the next round Newcastle because it would bring more revenue into the club and generate a great atmosphere.
Still sorry to see Downing listed for loan but not surprised after Karankagate last year
Werder and Bob,
Loved the link to Collated Boro News on the sidebar.
This was a new one on me, but I’ve just spent a very happy 30 mins on it and can see myself using it every day.
Much obliged.
The blog just keeps getting more and more indispensable.
Len your thanks really belong to Werder he has done a magnificent job and I think we are all here now.
I have retweeted the link to our new site again today on twitter and have contacted a lot of other Boro supporters to join our blog so hopefully our membership will swell.
The writing on here is outstanding and whilst we may have differing views at least it is not sanitised or based on servile platitudes and we tell it how we see it.
I expect other writers to post a blog or too and add discussion points. I keep checking our old house and I think the demolition contractors are in trying to get rid of some squatters, but the occupants like Elvis have left the building.
The fact that this game wasn’t used to give Rhodes some game time and to possibly open his account for the season suggests that AK only sees him as a player to be used in emergency, not someone who is being developed to play a significant part.
Not playing Traore in his strongest position wasted an opportunity to continue bedding him into the side, give him a chance to build his confidence and develop his game awareness. This was done to accomodate Stuani, who does not offer the same creative threat, and who therefore can’t solve our main weakness, the lack of creativity.
I can only assume that the availability for transfer of Stewy results from the player asking to move, as for the club to choose to move him on is madness. We have Victor Fischer injured, Gastoniser has had niggling injury problems, and Traore is not trusted by AK to fulfil all aspects of his role. It may indicate that other creative players are arriving, but no transfer outcome is certain and losing Stewy reduces our options in the area we most need to strengthen.
Plus, the thought of letting him go to a direct rival leads me to lift the phone and call for the men in white coats and their straight-jackets.
Seems a strange decision to let SD go out on loan. Not wanting to drop down to the Championship only probably leaves the lower EPL teams possibly interested, unless he chooses to go abroad. Would we really let him go to a possible relegation partner. Plus 6 months down the road, how much we going to have to write off to unload him?
With Nugent looking to be on his way, de Sart gone and Fischer out injured for sometime it appears, we will start to look a little short in numbers if Rhodes joins them.
Possibly AK has others in mind to replace them? He seems to like Bojan, a bench warmer at Stoke, but not a wide man I believe anyway?? Then of course there is the Bamford link. something of a gamble as much as I liked him here at the Boro.
Whilst SD does not have pace, which we sadly lack, it is the Gastón backup/alternative that I and a number have commented on here before. Does AK see Bojan as an alternative in his role?
Strange goings on
So.
We played better with ten men, creating and finishing more chances…..
Hmm. I wonder,
We retained four at the back with Fabio in at RB (as several of us have been calling for, so hope he keeps that berth now) and kept Negrado alone up front, which theoretically left us one player short in midfield.
So could this be a lesson for AK, that we can manage with a reduced midfield and could maybe afford to start with two up front.
Well , maybe I am the only one on here that will be glad to see Downing leave on loan. From a reliable source at the time I was told he was the perpetrator behind Karankagate . Also in my opinion he has never really performed since his return.
Braveheart1967
I am with you on this one. I was never convinced about bringing SD back in the first place and whilst I would have liked to have seen one of our own do well he has, in my view, not really stood out either in the Championship or in the PL. I just hope he does not end up at Palace and help them stay up!
Brave
The only snag I see is going to a team who know how to use him, in the prem. Very worrying. It’s nice that AK has nerves of steel, but, deary, deary, tremble, tremble.
This technical stuff makes me even more grateful to Werder and Redcar for their efforts to keep the blog going.
Si’s comments about Raffa and Jose make interesting reading. The first half at the Riverside certainly had two technocrats pitted against each other, AK’s stomping around and comments about it not being a friendly at least showed some spirit.
The top flight have many managers who are schooled in the same management style. Pochetino at Spurs, Puels at Southamton, Conte at Chelsea, Clement at Swansea, da Silva at Hull, Materazzi at Watford, even Pep at Citeh.
Don’t for one moment think the likes of Eddie Howe, Sean Dyche, Tony Pulis and Fat Sam are not control freaks. They will have the same set up behind the scenes as the overseas managers.
Is all coaching bad?
Listening to Maddo talk about Traore and it was illuminating hearing the types of drills the coaching staff will be talking to Traore about. They will be working on give and goes to get him behind defenders, a ball in to Negredo’s feet and setting off for the pass round the corner, the ball to a midfielder then going in to space. Too static was his view. I don’t think it helped playing on the left.
I am no coach but it made sense.
I will come back to the point I have made several times, the quality of the footballer will impact upon the quality of the football and that is at both ends of the pitch.
Spurs, Chelsea, ManU, Liverpool, Citeh, Arsenal are good to watch but their players are better than the rest have available.
The final positions of the top six in the table will probably reflect their defence and workrate.
Shop in the remnants box and the results will follow.
Ian
we possess an unfinished speedball, I believe that we should play him in the middle with instructions to move along the line(keeping onside), we should never pass to him, but pass into the space behind the defensive line and let him run. Whatever the result he would unsettle the defence. Further, it would educate us into getting alongside him when he goes on his runs and eventually getting some goals out of him.
Whilst I thought Paul made some good points I don’t share his fear that all creativitiy and upredictability will be driven out of the side. That’s just not consistent with the signings AK has made. Neither Ramirez nor Traore lack creativity or unpredictability.
Our manager is stil learning and adapting along with our team. Perhaps the additional tactical flexibility we are starting to see is also a manifestation of the generally higher standard of players we now have. Talented footballers can also adapt to playing in different styles and formation.
More improvement to come between now and the end of the season in my opinion.
Interesting noises coming from Boro – I for one will be sorry to see Nugent leave, undecided about Downing. If Deolufeu and (or?) Bojan come on board I am certain it will be a move for the best, if only for the potential for more pace on the flanks and providing genuine competition for Gaston. Time will tell.
This Blog gets better and better. Many thanks to all those involved for such a smooth transition.
As it was not mentioned in head line, the Boro attendance was 23,661 against the Owls: Much better than some of us thought. Well done all who attaended.
Werder, have you reserved the hotel near Wembley by now? Up the Boro.
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Great fun, managed to lock myself out now got back in but lost avatar! GRRRRR!!!!! back to the drawing board!
A point I made yesterday, Werner, was that everyone on the bench was a goal threat in some way or another. On the pitch, Stuani’s jinking run near the end was as unpredictable and dazzling as they come – probably because we didn’t expect Stuani, of all people, to pull it off! But that’s the joy of football. Similarly Chambers played his part in the goal at United, Friend, as we know, can cross well from the left, two of Fischer’s corners have resulted in goals, Negredo’s finishes against Leicester and Swansea from open play were beautifully taken, ditto Stuani’s against Sunderland, etc, etc, etc…
The creativity and excitement is there. It’s just harder to find in a sea of prioritising solidity. Which is kind of understandable when you need to keep your head above water in the Premier League, if undeniably frustrating.
Also, Ian: great post. I saw where Valdano was coming from and I enjoyed reading his theory, but I don’t agree with his pessimism, although I admire his passion. His words, I believe, were intended to highlight just why contemporary top-flight coaching frustrates the purists so extremely.
I agree he has signed some creative players. But, how many? and are they utilised to the best of their abilities?
On Sunday we only had one creative player on the pitch (and he was played on the wrong side)
We’ve been told twice now in AK’s tenure that we need to tweak/ completely change the front end of the team and we still don’t have it right.
Players like JR who has scored goals for fun at every club he has been at looks lost, unsupported and on top of that scapegoated for not scoring. That is despite every striker (Bamford aside) looking lost in the said same system.
Maybe we could play the system we play with better forward players but the reality is we rely on players who are inconsistent at this level or not quite good enough. Either way the reality is if Ramirez isn’t on form we struggle.
Downing is the latest player who has been told he can leave. Yes he has been very disappointing. But he was great at West Ham. Did he instantly become a bad player overnight or does his style not fit AK’s system? He played in an attacking West Ham line up that set out to score lots of goals with two strikers for him to aim for. Is it the player or the manager? That is not to say he has the right to be mutinous and cause the problems he supposedly did but I would not say the manager is completely blameless? His inability to manage players correctly and get the best out of them also played a big part in how Downing felt and then ultimately how he acted.
We now appear to have moved from what was quite a negative 4-2-3-1 formation to an even more negative 4-3-2-1 presumably with the idea that we are playing against better players so we need to keep it even tighter. However, as an attacking player it must feel incredibly frustrating and demoralising at times.
While i’m not dead set against this approach. It’s worked well against some really good sides. In certain games we have to show more tactical flexibility. We have to be prepared to try and win games and go for it. Like for like subs and a defence first approach will not yield the amount of wins required to stay up (in my opinion). As I stated on a previous post, to have only won 4 games in the league all season and to not once have tried Rhodes and Negredo together is in my opinion crazy, not least because for games at home it would give the crowd a huge lift to see the manager attempting to win the match, rather than the heart sinking feeling of Adam Forshaw’s number coming up to be replaced by Grant Leadbitter!!
It was interesting to note that we seemed to be far more creative with 10 men than with 11. The extra space in the middle seemed to reduce the interminable to you to me tippy tappy passing. Of course the fact that Wednesday had to go for it also left spaces to exploit but it does question if we need three defensive midfielders against sides which are not top 6.
Paul
I think West Ham under Sam were counter attacking, they played 4312 and Downing was the one.
They sucked the opposition on to them then broke at speed, Downing’s job was the to be one of those breaking and use his passing skills.
Anyway , we have held the FA Cup fourth round draw in the office.
I drew they home teams and duly delivered a home tie, my colleague kindly pulled Wycombe out of the bag.
I returned the favour and Derby are at home to Blackpool or Barnsley.
We were both happy with that. Good games to come out were
Wigan/Forest v Chelsea
Milwall v Citeh
Mackems/Burnley v Arsenal
ManU v Brum/Toon
All ties to be played etc, last slot on MOTD goes to ………………………
The match yesterday did feature some second-half positives with the goals in particular being very welcome. As Simon points out, we have created some very good goals so far this season, but only enough to win four games. If we can tip the balance towards getting the creative players in dangerous positions with more support, and do it more often, we may be able to score the goals we need – if everyone stays fit.
I don’t think Stewy is going to tear up Premiership defences any more and I have no problem with Gaston, Traore or Fischer being preferred. But after them, he is our next best option and we could easily find ourselves in an injury situation of having to start Traore on the left and Stuani on the right as we did yesterday, and I don’t think we will enjoy the consequences at this level of football.
I better start talking football before everyone’s eyes glaze over when they see my Gravatar 🙂
I can’t comment too much on the game itself as I only saw the highlights, but it’s become increasingly apparent that Fabio is our best right-back and somehow he needs to be given the shirt. Perhaps AK will need to look at new cover for left-back in the window instead. OK he’s maybe thinking he’s got Barragan and Chambers (and even Nsue) but they don’t look as good as Fabio and George also offers an outlet on the left so a shame to only play one of them.
Also not surprised to see Downing been told he can leave as I always got the feeling he was never Karanka’s signing (a bit like Rhodes) and Stewy did seem to spend a long time muttering with a face like thunder when he was subbed recently. Pity really as he started the season playing much better than he did in the Championship but once AK had gone for three central midfielders it was hard to see him being picked ahead of Gaston.
I also hope Karanka doesn’t do a Adomah with Adama and start playing him on the left – though can’t read too much into one cup game.
While I accept Downing hasn’t torn up the division, or even last season’s division, to let him go seems a folly.
He is an experienced, reliable player who seems to obey AK’s diktats about defensive shape and cover, to the detriment of his valuable attacking prowess.
He offers protection to him to his full back and sufficiently flexible to play in a variety of positions.
Maybe he doesn’t want to be a squad player and that is fair enough, but letting him go to a rival club would be foolish, and I can’t imagine a top half team would guarantee him any more game time. A puzzler. Of course, it may be a personality clash.
Again, thanks to all struggling at the IT coal face of this blog, your efforts are hugely appreciated.
Letting Downing go is understandable to a degree, same goes with Nugent, Rhodes and Ayala. Personally I like and trust all 4 of them but for different reasons they don’t seem to be getting game time.
My belief is that they are as good as or close to the present incumbents albeit perhaps with different skill sets. Those differences you would assume would be a good thing as it gives options but its becoming clear that there is a very strict model in place, conform, fit in or go outside and wait in the cold. That predictability model also presumably makes it distinctly easier for opposition analysts to study Boro and to prepare against us which concerns me.
Traore is probably the only single question mark in opposition Coaches minds as they don’t what he is capable of and what he may do. Neither do we unfortunately but Sunday made me think the lad is perhaps being over coached to the detriment of his game. Being put out on the left is not something you do to your youngest and most inexperienced player surely especially one with very obvious confidence issues?
So getting back to Stewey, Rhodes, Nugent and Ayala my concern is that if they do go are we bringing in better than them? Adomah went and I carped on then but I haven’t seen anything that makes me feel his boots have not only been filled but improved upon. My thoughts on Gestede the person are well known but leaving that to one side is he an upgrade on Rhodes or Nugent? I genuinely do not believe that to be the case.
I don’t accept this spin of “he fits AK system better”. Facts and stats show that offensively AK system in the Premiership sucks. The Leicester game was abysmal and the first half against Wednesday was so poor it was possibly the worst in Riverside memory and that was against supposedly weaker opposition. Its alright AK blaming his players but he selects, trains, coaches and motivated that team.
Ayala is arguably adequately covered for with Chambers, Espinosa and arguably even Barragan so I get that. Stewey is a player who like Rhodes and Nugent (and Adomah) doesn’t appear to fit AK’s system or perhaps attitudinal requirements. Where we are is just about survival but if we bring in lesser players to cover for those departing then the squad gets weaker when surely we should be looking for improvement no matter how marginal.
We have been linked with Snodgrass as an example, where he to come in and replace Downing then I could see that as a more positively creative addition and thereby an improvement. Thats not detrimental to Downing its just a case that given an either or choice in the starting line up I would probably plump for the current Hull playmaker.
Obviously we need to clear some out to get some in but lets make sure that what does come in isn’t just the same as or worse than what we already have.
RR
As always you make some very valid points. The crux however is that we probably need to offload before we can recruit but as you quite rightly say the incomings need to improve on what we had previously.
I also agree with your comments regarding Traore. They need to be getting him to do a consistent job on the right before using him on the left. From what little I have seen/heard of him (Sky/MoD/Boro+) he appears to be very much work in progress and there are still big question marks in my view of his footballing brain i.e. positional play/off the ball movement and ability in providing quality crosses. At the end of the day he may prove to be a better sprinter than a footballer.
Adama is a precocious talent, pace and speed in abundance allied to quick feet so there is undoubtedly talent there and at a greater level than many others earning a living at this level. The problem is that he seems to never have been coached in the positional aspects of the game and the wider use of movements both on and off the ball with himself and that of his team mates. His tactical awareness is zero which seems very bizarre considering his Barcelona heritage but he genuinely cannot read or anticipate a game.
Running into an open space anticipating or creating a space is a concept that he just doesn’t get. Losing possession and sitting on his backside sulking instead of jumping straight back up and getting back into the fray is another common failing. Just watch de Roon on Sunday lose the ball then getting stuck in winning back possession, being fouled for his troubles and then winning the free kick that Grant scored from.
Release the ball to Traore when he has acres to run into and nobody can get near him, knock the ball past a defender and he will get it to the byline and get a cross of sorts in. All brilliant to watch but once on the ball he has no concept of where any of his colleagues might be and what he needs to do in the next phase of play, just head down and run. Packed tightly he has the ability to dribble his way past three of four opponents in exhilarating fashion.
As a tactic he can be very useful when dropping deep playing away from home and just clearing balls out from defence knowing (and the opposition knowing) that if he gets clear he will rip them open but the end product unfortunately is likely to be anyone’s guess. If someone at the club can teach him in a classroom rather than train him on the pitch he could be a world great up there with Ronaldo and Messi. Others have tried and however failed which makes me think there is something intrinsically not quite right for whatever reason. Lets live in hope!
RR
when the buxxer does run with three opponents in his wake it’s exciting to watch though..…
Maybe Stuey will be the next to head to China! I’ll be sorry to see him go, although I can understand his frustration. I, for one, was thrilled when he came back to us.
Funnily enough, his career seems to have been one where his face hasn’t really fitted at any club he’s represented (including England, I guess.)
KP
You may be right about Traore, the key seems to be getting him moving so that he isn’t a sitting target for defenders. It may be getting him to the box to be fouled may be his most productive contribution.
The question marks you mention are nothing new, he didn’t leave Barca because he was the finished article, Villa let him go because of his end product or absence thereof.
John Powls once likened Aaron Lennon to a terrier chasing a big ball on the beach, never quite in control. The same could apply to Traore, hopefully we have a budding star.
Because of his pace though Lennon was very much a media darling. Ditto Stewie for being one of the only left wingers whose crossing and shooting stood out at the time. Despite this, 2007-08 aside, Downing has never really been what you’d call a goalscoring winger.
Is it me or is this new blog (big thanks to Werdermouth for that, by the way) busier than Untypical Boro, as I’m finding it hard to keep.pace with reading the posts?
Like others, I can be diverted to other less important activities, which means I’m always playing catch up, but it seems more difficult to keep up at present. Maybe my age is the problem! That may also be why the technical stuff goes over my head. I just log into Diasboro and there it is, as if by magic. Thankful for the expertise of Werder, RR and others.
I’m not surprised at the Downing situation. Clearly, he and AK are poles apart. I would, however, assume that his replacement is being lined up as we could be short on numbers if that were not the case.
The next few weeks should be interesting.
As I said yesterday, all I want is a home tie in Round Four. I don’t care who we play.
Problem with my sign in. So checking out.
All managers including AK have a resposibility to the club to help manage their available cash resources well and obtain where possible best value for money. Difficult I know and easier said than done.
But,….Nugent, Downing, possibly Rhodes collectively alot of loot laid out in fees and wages, bonuses etc. Now to move them on for a fraction of their initial cost after so little time is bad management by MFC overall.
Replacents as others has said have to be better. What we have bought and being linked with is not comforting.
It could work out OK.
Ayala going will generate a profit. Snodgrass or Deolefeu in for Downing would be a great swap.
Nugent leaving makes sense and as long as we get what we paid for Rhodes we’re non the worse. Otherwise he can stay and see what happens.
UTB
Nugent has moved to Derby for undisclosed fee but thought to be £2m plus add ons, Villa first to make approach for Downing !.
Come on BORO.
I am in the camp that will be happy enough to see Downing moved on. I think he has seriously under performed and rarely betrays any enthusiasm for turning V out in the red shirt. He should be one of the senior pros that you could rely on to mentor the younger players or newer players, but I just don’t see it. Perhaps Steve Bruce will be the man to make him tick.
Pleased Nugent will get a game at Derby. He had always played with a smile and with determination for us.
Hope we don’t end up like some teams, with very few English players.
4 of our starting XI on Sunday – Chambers, Friend, Leadbitter, Clayton – were English, which usually increases to six with Forshaw and Gibson. So we’re not doing too badly atm.
And Jordan Rhodes is English err no Scottish or whatever
Amd Dael Fry
If the rumours are true about Downing and Rhodes being the choices of Steve Gibson when they came to the club (Downing for the second time), then I wonder what he thinks about Rhodes being frozen out and Downing let go on loan. I hope he isn’t afraid to discuss it with Karanka because he has seen at first hand what appears to happen when someone crosses him!
The sense/economics of buying and paying high wages to both Stewie and Rhodes if they aren’t as appears AK type players seems odd. Cant see us breaking even on either.
What puzzles me is Stewie going on loan, why not just sell him? A loan deal seems slightly odd, loaning him to a bottom half prem club strikes me as utter madness. Which appears to leave China or Trumpton. China it is then, he’ll probably get £100k a week!
Nugent leaving is no surprise, he was only ever going to be here to contribute to a promotion campaign, good luck to him though. He seems an utterly decent bloke.
Ayala is another odd one, we’re all guessing he might be off, but that’s by no means certain, maybe he does have a future at Boro providing he sorts out his ‘injury’ issues.
There is every chance the squad will look quite different by the beginning of Feb, by next August it will be unrecognisable from the one that won promotion.
Well I have closed the “Uniquelyboro” wordpress site down as I think we all seem to have successfully migrated over here with very little problem. More painfully I also deleted “Untypicalboro” from my favourites, end of an era!
I see the Nugent to Derby story is now a done deal, good luck to him as he always gave his all and with a smile on his face.
Good luck to David Nugent, an intelligent footballer who always gave 100 per cent. He deserves a chance of regular game time.
Like minded, as ever, RR.
Home to Accrington Stanley.
Come on BORO.
Boroexile
It was suggested that AK would sack his own mother if she got the sprouts wrong at Christmas, maybe Gibbo is fearful of his job.
The sad thing is some posters will believe it!
Anyway, a chance for revenge against ‘Who are they? Exactly!’ I hope we get a big crowd for a great day for a lower league club.
Good luck to Nugent at Derby, fans I know are pleased to get him but struggling to see where he will play. As with many clubs Derby play with one striker, currently Bent, they also have Vydra and are trying t get Chris Martin back.
Strikers are currently going out of fashion, so passe to play with a striker never mind two. Cant do accents over the e.
First Comment
The Diasboro blog is a shining example of fortitude and ability in the face of uncertainty & disappointment -congrats to all who sail in her, long may it reign as a home of all things Boro, free from skullduggery & spite.
Second
Accrington Stanley, we the Diasboro know who you are! Inshallah you will have an appreciative & warm welcome – then we’ll defeat you as is only fitting – if we don’t then the manager should definitely be sacked 😉
Thirdly
Any player or group of players that questions a manager’s right to manage will get the big heave ho, regardless of status. Even if the said manager imposes strange and unfathonable ways. This was the stance of Fergie. He said the day the players get control is the day the club has lost it. See England under the previous 2 managers.
My heart goes out to players who leave or are pushed out. My head understands there can only be one – sad but true.
UTB
Spartak
Some wont like it but Cloughie was never in favour of a democracy.
Ian
Yes he was, a democracy of one, and that was him.
I felt that the 3-0 score line really flattered us on Sunday. For me, Wednesday’s young keeper was questionable for the first two goals and might even have done better with the third (though admittedly that is harsh).. if the plucky defeat to Man Utd was one where “if we play like that every week, we’ll win more than we lose”, this was very much the opposite despite the scoreline.
Anyway, we’re through and with Accrington Stanley at home to come, we should be making the last 16 which will add a nice sideshow to the grind of fashioning our Premier League survival.
On the transfer front, it is no surprise to see Nugent leaving. The move makes sense for all parties and I wish him well. He has lot let us down with his performances or attitude.
Downing potentially leaving is more difficult one. I don’t think he has performed how we all hoped and I would have to say overall that his (re)signing has not been a success but I still feel he offers something to squad and would need replacing. The whole episode has been something of a missed opportunity I think. That said, if the rumours of his involvement in Karankagate are true, then he really ought to have been out of the door some time ago. All a bit of a shame really.
I look forward to more incoming.
Anyone for a glass of milk?
Right then back from a promenade!
Accrington Stanley at home a banana skin waiting to be slipped on! Especially if AK tinkers with the team.
Still good for us supporters who live further away than we would like and can get tickets easier. Still feel that getting rid of Boro Pride card was a bad move from the club.
Nugent going is good for the player who helped when we needed him. The squad will de different next September as the demands of the Premiership are different to the championship as long as AK can work it out.
I agree that the Downing situation is slightly odd although I too have a source that says he was the ring leader in Charltongate with something along the lines of ” return to Spain” being spoken.
From what I have seen, he has not been the player he was before he left us, lacking something, even in the number 10 role. One of our own which makes it harder although maybe for the best?
For me, the key must be who we bring in and whether they improve the squad, unlikely in January me thinks.
Spartak’s third point about managers is a great one. To quote Jared Browne on MUTV-gate:
“”(Eamon) Dunphy claimed that (Roy) Keane’s twelve years of unrivalled service to Manchester United entitled him to an opinion (on his teammates on MUTV), no matter how extreme it was… His greatness gave him the liberty to speak… Keane did his work on the pitch and that was generally more than enough. On a moral level it might be possible to agree and sympathise with Dunphy’s opinion, however, in the day-to-day world of running football clubs, Keane’s comments could not be tolerated and (Sir Alex) Ferguson simply had to pull the plug on his Manchester United career. No player, no matter how important, can assume the right to publicly undermine his manager’s authority… Clubs cannot function in this way.”
Now I’m seriously worried. Simon says that one of my comments was a great one – great, no less!
Next thing you know Ian will be admitting to a ‘man crush’ on me. OMG!!! Spartak shudders at the thought.
Lol
UTB
The question around Downing really has to why he has not really performed for us in the second coming.
Logically it has to be that either he has lost some pace/edge etc and is not the top flight player he was, or that he has been constrained by AK’s playing demands and shape and is a seething mass of frustration and resentment.
I find it hard to believe that a man who was a star for West Ham so recently has dipped so much particularly when we should assume he is happy to be home. Sadly it looks like the only way we’ll find out is if he leaves.
It’s a sad situation and calls for clarification from club and player.
On form, I guess we’d all love him to stay, I would. But someone has to go it seems, I believe it should be AK but it will be Stewy who heads off.
Its all about progress as it is in any business. In sales you can have a 15% improvement over the previous year but still the Finance Director will be asking for 5% growth this year. Standing still isn’t an option and the same applies in Football.
With Downing things haven’t progressed or improved be that the fault of the player or as most of us suspect the system constraints in which he adheres to. The same of course can be said of all the players, have they stepped up (e.g. Forshaw, Gibson, Fabio) or are they at the same level? Have incoming players been a step up on what we had and those who have exited to make room for the new buys?
The same of course can also be levelled at AK himself, has he progressed sufficiently and made the step up required?
Looks around in wonder did he score ?
Why should Karanka go because one player isn’t performing?
Downing has not been the player we thought he would be and I was one of his greatest fans
He never looks happy these days and from personal experience it never does to keep disgruntled staff
You never know after he goes out on loan he may come back rejuvenated he still has 2 years left on his contract
Spartak
You can relax, the only crush from me is if I put a contract out on you so be careful.
As for the cup draw, it is looking good for the top six, if they keep avoiding each other then the rest of us may as well just avoid the ride as they get more serious in their approach to the cup.
They will be less inclined to rest players but when you look at some of the changes weakened sides didn’t quite ring true. Man U brought in Rashford, Rooney, Young for example.
In some cases teams were giving players a rest. Forshaw was on the bench but had played three games over Christmas and his high tempo style of play can take its toll, we know Gaston has had a knock, so has Fabio. Gibson was on the bench and a centre back pairing of Bernardo and Ayala is sound.
The teams who really came unstuck went for wholesale changes, that removes the structure from the team and they are on a hiding to nothing. Saying you find out about these players is not fair on them, the chances of success are quite slim.
Those types of changes don’t work, a sprinkling of players who are squad players but need game time, experienced or to get experience is different.
Its one of the benefits of having a very tight structure in place in terms of system, tactics, formation and playing style. Just thought I’d openly throw that in as I spend a lot of time complaining about the self same at times.
You’re a mass of contradictions, RR…!
Ian – I wonder if statistically it means that the Top 6 are more likely to face each other in the next round – though it’s early days before people should start asking to examine the contents of the FA fridge before the draw to see if it contains six balls…
Werder
I’m not going to get carried away thinking we can beat the Accies
I remember Moggas team struggling at home and that was the writing on the wall for him “Who are you”
I Expect a much more professional performance from this team
Downing I think has to go. His body language has been wrong for a while. If there was any truth in his involvement with Karankagate then he has to go. Similar to Si’s piece about Roy Keane player power can’t win
We simply cannot let him go to Crystal Palace that would be stupid
Either Aston Villa or Newcastle would suit methinks
Still no sign of GHW, is he locked in his shed, does anyone know him to speak to?
If he isn’t careful he will be lost in cyber space.
Fat bob makes a rare foray forward as he trundles over the half way line looking for a player to pass to
🔴 Well done OFB I think that was the ton – Werdermouth
– – – – – -🚗- – – – – 100
“Logically it has to be that either he has lost some pace/edge etc and is not the top flight player he was, or that he has been constrained by AK’s playing demands and shape and is a seething mass of frustration and resentment.
“I find it hard to believe that a man who was a star for West Ham so recently has dipped so much particularly when we should assume he is happy to be home. Sadly it looks like the only way we’ll find out is if he leaves.
“It’s a sad situation and calls for clarification from club and player.
“On form, I guess we’d all love him to stay…”
There’s a bigger picture, Richard, and it doesn’t involve Dunphy-esque finger pointing.
Dunphy even admits, albeit with hindsight, that he was wrong to go to town on Mick McCarthy for being at fault for a goal. He was just carried away at Jack Charlton’s treatment of David O’Leary, even though (a) McCarthy and Moran worked better as a pair, in his opinion, and (b) he *explicitly offered* O’Leary a chance to play for Ireland that many would have taken, but O’Leary turned down.
Everyone’s entitled to your opinion, but you’re getting too carried away with Downing. 2007-08 aside (when he took the penalties) he has never been a great goalscorer in the top flight, and Big Sam got the best out of him by deploying him in a more central role in which the likes of Ramirez and even Fabbrini offered more excitement.
And again, “I want AK to go…”
After everything he’s done?
#BiggerPicture #Patience #Decency
Sorry, a few typos in there. I think I got carried away myself.
I meant, “Everyone’s entitled to *their* opinion” and the “I want AK to go…” mindset.
Then again, Dunphy wanted Charlton out even when there was no explicit, concrete statistical evidence to warrant his departure. So there’s another similarity between the two of you.
And instead shoots at goal himself
I’m not sure that Downing’s lack of form is down to AK, that is quite a stretch. At the end of the day he was brought back as a marquee player, a Pally Park Paul Merson if you will, to fire our promotion campaign up the table and into the PL.
It took less than 2 months to see that he either wasn’t capable, or wasn’t prepared to offer that kind of stimulus, and it was no surprise he was eventually shunted back out left. I would say that this was the cause of the issue, as Downing clearly fancied himself as a Number 10 par excellence, which he clearly was not.
He only has himself to blame in my view, he could have brought a lot more passion and made himself a true home-grown hero. Spitting your dummy out because you can’t play where you want and taking your home-town club, the one that made your star no less, for a ride is bordering on shameful in my opinion. He’s been nothing more than solid in his return, and we need more than solid if we are to improve the goals for column.
It could have ended differently, but that is as much down to Downing as it is AK.
Great Post Smoggy
Now this is what is good about this blog. We can put up a black and without everyone’s losing it or going off on one we have carefully reasoned arguments for amd against.
We will never know the reasons why Downing has not performed to his best and probably never will.
But no man and that includes Players Managent or Executives are bigger than the club
Smoggy in Exile
Couldn’t agree more. SD was a one season wonder at West Ham and certainly did not perform in the No 10 role when given the chance by AK.
Smoggy
If one takes a calm overview of Downing’s career, it seems obvious that it started out with the most brilliant promise. In the England team within six months, rattled up thirtysomething caps. But, yes, there is that dreadful word, he did all the great play, which was a pleasure to watch,(and still is), I think the word class very definitely applies, but he never lets the brakes off and just goes for it. I mean by that the head on thrust into the box and smash it in, the beat two men and curl it inside the far post. Long ago and far away(portsmouth? away) one down five to go, he just took charge and ran at the centre of the defence, into the box, and crashed it into the net twice.
one can’t help thinking that Harry remembered that when he took him to west ham, and, presumably read him the riot act, because he was worth watching on match of the day, both scoring goals and getting back into the England team.
He is now the classy player he always was, but with that devil missing.
He will play until he is forty, easily, because he will never lose his class.
Simon
You are to be commended on your deep sense of loyalty to AK. However, even your good self in moments of AK euphoria must recognise that AK is a diversive character to all & sundry, unless of course you’re doing exactly as he has told you to do.
Even when we beat the Swans he was less than complimentary. In fact, he would have been more happy with a draw if the team had played to his instructions.
There can be little doubt amongst the more rational that he upsets the more creative strain of player. There is a growing list now of said players leaving. I fear the team and the style imminent will soon consist of 90% hard grafters with 1 or 2 goal getters to shock/squeeze out draws and maybes1 in 5 wins.
The die is set. AK said himself he is not for changing. Yet, who but grafters are going to be willing to sign up to play under his management.
Welcome to the graft and grind New Super Improved Boro.
Ian – I suspect GHW has moved on, he had been quiet on AV’s blog for a while, hopefully I’m wrong but I think the transition to the new blog was the end for GHW.
Spartak
Believe me, I knew you were going to post something like this.
I tend to take AK’s post-match comments – or any manager’s post-match comments – with a pinch of salt. Even RR admitted “we were not very good at all” that day despite the scoreline.
The performance and the result are different things, and I would think he was smart enough to realise this. His comments, I believe, were intended to serve as a means of keeping the players on their toes – in other words, the “you won 3-0 just in time for Christmas but don’t pretend that all is well” mindset. United had several of these games under Lord Fergie.
As for my “loyalty”? It’s based on rational thinking.
Because despite AK’s undeniable achievements over the past few years, it does seem to me that some think his success is illusory. Supporters of players like Muzzy Carayol, Lee Tomlin, Yanic Wildschut, Albert Adomah, David Nugent, Dimi Konstantopoulos, Jordan Rhodes and now Dani Ayala (all players I like/d and enjoy/ed watching, by the way, but giving them too much attention – as Dimi once was, and as Rhodes still is – is hugely problematic) do appear keen to think of AK’s tenure as a tale of missed opportunities, poor man management and inflexible tactics, where the manager is wholly to blame even if responsibility is collective.
In my view, criticism that AK willingly accepts second best too often is ridiculous. The players have looked gutted after defeats or dropped points under him. I’d even go further and say, considering that we’ve been out of the top flight for seven years, that the post-match statements of AK, the players and local journalists about Boro’s results are sensible and realistic assessments of Boro’s progress, not rationalisations for failure.
If you want those, look to England’s national team.
Simon
How can you say that you take ALL managers comments with a pinch of salt & then attribute the comment from AK as being spoken to keep players, as you put it ‘on their toes’. Surely for reasons of consistency you would not entirely trust AK’s comment & therefore not deem to suggest an oblique purpose behind it? For to suggest a purpose would give it a basis in fact.
Rational thinkin – yer avin a larf ai ‘t yer?
You yourself havin written apologies for posting remarks that you have completely written in the euphoria of the moment. That’s euphoria as in a heightened emotional state. I myself have come to take some of your more euphoric postings as part of your online personality & put it down to simply, it’s Simon having one of his moments. He’ll be back to earth in a bit.
Finally, AK’s man management skills can only be judged from the outside by who stays and who goes. Question – as a simply ratio, how many attacking/creative players have left during AK’s tenure in comparison to defenders? The man’s on a mission for defensive perfection coz that’s his strength. Anything else, like a balanced or god forbid an attacking team is simply outside his skill set. Hence the poor to non existant man management of forward players and thus their subsequent oft departurers.
We’ll agree to disagree Spartak.
Sparta
I regard the departure of a stream of players, and the arrival of an equal stream as evidence of a mind at work.
this is a club at work, remember when we signed players and they were ours for ever, even when they never played they clocked up five years on the payroll, because the club was a feather bed. The perfect example was Wilson, who signed from Man Ute as a makewieght with another player. He left after five years and said how he had loved it here. He never, by word or deed indicated that he might like a game in the first team.
Now that’s bad management.
Touché
I will repeat it again, basically AK plays the same way as many managers in the top flight. The top clubs have the best players and play the best football.
Very few teams play with two strikers, those that do have the second striker spending the vast majority of time in midfield.
Having accepted that, we still need our midfield to be more dynamic. I am pleased de Roon has now netted three times. We need more output from our midfielders.
I would be happy if the default defence has Fabio and George as full backs because they are basically attack minded, that would allow our two wide attackers to get closer to Negredo. Stuani looked a far better player when he was attacking the box.
Will it happen?
Ian
I agree with you that Fabio and George are the two best backs. A bit of praise for our scouts in securing Fabio and our coaches for working with him to get him back to his best .
There is no way we are going 2 up front unless we are chasing the game.
Karanka takes stick for his dour play and I sit and watch the windscreen wiper football side to side passing and yes it does frustrate me.
However for all his faults and he has a few, AK has done what GS GS2 and Mogga failed and that is get promotion.
We also are known to be a hard nut to crack and a grudging respect for our efforts
The news says we are attempting to get in current premiership players so we will wait and see what develops.
Has this blog been open only a week????
Oh and I thought Stuani played better second half and made the third goal
Agree with all that Ian.
Fabio at right back seems like a must now.
Not that I think Downing has been a success.
But which offensive players have been successful under AK…….?
Maybe, just maybe it’s not about the player.
Tomlin, Vossen, Bamford, Adomah, Fabbrini, Ramirez, Nugent, Stuani, Kike Garcia, even Rhodes to a point. They all made their contributions to taking Boro to a higher level under AK, and some have contributions still to make.
Even Ledesma had his day before we and AK realised he wasn’t good enough to do it in the long term.
Simon – Fabbrini and Kike? To say they made a (meaningful) contribution is stretching it a bit! There are others on your list who made a contribution certainly but whether that contribution was significant in achieving promotion is open to debate.
Out of your list I’d say Bamford, Adomah and Ramirez for sure, after that it becomes a little more uncertain for me.
Simon
Of that list, who has left and is a starter for a top flight club?
That is a sympton of our place in the food chain.
Ian
As a football club our duty is to look after ourselves. So, the question is? Did we get money for those players? Yes, of course we did. The list is of an impressive length, which shows that with little money we are sifting through a lot of players, and making money when we move them on(quickly)
A few of them made real money, and our overall staff(playing) is of considerable value at this moment. Liked the way there was an immediate queue formed on the right when we said who we were allowing to go, that is a refreshing change for us and long may it continue.
Not just a success, but Ramirez’s career has been absolutely turned round by AK.
“And Karanka said: “I was surprised when I was speaking with Conte after the Chelsea game because he knew Gaston when he was in Italy with Bologna.
“He said, ‘Wow, what have you done with Gaston? He’s a completely different player. He’s more intense, he’s more involved in the game – in Italy it was different’.
““I told him that when I signed him as a free agent in the summer, I knew he had problems with injuries but sometimes you just have to give a player confidence.
“Now he’s playing with confidence and is an important player for us.”
For such a divisive character, AK has made a lot of players a lot better – Dimi, Friend, Gibson, Ayala, Nsue, Clayton, Ramirez, Adomah, and the list continues. The players also talk consistently about the great team spirit – again, not bad with such a divisive character at the helm.
You mention 7 players Borophil. Of which one’s gone & out of 3 others 1 played recently whereas the other 2 have gone so cold their legs have probably frozen. Lol
Great Post well balanced view and also what i think how our caches have taken players and improved them. I hope Traore clicks and gets an understanding of the game because then he would be terrific and also terrifying to the opposition
The system/style of play certainly makes life more difficult for attacking players. I commented a long while ago and RR has made similar noises recently that if we want our striker to be a physical powerhouse, deadly finisher and have excellent workrate/defensive discipline then we really need a Didier Drogba (perhaps now Diego Costa) to make a real go of it.
Likewise, we want our wingers to be quick and tricky whilst AK wants them to work hard defensively and be defensively positionally sound. That’s a truly great winger of the sort we won’t be able to buy ready made.
On the flip side, look how many defenders have done very well indeed under AK. There have been a couple of lops but Fabio has surprised most of us, Barragan has been better than expected I think, Gibson has developed tremendously and Friend is unrecognisable from the one who played under Mowbray. Chambers, Nsue, Fredericks, Ayala etc etc. The list goes on.
So I definitely think that the system plays a key role in how well the players do in their respective roles.
Boro tracking Jesé Rodriquez from PSG
Liverpool chasing but a player who played under Karanka at Real Madrid
I bring in Fabbrini and Kike G because – okay – I was a fan of both.
But their contribution was certainly meaningful. Both scored (Kike twice) in the 3-0 win over Bolton which effectively kick started 2015-16, and Fabbrini followed it up with another vital goal at Hillsborough. It was also Fabbrini’s long ranger that turned the game at Wolves, and when Kike came in from the cold in December, well… I’ll quote Vic after the crucial 1-0 win over Burnley:
“He has (the) best goals-to-minute ratio at the Boro this term and is a very effective link man with a deft touch and good control who links well with midfield, albeit often too deep to hurt teams.
“But… he did well. Very well. Arguably it was his best display this season (although he did well at Derby and Manchester United). In the first half he worked tirelessly holding the ball up well to create space and buy time for support to arrive and he made some intelligent darting runs to make himself available and pull holes in the defence.
“…When he went off for Stuani he got well deserved and genuine applause.”
He did the same in the great win at Brighton – and he also got a goal and an assist.
That, and he – and Fabbrini – were a part of possibly the best Boro chant of AK’s tenure.
‘I’m a fan of both!’ But of course a highly rational one, eh Simon! Lol
Downing on loan to a rival team, Crystal Palace, would it really be a bad move ?
Previous discussions about who is likely to pull away from the relegation fight and Palace were in most people’s choices and looking at the depth of their squad, it is understandable:
Speroni, Flamini, Dann, Cabaye, Logic Remy, Townsend, Zaha, Benteke, Ledley, Fraizer Campbell, Mcarthur, Wickham, Puncheon, Sako, Delaney to mention but a few.
The positive side of loaning Downing to Palace, is that he may help them defeat our other rivals but would be ineligible to play against the BORO, so would loaning him to them be really counter productive. In Jan/Feb amongst Palace’s fixtures are West Ham, Bournemouth, Sunderland and Stoke.
I personally would like to see him sold, as I said at the time I had heard Downing and his brother in law Woodgate were behind the dispute, with Woodgate hoping to become Southgate Mk II.
Come on BORO.
Exmil
We want six clubs in the mix, for us to help Palace out of the mire would be crazy. The list of players you mention is truly impressive, and maybe all they need is a steadying body in midfield, lets not provide one.
Borophil – I concur regarding your analysis of AK, he’s done wonders for many players and there is no doubt he has created a great team spirit which is fundamentally important for a team to be successful.
The fact (we assume its a fact), that some players don’t like him doesn’t make him divisive, to get from one to the other is a big leap.
Maddren didn’t like Charlton and Pallister didn’t like Rioch , both were excellent players in successful teams, never ever heard anyone say Charlton and Rioch were divisive figures.
Beckham didn’t like Ferguson and likewise bit they got on with it
It’s the same in any business or walk of live. I know after being the boy it was a shock when I grew up to see some people didn’t like me and I wondered why?
Karanka like other strong minded managers has belief in his ability and is single minded in his purpose..
We have had other managers who have wavered with decisions and ultimately suffered for it .
No il stick with what we’ve got and if players want to leave then let them
There is only one Boro and no “i” in Team
Come on chaps, yer perspective is spiralling outta control here.
Beckham couldn’t wait to bolt & had to be held back from Fergie after his eye/face got cut from the shattered pottery Fergie smashed from throwin against tha wall.
AK has engendered a positive team spirit – has we buried the changing room meltdown so deep no one now believes it happened? The body of Downing hasn’t left by the exit yet, nevermind his spirit.
I think someone is going to have to reel in their AK worship coz if he actually gets some REAL success your going to be short of superlatives and look right daft annoiting him as divine ruler par excellance! Lol
Spartak – ‘Beckham couldn’t wait to bolt’, really? How many years was he at United before Fergie got rid of him because he felt he was turning into a prima donna?
As for last seasons dressing room bust up, I don’t know the details and neither do you, we all suspect Woodie and Stewie were central but we don’t know for certain. But I’m certain in my mind that if AK had lost the trust of the players at that point either we’d still be in the Championship or he’d have been sacked by Gibbo there and then.
I think you’re making a huge leap from dressing room bust up to divisive manager, the strong team spirit that is obvious to see strongly suggests the squad are behind Karanka, it wouldn’t be there otherwise.
And as for the superlatives I have a shed load of them at my disposal which are waiting for the day when a Boro manager leads us to glory!
If AK keeps us up this season I will go as far as to say he’s done a good job.
Nigel
Come on jog the old memory now! AK was sent home to cool off. The team went to pieces coz the rancour was so heavy duty. Not forgetting Leo’s great chest thumpin moment of course. Must have been a great atmosphere in the dressing room. Anyhow along comes SG and HE poured oil on troubled waters. Still the toxic atmosphere has not dissipated. Stewie on the way out (some people have asked to leave. quote AK)but to read here you would think AK is the world master & expert in team building.
Total nonsense!!!!
Sparta
If you are managing your team, and your turnover is going to be eight a year, then eight are going to leave(add the numbers up) if they do not leave then you have players hanging around like loppy dogs. What are your theories for the players who have left since AK started actually managing the club? You will note that during the cup tie AK wandered over to Reach during an injury break in play and put his arm round his shoulder and chatted to him for a couple of minutes.
even I am surprised by that moment, especially in the modern game.
As Ian likes to write ‘The table never lies!’ And who can argue with that?
Currently for all the marvelous things AK has done, we’re still only on 4 wins outta 20 games. God willing we get a win or two outta the three remaining in January or it’ll be 4 wins out of 23 games & the ONLY thing keepin AK in his chair is a) the fantastically undescribeable team spirit he’s solely generated all by his self against horrendous odds and b) the teams below are such basket cases we haven’t dropped into the relegation zone.
‘Some players have asked to leave!’ Indeed they have. How many? Why, when there’s such a fantastic team spirit & we have a manager who’s better than 10 Guardiolas.
Now that’s redressed the balance a bit.
Feelin a bit more grounded chaps?
Happy days
A manager who plays favourites has got to cause rifts amongst the playing group, how would you feel sitting on the bench and not getting meaningful playing time and listening to some of the comments made by the manager. In the real world we have all raised objections to stupid decisions made by our bosses ( if you didn’t then I bet you regret it now, we may not have changed the decision but at least we voiced our objections) after all the world has changed and we do not live or work under a dictator ( some still do granted) This new generation of footballers who are financially well off and not afraid to voice their displeasure will continue to question and not be downtrodden. I still think Karanka needs to learn to improve his management skills ie the cup game to give a few players a boost by playing them.
Nugent gone, Downing next and possibly Rhodes and lets face it if not for Leadbitters injury I doubt Forshaw would be here. I hope our young up and comers get a chance and not sacrificed for a dud signing (De Pena for Reach as an example.) We are in danger of being becoming the Costa del Boro..
I thought we were becoming Boro Villa? Maybe Costa Boro Villa or should that be Costco?
Unlike some, I am not in the dressing room or at Rockcliffe so sadly I cannot state what takes place in private. The danger of assume is it makes an ass of u and me.
Whatever happened will take some time to fully come out. At the end of the day the requirement was promotion by hook or by crook. We are in the top flight.
AK is what he is, you wont change him, the table will be his judge. If he was that big a problem some people allege him to be he would have got the bullet by now.
AK is a big success already after seven years away from the top flight (and about four managers). And we nearly got relegated to the third tier before he came.
So AK is and will be a big success in my book. Even if we would get relegated this season – we still have the parachute payments coming and don’t need to fire any players, etc.
But I have no doubts that we wouldn’t stay up this season. None at all.
Up the Boro!
I agree with you Jarkko I am enjoying being back in the Premiership
Remember even our Blogmeister warned that after the past couple of years winning most of our home games that things were going to change
This is a vastly different scenario to the last time we were in the Premiership
Most teams have money now and a lot of them are owned by overseas investors
We are lucky that our majority shareholder and chairman is a Boro fan and prepared to invest money with no real return
Yes Karanka is stubborn but I wouldn’t swap him and no I’m not a love sick groupie looking to appease him he has done a good job up to now
Spartak – I see no evidence of a toxic atmosphere, I think that is your construct to fit your narrative.
As for team building against horrendous odds, who said so? He’s (AK) built a strong team spirit, that’s part of his job, he’s done it well I think, I don’t think the odds were stacked against him though.
Mogga new the importance of team spirit but couldn’t create it, maybe such things as letting Carayol rock up late for training didn’t help.
As for improving players, compare the Mogga version of Friend to the AK version, different player surely?
As for the players that have left, Reach, Tomlin, Nugent and those that might go Rhodes and Downing, out of all those and others the only truly Premiership quality player who has left/might leave is Downing.
If players don’t get picked because they’re not good enough and then want to leave so what? Taxi…………….
A thought for you all.
I am not anti-Rhodes. He gave me one of my favourite moments as a Boro supporter and I am forever grateful for it.
Nor am I anti-Albert. He gave us much to enjoy and remember, even admire as he weathered the transition from goalscorer to footballer that Fergie imposed on most of his forwards.
The problem is when they are made out as hapless victims of a dastardly stifling regime.
It always takes two to tango.
And why is Forshaw being repeatedly used as a stick to beat AK with even though football is loaded with tales of footballers taking an unexpected opportunity with both hands? His story should be celebrated. Not demeaned.
A couple of points – thanks for the match report as always Redcar Red, but I was surprised you made no mention of the fact that Fabio was incredibly lucky not to concede a penalty for clattering Forestieri. It was 2-0 then with eight or nine minutes left…..
As some of you will be aware I would like AK to go; I have publicly said I will not pay to watch them again while he is in charge. That’s not just because I think the style of football and all the gruesome stats about goals scored, shots on target etc are miles away from being satisfactory, or because I think the team selection, ‘freezing out’ of some and the overloading with moderate Spanish/Spanish-speaking replacements which has still left us still looking nervously over our shoulder is disgraceful – it’s also the fact that we always struggle to do anything in games where we have to come from behind. 1 point out of 9 games where that’s happened this season.
That sort of scenario is where managers really earn their money for me, getting a team mentally tough and focused enough to overcome the negative emotions, keep playing, upping the work rate etc, and claw their way back into games. AK has never demonstrated that he has what it takes in this regard. Boro are easy to play against, and when teams know that one goal will generally do it – two for absolute certain will – well, I admire the positivity of those who see AK as doing a good job, etc, but I just cannot make that leap.
It’s nice to have a decent result, if yet another largely constipated performance, to deflect attention from the important business, but those league games are running out and we very much have a fight on our hands. And I fear Ak’s stubborness may cost us dearly come May!
Yes, AK has shaped a well organised defensive unit that on the last day of the previous season achieved promo. They/he did it with the amount of transfer money that would have made Mogga swoon and faint. In addition, correct me if I’m wrong, we went the last 4 or 5 games without a win and crawled to promo because Brighton went down to 10 men and Leadbelter crocked himself for half a season for the cause. And that’s ALL credit to our one and only AK?
See chaps what’s annoying is the gross exaggerations of ability and success. I’ve said it before that I have no beef with AK. In fact, I do admire his ternasity. Yet, the descriptions some write read to me as bordering on complete delusion & what’s more I think AK would agree with me.
Remember we are in a tight spot at the bottom of the Prem not bordering on a Euro comp spot. Our manager is bright green in that his top flight experience is highly limited – he ain’t Conte, Wenger, Guardiola or Mourinho. They’ve won bags full of stuff, whilst our man’s won NOTHING! In fact, our team have just managed to win 4 games outta 20.
Enough said.
Simon
If it was so awful Forshaw would have left in the summer, when we were promoted he was celebrating with the best of them and now he is one of the first on the team sheet.
That is how football works, same with Stewie. he had his chance to be the no 10 but never quite grasped it. Fabbrini was the one who caught the eye before Gaston arrived.
Albert was never forced to leave, he turned down the deal.
Ian
Forshaw’s career fortunes had bombed then picked up a bit and improved with Boro. He was unlikely to get another Premiership club so of course he was happier staying than going especially knowing that Grant was crocked.
Moving on to Albert I doubt we will ever know but why would a player turn down a deal with a Premiership side to go to a Championship side? It may have been greed or an inflated ego perhaps or maybe something more complex also going on? Nobody on here knows but what I do know is that we let one of our better and more creative players go and not replaced him with an equal or as should have been the case an improved version.
I read today in the Gazette our former blogmeister saying why the money spent on Nugent, Downing and Rhodes was money well spent because ultimately the club achieved its goal of promotion and into the financial land of milk and honey. I don’t doubt that and it would have been a very different story otherwise but the same theory perhaps could have been considered in regards to Adomah and what it would have cost to keep him sweet to improve our chances of remaining in this league.
My own personal hunch is that relations were never great between Albert and AK so that may or may not have affected what was actually on offer. My take on things were that some players were dropped for individual errors whilst others equally culpable were not. AV I think indicated at the time that this may have been related to how they took their medicine and that some were possibly more outspoken or less serious or intense than others.
Perhaps Albert got wind of what some incomers were being offered, who knows. That happens in football (and in ordinary work life) but a Plan B and C should have been in place as it should be for every player whose contract is imminent, these things are foreseeable. Losing Albert could yet prove very costly and for a long time to come. We have all been in work situations were “there are deals and then there are deals”, my view is that a deal should have been struck to keep him even if only for short term need.
Hi James
My bladder had reached danger levels and I couldn’t wait until the end of the game, when I got back to my seat I knew something had happened in our box but not sure what other than we got lucky apparently. Being honest the first half had me so fed up and disillusioned that I almost went home at half time.
We scored three goals in the second half and looked better balanced when Fabio came on (interestingly with Fabio behind Stunai looked a better player) but my mood was far from ecstatic tempered by the bore fest of the first uninspiring 45 minutes. My report on the second half was concise and to the point more out of duty than euphoria. That first 45 really needs analysing behind closed doors because it epitomises everything that AK needs to address or worse perhaps even accept.
Redcar red
Not only does the first half need analysing behind closed doors, the DVD should be in plain brown paper and only shown after the watershed.
Even AK would struggle to take something possitive out of a turgid 45 minutes, we all keep forgetting he played his football at Real alongside the Galacticos. A passing, possession game relies on passing to your team mates.
Ian
I would respectfully advise the use of Chemical gauntlets and also Respiratory masks when handling that DVD.
I see Ayala’s appeal has been unsuccessful and now starts a 3 game ban. Have to admit to being surprised at the club appealing the red card in the first place. I guess its all about opinions but for me it was a blatant attempt to smash the player and take him out rather than a late mistimed tackle.
It was not a sensible appeal. The staff knew from the referee after the game that the sending off was not because he was the last man/professional foul, but that it was for violent conduct ie striking out at an opponent. There was no way that was ever going to be overturned.
Don’t they look at the replays? Not even an “umpire’s call”.
“He (AK) ain’t Conte, Wenger, Guardiola or Mourinho.” No he is not – he is better and younger than Mourinho. I would rather have AK than JM. And we could get AK, none of the others above.
Has any of above won a promotion from the Championship WITHOUT parachute payments? Like the ex-Real Madrid head coach at skunks might – or might not – be doing.
And the Riverside stadium is full of happy fans nearly every week. Let’s enjoy the season, mates!
Up the Boro!
Well said Jarkko
Cheers, Bob. UTB!
Serious foul play seems harsh though for Ayala. So it had nothing to do with denying a goal scoring opportunity, the ref just considered it was excessive force. Perhaps.
I just seen it as a blatant forearm in the face and taking one for the team. In hindsight he should have let him get past and tackled him from behind, probably a yellow card and a free kick in that scenario but the heat of the moment and I suspect being rusty was the decider.
Lets enjoy the season!
By all means but also lets enjoy a well balanced debate – ne ce pas!
Fe being younger doesn’t make u better. Having achieved promo doesn’t mean you WON the Championship. Having won not one but TWO European Champions League Compeditions suggests you merit a certain respect in the general game of football. Even Benitez has won it once. Winning NOTHING & achieving 4 wins from your first 20 games in the EPL suggests you have a lot of learning to do.
Ignoring these facts with blind devotion isn’t generally considered to be a balanced perspective. It may gain you kudos with a few but for the many it is a nonsense.
Well hello again, boys and girls.
Some think AK is REALLY good and some think he is REALLY poor and therefore available for a decent kicking. I don’t agree with either extreme.
On the plus side he steadied the ship when he took over and he got the team promoted into the Premier League. He solidified the defence into one of the best in the country (not only the best for the last 2 years in the Championship but still a creditable force capable of holding its own against most teams in the Premier League) He achieved the big target and one way of looking at that is that he was given one job, “Get us up” and he delivered.
On the negative side he was given money to do that, which would have made Mogga green with envy. The money spent on Rhodes, for example, would have been an unthinkable fortune for most of the other teams then competing in the Championship. We had by most peoples’ thinking, the best squad of players in the Championship and really should have torn that league apart, rather than limping over the line at the end, being promoted in that final, knife-edge game on goal difference. There must have been tens of thousands who had vowed not to go to any play-off games after the previous year’s Wembley disaster. It is as if the place is cursed for the Boro.
None of us on here are in the changing room, as has been pointed out earlier. We can’t say for certain that A said XY+Z to B. What we can say for certain is that something very serious happened in the changing room last year, before the Charlton and Fulham games. It may well have been festering for some time before it burst out onto the surface. It resulted in two bad defeats in games we should have won. Had we won them, we would not have been gnawing our fingers to the bone in the Brighton game. However it was couched, we know that Karanka was on the point of leaving the club but that after Steven Gibson became involved, as he had to, Karanka stayed away from the training ground before a decision was made that he should return to lead the club, and he was persuaded to do that.
There is no way that could have occurred as a result of an upset over a player misplacing a set of boots, or the kit man being late in laying out the shirts. There MUST have been a confrontation in the changing room which made the manager feel that he was being undermined and that the situation was so bad that it might have justified HIS leaving the club. Again, clearly that couldn’t possibly have been as a result of comments or views expressed by junior members of the squad or the confrontation would have been very one-sided. If it had been, say the likes of Michael Agazzi, Andre Bennett & Julian De Sart behind it, THEY would have been out of the door within minutes, not AK.
It does not take Sherlock Holmes to work out that it must have been senior players, and either of such seniority or in such numbers as would make the manager wonder whether he had the clout at the club (with Steve Gibson) to win any ensuing tussle. And if there was that serious issue between the manager and some senior players it is difficult for us to say it was A, or that it was B, to blame.
It is said that only English is spoken in the changing room and that there are no cliques. Yeah….and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer pulled a sleigh over the roofs of my village 17 nights ago. There may often be jealousy and ill-feeling between members of staff, particularly if some are paid (much) more than others or it is felt that some are favoured over others. However if things are going well and everyone is benefitting from the goals that well paid stroppy so-and-so is scoring, or stopping being scored, that ill-feeling presents less of a problem.
AK is a very cautious manager by nature. I guess that when he goes to bed, he will turn two bolts, a deadlock and two Yale keys in the front door before going up. And then he will come back down an hour later to check whether he had done it properly (just in case). He is very thorough, as is clear from the New York Times article. If you were being critical you might think it was almost to the point of obsession though, as has been said, genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration/preparation.
I am not sure whether, in English, he could deliver a “Once more unto the breach!” exhortation, but probably many others couldn’t either. I can imagine that Bruce Rioch could and, if he ordered the troops out of the trenches they’d be fired up and desperate to “shove it up ’em” – as Corporal Jones might say. I can’t speak Spanish (though if I had lived there 3 years I hope I could make a decent fist of it) but, having heard the way he talks in interviews, AK would need a personality transplant to get the troops in such a state that they felt they could take on the world. Some, I appreciate, may be more cerebral in approach (Wenger for example) than being a Sgt Major (like Fergie). Maybe AK veers more to the Wenger end of the spectrum, but he doesn’t have the quality of players to match that approach. Maybe you need a different approach if your squad is more thud and blunder.
I try not to let things get away with me. Sometimes, in the aftermath of a game or at the half-time interval of the Sheffield Wednesday match, that is easy to overlook. But in general terms I would say AK has done OK. He achieved last year but with the squad and finances then available to him compared to competitors, he certainly didn’t overachieve (like, for example, Brentford had done the season before, or Leicester did last season in the Premier League). If I were a footballer I might say “The lad did good”.
But this year it is all in the melting pot again. If we stay up, it will be said that the aim has been achieved. Not many goals will have been seen, and not many home wins so far, but staying up is the primary aim of the majority of promoted teams. On the other hand, if we go down (and remember how tight promotion was, running to the last seconds of the last game of the season) the knives will be out. How many, in those circumstances, would expect AK to be at the helm for another Championship season?
I hope he can steer the ship away from the dangerous relegation currents. I hope he could be in charge of a decent cup run, even a win, and in charge of a Boro team that is as secure in its Premier League place as a West Brom or a Stoke City. If we stay up, and even better if we looked like touching a cup, AK could go back to Spain with his head held high and probably no problem in getting the manager’s job at a reasonable club there (not Barca, Atletico, Sevilla or – perish the thought – Real Madrid, but a Sociedad, Celta Vigo etc). Good solid clubs.
I would not put the mortgage on AK being at the Boro helm in 2 years time. Then again, I am not sure I’d put the mortgage on Mourinho still being at Manchester United, Eddie Howe still being at Bournemouth or Sparky still being at Stoke.
Football, hey? It’s not really a game, more a form of madness. It will never catch on.
🔴 Welcome to Diasboro Dormo and you’ve rewarded us with a feature length post too – I could have easily been tempted to make it into blog article – Werdermouth
Great post, FD. Good to have you aboard the Diasboro (and thanks once again to Werdermouth for getting us up and running).
FD A superb post and very thought provoking
Well it’a been our first week in the new house the carpets have been laid and we’ve even had time to do the garden
Is is me that just thinks we have made a step up in the quality of our bloggers?
I have read them all in detail this week and thought what a great piece of writing that is wish I’d written it!
I’m wondering now which of you is AV incognito?
Great posts from a knowledgeable bunch of bloggers and I’ll repeat what has been said before thanks to werder for setting it up
🔴 And thanks to you Fat Bob for helping to bring everyone on board – yes it’s only been a week since we went live and just glanced at the blog stats which shows nearly 9,000 views and over 600 post – and I agree the quality of the posts has been great too and all done in the good spirit that helped create this community on Untypical Boro – so a big thanks to all the posters! – werdermouth
Great post FD, sensible and well balanced. Agree Werder, would have been a good “starter-for-ten” for the next article . . maybe next time.
Jarkko I am sure there are a lot of unhappy fans at the Riverside due to the standard of football and the negative tactics. When I go to a game I want to see my team at least try to score and win the game.
Forever
You talk about the resources available to us last season. What about Hull and Burnley who despite pleading poverty had the parachute money and had spent a time in the top flight with those financial boosts. They also largely kept their squads intact through good management.
This close season many were lauding the recruitment team, my view was they built a squad to compete in the lower part of the table. We were shopping at Primark, many buys were from the remnant box, players who were misfits elsewhere.
So we are in the bottom third, what a surprise. I predicted if it went well it would be due to recruitment, if it didn’t it would be down to AK.
What a surprise, I will get my hammer to hit the nail on the head. What did everyone expect? I was asked by Spartak where did I think we would finish, I said 14th. We are not a million miles from that.
What you must not do is confuse my view of where we were, where I thought we would be and where we are now with total support of what AK is doing.
Point taken Ian. I also had Boro down to finish 14th this season. We will have to wait to see how it pans out. I would be delighted if we are both proved right.
A very good balanced view from Forever Dormo and one that I can relate to.
AK is in his first managerial post, in a foreign country, still getting to grips with the lingo, so it was always going to be a steep learning curve.
Us football fans are a fical bunch, we want it all and we want it now – I include myself in that as well!
As the tight rope walker said, it’s a thin line between success and failure and AK walks it in every game.
That said, it can be frustrating to say the least, when players who are paid a small fortune for doing something they enjoy, cannot get the basics right on match day. when I was in a sales role, if I didn’t perform, then I would have been out of a job at worst or at best, on a Performance improvement plan.
My view is judge him and the team at the end of the season, don’t expect Chelsea style football just yet!
Brilliant post FD. AK still has a lot to prove. To us and maybe himself?
I agree. That was a great post, Dormo.
I’ll be sad to see Stewy leave, but I’d have to admit that he hasn’t really done as well as we expected him to. Solid, reliable, but unspectacular. Sadly. I would be cross if we let him go to a lower-table rival, though, even if that looks his most likely option, because I think that would be shooting ourselves in both feet.
There is an obvious clearing of the decks going on. I’m ok with that if better players come in. But my concern is that new players always take time to settle in and to get to grips with AK’s system. We know he doesn’t introduce them till he thinks they’re ready. So he has to manage this carefully. Too many newcomers might unbalance the side, which we could ill afford at this delicate stage in the proceedings.
For me, whether a manager is deemed a success or failure should only be judged against his remit.
There are two caveats to that. Firstly, the manager can be forgiven if his remit is unrealistic. Secondly, though we usually have a pretty good idea, we always have to guess a little at what exactly that remit is.
Looking back at our last four managers, I would argue that both Southgate’s and Mowbray’s initial remits were to cut costs whilst keeping us competitive. Both were initially successful.
In southgate’s case, he ultimately failed as we became uncompetitive in the Premier League. Having been relegated, his remit surely changed to getting us promoted at the first attempt while continuing to cut costs. Clearly Steve Gibson felt he was going to fail, quite reasonably I think, despite being well placed in the league..
In Mowbray’s case, I think his remit changed in his final season to getting us promoted. We were heading in the opposite direction so again it ended in failure.
Strachan’s tenure requires no dissection whatsoever.
Onto Karanka. Whatever finances he was permitted, or that of other Championship clubs, I think he was given the realistic remit of getting us promoted. He did so. I believe his remit now, also realistically, will solely be to keep us up.
On that basis I would deem him a success at this point.
Judging him on our own criteria, be it a style of play, team selections, number of wins or anything else is understandable but naturally predjudiced. And you can’t please everyone in any case.
Better to assess what you think he has been tasked to achieve, whether you think it’s realistic given the resources available and then come to a conclusion I think. In some cases the reason for frustration may actually be more with the remit than the performance against it.
One thing’s for sure. Comparing him with Guardiola, Mourinho or Conte at this stage of his career makes no sense at all.
Andy a good post
I think posters were only comparing AK to Mourinho etc was the manner in which he works I.e determined and with focus and not afraid to play hardball
He isn’t a top manager yet he’s stil by his own admission still learning
OFB
Perchance said posters could have been more explicit in their character analysis instead of providing us with simple repetition.
UTB
Fully agree, good post.
Not heard from AV for some time, GHW seems to be stuck in his shed.
Mmmm?
AV – ceaseless ‘twittering’ , video & audio superstar with 15K+ ardent followers.
The man’s a celebrity – outgrown humble beginnings!
UTB
Spartak, you make me smile.
For those of us on here who are overtly supportive of AK, I see no one saying he’s a genius, he’s wonderful, its fantastic to watch the expressive football his team players. No such thing has been written.
I say, he saved us from relegation to league one, he got us promoted and currently we lying pretty much where every promoted team does in the first season up. We’re in a relegation fight, which is what I expected. I expect us to survive, just. All the evidence suggests all promoted teams fight to survive in season one. So far so good.
Sometimes I think you read posts those with opposing views to you write and see words which aren’t there.
Just sayin ‘enough said’ like.
Nigel
Ditto!
Great post by Forever Dormo above.
To add a little appendix to it, I seem to recall AK saying last season that he tried the approach of getting angry with the team and observed that their reactions were not favourable. He attributed it to how one always learns through life, which I think is a fair assessment. Anyone who has ever managed a team will know that what makes an individual tick may be relatively straightforward to find, but what makes a group of 18 athletes, of varying ages, experience and cultures connect as a collective in pursuit of a common cause? Well, I’d say there’s a PhD thesis in there somewhere.
I’ve heard it said that the days of the hairdryer treatment are over. I think Sean Dyche, who, let’s be honest, looks like the exact type of bloke who’d cuff you round the ears, regardless of whether you’re Joey Barton or Michael Keane, has said that those days are in the past. You only need to look at Nigel Pearson’s brief sojourn to Derby County (which must rival Cloughie’s Damned United tenure for explosiveness) to see that what works for one place and time does not necessarily translate.
My point is that AK may not deliver a “Once more unto the breach” type of speech, but we may not have a squad who would react to that anyway. You need to achieve balance, and there are many ways to motivate a group to succeed. I don’t see the likelihood that AK couldn’t deliver such a rousing speech as a weakness per se, and we have no idea whether a manager who could do that would deliver better than AK has.
As FD says, football is madness, and for all the attempts to rationalise and extrapolate, it is essentially 11 very different men kicking a ball around with another entirely different 11 men and attempting to be better than the other. A football manager who attempts to corral those 11 men to succeed is a crazy beast and gets my respect.
I see a frequent statement in the nationals that us supporters do not see many goals. That is a strange complaint to level at Boro, as we do not concede many goals at home or away, then naturally our supporters will see less goals than other supporters. Doh!
SiE
Chelski were woeful last season under AK’s mentor using the ‘grunt & grind’ tactics that were employed. Team moral was on the floor & discontent was ripe. They sacked ‘the Special One’ regardless of fan worship.This season they’ve employed Conte. He’s reshaped the team style and shape and how they sit top of the EPL by 6 points.
Someone knows what they’re doing!
Happy days
Sparta
for now, but that may change, there are some big and wealthy clubs who are not intimidated by anyone and have a serious interest in the title.
As was said by one wise man at the height of the great run of results, ‘ they must be devastated to be only six points clear after all those wins. Well said.
I see Rangers look to be signing Jon Toral on loan after his loan in Spain has been cut short by Arsenal. He was a player who always caught my eye, whether or not he could make the transition to the Premiership is another matter of course.
And ManU signed Jose and he looks to have turned a drifting ship around.
I ain’t simple that is for certain.
I repeat, we don’t know what takes place at Rockcliffe and in the dressing room. Nor at Cobham or Carrington and sundry other training grounds.
It’s probably true to say that some management styles have a longer shelf-life at club than others – I suspect Jose will find it hard to keep everyone on board with his high-impact style of management, he usually only last 2-3 years in any job but that is probably fine for him as he wants to be the centre around which the world revolves and I imagine can be quite prickly if you don’t see it his way.
Werder
And doesn’t that all sound a bit familiar?
‘I’m the only one who needs to know everything!’ said AK with a smile.
I have no doubt that AK’s style of management & his success at the Boro will appeal to many a club chairman who’s team are in disarray and who need the services of a highly focused no nonsense manager. So, succeed or fail this season and regardless his phone will ring with numerous offers (Valencia comes to mind).
However, this season with the Boro is another bag of chips & the good ship Boro rocks to & fro upon stormy seas (This is ‘normal’ so Nigel’s fine with it all). The question is can AK keep the ship from smashing against the rocks & sinking back into the Premiership? Or will HE be thrown overboard?
Time will tell – break out the popcorn, put yer feet up & shout ‘Urraahhh 4 AK & the Boro!’
AK has a titanic undertaking to perform that cuts no ice with some fans and players
Great work setting up the new blog Werdermouth, your introduction pieces are an entertaining read and bang-on for setting the perfect tone to kick us off each time. Keep up the good work while you can, much appreciated.
Freudian slip alert!*
Delete Premiership insert Championship.
*Could be the headcold I’ve developed in -20C – whatever!
How could anyone know for certain AK is incapable of delivering a rowsing speech? It’s a learned technique. Who knows, maybe AK is a good method actor.
It’s easy to dismiss reading between the lines but I have thought for a while that AK’s command of English is such that he is able to use mis-direction. If that’s true, not everything he says should be taken literally.
Spartak. There you go, calling up an isolated quote again, ” ‘I’m the only one who needs to know everything!’ said AK with a smile.”, to justify your position when you have previously acknowledged in my response to your using that quote previously, that in context the quote actually refers to something different, not that AK is the only one that needs to know everything, but that he is the only one that needs to know everything about a report from which he expects those responsible to know about the bits in the report covering the things they are responsible for.
We all do this to greater or lesser extents, that is finding the line of evidence that supports the message we are trying to deliver. But, to do so with a line so recently might be seen as deliberately ignoring any context to falsely justify a position.
Just musin’ like 😉
Werner H
According to AV, AK has the PR services of a certain Spanish lady. Her professional duties will no doubt includeintercultural communication strategies – then again I’m not there in person so pls regard my previous statement as one based solely on supposition. 🙂
Sparta
Nice to know that you are sure AK’s phone will be ringing off the wall. Not bad for a complete failure
There are plenty of owners who are money rich and points poor, who will look at Boro and zero in on the reason we have turned the corner from hopeless incompetents to players in the player transfer world plus members of the prem. And ask to speak to the man who has brought it about.
Powmill
I get the impression that you almost tied yerself up in logical knots delivering that last post. Lol
Still, we can all rest assured that AK will never leave us sailing down the river without paddle. In fact I’m sure he’ll go to the last nautical mile to ensure the good ship Boro is not scuttled in any way shape or form. As for any mutinus fans calling for him to walk the plank… well they deserve to be strung up on the Yarm darm by their very necks.
Urraaahhh 4 AK!
Urraahhhhh 4 the Boro
Maybe it’s a perculiar English trait that we want our leaders to be entertaining, funny and a bit blokey rather than cool, competent and distant – Often beneath that humerous jokey exterior they are simply bluffing their way through their job and deflecting difficult questions. You wouldn’t see Merkel doing the comedy circuit to audition for the top job as it wouldn’t have washed with German public but for Boris it was a calculated career move.
Plato
He can get us up*
But can he keep us up?
That’s the million dollar question!
RR said previously he wasn’t overly impressed with last summer’s transfer business (I meself wasn’t too unimpressed – I was a big fan of Valdes coming in). This January, as we’re two weeks in almost, how have AK & the team got on?
Well, we’ve a few hopes, a couple of dreams & one vital back up signed up (who is sooo dificult to stop – if so why didn’t he stop where he was?). In the outgoings column we have -3. So, I ask again ‘Who is going to sign up for the good ship Jolly Boro?’ Who’s going to be up for the pump & grind of a relegation showdown? Any superstars queuing up at the Riverside front door asking to speak to AK? Put yer answer on a postcard, addressed to the Riverside Recruitment Rovers team
c/o MFC England, UK like!
Surely not 200 and the fabled Dinky Toy car?
🔴 Sorry Dormo a millisecond too late, it’s a faster game in the PL
…Wait a moment it looks like congratulations after all – key evidence from an eye-witness and a written declaration from Len has awarded you the double-ton
It seems you may have been the innocent victim of an algorithm! – Werdermouth
– – – – – -🚗- – – – – 200
Sparta
“he can get us up”
Plenty tried before he arrived, and none came within spitting distance.
Worse, they all had no idea how to achieve it,(they didn’t know what day it was)
So spart, it’s a bit rich, you coming over all indignant because he isn’t romping away with the Prem.
Just a small aside, he admitted publicly that he had the final word over what happened in the club. Good news, or what?
Still lovin you to death, Plato!
The previous incumbants in the managerial chair were GS1, GS2 & Mogga. Each of them had challenges of their own presented to them.
GS1 was fatally floored under the waterline when SG pulled the rug out from beneath his feet & then sold his best team players. Bit much when your own chairman becomes yer executioner when yer only a couple of points off the top of the table.
GS2 had the decency to admit he didn’t have a clue & walked – so I cant argue with you there.
Mogga was financially hamstrung in a budget sooo tight it would make anyones pips squeak. AK by comparison had the Championship’s best striker given to him for a New Years prezzie. Can u imagine Mogga getting £9 million to spend on one player?
Can AK keep the Boro in the EPL – why of course, but he has to prove it!
Great post, Dormo.
Given the concern about GHW, I spoke to him last night. He’s fine. Good and well. Just busy, as we all are from time to time, with more urgent and time-consuming tasks.
We spoke at some length about recent games, and, as you would expect, he had plenty of interesting and pertinent things to say.
He knows where we are, and no doubt will be joining the fray in due course.
I didn’t mention the shed.
Spartak, in his own estimation, on football matters is almost always right. It’s in his DNA. He doesn’t need to see a game in order to produce insightful comments upon it.
In these circumstances I am mildly surprised that so many people are taking the time to produce something as flimsy as evidence to counter what he says. As someone who is scathing about the expertise of professionals within the game, why on earth should he take notice of what a bunch of amateurs has to say.
Wisest perhaps to save our collective breath.
🔴 A well-timed run Len just got your toe on the end of that as Dormo stuck out a boot
Correction: I see rather magnanimously you have declared that you failed to get touch on the ball so the coveted prize goes to Dormo – Werdermouth
Len
A notable post from your very good self as usual.
It maybe interesting for you to note that the opening banner for our very own blog has the caption ‘Its in our blood!’ Blood and Boro blood of course has its own fair share of DNA included – so without it we’re not true blood supporters really, are we?
As for the expertise of ‘professionals’, I for one will always have a healthy scepticism of such folk be they in football, politics or economics.
UTB
Strange 200 that one Werdermouth! I saw FD’s post flash up on screen before Len’s and reasoned he bagged it.
Just sayin like
🔴 Mmmm my fancy WordPress console is showing Len as post 200 but with the exact time as Dormo – maybe it’s one for the dubious goals panel? perhaps they struck the ball at the same time and both could claim it – probably most controversial moment of the new blog yet – Werdermouth
In my managerial roles I always made sure people enjoyed coming to work,got the job done but always had time to have a laugh with their fellow workers, we spend so much time at work that it needs to be enjoyable otherwise if its an effort to come to work then move on, thankfully my employees always seemed to want to be there. The days of the boss ranting and raving are long gone( unfair dismissal laws etc ) The younger generation are more savvy and give it to me now.
Modern footballers are no different they chase the money (obscene amounts at times ) which is why I think if you can nurture young players through a good academy then their desire to play for their local club is something special and why I do not want to see our youngsters thrown aide for overseas projects or players we own not getting a game in front of loan players we are helping to develop for another club it makes no sense to me.
Nor do’s it make sense to have strikers on big money sitting on the bench never getting a go…lets give you thousands of pounds a week then on Saturday you can watch the game for free but we will charge Joe Public his hard earned dosh to watch the same borefest.
Can we call to AV to decide who was the 200th? Just hoping, like.
Up the Boro!
Jarkko
Give it up lad! AV has moved on to other things now. It’s time we stood on our own feet, so to speak!
I would guess that when frustrated or trying to deliver an into the breach type speech, if indeed that would be his style, which I would doubt, AK will I believe struggle to convey with passion what he really wants to say at times.
His English has improved and he has always delivered his press conferences in English which I admire. However when you get wound up, saying what you really mean or want to get over is difficult. Its the nuances that stop you sometimes. Not sure where Steve Agnew comes into all of this. Leo as only the Goalie coach should not be involved, even he will be bi-lingual.
I’ve coached the young foreign types from lands afar but I’ve always had the blessing of their good English language ability.
It reminds me of the opening scenes in the movie ‘Castaway’, where Tom Hanks is trying to instruct and motivate his Russian employees – he used a translator. I believe intensity of emotion is a common denominator. If you can convey that high level of motivation via NVC, then you’ve cracked it. I think AK can do that but the real difficulty may have rested elsewhere.
But I’m not an expert so take it as mere conjecture.
UTB
Spartak
Regarding your post of coaching overseas and the language problem I worked in Spain for two years and not many locals spoke English
Still being young enough to referee I asked permission of the FA to referee in Spain and they said it would be ok. My first game between two Spanish teams I asked a player I knew spoke English for a few words in Spanish to help me communicate with the players .
Arbitro was referee Falta was foul and I went on learning words only to find that the Spanish equivalent for corner offside and goal kick were..,..
Exactly the same English communication
The only problem I had with Spanish was in the office when I caused my secretary to dissolve in fits of laughter when I confused the similar word for filing cabinet with a gentlemans privates!! Why she thought I wanted her to file papers in my boxxocks I’ll never know!!
Was joking, mate., like. UTB!
Dormo’s goal. I didn’t get a touch.
Very sporting, Len!
Very kind, Len.
When the opportunity arises again I will lob the ball into the 6 yard box so YOU can do the business. I think that’s what footballers say – that and something about an onion bag.
You probably don’t have to say much to professional footballers if they are committed to the cause, they know if they are pants and will sort it out amongst themselves with some guiding words from the manager/coach unless it is a tactical nuance that has been noticed – for example, mark the big bloke at corners!
As with any review/appraisal nothing should come as a shock.
Bosses have always a divisive topic be they good bad or indifferent. In any and all walks of life I want and like to see continuous improvement be it ourselves as individuals or corporations in their field of business and of course with Boro and that includes AK.
To not to constantly aspire to betterment means that you have either plateaued and cannot go any further (or perhaps retired, happy with your lot in life whilst hanging up your boots which is fair enough), not bothered or not capable. I think AK is very much bothered, I think he has a very high opinion of himself and in his ability (I don’t mean that in a negative or derogatory sense). The problem comes when others don’t see that ability as being fruitful, sometimes others opinions are worthless but sometimes whether we like it or not they can see things from a different perspective which can illuminate, influence and indeed sway decisions.
Nobody on here is going to influence AK’s future just yet but the time will come when he is either so sought after that SG simply cannot hang onto him (and of course Boro will have done brilliantly) or like with Mogga the groundswell of opinion swings too far to the negative. Mogga had a huge groundswell of goodwill banked so regardless of history things can and do change.
To date AK has ticked boxes in getting promotion etc. crowds are back up and so on. There were more than a few annoying hiccups along the way, turning up late at Wembley (and then not turning up at all), daft points dropped, Charltongate and so on but ultimately AK delivered although I believe he could have made things a lot easier for himself.
Those feats are now ticked off. The bar has been raised and he must continue to improve. Getting relegated from the Premiership isn’t something that will look good on a CV regardless of previous positive box ticks.
AK frustrates the heck out of me. He has achieved so much but to say he is ultra cautious is putting it mildly. He is extremely “systematic” but definitely not in a “Greased Lightning” kind of way (mores the pity). There have been games (I won’t list as we all know) that with just a little more acceleration at the front end we could have had a few extra points. I suspect though that with AK that would have meant changing his philosophy and after having it instilled, indoctrinated and drummed into the squad that would send out confusing signals in AK’s world. I would find myself saying that he is probably right if only there were literally 4 or 5 more points on the board (which I think was achievable).
As it is nothing is going to change but what I do hope is that he realises that at this level what he has isn’t quite flash enough at the front end and also in the engine room of the number 10 role. I would think that he knows Traore isn’t the finished article and even Stuani out wide isn’t cutting it at this level. Ramirez is great when he is firing but tarnished when it isn’t coming off. His alternatives are Downing who just isn’t a good fit for all sorts of reasons, Rhodes likewise and Nugent whom he clearly felt wasn’t up to it at this level.
This window (and to keep my sanity I’m going to ignore the Gestede signing) we seem to be linked with more creative types, Deulofeu, Jese, Anderson and Snodgrass as examples. If AK can bring in three faster, slicker, quicker, more skillful creative types (and trusts them enough to play them) then we could see the front end create and nick a more opportunities than at present and of course the vital points that should come with them.
If however AK stands still and doesn’t improve the points return then instead of becoming hot and sought after managerial property his stock will drop along with Boro’s. Continual improvement can be as gradual as he likes or is comfortable with but it must continue and not stall. The question for me is can he continue with his defensive mantra but add some bite to the front end? That I believe will ultimately decide his fate.
Here’s hoping that from now until the end of January we’ll be getting “some overhead lifters and some four barrel quads” in through the doors and onto the pitch and not just for the Valentine’s Riverside drive in.
RR
I think that the Gestede signing is to bulk up the front line, as a bit of weight is a requirement in the modern game.
Well put, RR!
Sport witness report
Former Manchester United midfielder Anderson hasn’t joined Internacional’s squad for the 2017 season’s presentation today, as he’s expected to be leaving the club soon.
After Inter’s first relegation in their history, the player’s intention was to stay at the club and fight to be back in the first division. That’s why, according to UOL and Globo Esporte, Anderson rejected three offers. These would be from Middlesbrough, Braga and a Chinese group of investors.
The problem is that Inter have no intention to keep him, wanting to rid themselves of his high wages. Now that the club have informed Anderson of their stance, things could change quickly.
Speaking to Brazilian journalist Marinho Saldanha, who has been following the situation daily, we’ve learned that Middlesbrough would still have a chance to sign the player now he’s been made aware of Internacional’s intentions.
There’s also interest from Brazil, so if Middlesbrough were ever as interested as it was claimed they were, then Aitor Karanka and co may need to get a move on.
OFB
Be very surprised to see Anderson in a Boro shirt.
He went out on loan to Fiorentia, back to Man U, then given a freebie back home to Brazil where he’s played intermittently for a team that’s just been relegated. Reports say local fans were baying for his blood & he was dropped.
Thought we were tracking wingers not more midfielders.
Hasn’t Anderson been something of a disaster everywhere he has played recently?
And Jese is fast and dangerous, but looks like a £21 million uni-ped to me.
“He’s got a lovely right foot…a lovely right foot…I’ve got nothing against his right foot…but there again, neither has he…”
Is it Viv Anderson or Stan Anderson we”re talking about?
I hope Viv. Wasn’the honoured lately? UTB!
“For me, whether a manager is deemed a success or failure should only be judged against his remit.”
Spot on, Andy. And also Nigel. No-one has ever called AK the 2nd coming or said he is flawless, etc. But you can’t deny (facts!) that he has hit every target asked of him and is on course again this year. RR (and others) were very dismissive earlier in the year for suggesting this (Cloughie wouldn’t have had targets!) but it’s clearly unfair to judge him on anything other than what is expected from him by his boss.
Borophil
Life ain’t ‘fair’!
If life was I’d have played at number 9 for 10 & more seasons for the Boro & then gone on & managed them for a further 15 years.
Do you think it was ‘fair’ that we previously got relegatedafter a 3 points deduction? Do you think it was ‘fair’ when GS1 was sacked when only a few points from the top of the Championship? Do you think it was ‘fair’ on Mogga to have been given so little money to spend on players whilst AK was comparatively showered with spondoolies?
‘Fair’! Interesting concept.
RR, good post Iagree with all of that. I’ll be delighted to see some ‘Greased Lightnin’ injected into Boro’s play.
I think AK knows exactly what is needed, he’s followed a tried and trusted formula so far, build a strong defence, become extremely hard to beat and then start to construct the front end.
Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Good to read that GHW is busy and hasn’t asked for a transfer.
I’ve just posted up a new blog article as part of a new mid-week feature Diasboro is planning to run regularly called ‘Talking Point’ – Simon has kicked us off with his take on Karanka’s Substitutions and the logic and reasoning behind them.
I would also like to invite fellow posters who think they have a talking point and feel they would like the opportunity to write a blog article about it to email me – you can use the form under ‘Contact’ in the menu at the top of the page.
get in!! bamfords back