There’s been a new dawn at Boro with a new crew in charge and a few familiar faces back on board as the club embark upon a journey this week that will hopefully keep our season afloat. These next three fixtures potentially offer the team a safe passage out of the bottom three but it won’t be by any means plain sailing. The supporters have been in the Doldrums for many weeks now but following Karanka’s mutual decision to walk the plank it is hoped by many that it’s now all hands on deck and we can avoid that sinking feeling.
It’s now two week since Aitor Karanka left the building and it appears the club have moved on quite rapidly. Perhaps it’s just the way of football but many of the appointees of Karanka have pretty smartly followed him out of the door and a new regime is already starting to take shape.
It appears the club is undergoing a de-Spanification with the departures of First Team Fitness Coach Carlos Cachada – Senior analyst and assistant coach Juanjo Vila, assistant analyst Guillermo Alonso Salinas and interim goalkeeping coach Marcos Abad.
Presumably, these departures must have been at least partly the decision of Steve Agnew as no doubt he will have preferred to appoint his own people instead. Which to me indicates that there has been a decision that a new approach was needed, though perhaps more accurately that a change in emphasis is required.
Carlos Cachada had the title of fitness coach but his role was wider – coincidentally, Jonathan Woodgate revealed to the Gazette earlier this year that Cachada took care of much of the defensive coaching at Rockliffe Park, though it was normally Karanka that devised the drills. So does that mean we’ll be seeing a different approach at the back and will the appointment of Stewart Downing’s brother-in-law as a first team coach be as Cachada’s replacement?
On the face of it, Woodgate doesn’t have a particularly strong background in coaching and has only just achieved his badges – indeed the 37 year-old’s previous employment after leaving Boro was as a scout in Spain for Liverpool – So why has he been brought to the party?
I think he is probably going to take on the role of conduit between the players and Agnew – as a former Boro squad member, he not only knows the players but was a popular figure and commands their respect. There is a suggestion that Woody will perhaps be able to encourage that vital extra few percent out of the players because of the currency and bond he still retains – particularly as Agnew will probably need to distance himself personally now he is the main man picking the team.
Another Middlesbrough lad, under-23s coach Paul Jenkins has now made the step up to assist Steve Agnew with first team duties. In an interview on the MFC website he spoke about how he has known Steve for around 15 years from their time working together at the Boro academy, in which they have developed and shared a footballing philosophy. His role will be to devise with Agnew training sessions in co-ordination with Adam Kerr, who is head of fitness, to help achieve the changes on the pitch that they want to make. He also revealed that the players were enjoying these intense sessions and there was a good atmosphere in the camp with the players raring to go.
In Addition, Stephen Gent has stepped up from his role as opposition analyst to Head of Match analysis to replace the outgoing Spanish analysts – so despite the departures it appears that there should be some continuity in the level of match preparations.
Joe Jordan completes the coaching team and has 30 years experience both as a manager and as an assistant – notably to Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth, Spurs and QPR, where he’s hopefully picked up the key points on how to avoid relegation. Redknapp said of Jordan as a coach that “You could put your life on him…He’s quiet, but when he says something, it is worth listening to.” – whilst The Herald described Jordan the coach of having ‘presence and natural authority’. The only caveat is that he admittedly didn’t expect to have another job in football so perhaps he’s not looking at Boro as a move to enhance his career.
Oh, and just in case any more characters in the coaching staff were needed, we have Leo back on duty as goalkeeping coach – it’s quite interesting that he has remained at the club given the other departures and his close association as possibly the de facto number two under Karanka. Perhaps he and Agnew got on well, he certainly wears his heart on his sleeve – though sometimes he looks like he is in the mood to wear other people’s hearts on his sleeve too.
Overall, I think the primary purpose of the coaching team is simply to galvanise the Boro players to get them in the right frame of mind for the task ahead – I suspect whilst many were on board with Karanka, no doubt there were several players who no longer bought into his methods and had lost the desire and motivation necessary at this level. The tactical role of the new team appears to be about changing the emphasis from stopping the opposition to empowering the players to take control of their own destiny.
A team will function best when everyone is pulling in the same direction and it was almost inevitable that once results entered a downward spiral, especially the prolonged goal drought, the cohesive fabric of the whole team would start to wear thin. I’ve already covered the potential pitfalls of Karanka’s methodolgy (A big club methodology for a small town in Europe) and the reality of any manager is that football is primarily a results-based occupation.
There can’t be many occupations where you can never reach a certain level or comfort zone – rather it expects year-on-year improvement to display that you are still capable of doing your job – in fact logic demands that your chances of managing that are pretty slim and at some point you will hit the wall. The problem is often one of belief from those under your control and from those above you who are assessing your performance – not to mention the thousands of observers and media pundits who will scrutinise your performance and make their opinions known.
The hope now is that Boro get that famous new manager bounce – it’s not guaranteed but it has become expected by supporters – I suspect you are probably more likely to get that bounce when you remove the point of tension and lift the pressure. Though for Boro, the real point of pressure was not Karanka but it is achieving that first victory and ending our horrendous run. I’m of the view that the players probably didn’t need a new figurehead coming in who would try to impose a radical change of tactics – they probably didn’t need the prospect of embarking on new set of instructions that some may fail to grasp or execute and feel under pressure to impress. They most likely need to feel confident that what they are being asked to do personally is something that is within their capability and will work for them – the time for heavy duty tactical drills and methodologies is pre-season once the players have been refreshed by a break.
Boro now have three crucial games in six days and realistically there will be little time on the training pitch in-between games. A methodology based on stopping the opposition will have little opportunity to be honed tactically, so worrying about opposition first could possibly lead to indecision and paralysis on the pitch. Personally, I believe a better strategy for these games will be to give the opposition something to keep them occupied in their own half – the problem that Boro have had this year was that the opposition knew we would be playing with only one man isolated up front and would slowly build from the back, allowing them time to get into position.
The trip to Swansea is up first and they have labelled this a crucial game for their survival hopes – Boro know what they now have to do, it’s catch-up time, but the teams above us now have something to hold on to and that in some ways it puts the pressure on them. In addition, they now don’t know what to expect from Boro – will it be business as usual or will it be something completely unexpected? Boro have the opportunity to catch Swansea on the back foot, their weakness is clearly in defence and it’s not that long since they normally shipped three goals a game and having lost their last two games they will be a little less sure.
Other teams above us have already had their bounce after their change of managers – the football laws of gravity determine that at some point they will start to fall again after the initial energy starts to dissipate. Perhaps the depth and velocity of Boro’s fall will allow us an even greater bounce?
Boro should treat the Swansea game as a must win – whilst one point is not a bad result given Swansea are a team we want to overhaul – three would give us that momentum that is urgently needed and give vindication to the new setup that would suddenly make the trip to Hull eagerly anticipated. With Burnley at home next Saturday, there would be a real prospect of finding ourselves out of the bottom three – or at the very least with escape within our grasp.
The team for Swansea will be interesting, though perhaps the line-up will contain few surprises. The defence has been bolstered by the return of Ayala to training but it appears George and Chambers are still quite a bit away from returning. It would normally mean Fabio playing left-back but I wonder if Husband will get his chance – options are limited at full-back so it’s likely to be Barragan. I’m still hoping that the three defensive midfielders has been scratched from the play book as we really need to get our attacking players on the pitch if Boro are going to start winning games. There has been many calls for 4-4-2 or probably 4-4-1-1, with Negredo supported by Gestede – that would probably mean Downing on the left and Gaston on the right.
OK, time to give your thoughts for the week ahead – will Boro be swanning around after the game on Sunday showing off their three points? or will Boro be rehearsing their Premiership swansong after yet another defeat? As usual make your team predictions, score and scorers – plus will Harry Redknapp be spotted in the crowd with his dog in a Boro scarf?
Exmil Challenge Part II
Just a reminder that entries for the second part of the challenge should be submitted before 3pm on Saturday. You can find a link to the interactive entry form by clicking on the blue Exmil Challenge banner at the top of the right column
Week of Destiny
As a special match preview bonus ahead of the week of destiny, Redcar Red has been casting his eye over the fixtures that involve our relegation rivals.
Looking ahead to the week of destiny obviously we are well aware of our own fixtures for these three games but there are some other interesting ties that will also shape our fortune not least of all on the second weekend when we host Burnley at the Riverside.
The day before we go down to South Wales, Palace will have had to negotiate Chelsea at the Bridge so highly likely they will return empty handed. Hull are at home to the Hammers and that could go either way I suppose but what are the odds of Snoddy hitting the winner after a disappointing spell in East London.
Leicester I suspect will continue to pull clear as they seem to have rediscovered their form of last season but they are at home to Stoke and Hughes’s men seem capable of grinding out results and with Champions League distractions who knows how their season will pan out. Sunderland are away to Watford where I think they will in all likelihood lose but could sneak a point, being honest if we have to start worrying about the Makems then we may as well give up now.
Midweek sees Leicester and Sunderland go head to head, not sure how I want that one to pan out. If Leicester are going to keep pulling away then we may as well see Sunderland tonked but with nerves jangling who knows. Palace are away to the Saints so lets pray for a home win. Spurs travel to Swansea and have plenty still to play for. Then on Wednesday Boro are away to Hull, we know only too well what is at stake down on the Humber that night!
It’s the following weekend though that could see us really restore hope and belief assuming we get a bit of luck during the previous two schedules. Travel sick Burnley will come to a fired up Riverside cauldron complete with bad boy Barton. Hull are away at Man City, Swansea away to the Hammers while Leicester are hopefully choking on the Toffees. Sunderland “entertain” Mourinho’s United while Palace face the Arsenal. There is a good chance that some of our mini league competitors could lose ground whilst we could make up three points.
If in worse case we finish the week of destiny two points adrift of safety there is always that home game against Sunderland but it would be nice to put a few of our fellow strugglers to the sword and push on ourselves. Two wins and a draw, I can dream can’t I? I suppose three straight wins would be being greedy and unrealistic considering we have only won four all season but its now or never!
This Weekend
Chelsea v Palace
Hull v West Ham
Leicester v Stoke
Watford v Sunderland
Swansea v Middlesbrough
Midweek
Leicester v Sunderland
Hull v Middlesbrough
Southampton v Palace
Swansea v Spurs
Next Weekend
Man City v Hull
Middlesbrough v Burnley
West Ham v Swansea
Everton v Leicester
Sunderland v Man Utd
Palace v Arsenal
Whilst the official talk is of mutuality it does seem more like a mutiny the longer time goes on. The players looked bereft of any belief in what they were trying to do for a while now and its clear that playing Chambers against Oxford with a broken foot was ridiculous and along with it seemingly bringing Friend back far too soon and playing him injured. Not sure if it was stupidity or desperation but it clearly wasn’t rational, also the fact that when bought Husband was supposed to be a George MKII yet AK effectively froze him out didn’t make sense less so when we saw the performance level of some of the new recruits. There were psychological frailties evident for a while and the kindest thing has been done.
Anyway that is all history now and we look forward. The new back room team don’t appear to have a vast amount of experience in managerial positions but lets face it if the players and coaches haven’t learnt or grasped AK’s functional defensive tactics by now then we have even bigger problems. Woody, like him or loathe him has played at a high level of the game all his career plus has spent several years with Karanka so as a former CB himself I’m sure he knows along with Ayala, Ben and Friend etc. which are the good bits and which are the bad bits of our defensive shield. AK did an excellent job at the back just a shame he couldn’t replicate it elsewhere on the pitch particularly midfield and attack and I’m sure Woody will not discard what worked.
I know there have been a lot of raised eyebrows at some of the new appointments but lets face it many of us have been pointing out the obvious for some time now so perhaps a bit of common sense and down to earth frank talking will have more effect than repetitive defensive drills.
On Sunday the Swans are being urged to come out and attack Boro from the off and put us to the sword preventing us from getting a foothold in the game. That may have been effective against Karanka’s sit back and soak it up mentality but I suspect that SA will have a slightly more offensive set up in mind.
My guess is that Aggers will keep Traore and Gestede on the bench. I don’t believe Gestede’s hammy will be fully functional yet so will not risk him and instead keep him as Plan B as he did against United, likewise Traore seems more devastating as a sub than as a starter. Having those two in reserve means he can definitely change the game if required.
Does that mean we will see the usual AK 4231 set up? I don’t think so. I think that during the warm ups and initial selection that will be the obvious fake deduction but I suspect that Stewy on paper may look to be part of a central three with Ramirez and perhaps Bamford or Fischer on the other flank to line up but will switch to Stewy wide and Fischer or Bamford playing off Negredo with Ramirez on the opposite flank in a 4411 rather than a full on 442. Stuani I think will be lucky to make the bench after his exertions and air miles these last two weeks but you never know he may push out one of Fischer or Bamford.
Fischer has been a bit of a let down yet when I have seen earlier videos of him he looks an entirely different player to the one we have witnessed to date. With a new Manager and a more positive intent I suspect that we may see more from the lad than he has shown (or been allowed to show). Like Bamford I suspect he responds better to encouragement than “conditioning”.
I’m going for a resurgent Boro at last achieving the sum of their parts with the handbrake off, 1-3 and a performance to have us all purring at long last.
Tomorrow is more must win than the mustiest win thing that has ever gone before.
To lose is unthinkable, and even though there will be those sipping a Foam Finger Latte who will tell you that relegation isn’t mathematically certain etc etc (we’ve heard this many times before…), this is Boro, and a defeat tomorrow will see the wheels come off, unless Harry of Redknapp is wheeled out to mount a Warnockesque great escape.
To draw would also be terrible as it leaves the task in hand (overhaul Swansea/Palace) the same, only with less games and points in which to do it.
So, MUST WIN then. Which for me, as for many others, means 2 up top – probably Negredo with Gestede and switch one for Bamford second half to exploit his movement. Realistically, what will Clement prepare for? No-one has seen anything other than 1 up top from Boro, so 2 up top would be the ultimate in unexpected.
Predictions? Boro to win 3-0. Ben, Gestede, De Roon – all headers from free kicks or corners. The last twenty mins will see a freshened up Forshaw stroking the ball around the midfield as Ole’s ring out from the away end.
Now, where did I put my Double Foamaccino?
Smoggy, you’ve lost a day in your haze. Now step away from the foam, slowly very slowly and put down the inhalation tube. That’s it now, step outside get some fresh Teesside air and a good dose of reality. That’s it, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, let the smog do its job and remove all those harmful foam fumes that’s addled your brain. That said I think I may have been imbibing an extra frothy Agnew Foamaccino myself!
Crikey – I have. I think I was just too desperate to get back to it.
Great Post Werder why pay for a premium site when we’ve got Diasboro
I’m mot going to invoke the gods of wrath by predicting a result or a scoreline.
My predictions are always rubbish
I just hope we can get out of this mess and stay up this season
I have mixed emotions at the moment sadness that our strategy has failed and Karanka has gone but as you said in your post relief that we have made a change
It couldn’t go on with no goals and one or two shots on target that is not the kind of football I pay to see
I was impressed with the way that existing players were improved by our coaches but disappointed that substitutes and tactical changes were made so late in a game
I’m not giving up and I don’t think the Boro players will there are a few of them who now want to make a point and let’s hope they grab the points
I don’t think the Armada leaving our shores will change a lot. In essence the people who left were in similar roles to those that have come in or been promoted, the framework is still there.
We may see a return to 4231. I repeat yet again, 442 generally has a couple of wide midfield players plus two attackers one of whom will drop in to the hole between the opposition midfield and defence which looks an awful lot like 4231.
I remember a call in to Robbie Savage by a Leicester fan following their 3-0 win saying things had turned around because they were now playing 442. Robbie said they were not playing 442, the fan was adamant it was 442. Robbie told the fan that in front of him he had the heat maps for the team and you could clearly see it was not 442. The fan wouldn’t be convinced by fact Robbie was 100% correct in what he was saying.
A lot of premiership teams play similar systems. It is the intent and quality of the players that matters.
For us I dont think we have the skill set to play 433 or 343 effectively.
As George and Callum are not fit I would like
Valdes
Fabio, Ayala, Gibson, Husband
Clayton, De Roon
Traore, Gaston, Downing
Negredo
Featuring on the bench
Bamford, Bernardo, Gestede, Forshaw, Leadbelter, Barragan, Keeper.
Will it happen? Away from home we may revert to 433 again and we could end up
Valdes
Barragan, Ayala/Bernardo, Gibson, Fabio
Clayton, de Roon, Leadbelter/Forshaw
Gaston, Negredo, Downing
I think we will get something out of the game.
My Team would be
Perm one from three in goal
Fabio Ayala Gibson Husband
Downing Leadbetter Clayton Ramirez
Fischer
Negredo
oops and on the bench!
a.n.keeper, de Roon, Bamford, Barragan, Traore, Gestede, and Espinosa in case Ayala breaks down again.
“A team will function best when everyone is pulling in the same direction and it was almost inevitable that once results entered a downward spiral, especially the prolonged goal drought, the cohesive fabric of the whole team would start to wear thin.”
You and I agree on this Werder, 100%.
The worst thing about building success on a collective, as you and I know and as Graham Taylor, Jack Charlton, The Not-Always-Special One and AK found out, is when the momentum and belief’s gone and the upward mobility’s no longer there, who can we look towards to turn things in our favour?
It took speculative, spectacular even, opportunism from Fabbrini to kickstart 2015-16 against Bolton and a comeback against Wolves. It took a last minute penalty decision to wake us from our slumbers against QPR and set us off on a seemingly unstoppable streak. It took David Nugent and later Jordan Rhodes to turn despair into renewed hope – no wonder people were upset at seeing them dropped this season.
This season, AKBoro’s luck as a collective finally ran out as, I think, he retreated deeper and deeper into his safety shell and became more mistrustful of individualism. With the right momentum and solidity, Stoke would have been beaten, we would have taken our chances against Arsenal A and Leicester H, we would have seen out the games at the King Power and Old Trafford, and so on. The results may well have been very different and AK may still have been in a job.
But, on the flip side, it takes genuine failures to really expose flaws in methodology. I’ve heard some say that losing or failing is better and more useful – because that way, managers and hierarchy are actually forced to question themselves. Harsh in a situation when all we want to do is enjoy the positivity in good results, but not without foundation.
Simon,
“managers and hierarchy are actually forced to question themselves”
In AK’s case if only, and therein lay his biggest problem, the outward appearance at least was that he didn’t see that there was indeed a problem, apart from the Fans and Recruitment perhaps and whoever had been naughty stepped or whose turn it was to be ostracised that week!
Redcar Red
In case? Shouldn’t that be when?
Ian,
Should probably have been even more specific than that and stated the 7th minute!
RR
As spread betting seems the in thing I would happily allow you some flexibility.
How about 6.59 to 7.01. Reasonable is as reasonable does.
🙂
I’d like us to go 352, that system you can be flexible with,and I think we have the personnel to carry it out.
gt
If those people are picked it can work, at this stage of the season I would settle for the system they are used to played with intent.
While travelling this week, I was able to listen to the interview of Woody at mfc.co.uk site.
Interestingly Woody says that we have a lot of good strikers at the club and he does not mind who are the TWO strikers chosen to play.
Looks like we will play two up front from now on. Just saying, like.
Up the Boro!
Given the ongoing problems with injuries at the back I do not see many changes from the last game. I would be very surprised to see Husband included.
I will go as follows:
Valdes
Barragan Ayala Gibson Fabio
Clayton Leadbiter De Roon
Ramirez Negredo Downing
Subs:
Keeper, Espinosa, Traore, Gestede, Forshaw, Fischer
We must win but I cannot see anything better than a draw which suits them more than us.
I fear that the importance and magnitude of this week will overwhelm us and that by the Burnley game our fate will all but be sealed. I don’t want it to happen but just don’t see how we can suddenly turn it all around.
I hope I am wrong. I may be being pessimistic but I believe I am also realistic.
CoB
If you’re interested & should you need a distraction, here’s some light relief / local interest :
http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-river-tees-1962/
Mr Parker’s Dog,
That is a great link, very enjoyable and nostalgic. The year I started at Middlesbrough College of Art, a lifetime ago.
UTB,
John
jarkko
Having been away I checked Woodies interview and he said whether it was two up front or one.
Good try but I cant see us playing two up top at the Swans.
One tactic that has worked against them before is to press the full backs and push them back, make the centre halves play out or the keeper to go long.
Cue a 60 yard dribble and thunderous shot in to the top corner!
Just as a special bonus match preview feature I’ve included a short piece Redcar Red wrote that briefly looks at the relegation fixtures – you’ll find it at the end of the article or alternately click on the following link.
https://diasboro.club/2017/03/31/swansea-v-boro-match-preview/#fixtures
My guesses :
Saturday’s score : 1-1.
Highly unlikely blog headlines :
Obsessed By Ladies Underwear, Boro Players Fight To Nick A Draw.
Oops… for Saturday read Sunday. Just goes to show my dedication.
Short & sweet
It’s a 3-5-1-1 from old Borospartakian languising, neè basking in the spring sunshine in the shadow of the White Carpathanians ;)*
To bamboozle the Swans I’ve gone with Gestede upfront closely tracked by Adama wandering willy & nilly left right and centre, bursting through the tattered ranks of dismayed and disorientated Swans defenders, creating so much chaos and havoc that they believe all their nightmares have turned up at once.
5 behind, take yer pick but three CM’s for me would be Gibson, Ayala & Fry in any order that makes yer feel comfy.
Tactics- well forget yer tippy tappy sidewards backwards. I wanna see the ball at the feet of Downing on the left spraying in pinpoint crosses onto Gestede noggin and into space for Fabio to run onto. Corners and freekicks abound with 2 of our three CB’s coming up and crashing said ball into Swans net with aplum or a strawbery if it makes yer feel comfy – like.
All to play for – happy days
UTB
😉
So we have a manager, who seems like a very nice bloke, but has not one iota of previous managerial experience. Nor has ever sought it. You might have supposed that were he interested in management he might have tried it in the lower leagues. But no. He’s in his fifties, so he is no rookie, but he has always been content to be a No 2 or 3. And in that role at the Boro he appeared to make very little impact, other than as a cones-and bibs man. He often seemed to be playing third or fourth fiddle to the goalkeeping coach and the Spanish fitness man.
He now finds himself as our manager in the most lucrative and competitive league in the world and at one of the most important times in our recent history.
He has appointed as head coach someone who has no previous experience of this role at any other club at any level. Someone who has simply walked into a plum Premier League post, for which he would not normally expect to be even short-listed.
And he has singled out as central to his plans the very player who was involved in a public slanging match with the previous manager. Whilst AK was in the wrong to criticise the player publicly, the substance of his criticism – that he was not pulling his weight – was surely well justified, given the player’s performances,general lack of impact and effort, and quite unjustifiable sense of entitlement over the past two seasons. To single him out as someone who is now central to the club’s future must be a source of some frustration to players (the majority of the squad) who have given everything they’ve got every game. And what will they think of the fact that the new ‘special one’ is the brother-in-law of the new coach? Cliquish or what?
There is a credibility problem and experience deficit at the heart of our club, which will become painfully evident when things begin to go wrong. This may be as soon as this week-end.
And if we elect to play open attacking football in the way that most of the fans say they want to see, then we could be in for some heavy and demoralising defeats. Don’t expect those same fans to be anything other than outraged if that happens.
I will be more delighted than anyone to be proved wrong, and will be cheering the lads on as enthusiastically as anyone else on Sunday.
But I fear we may suffer a comprehensive defeat .
Swans 4 Boro 0
If it’s any consolation I was wrong about a) Brexit b) the election of President Trump and c) Leicester winning the League. So hope springs eternal.
Spot on Len Masterman
Lenmasterman
What an excellent piece which summarise our current position.
We are all rooting for our team but what has happened this season beggars belief.
CoB
Len
As usual, nail on head hitting is one of your specialities. I don’t always totally agree with your views, that is no different to any human beings.
What does bother me is baby and bathwater syndrome. Many have been calling for AK’s head, he has enough on his charge sheet to bring about his demise.
The problem is whether removing AK and his cohorts will improve the situation, the difficulty is would it improve if he stayed.
On balance it was time for him to move on with most fans best wishes. If you change you don’t know if it was right, don’t change and you know it was the wrong choice.
That leaves us with the staff who were already here or brought in. Add in the players with little top flight experience or are ‘damaged’ goods’ and we are in suck it or see territory.
On Sunday I can see any score being possible.
Do I worry? No, seen enough thin and thinner with Boro not to cry at any outcome.
EXMILL CHALLENGE Part 2
As at 23:20 tonight I have received another 7 entries for Part 2 which now totals 33 of the 39, tonight’s batch are:
Boroexile
BrisbanePhil
Paul
SteveH
Werdermouth
Ian Gill
Chris Hunneysett
The outstanding entries who have until 1500 hrs on Saturday 1 April 2017 are:
Borobrie
Dalla
Steve Terry
Vanities
BoroSupporter82
Tees Transporter
I am down in Milton Keynes where my son is taking part in the Table Tennis Under 18 national cup, where the top ten junior (under 18) players in England compete against each other over Saturday and Sunday to find the national champion, my son is the number 10 seed.
Come on BORO (and my son).
Hope the young fella smashes it
This.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9gKyRmic20
And how about a Crowded House for our next game?
I may be in the minority but I’m quite happy with the new managerial set up
Everyone has an affinity with the club were/are fans and are desperate to see us survive. They know the club inside out,they have seen the players getting more and more demoralised with Karankas methods,systems,fallouts, stubbornness and results. Better SA & co than an ageing Roy Hodgson who couldn’t get the best English players to perform in the World Cup never mind get mediocre Spanish and average players to perform in a relegation dogfight!
We were going down with Karanka that was 100% certain. Nothing is certain with Agnew but you can bet there is a happier more relaxed atmosphere now down at Rockcliffe with everyone pulling in the same direction.
I have a good feeling about all of this,a change of tactics & formation and renewed belief from the players and a 2.0 win!
To quote Yazz “The Only Way Is Up”
Never Give Up…
I hope you’re right. You generally are, and I will always give the utmost respect to an ace supporter who manages to get to every game of the season. It will be interesting to see which forecast turns out to be the most accurate. At least no one can accuse either of us of speaking with hindsight.
It would, however, be fun to write a candidate description for the jobs of Manager and Head Coach for which Aggers and Woodgate would tick all the boxes.
And I would love to be a fly-on -the -wall when Woodgate gives Ayala his first one-to-one tutorial on the art of staying match fit.
Thank you Len but I’m not always right. Just hoping I am this time.
I maybe in hiding and very quiet at 3.30pm tomorrow 😉
Werder,
Excellent piece. Loved the extended metaphor. Vivid too; I felt a touch of sea-sickness at one stage.
Ex-mil
Thanks again for all of your splendid work. The whole blog will be rooting for your lad. Best of luck to him. Do let us know how he gets on.
AK’s Boro problem was highlighted beautifully on Sky Sport yesterday, in all the divisions only one team had scored less than Boro and that was Rotheram.
Great piece Werdermouth, well done, all we needed was the ‘Black Spot” but then maybe some of our players did get the dreaded mark!
UTB,
John
Wow! I see that Boro have just re-appointed Gordon Strachan to take overall control of the Club’s management until further notice with a remit to strengthen our recruitment North of the Border
I certainly didn’t see that one coming.
You ‘aint ‘f o o l i n g’ this pedigree dog chum 😀
Nearly Len, nearly!!!
🙂
The problem I have is I thought given MFC appointments that it WAS possible.
Karanka leaving was inevitable as it had become clear that the tank was empty. Replacing a Manager with a quarter of a Season left, 5 points adrift in the relegation zone with a top class Manager who just happened to be available and willing to relocate to the NE was unrealistic or highly fortunate at best (Schteeve anyone?).
Who we bring in now is probably not who we would want come June depending upon what league we are in. Pearson may have been a good shout for a survival battle but long term, no thanks. Ranieri may have been a good longer term shout but he wouldn’t be cheap and may not fancy the Championship despite seemingly determined to visit it with his last charges. There are of course others who may or may not have come but with no guarantees.
So what to do? Doing nothing wasn’t an option. For me AK should have went earlier but SG always gives his man time to turn things around and supports them as well he should, just perhaps for not quite so long. Sticking with him was no longer viable as much for AK’s mental health as anything else as some of his latter utterances had become the source of derision and mockery. So doing something meant changing things in the view that it couldn’t possibly get any worse than 4 wins all season. Gambling with the right Manager but at the wrong time was one choice, another being the wrong Manager but at the right time or alternatively to go with Aggers.
It was clear that Agnew was perceived as far more than just a Coaching assistant when he arrived. Cast your minds back to when he surprisingly quit at Hull and came here when Steve Bruce openly declared that they couldn’t match the package that SG had put on the table. That doesn’t sound to me like a minor ill conceived thought process by the Chairman. It was also pretty clear that while Higgy wasn’t perhaps Paella of the month that SA was going nowhere and had a non negotiable front seat on the bench. We observed on here previously that the body language between AK and SA didn’t seem overly close or inter-dependant and at times Agnew looked like a Mexican at a Trump convention. That clearly being the case why was Agnew firmly ensconced when he wasn’t a native Spanish speaker?
SA in my opinion was always SG’s appointment, his man, his ears and his sounding board. The alleged and rumoured package that Steve Bruce and Hull couldn’t compete with if true indicated back then that SG had far reaching plans for Agnew, plans that at some point would mean being given the reigns as indeed Steve Bruce alluded to. That time has now come and SG is backing him with the appointments of Jordan and Woody etc. OK maybe Woody isn’t the experienced old sage that some had hoped for but lets be honest now, how many of us had heard of Cachada or Percovich as examples and what their English game let alone Premiership experience was before arriving at the Riverside?
If Aggers crashes and burns and it becomes clear that he hasn’t a clue in these remaining 10 games then SG has another tough call. If however he makes a fist of it but it ends in disappointment but with the majority here and elsewhere saying if only he could have had the Palace and Stoke games things may have been different then SA will be here come August suited and booted. Keeps us up and with a bit of flair and belief sprinkled to boot then why wouldn’t SG keep him and indeed why wouldn’t SG also claim that SA was his plan all along because it certainly seems so to me and for a long while.
I get the point about SA being a rookie Manager but he has been involved in the game all his life and has worked with clubs from the bench in the Premiership and Championship. Rookie Robbo worked out OK apart from being held onto for too long, McClaren also didn’t do too bad for an ex No.2 who went on to be England Manager. The Southgate choice was admittedly ridiculous and unfair as the lad had zero experience in Coaching let alone Mangement, a step way too far too soon but lets face it he isn’t exactly in a shoddy job at the moment so clearly SG spotted something early on.
Under the circumstances SA knows the Club, the Chairman, the Fans, the Players, the Politics and what he has to work with. He knows all the capabilities and foibles of each and every player at his disposal, we haven’t got time for a bedding in period. So far its turned out OK at Leicester in similar circumstances and I defy anyone to say that they had belief in Shakespeare other than his plays and I don’t mean set plays!
Offensively all season we have been repugnant let alone offensive. Joe Jordan was a Striker and has decades of experience on the pitch and on the bench and I’m sure has a phone number of his old pal Harry to bounce thoughts off if needed. That indicates an immediate acknowledgement that something needed addressed at the sharp end and was done very quickly. Defensively who knows and understands the methodology that has been the foundation for the last three years under AK and was willing to come in immediately? He played at a higher level than Southgate arguably (when fit of course), Champions League experience, Premiership experience, heck he even played for Madrid and I doubt Liverpool would have appointed him as a Scout if he didn’t come across as reasonably knowledgeable especially as its a club he has no affiliation with previously.
SA just like when SG appointed him way back then may perhaps have been very astute as well as swift. Doing nothing wasn’t an option and something has certainly now been done. There were even hopeful signs that he managed to force Mourinho to change tactics and defend in numbers, not bad for for a Rookie less than 48 hours in the post.
Redcar Red
Even Woodie wasn’t an accident, AK had time for him even as a minder at Rockcliffe whatever happened later in Aitor’s reign. The noises have been that Woodie would have a role at some point.
At times I am surprised at who we fans think we can attract as managers or players. We are in the North East and were a second tier club for several years, on promotion to the top flight it was always going to be a battle.
Burnley, Hull, Palace, Sunderland, Swansea, Bournemouth, Leicester, Watford all have more top flight experience, all have had top flight money in the last few seasons.
The Karanka/Pochettino/Koeman way of playing works with the right players, it worked for us over three seasons to get us promoted. I don’t think we quite have the guile or players in the top flight, hence the attempted recruitment in January. A telling comment from Agnew, we had nearly the whole squad to work with during the international break.
It is up to Agnew and co to find a way to score and keep it tight at the back – most of our injuries are to defenders so that does give some reason for uncertainty.
EXMIL CHALLENGE Part 2
The entry is now closed and one more made the deadline:
Steve Terry
The following failed to enter Part 2
Borobrie
Dalla
Vanties
BoroSupporter82
Tees Transporter
We are now down to 34 runners.
Joshua has lost his first two matches against the No 1 seed (who was in the England Olympic team) and the No 3 seed but in both matches he gave a credible performance.
Come on BORO (and my son)
Well todays results have made tomorrows game pretty straightforward in terms of objectives. Hull winning and Palace beating Chelsea away means that Boro (and indeed Swansea) need all three points. All the “dropped” points from “those” games are as predicted now coming back to bite us big style.
I hate to say it but we knew it would happen. Action was taken to late and now we need Premiership winning form to claw our way out never mind relying on others to slip up, it may have worked last year but not in this league.
UTB,
John
Well one bit of good news today
My grandson was part of the u16 Cleveland county schools fa that won the semi final in the cup against Cheshire
They will now play Lancaster in the final
https://www.facebook.com/robin.davison.125/posts/1186163418159186
Big HUURRRAHH to your grandson and his team mates, OFB!
All the best for the final.
Correct, RR.
RR
We’ve all said it. It will be the greatest miracle ever if we survive now. Those “lost points” just make it so much harder to bear.
No good crying over spilt milk as they say. We just have to get on with it and put in ten performances of our lives.
Nothing’s really changed from before 3pm today. We always needed to win the next two games at Swansea and Hull no matter what they did
With Boro, it seems action is always taken when “it’s too late” or things have absolutely reached breaking point.
Boro are experts at making us suffer, sometimes over a short period of time, sometimes a long one, before “making up for it” with the grand gesture of an important victory/moral victory or a winning run. And then letting us down again.
Five points adrift at the bottom on March 1, 1997, and we’re all at sea at Hillsborough. There’s no way back, surely? Three weeks and four successive wins later, we’re 17th and smiling. Cue the “right and fair” judgement, Heskey, Claridge, Chesterfield and Juninho’s man markers…
There are many more examples but they would take far too long to list.
Simon, yes, but then was then and now is now. With today’s results we are as well as down whatever happens tomorrow and I am not at all confident that we will get anything at Swansea.
Karanka should have gone last season but, having bottled that, Steve Gibson should have made the change at Christmas last year at the latest. Hanging on to Karanka has sealed our fate and his departure was way too late.
Season 2016/17 will go down as a massive missed opportunity and it may take us years to get back to the EPL.
My forecast tomorrow is 2-0 to Swansea.
Oh, but Boroexile, weren’t there examples last season of my theory? And, for that matter, this?
Charltongate was probably the greatest.
“We can kiss promotion goodbye”, one fan spoke.
But AK came back, and ten games later, promotion was ours.
Then…
Boro 0 Watford 1. Slaughtered on TV by pundits, and doom and gloom all over the social networks. The Rhodesian Cult that was nowhere to be found when JR was actually on the pitch regularly in 2015-16 gathers steam.
We then pull our performance of the season out of the hat at Arsenal before defeating Bournemouth, drawing with City and losing respectfully to Chelsea. Not managing to hold on at Leicester was arguably a turning point, if not the horrid one-two punch at United.
It’s been a tale of narrow margins in 2016-17. In fact…
1-1, 2-1, 0-0, 1-2, 1-2, 1-1, 0-1, 0-0, 1-1, 0-1, 2-2, 1-0, 0-1, 1-2, 0-1, 0-0, 0-0, 1-1, 0-1, 0-0, 0-1.
21/27 games prior to AK’s departure were in the balance. One goal, one mistake, one final ball, one clearance, one save could have made a difference. That says something.
Even Rod Liddle, for all his criticism of AKBoro, told me around January that they weren’t far off being rather good.
What spelled the end for AK was everything since and including January – the disastrous transfer window and his attempts to gloss over it, his criticisms of everything and everyone, naughty steps multiplying rapidly, belief and momentum leeching out of the team entirely.
It helped to finally convince me that, for all AK had bounced back from, this really was a step too far.
But, as Lenny Kravitz said…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkURz6H0I0I
RR
As you know from previous posts I have subscribed to the point may prove useful at the end if the seadon or plenty of points to play for mantras.
Once gone they are irrecoverable.
Simon, it is always possible to find examples of theories. In many cases reality puts paid to them.
But hope is what keeps us all following the Boro which is why 2016/17 is so, so disappointing. Hope has been stifled and all but extinguished for this season by poor results which, however close, have just not been good enough. The disappointment comes from my conviction that the current desperate situation could have been avoided with better management all round at the club.
It pains me to say I ‘spotted’ / predicted this scenario on this blog many months ago & being out of the ‘Boro Bubble’ may have had a bearing on this. The hurt is still there.
When we Played WBA at their place they struggled to fill their bench and were there for the taking, similar to West Ham who couldn’t get to grips with their new stadium and then there was that god awful Southampton away safety first performance, both Leicester games who were in crisis, too many games to list and far too many points lost for the lack of positive intent over negative solidity.
I’m sure some of those would have gone awry had we went for it but I’m also sure some would have yielded three points and not one or none. Just 5 examples of games there were I think 7 more points would have been achievable and certainly 4 more as a minimum.
Agreed, no use crying over spilt milk but we could’ve and should’ve, that’s the frustration and overwhelming disappointment of this season. AK had us so close but constantly refrained from pulling the trigger which cost us all in the end. At least now we know there are 10 games to go and draws are of absolutely no use (although I’m sure we will get some), hearts on sleeves time and any regrets to be left on the battlefield.
Smoggy In The Heed’s theory of narrow margins, the Zen Of AKBoro, sums it up better than I ever could.
The Zen Of AKBoro, according to Smoggy ITH, being…
“For much of Karanka’s time in charge, we have heard about fine margins and how one chance taken could be the difference in these kind of games.
“Ifs and maybes.
“And then we reflect on those situations where the final ball could be better. Adama Traore immediately comes to mind.
“The reality, to me, is that these ‘fine margins’ often mean feeding off scraps, hoping that the same patterns of play lead to something breaking in the box.
“If the chance gets taken, we go home happy, having played a clever, strategic game resulting in three points.
“But if nothing breaks, or the one glaring chance goes begging, we are left to reflect on what actually got us off our seat. The crowd buzzing, sensing something building. There aren’t many of those moments.
“We definitely win, lose and defend as a team, but we don’t attack as a team. At least not in this system. And we are often showing ourselves up as dull and predictable.”
Also, how many attacking players, to borrow Len’s words, lost their forward thrust by missing some of those “gilt edged chances” which “would have produced a very different result” had they gone in?
I think Len had a theory, and a great one, that AKBoro’s players should have been encouraged for creating chances. Instead we can imagine AK telling them, “You missed that chance, you cost us the win… Why don’t you ever listen?”
Not so much AK’s fault, mind, as the culture that spawned him, the solidity, almost 100% chance conversion rate and “perfect” passing paralysis of Spain’s Euro 2012 victors that nonetheless statistically outshone all competitors. They never came from behind in the knockout stages of three tournaments… Because they never had to.
Oops, problems of smartphones, the phones are smart unlike the owners.
Previous post about points should have read never subscibed to useful point mantra.
Well done to those youngsters making their families proud.
At my sons for a belated mothers day meal, will listen to part of the match driving north, hopefully catch the end at home.
UTB,
What is it that makes for a good leader? Inspirational? Fair? Lead by example? Presence? Well perhaps all of the aforementioned and maybe more.
I recall the story of Solomn, King of Israel from the Old Testament. If my memory serves me well, God offerred him any one thing that he so desire upon his ascension to the throne. Solomon thought for a while and then made his choice- ‘wisdom’ , he said. Wisdom, that was his choice above all other things.
But what is ‘wisdom’? Is it the accrued knowledge of a year in study or a lifetime? Is it understanding of intensely difficult subjects? I would suggest wisdom is the capacity to make a decision and when exactly to make it given an understanding of the facts as are known at the time.
Great leaders have great powers of judgement. When all around them are advising this or that in a constant cacophany of contradictory noise, this is when a great leader shows his worth and brings success and good fortune to those he leads.
Success and good fortune – wisdom, judgement. Big fat Sam is a good judge of what is needed for a team to succeed. Love him or loathe him, to know what’s in deficit in a team and then bring in the right players, 2 or 3, which will turn the fortunes around, that’s what he does well. If we consider my definition of wisdom to be correct, that it is good judgement, then Big Fat Sam in the context of halting a team’s slide into relegation, is a wise man.
What about the Boro? Who is our great leader? Who do we have that can bear the title of wise man? Who has the requisite gift of great judgement – who can make a decision at exactly the right time? Who knows exactly where the main problems are and what it is to fix them? Aitor, in whom we trusted? No! Steve Gibson, who appointed Aitor? Maybe? Our new manager/head coach, Aggers? The jury is out as he is yet to prove himself.
So, then we arrive at a conclusion – as a team, as a family of mutual desire and passion for success in football, we are lacking in that most fundamental of leadership qualities, great judgement and thus because of the lack we are where we are. And until we get some great judgement we will continue to fail.
Jordan Mcghee
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/lost-confidence-hearts-im-loving-10138313
Browbeaten by my brother into renewing my ST. They told him when he renewed Friday that they had only had 15000 renewals to date.
That’s a big drop from this seasons 24000!!!! Cannot see many more buying in if we get relegated.
Well yesterday’s results appear to have really made the match today a must win game – though a draw is not the end of the world since our game in hand is against Sunderland.
Leicester appear to be out of the equation but I wonder if Sean Dyche will begin to brick it a little if we beat Swansea as Burnley must be starting to look over their shoulder. There is a possibility (admittedly a bit too early to contemplate) that by the time Boro play Burnley next Saturday it could see us move above of them on goal difference.
Though I think should Boro lose today then it’s probably going to encourage that generously proportioned lady to start exercising her vocal cords – though no doubt a couple of wins would keep her quiet for a while.
Whilst I understand Len’s concerns about the general lack of experience of the new crew at Boro (by the way thanks for your earlier comments and hope you’ve acquired your sea legs in time for the game) I think it’s more about the mood music at the moment and getting the players to believe in themselves.
I think Karanka actually mentioned shortly before he left that they’d been training to be more attacking but the players seemed to lack belief in front of goal. I know we all seem to accept the modern view that it’s the manager or head coach who dictates how the players perform but we should also remember that those great managers of not so long ago like Clough concentrated on motivating their players with man management and kept the tactics relatively simple.
It was interesting on MoTD last night that they highlighted that whilst Mourinho’s Man Utd were on an unbeaten run they had drawn eleven games at home either 0-0 or 1-1 – it was their lack of goals that was costing them a Champions League spot. They’ve got forwards we can only dream of so it would re-emphasise that it’s the problem of his methodology that is holding the team back – they are easily the lowest scoring team in the top seven and in fact have only scored three goals more than Tony Pullis’s West Brom in 8th.
I’m looking forward to today’s game – it almost feels like a cup final such are the stakes – I hope we come out on the front foot and score first as I’m nervous about needing to score two and leaving ourselves open to going two down.
I suspect it will be something like 3-2 (hopefully to us) as both team will be nervous – though Swansea I suspect won’t mind the draw.
Crikey – a new post and a shed-load of replies to read! I will send this first, though…..
I did the deed on Friday. Another 3 year season-ticket renewal completed. This is the fourth. I realise I have no idea in which league we will be playing next season (well, I have a very strong suspicion but we will put that to one side for the present). I don’t know how many home games there will be, or midweek games on different days, nor how much media coverage there will be.
£1,674! Eeek! I am on my own for the next 10 days or so as Mrs Dormo is doing Granny-Care duties in the far north west of Scotland but I reasoned that I might not have the money in a year’s time. I might be totally sickened off by then. On the other hand, the commitment has now been made and, if you look at it in a “glass half full type-of-way”, as soon as I pay off next month’s Barclaycard bill, I will have “free football” for the next 3 years. I might not always look forward to it, but the decision has been made and, having paid, I will be be there, whichever teams we line up against next season.
You can look at it on a number of levels. My entire lump sum wouldn’t even pay Negredo’s wages for travelling to a training session (let alone his taking part in it!). It will all have been spent before next season starts, so it’s not as if the club will have stored it away for a rainy day. So for the seasons after the next one, the club will get precious little turnstile income from me (the odd home cup game, maybe but there is a sting in that – some years ago the 3 year season ticket covered any home cup games, but if I remember correctly, we were then drawn out for something like 13 successive away cup games, so we didn’t actually play any home games!). And, how many of our first team squad will still be here when that 3 year season ticket expires at the end of the 2019-20 season?
Maybe I will be sold off, in a cost-cutting transfer deal, to another club? Maybe I will come to the conclusion that the “club doesn’t share my ambitions”? Maybe my agent will be knocking on doors, or spreading around the precise details of my sell-on clause? Maybe I will be seduced by the bright lights of the big city and the Premier League glitz and find myself justifying the move to a club where my talents will be nurtured and gicen surroundings in which they may flourish?
Alternatively I will still be here at the Riverside, in the same seat I have occupied since the stadium opened. Steve Gibson is preaching to the converted, with me. It’s the others out there, the uncommitted, that he needs to rope in. Come on, folks, join the vulnerable people whose addiction to the club remains intact despite all attempts to wean us off the Boro. There are times when it all seems worthwhile. It’s going to be the next match when it all comes right. Cardiff 2004 will come again. UEFA Cup runs, running away with the 2nd tier championship title. Next time it really will be better, honestly. No, I mean it……..
Excellent, mate. That is real commitment and I really do appreciate that.
I just wonder if you were recommended by a certain Boro insider in your pub!
Up the Boro!
Interesting team selection. Only two defensive midfielders with, one presumes, Downing at number 10 with Ramirez coming in from the left to support Negredo.
Gestede on the bench ready to go to a full two up front.
Not sure how it will work.
I’m already nervous but still optimistic.
UTB
Looking at the table right now I can’t believe how quickly it’s came to this. I must have lulled myself into a false sense of security. We were always 3-4 points above the drop zone with a far superior goal difference. Even when we had a bad runs the teams below us were losing. Then suddenly the shock wins against top 7 teams started. That’s something we’ve never managed. Still, it only seems like a couple of games ago that we were going to Palace saying a win there puts us 6 points ahead of them.
If we lose today I would say we were 90% down. A draw and we ‘re 60% down. A win gives us a 50-50 chance.
I think it will be a close game that could go either way. We’re due a bit of luck so I think we will just nick it. COME ON BORO!!!
Yes, we due some luck. Defo.
Awful results yesterday, so we must do our own luck tpday. 2-3 win for the mighty Boro.
Up the Boro!
Very painful indeed..
My oldest is back from uni,bet him a fiver that barra would foul throw. You take your pleasure when you can with Boro!
I’m surprised your eldest took the bet!
For a club in the EPL to tolerate a player consistently making foul throws without stopping it is beyond belief. Sums up the state of MFC this season.
As for the game, same old indeed. No shots on target in the first half and only one in the second. Another nil recorded. Aren’t we supposed to be fighting for survival?
Parked up as final whistle went.
Didn’t see the bench until got back.
Goalie, thee holding midfielders, two strikers, one defender. Surprised we didn’t have Husband or another defender on the bench, you could argue another striker even. Agnew saying it was made difficult by the injury to Gaston then Downing having to go to left back.
Seems simple to me put Husband on the bench then bring him on but he has had little opportunity so would he have been better that moving Stewie back?
Speaking to my son who watched and he described it as same old, same old. Sounded like it.
On to Hull.
Agnew era? What Junck! A Labour-ed Boro Merk hard but still Boris as the May Premexit gets nearer. EU’d better be-Leave it.
W e should have just kept our promotion team together at the begining of the season and went for it. We wouldn’t have done any worse than we have and we would have saved a lot of money. We finished that game with a back four that included Barragan, Espinosa and Downing. That’s ridiculously bad planning.
Well that was a very bright display and contained plenty of highlights, which was on the whole free flowing with everything looking to have been gelled quite nicely – but enough of Adama’s new hair style… the game itself was pretty much the same old Boro and failings and I’m beginning to wonder if Karanka had his head shaved as an April fool joke and accidentally ended up back in charge again.
Beautiful
Too many negative comments already here – yes & that’s coming from yours truely!
Who in the squad would replace Barragan given Fabio’s on the left & Husband hasn’t played a compeditive game all season? Who is Aggers goin to play alongside Ben? Ayala’s been without a game in weeks.
Valdes had a good game & yes RR he does lack height – i recall the goal Costa scored against us. Centre backs froze & Valdes was on holiday. Still, Swansea had few headed chances today.
The Boro midfield is made up of artisans. Hard working for sure but initiative taking was in short supply. Stewy was almost anonymous. Negredo has past his sell by date. Gestede doesnt know the fundamentals of keeping your studs down & not going two feet up into tackles.
Now we come to Adama. For sure that lad is going to cause more havoc amongst other teams in another team with more forward impetus. However, he has only half a footballing brain
A massive lack of spacial awareness. An inability to see a pass coming to him at pace and unfortunately for him, when he does put a killer ball in the Boro OAP attackers are still puttin along on their zimmer frames tryin to catch the ball that’s already gone.
I did say previously that he should play down the middle and for sometime he did and was effective. The Swans had to take him out two or three times.
I have to say that the so called coaching brains, the professionals, really do disappoint me. A couple of months working the lads so that Gestede & Traore follow the example of Wilko & Hendry, & IMHO we’d have 10 or more goals at least.
Swansea were poor. They had chances that went closer to the corner flag than the goal. We could of followed the Burnley model but we went tippy tappy for the season instead.
I’d like to say we have a chance to stay up but due to lack of drive and initiative until the last 10 mins, we are simply without a chance.
What a life!
It was the performance of a deluded team, playing like they were in the mid-table comfort zone rather than fighting for their lives, and who seem to think they are a lot better than they actually are. They put so little pressure on the opposition it was stupefying. At their place in the league and stage of the season they should be running their socks off but some of them barely broke sweat. In the end we were very fortunate to even get a point.
As for Gestede…….well, I doubt Rhodes would have missed, but hey.
This is the worst Boro team since the days of Malcolm Allison. Relegation assured and, apart from Gibson, I’d sell nine of the other 10 and work like mad with Traore.
Semajem
Yes, here’s a thing, I was out today and did not see or hear anything about the match, but from snatched remarks on the radio after the final whistle, l gather that we defended against a team in a blind panic, yea, right. Didn’t we do that against united? And this was supposed to be the great throw of the dice, all change. They forgot to tell us we misheard, they meant no change.
I have no doubt that we continue to give Traore the ball to his feet, that will be so that the crowd can enjoy seeing him beat three men. Surely, if they are pumping balls into our box from the halfway line, then we should be putting the ball into their half on the floor so they could enjoy chasing our speedball, it isn’t rocket science. They would stand that for a few minutes then they would fall back to their penalty area, thus altering the game completely.
The truth is our situation is the fault of those in charge , so every fault that we have is still with us, and will remain so, even into the championship.
If you want a diagnosis of our agonies, then watch carefully the match of the day highlights, no, not us, all the rest.
Watch for the following, large and powerful players, check. Very fast players, check. Instantaneous shooting, no touch, no backswing, no look up, check. Shot on target, make the keeper save it, check.
No attempt to check the opponent cutting up rough, note what happened to Fabio today, check.
Always defend the last ten minutes, how many late goals have we conceded, check.
Always play the man who’s failings you know, forget the man who deserves a go(Fry anyone?)
Why are we playing Downing in a defensive area? If we played Fry we could play Fabio on the right and drop Barragan, thus giving us a decent back four.
We, of course, do not do coaching at Boro, otherwise we would have spotted our strikers schoolboy habit of going for the near post when it is a must to head the thing back across the goal into the corner of the nets(he’s done it before, and it cost us)
I could go on but why would I, these are all learn yourself soccer, as our yankee friends say.
We are a poorly built team, it is that simple. Too many new-ish players, lack of integration, bad recruitment, lack of trust in individuals… oh, hang on, I discussed them all in my last talking points.
Yes, Simon you are correct of course. How quickly we forget that persistent use of the word ‘patience’!
I hope you read my post on King Solomon and judgement.
Surely , after today it must be Downings last game for the club. The only reason he is playing is the old pals act since Karanka left. Now he has his relative Woodgate on the bench shouting ‘come on Stewy you are one of our own ‘ you will never be dropped again. Notice AV only gave him a five.
Before anyone says anything I have the utmost admiration for Gibbo but he has got it wrong this season with the appointments of the new staff. It stinks !
I thought Swansea were awful but so were we , same old same old . I felt weird watching Boro today , it was as though something is not quite right with some of the players. Considering the position we are in at the moment I expected ,more fight , more tenacity , more passion . On todays performance , Boro are down . The only hope is you just never know in football and certainly you never know about Boro .
Bernie Slaven said before Karanka left ‘ the clubs in a mess ‘ it is still.
So much for my misplaced optimism.
That was hard to take,I thought there would be more determination desire and belief that they could get three points.
Instead despite more attacking players on the pitch we defended most of the game as if we were defending a 1.0 lead.
Losing an uninterested Gaston wasn’t that bad except there was no replacement on the bench.
We did a lot of defending but that’s all the defence did not one of them can create. We miss Friends runs with the ball and creativity rather than his defending
We miss Chambers solid defending and creativity. That decision to play him half fit against Oxford injuring him again could well have cost us our PL place.
Barragan throw ins arrggh!! He should never play again. Espinosa very average I’d rather see Fry if Ayalas not fit.
Both Barragan and Espinosa failings have affected Fabios game
Thought Downing was totally up for it until he had to go left back and that killed him.
If only Gestede had put that header a couple of inches the other way we would have been celebrating a last gasp three points in the same way we did against Hull last season.
The agony is prolonged,it’s tough,soul destroying and because there’s still hope however remote it’s slowly killing us all!
Put us out of our misery please
It would be
Interesting to know how bad
The “injury ” to Ramirez is?
It could be till the end of the season
Ah, Spartak.
Wasn’t it easier to believe in “patience” when it had paid off eight times before?
Let me illustrate.
(1) One win in five before Millwall (A), then a 2-0 win sets off a run of five wins in six with an inspirational Ledesma.
(2) 1 win and very few goals in 12 before a 2-0 win at Brighton (A). We finish the season with 6 wins out of 8.
(3) 2 wins out of 5; then Leadbitter’s late, late intervention at Huddersfield sets us off on a run of 5 wins out of 7.
(4) W10 D2 L1 post Higgygate, in league and cup.
(5) One point in two games, Albert on the naughty step… then W3 D0 L0. Add in four more wins once Albert returns, making it W7 D0 L0. Not bad at all, that.
(6) A dodgy run of one point from 9, then three straight wins with the bonus of an Old Trafford cup triumph.
(7) Then leaders Hull put us in our place with a 3-0 defeat… we follow that with eight wins out of nine, with not one goal conceded.
(8) Charltongate, then… NUGENT! 6 straight wins, only Michael Keane’s equaliser denies a seventh… promotion.
Painfully, had we held on at Leicester it would have been two wins, two draws (at City and Arsenal!) and a narrow loss to Chelsea, something promising to build on.
The injustice and lateness of the penalties seems to have stalled us away.
Either that, or this was the moment AK’s luck finally ran out.
W0 D2 L6 on the road since, with just one goal (Leadbitter at Old Trafford).
Simon
Remind me please! How many of today’s, yes that’s today’s players were playing under AK’s regime? And even though there is a new manager, what was the score? What’s the point Spartak? Good question! Regardless who you play whether you be AK or Aggers, if you set outcthe stall with the same players playin the same way you are going to get the same result & no amount of patience, maybes or could haves is going to change it.
Your points are from the most part derived from last season and the one before. No amount of patience was going to change that which we have but to read what you write you would believe you’ve known that for months. It was only 3 or 4 weeks ago you were calling for patience.
Someone in the last couple of posts has suggested the club are a mess. Someone on this blog (not you of course) called it a shambles weeks back. Someone on this blog called for AK to go two seasons ago & suggested there was something amiss at the club. Some derided the comments and others called for trust and patience.
It makes me wonder now where all these people or at least their opinons have gone. Vanished into thin air.
Someone on this blog (no names mentioned) suggested that a sacred cow ought to be slaughtered & still there are posters who put there unconditional trust in that same sacred cow.
The Boro has been run as an incestuous sychophantic cesspit for years, ensuring that only an inner core maintained the emperor’s position is safe. Now the budgie has come home to roost & we have a group of solid hardworking artisans and past their best buy date has beens unable to win a game.
No amount of patience at anytime or trust for that matter will change that.
Well… if you can’t pronounce your ‘f’s & ‘t’s you can ‘t say fairer than that ! Agree totally & glad you’ve got that off your chest ! 🍻
NGU
Great summary and agree whole heartedly. You are echoing much of what I and others are thinking. It was same old same old and little different from an AK team/display.
As you say the agony is prolonged.
In typical boro fashion we are likely to get a draw/win at hull and then lose to Burnley!
I’m looking forward to reading plenty of posts describing what was served up today, total dross.
I’ll give you a clue, it’s not a pop duo from the 1980’s.
Here we are, the last minute of the game, a chance win it. Boro have a throw-in 15-20 yards from Swansea’s goal line. What happens next, a foul throw. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this isn’t the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or even 4th time this guy has done this. Get him out of the club & don’t pay his wages for the game.
Then there was Gestede, a simple header into a gaping net, across the goalie to the side the ball was crossed from, dross.
Traore, he’s a headless chicken who obviously isn’t running fast enough, judging by the number of seagulls that have pooped on his head.
Swansea must be gutted, because on another day they’d have won by at least 3 clear goals.
Let’s hear all the excuses because in my book there aren’t any.
Just plain depressing and now we are going to have to start all over again. For me it’s a case of very little far too late. We need an experienced manager. I understand, I think, why SG has taken the road he has but I still cannot believe it has happened and not from an experienced and successful businessman. The whole saga is a mass of contradictions and for the fans pure torture.
As AV would say, bugger.
Time for another beer.
UTB,
John
At least we did not lose away at Swansea.
Also I think we had three good chances to score in the first 30 min. And Gestede missed the best chance of the match in the end.
So bad luck again. As the players I am also very disappointed with a draw
Next Hull. A win there and we have a game in hand. We are Boro.
Up the Boro!
Jarrko
One or two games and you dont score is bad luck. More games, a long series of games where you simply dont score is not bad luck it’s lack of ability.
That’s the virus Boro have had all season- a distinct lack of ability when it counts.
Only 9 more games before the ordeal ends.I gave up on us staying up in the aftermath of the Palace game, so not as disappointed as perhaps should be after today.
Despite it being a must win did their keeper have to make a save? Saying that on the basis of Gestede’s miss perhaps just as well we do not create much.A repeat of the Watford game where we were lucky to come away with a 0-0. Got all excited when turned on SKY and saw Ravenelli being interviewed, alas is not coming back. Pity as is still twice as good as any of our current strikers.
Big summer coming up. Lets hope in those hopeful sunny days of August we are all waxing lyrical about Boro’s brand new exciting forward line which we think will take the 2nd division by storm. Sooner this season is consigned to memory the better.
Redcar Red has very kindly relived the Swansea game to bring you his match report… surely beyond the call of duty!
https://diasboro.club/2017/04/02/swansea-v-boro-match-report/
19 defeats in 91 games Spartak? Between 2014 and 2016? AK must have been doing something right.
To call for the end after the January we had – maybe even during it, when AK really started to go off the rails – I understand that.
It is calling for the end during the good times, the long winning runs, that grates.
As Zinedine Zidane says, the manager’s job is hard enough, and it is unfair for people to criticise him even when he wins.
And if the adulation was a bit much – so what? We all need our heroes to believe in, be they managers or players. I’ll always have the memories of, say, Juninho’s first spell even if the cult overcame the player. I’ll never forget how Big Jack’s Ireland filled the streets of Dublin in front of my ten-year-old eyes.
You talk about fundamental character flaws, but every manager has them. And the average lifespan of a manager is three to four years anyway.
What should define them is how they deal with it. And, as I illustrated, eight times over, AK bounced back. Eight times. That’s not a fluke.
The momentum, belief and luck ran out, aided by dreadful recruitment. Happens to many a manager.
In time, I would hope, one can learn to embrace AKBoro for what it was more than what it wasn’t. I’ve certainly done that with MoggaBoro. And RobboBoro. And, 2008-09 excepted, Southgate’s Boro. (Two midtable finishes, three FA Cup quarter-finals and one point off the top.)
So, Simon & with respect, only woofing like, my comments aren’t just aimed at you. I respect your views & my response is not just aimed at you, but please cut to the quick, stop analyziing to the ‘nth’ degree, which you can do all day infinitum, don’t sit on the fence, address what was served up today, which was total dross.
I’ll give you a clue, it’s not a pop duo from the 1980’s.
Let’s hear EVERYONE’S excuses, because as mentioned before, in my book, there aren’t any.
Fair enough Mr. Parker. I ought to tone down the Sir Humphreyspeak.
Hey Simon, I read your informative posts & wonder how you manage to find the time to do them, you & a lot more on here. Don’t you change !
Oops, added an extra ‘i’ in analys(z)ing, if there was one there in the 1st place. Think I might be confined to kennels for a while….
That Gestede header! That Barragan throw in!
Instead of being the super-fit Adonis that I recognise in the mirror, let’s pretend that I was a 62 year old, unfit individual with a bandaged leg. I could STILL take a better throw in than Barragan. I could even take a LEGAL throw in.
I thought much about football could be reduced to straightforward things which even the unintelligent should be able to understand, that it is about getting the simple things right, time and time again, at least as the basis for making some progress. Taking a throw in is about as basic a football skill as it is possible to identify.
I don’t want to sound cruel or over critical, but surely if your 18 year old demolished the gatepost every time he tried to take the car out of the drive, if he’d done it several times since last autumn, you’d take the keys off him, wouldn’t you?
Time to retreat to the Rovers Return ? (other pubs are available) Drinking real ale served through swan (oh no) necks.