Two old regulars look ahead to the game at Watford

by Ian Gill, posted in Uncategorized

For those of you who like a good moan at the football, it may not have gone unnoticed that perhaps Statler and Waldorf are the epitome of long suffering Boro fans – though maybe only a few people would have guessed that they normally attend games under their alter-egos of John Powls and Ian Gill. So here they are to preview the match this weekend…

We last went to Watford together in November 2006, Watford hadn’t won all season until guess who arrived. Shocking performance, Boro’s only move of note was a cushioned header in to the path of a Watford player to run on and score their second. Woodgate had put them ahead with neat backheeled own goal. Watford won five all season and were duly relegated

The main stand was a glorified shed and Kammie was stood on rubble doing his Unbelievable Jeff all on his Jack Jones.

Including that miserable performance, our recent record is:
W 1 – D 1 – L 4 – F 4 – A 10

Fixture Result Score Notable memory
4 Nov 2006 Lost 2-0
27 Mar 2010 Drew 1-1 Lita leveler
25 Sep 2010 Lost 3-1
28 Apr 2012 Lost 2-1 A forlorn play-off quest
6 Oct 2012 Won 1-2 Emnes and Scottie get us a rare win
6 Apr 2015 Lost 2-0 Easter Monday no show on TV

The last of these was probably the most painful – a very poor, punchless performance that, along with the doing over at Bournemouth a fortnight before and the silly shenanigans at Craven Cottage a few weeks later drove the last coffin nails into Boro’s bid for a top two finish. It certainly felt like a wake in the away end at Vicarage Road and even the Magnificent Travelling Parmo Army – there in their noisy numbers as per normal– were stunned to sullen silence long before the inevitable denouement.

Watford is a working town, the centre isn’t brilliant, even the motorway services don’t want to live there. Watford Gap is 60 miles north. Following the building of the new stand it is now a proper ground and like the old Ayresome, approached via streets.

Despite managerial upheavals, a manager a season – summer, autumn, winter and spring, they have done well but not endeared themselves to the rest of football in recent years by their use of loan players acting almost as a reserve side for Italian clubs.

They have suffered the same horrendous levels of injuries as The Mackems have recently – oh dear, what a shame, never mind – and like the Wearsiders have matters absence compounded by the African Nations Cup.

Partly as a result, the Golden Boys have struggled in the last few weeks and some of those they’ve been able to rely on in previous campaigns – like Deeney and Ighalo – haven’t been doing the biz.

So, the Herts Harts are downwardly mobile in the Prem table with Mazzarri seeming even more on borrowed time than has become the norm for occupants of the Watford dugout.

But, can Boro take advantage or will they revert to the sort of display that over-rates the opposition and underplays their own strengths even when The Reds are easily on top of the game such as they produced in the reverse fixture earlier in the season and in the defeat at St. Mary’s.

Those aren’t the only examples of that phenomenon this season, of course, but they’re perhaps the most germane to Saturday’s game. The stale, slow ‘stay in the game’ approach can so easily translate to not just not winning and or drawing but evidently settling for a narrow defeat that preserves goal difference instead of valuing points.

It certainly did against Watford at The Riverside and at Southampton and if Boro go the same way again it’s madness expecting the result to be any different, however hobbled the Hornets may seem to be.

Another narrow and dispiriting defeat with the handbrake on and low gear selected will let Watford off the no win in five hook they’ve been hanging themselves on and have Boro even further snagged.

But it could be so, so different. This Boro have the capability to go and get the points at Vicarage Road. As they showed against Swansea and in the second half against the Owls even with ten men, if the full backs get forward, if the midfielders push on then they can inflict damage to on any team in the division.

The hope that always gets you still triumphs over experience and it would be terrific if even Statler and Waldorf couldn’t find anything to moan about! C’mon Boro!

The match will no doubt be played under the shadow of the sad news that Graham Taylor has passed away but it will be important for Boro to play the game and not the occasion.

🔴 Our very own muppets will be back after the game with their take on events – as usual feel free to add your predictions for the game – and if any of you feel inclined to come up with a suggestion for a caption to the header photo there will be bonus points – Werdermouth

63 thoughts on “Two old regulars look ahead to the game at Watford”

  2. Well done chaps I like all these differing views and comments.

    We can have a laugh and time thinking about what our team has in store for us

    Of course the death of their past manager and the presence tomorrow of the chairman of the FA surrounded by TV cameras ensures that we are going to get beat!

    I wish I was Joking but unfortunately that is typical Boro!

    We all know that

  6. Is it only me or is there something that doesn’t quite stack up in the Gazette’s report about AK’s comments on the Downing situation.

    According to Tallentire’s report, AK said that he is “unaware” whether Downing has submitted a transfer request or not, claimed that Downing had not asked AK for a move and maintained that he didn’t know whether Downing was happy or not.

    Can he be so remote? Does it seem reasonable that he would be so ignorant of the position with one of his first team squad, never mind this particular player and his history with the club?

    Or could it be that AK is being deliberately ignorant and has blanked Downing (and maybe other players who have irritated him) completely from his consciousness? After all AK also is reported to have reiterated that he is “the person who takes every single decision here”.

    Moving on to Watford, I hope the opposition will be nervous as their form is poor and the crowd will have high expectations of something special as a tribute to Graham Taylor. I’m going for 1-1.

  8. AK said
    ‘The postion we need to strengthen is the wings. We need more speed, especially when we have the ball.’

    Are you listening, Adama? You’re too damn slow- move faster FGS! Lol

    You couldn’t make it up.

    And now for the speculation.

    Maybees AK is trying to lure the opposition into a false sense of security, in that we have poor slow wingers, then we can take them by surprise – what a cunning plan! Who thought that one up. Lol

  9. Thought occurs- it could’ve been his sashie Spanish PR lady. I say, get yer best ideas from where ever you can find them, me like! Lol

    Meanwhile, the mackems are £181 million in debt. American owners, eh! No money for Moysie & he says he wasn’t aware of the situation when he took the job. What a load of NONSENSE! Talk about due diligence.

    ‘Do you want the manager’s job?’

    ‘Yes, definitely!’

    ‘You are aware we’re £181 million in debt & there’s no money for transfers?’

    ‘Sorry, what was that?’

    ‘Ah, forget it – welcome & thrise welcome, Mr Moyes, to the Stadium of Light (lights that may be going out soon).’

    Professionals, eh? They know everything & we know nowt. Lol

  12. Mind The Gap! Buzzing Boro Sting Hornet’s Nets!

    Would settle for a point today but I do feel that with Palace and Swansea likely to improve, we could do with to dragging someone else into the relegation scrap and give ourselves some breathing space.

    Watford look the most likely to be the Ines dragged in.

    Watford 1-2 Boro (Negredo, Ramirez)

  13. No prediction from, but hoping fot something from the match. I think the teams below/around us will move nearer/away from us today, heaping more pressure if we lose.

    However many many thanks to those that have contributed to the headline threads. Great work, good stories. Hope we have some positive ones after five o clock.

  14. Excellent post by Ian and John. Loved it.

    I have met Ian very briefly near the Navi. For those not having met him yet, he is the guy on the right, definately.

    Werder, the picture was magnificent! I love the new blog, me do.

    As I said earlier, I predict a rare 1-2 win for Boro. We are due some luck after good performances and fewer points in the bag.

    Scorers Downing and Rhodes. Up the Boro!

    🔴 Thanks Jarkko – I may need to add a warning on the home page though: This site contains graphic content… Werdermouth

  16. Jarkko

    Werder is a genius compared to my computer skills, sent him an image of Statler and Waldorf, he takes the germ of an idea onboard, finds a different one and creates a fitting graphic.

    Totally beyond my skills.

    🔴 You had me at genius…Werdermouth

    1. Ian, have to second that, we were simply looking for a home to escape to but Werder’s organisation, planning and skills are on an entirely different level in not only rescuing the blog but enhancing it for all of us!

      Onto today’s game and we are now getting to the sharp end of the season. We can no longer comfort ourselves with just getting acclimatised to the Premiership or players settling in. We are here, this is now and if this is where we want to be then now is when we have to start ensuring our safety.

      January is supposedly a month of opportunity to pick up some points, 4 wins all season is not going to keep us up. From now until May we need more wins. Drab draws are not going to cut it as we will lose plenty of games before the season end and the point a game average will not materialise. There are no easy games at this level even against sides in the lower half or whose recent form table rankings are not looking impressive that however is not an excuse to defend draws or slender defeats, tempus fugit!

      We need a win and Watford is a side that we have been extremely generous to over recent years so we are due something surely and in truth AK and Boro need something. Non descript, obscure, waffling, lost in translation, interviews cannot deflect questions for ever. My head says another drab 0-0. My heart says with Fabio and George as wing backs and Traore’s headless running up front keeping the Hornets close to their nest 1-0 courtesy of a deflected de Roon slice.

      🔴 Thanks Redcar Red, just copying and pasting that into my cV… Werdermouth

  17. Let’s hope it’s not a case of:
    John to Ian at full time, “Wake up you old fool, you slept through the game.”.
    Ian to John, “Who’s a fool? You watched it.”

    Before the news of Graham Taylor’s, I had been thinking we will win this. Now I am not so confident. So long as AK has them in the right frame of mind not to get drawn into playing the occasion rather than the team in front of them, we should win out. Important to keep it tight through the first 20 minutes, to drive the emotional momentum out of Watford, and again at the start of the second half. Do that and we will sneak it 2-0. Fail to do that and I can see them running out 2-1 winners.
    Talk about sitting on the fence hey? Bottom line is, I really don’t know how this one will pan out.

    Solidarity with Watford and their support in memory of GT. But hoping we grab the points.

  18. I hope Watford enjoy the occasion and both sets of supporters do justice to the memory of a true gentleman of football but that we enjoy the result.

    That said, given the absence of Ramirez, I think we may have difficulty opening them up, especially if Traore is played on the left flank.

    Given this is also not a good ground for us I am going for Watford 2 Boro 0 and hope that I am wrong!

    Will be listening with usual bated breath and everything crossed for 90+ mins via Boro+.

    CoB

  19. As Ian and John’s preview has shown, Boro don’t get much on their trips to Watford. It’s hard not to imagine a tight 0-0 being the most likely as neither team wants to lose this one and the Hornets attack has hardly been buzzing of late.

    Whether the anticipated pre-match tribute to Graham Taylor stirs the nest is hard to say – rather perversely in some ways, Watford being all geed-up by the occasion may actually favour Boro who always do better when teams come onto them and they have space to counter-attack.

    Gaston’s injury (hopefully not of the pre-transfer kind) is a blow to Boro but I’m hoping Adama is returned to the right rather than being a fish out of water (albeit a speedy Marlin) swimming against the tide on the left. Though if Fabio plays right-back then it’s not a major worry if Stuani gets the nod.

    If Fischer’s fit then I’d play him on the left ahead of Downing as he’s not looked like he’s out of water there and offers the team more energy.

    So I’m still expecting 0-0 but maybe we can nick a goal – hmm isn’t that Karanka’s strategy? looks like I’ve been assimilated…

    Photo Caption offering: Stadler’s Boro chant goes wrong – Give me a ‘B’, give me an ‘O’, give me a… wait a minute I thought said a bee not a hornet!

  20. Cannot see us getting anything possitive today. We will be on the back foot struggling for an outlet, i think Watford will be too strong, sadly 2-0 Watford.

    I will be truly gutted if Gaston leaves, i am hoping its just background noise, but maybe there is something to it.

  21. About Gaston. You know it might not be so bad if he moves on. While he can be one of the few in the team currently that can provide that piece of brilliance, he is anything but consistent. £15m for him would be very good business yielding a very healthy profit. If there are other skillful players coming in (as the press speculation suggests) we will probably be better off than now, having someone more consistently providing that spark of creativity.

  22. Interesting team selection: Valdes, Fabio, Chambers, Espinosa, Gibson, Friend, Leadbitter, de Roon, Forshaw, Stuani, Negredo – does that mean a back five or is Friend playing left-wing with Fabio behind him at left-back – with Chambers at right-back?

  23. Well I just saw the team sheet. Its live on TV here so I am getting stocked up for an awful couple of hours.

    I know it goes against tradition but I think this has 1-0 Watford written all over it with the current line up.

    I shall have to try and dull the pain with a bottle of Shiraz – Lindemins Bin 50 is my current stock.

    My sympathies to all who have made the long journey south.

  24. Well, is that a 5-4-1 or a 3-5-2?

    Hard to tell but for sure all Rhodes don’t lead to Rome or even make the bench. £9 million & not even travelling. How much in wages has that cost?

    Furthermore, Stewy gets to polish it, the bench that is. There’s another £5 or 6 million polishing the woodwork. And looks like that will be the case for the rest of the season – nobody likes troublemakers you know.

    But still let’s be happy as AK’s fav’s have all made the cut.

    Urraaaahhh 4 Aitor (in whom we trust)
    Urraaaaahhhh 4 the Boro

  27. Not much to add to Spartak’s comments.

    Looks like Rhodes will be on his way in the transfer window and I can’t say I blame him. I think he has been treated shabbily and I would wish him every success if he leaves.

    As for Ramirez, I don’t recall any suggestion during the week that he was injured and so the rumours that he is on his way too might be right.

    Today’s team selection means I have revised my score forecast from 1-1 to 2-0 to Watford in yet another poor game.

  29. Boro with lots of possession, but not doing much with it. One half chance for Stuani, discounting the goal offside.

    So two upfront that lots have asked for, but no service resumed as normal.
    As inconsistent as Gaston is, nobody else is creating anything, as normal. Lets hope the rumour mill is just that…..cannot afford to lose him because at this stage of the season we would not get anyone better.

    All to play for, but will have to up the ante in the final third.

  30. Same old boring yawnfest…I hope Rhodes gets to play for a manager who lets him express himself. Karankas pettiness is really annoying and yes lets sell Ramirez, can’t have a player showing skill and flair in our team. Really killing my enthusiasm for the Boro because its the same old drivel every week.

  31. Not sure what AV was watching if he thought that was a fair point. A welcome point. but if I had been a Watford fan I would not of been happy. Only one team was likely to score in the second half.

    Not sure how the optimists are going to big up this performance?

  33. One shot on target again. Watford hit the post and missed a one on one. Av’s verdict – a point was a fair result.

    Really? I bet the Watford manager doesn’t share that belief. I’m starting to believe more and more that the gazette have been told to stick to the party line or else!

    Two up front for the first time but with three holding midfielders in the middle they were always going to be starved of service unless we just missed out the middle man and lumped it forward.

    Obviously we were reliant on our full backs to get forward. But it’s yet another defence first line up and yet again absolute tedium to watch.

    To be honest I’m reaching the point I don’t care if we stay up I can’t put myself through much more of this monotony. Every week is like 90 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back.

    To top it all off I honestly feel that with the way we’re playing I can’t see where the next win will come from so I don’t even think we’ll stay up. Monotony and relegation!! Brilliant!!

  34. And why on earth has JR never been played with Negredo?

    And yet gestede a far more limited striker gets the nod to go two up front?

    Madness! Stubbornness…. and clueless spring to mind.

    1. Eternal naughty step springs to my mind, but could be rather Negredo is AK’s special type of player, for whatever reason.

      Cue song
      ‘It’s a mysturwee! It’s a mysturwee! A shot in the dark, a great qwestion mark in histowy.It’s a mysturwee to mee!’

      Name that singer. 10 marks for the first correct answer!!!!

      In Aitor wee twust!

      Urrraaaahhhh!

  35. AV’s comment after the match:
    “Whistle. A point is fair. Could’ve maybe won it first half, could’ve maybe lost it in the second. Some good displays, new shape. #borolive”

    An away point but I was wishing for three. Let’s move to the next.

    Up the Boro!

  36. So the Gazette’s Jonathan Taylor reports that it was a game “full of blood and thunder”. Really? Was he somewhere else rather than Vicarage Road? It was more like the usual pud and slumber. Even with two up front we couldn’t muster more than one solitary shot on target in the entire game.

    Yet again a chance to beat one of the teams around us has been squandered in the interests of AK’s defensive obsession. Yet again entertainment for the fans is ignored in the forlorn hope that playing for a point against teams like Watford will keep us up. It won’t and I’m with Paul in being at the point where I’m not sure I care any more.

  37. AK sprung a surprise with his formation and line up today with a 352/532 set up with Espinosa, Chambers and Ben at the back and Fabio and Friend providing the width. As it was that was the only surprise tactic in the first half for Boro. Another drab soul sapping first half was to follow, the second half managed to somehow eclipse it only in its ability to frustrate.

    Our attacking outlet was from the flanks with Fabio getting down the right and George on the left. The central pairing of Stuani and Negredo was hit and miss in more ways than one. Stuani looked far the livelier and the more likely to score whilst Negredo just seem to amble through mono paced. In the first half Stuani had a leg offside for what otherwise would have given Boro the lead as his effort hit the back of the net.

    Later on in the game Stuani had a flick on from Negredo but scooped his chance over the net and that pretty much summed up our front two. Our best effort came from Fabio who picked up on a defensive Hornet error and smashed a shot in from the edge of the Watford box. What was becoming overwhelmingly clear was our complete lack of inventiveness and any form of creativity. Fabio and Friend should be supporting acts not the main event. Without Ramirez or the pace of Traore we were completely sterile up front.

    Forshaw buzzing around, doing his decoy passing thing is great but there is nothing constructive, nothing defence splitting or even a 30 yard Stevie Gerrard style attempt. Grant delivered some decent balls but the build up was slow and easily read. De Roon was protecting the back three so his forward forays were restricted, all very painful, frustrating and soul destroying to watch. Fabio looked like he had done his hamstring half way through the first half but fortunately managed carry on.

    Fischer was being lined up to replace the hobbling Fabio which may have introduced some creativity but at the expense of what until that point was our most potent outlet already. As the game wore on Friend probably edged it in terms of the MOM award for his stronger second half showing but there wasn’t much to take away from the game in terms of being convinced of survival. Chalk this one down along with WBA, Southampton, Leicester etc. a long and growing list.

    Substitutions? Yep you guessed it once again when a game was winnable and we were anticipating maybe Traore and/or Fischer to open the game up and go for it we seen our most potent Striker in Stuani hauled off for the stoic but otherwise lacklustre Negredo to remain and for his “understudy” Gestede to make his bow.
    Considering we were creating zilch and Stuani was the most fleet of foot of the two what on earth where we going to see with two lumbering forwards now with zero service. Quelle surprise, we got what we thought, absolutely nothing from them, spectators at best. Gestede did manage to claw back a tackle and shoot over the bar from outside the box but other than that that was the sum total of attempts from our new front pairing.

    Oh the irony of playing a front two with Gestede and Rhodes at the club but Rhodes not even on the bench. That part I can handle but Gestede coming on when there was nothing to feed off, seriously?

    OK I’m being negative; it was a point away from home after all so we should be thinking about how lucky we are to be in the Premiership and that everything is OK. Well that pack at the bottom is getting tight, we are still 4 points off the drop but another opportunity to pull clear has gone and judging by the Sub there was a lack of a desire to try and win other than hoof and hope with Gestede and Negredo. 5 Boro attempts to Watford’s 12 attempts tells its own story along with 53% possession. Plenty of possession but another game with little to show for it and a substitution strategy that was as bizarre as it was woefully inept.

  38. Interesting formation today, but it didn’t seem to improve Boro’s attacking creativity!
    Still, going with the old cliché, a point away is a good one.

    The Ramirez rumour is an interesting one, Gazette says there’s nothing in it.
    I cant imagine AK selling him, even bringing in a better player at this stage of the season would be a risk as it takes new players a good while to settle in.

    So, still four points clear of the relegation zone, i’d love to see a couple of Boro wins soon though.

  39. Nigel everybody would love to see a couple of wins, but realistically can you see it happening at the moment.
    At times it appears like we are trying to bore the opposition to death.
    The dearth of creativity in the team is worrying and doesn’t bode well for the remaining games.

  40. Nigel. I’m sure every Boro fan would love to see a couple of wins soon. If they don’t happen in the next few weeks, things will be looking decidedly dodgy.

    Come on BP, give us some positives to hang our hat on.

    Away points are always good to acquire but they need to be followed up with wins at home to ensure we stay on track for survival.

    I have no expectations of seeing attractive football but we need to find goals from somewhere otherwise the required wins will not materialise.

    UTB

  41. You can bet your life that if our transfer budget rested with ratings from live performances or being high on the showings of match of the day then we would need to be finding more gems like George!

    The premier league are likely to bring an action against us for tarnishing the image of “the most exciting league in the world”.

    More soul sapping stuff and a loud and clear message that Rhodes is on his way. How much of a loss? We will never know.

  42. Everyone has their right to an opinion on our esteemed gladiators and we often do,and as always it’s a mix back, you just have to listen to radio tees after match call-ins, usually more after a loss. So here is my bit on the state of the Boro nation this far.

    Let me say first of all I get the chance to watch every team in the premiership every week, (the whole game) some live games others i record, I’ve done this ever since we were relegated,so I’ve gotten an idea of basically which teams are strong, mediocre, poor, that’s not say any team is really really bad, they all have some quality and certainly for the most part experience and organised, however as we know three teams get relegated each season no matter what, Usually about five to six teams by the last five games battle it out.

    Now the Boro, before the season started I felt we would be relegated, infact I was scared we might have ended up with a really low points tally, not that I wanted it,but felt we just didn’t have enough players good enough for this level, we did sign players who I really didn’t know much about, but hoped we would at least give a good account of ourselves.

    So what I have found, and this is my observation, is a team that is not only competitive, but at times played some really excellent football, and the other teams in the league if you hadn’t noticed have shown a lot of respect to us, not many teams go after us hell for leather, they are cautious,luck hasn’t been on our side too much, refs have cost us points, no doubt, mistakes have cost us a couple of times, take Burnley beat us on a goalie error and today the saints goalie was hopeless on Barton’s free kick, there’s an extra six points for them.

    Getting back, today’s game against Watford for half an hour couldn’t get anywhere near us, now I know we didn’t score, we could have, so what did Watford do, and they do this every game, they are clever, what they do is engage the a Boro player physically and fall to the ground, slowing the game and getting free kicks, if a defender gets close behind they fall down conning the ref, there game plan is long balls into the box but they can’t do it in open play so when fans say we are boring and it’s Karanka, doesn’t it take two teams.

    I could go on,but you get my drift, with a couple of decent signings this window we can move up.
    COB

    1. GT

      A good post and some reasonable arguments put in a way which made sense to me.

      It is all very well for posters to complain about boring football and we should be attacking but at the end of the day we are difficult to beat and still think we will survive this season.

      Most teams like Stoke and Southampton started off in the league by being difficult to beat before signing creative players to enhance attacking options

      It will be interesting to see what happens this transfer window but I don’t expect Rhodes to go………….(or Ramirez ) !!!!!!!

  44. Another chance to put some distance from the bottom three was wasted yet again

    The second of our four games against our “direct rivals” has resulted in another 0.0 and 2/6 points.

    Bored to tears again one corner and one shot on target. The full backs didn’t get forward enough and threaten so it was like a five man defence,three holding midfielders and two isolated strikers.

    Stuani was the better of the front two yet Gestade came on to replace him and not Negrado as I would have preferred. Thought Gestade looked alot more mobile than Negrado

    By eighty minutes it was obvious Karanka had settled for a 0.0 options on the bench in Fischer Downing and Traore to come on and attack Watford and at least try to score stayed firmly glued to that bench.

    Words fail me,four wins all season I think we need at least five or six more but just can’t see where they are coming from,we don’t look like scoring at all.

    Now there’s talk of Bamford coming back to save our season 😂. What makes Karanka think a player who has failed to cement a place in three premiership clubs is the answer yet Rhodes isn’t??

    He wants rid of Rhodes and is prepared to loan/sell Downing to Palace a direct rival. Would Sunderland sell Defoe to a relegation rival? Or would Hull sell Snodgrass to one? I wouldn’t imagine so unless theyve thrown the towel in!

  45. Managed to catch the game online, at first I thought I had a slow connection but well it really was a slow game – dull as I can remember seeing. I felt sorry for those who had made the trip – especially that pair of old muppets.

    Well Karanka has found another formation where he can drop another forward – We’ve gone from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 and now 5-3-2. I won’t erroneously call it 3-5-2 as for me if you play full-backs as wing-backs then it’s a back five – if you play wingers as wing-backs then it’s a back three.

    Maybe as we speak Karanka is contemplating playing Forshaw just behind Negredo so Clayton can start too in his ground-breaking 5-3-1-1 formation. I mean seriously how many defensive-minded players do we need on the pitch before AK feels safe.

    The bookies probably took a hammering today on the 0-0 prediction – never did a game have that scoreline destined to be. And I agree about Stuani being hooked instead of Negredo – I thought Stuani had a good game today and was just beginning to look a real threat when his number came up.

    OK it’s a point – nothing else though!

  46. GT, I don’t think luck, or lack of it, has much to do with our league position. If the set up every week is ultra defensive and you don’t score any goals you will not win many games and it only takes one goal from the opposition (created or gifted by a mistake) to end in a defeat.

    1. Exile
      I was trying to give a personal assessment of were I think we are, and to be honest I’m surprised as to how we have acclimated to the division, remember ,Burnley and Hull were here two seasons ago,
      Can you at least agree we have made progress under AK, incrementally, since he arrived.
      You can’t flip flop from one game to the next,
      You know five minute highlights on mod,doesn’t reflect,the true picture of all the games, infact there are many games were the atmosphere is very laid.

      1. GT, I agree that AK has made progress in terms of getting Boro from the bottom end of the championship to the EPL. As for the style of play and the entertainment value along the way I don’t see any progress at all over his tenure. His strategy has been the same since he arrived and is focused almost entirely on not conceding goals. The team’s attacking threat is non-existent and I would rather go shopping with the wife than waste 90 minutes watching the turgid football currently being served up. What makes it worse is that I don’t think AK’s approach will keep us up.

  48. On another matter, I have come up with some help for minor burns to the hand, Last night I inadvertently handled the handle of a pan shortly after it came out of the oven.

    The result was minor burns to my hand, luckily painful but not serious. Usual trick of hands under the cold water tap but you can only stand there for so long so I came up with a novel solution.

    Stubbies!! A small chilled bottle of beer fits nicely in to the hand and provides the cooling required. Obviously the beer will warm so has to be drunk, you now need a new chilled, full bottle. As a doctor would say, repeat as required.

    I hope this proves useful guidance, I wonder if you can get it on prescription?

  49. If somebody had said, preseason, pick a boro team in 352 forrmation, then Downing and Rhodes would have almost certainly been in it. What’s going on?
    Ramirez is out but Downing still can’t get a game. Rhodes has never been given a real chance to show what he can (or can’t). Surely if we play 2 up front then Rhodes must be an option.
    We look to be in a relatively save position. But I have us 6 points behind expectations. We need extra points on the board early. Our run in is brutal.

  51. Redcar Red

    The pain eases with both, at least with a few blisters I can wrap my hand around a cold beer.

    On balance the blisters but at least the painful lesson will be learnt. I will take more care with the pans but I will still be a Boro supporter.

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