On a warm Riverside afternoon hopes were high that we may see Boro step up another gear to match the performance of the second eleven on Tuesday night. The glaring squad omissions of Forshaw and Traore provided debate and opinion in the concourses before KO. Forshaw it seemed had paid the price for slow sideways and rearwards passing while Traore’s absence was a shock considering he had just put in his best performance and looked like he might be finally making some progress with his game. The overwhelming conclusion and rumour which won the day was that the Lille offer had tipped his mind-set and a winter in Northern France was preferable to Northern England, the rolling stone may have played his last game.
The team selection when announced provided some raised eyebrows, George and Fabio in the same side and no Bamford meant the creativity had to be Baker’s responsibility. We lined up with George as a left sided centre Back with Gibbo central and Dael on the right. Our start to the game unsurprisingly wasn’t great yet again. Preston showed spirit, fight and fire in their bellies and proceeded to show the same desire all afternoon much to the tactical torpor of Monks men. The three at the back just wasn’t working as Preston dissected our defence with ease. The three man rear-guard was hurriedly rearranged in a 442 line up which meant we had an unbalanced midfield of Clayton, Howson, Baker and Fabio with only Fabio capable of offering width and a bit of pace. It didn’t look right, it didn’t feel right and the players looked uncomfortable with all their previous garnered synergy learned to date lost and back to square one.
We had chances; Fabio hit the side netting after Christie had sent him through into the box. Assombalonga went on a charging, storming run through the middle which fizzled out with Maxwell diving at Britts feet before he could get any kind of effort away. Gestede met a cross with a glanced header that went well wide but in reality Preston were very unfortunate to see Randolph get down to an effort and see the ball career up off the upright to deny them what would have been a deserved opener. Speaking of Randolph he was getting irate at the shoddy workmanship in front of him as Preston continued playing at home away from home by pushing up the field and closing Boro down preventing us getting any cohesion or a grip on the game.
When we just needed to dig in and scrap Championship style we were subjected to fancy flicks, turns, dummies and back heels that just weren’t coming off. We looked tired and jaded but with nine changes on Tuesday and Dael one of the better performers on the day that excuse was about as lame as Garry Monk’s tactical masterclass. As a game of football the first half was heavy going to watch with little to excite and the away fans definitely felt more upbeat come the half time whistle.
Surprisingly there were no changes at half time despite players in unfamiliar positions and a distinct lack of service to the front two. Baker wide right wasn’t making headway, Christie behind him was pushing up but in doing so allowing Preston to get in behind him and cause problems. George on the left had struggled badly in the three man defensive unit early on and even when restored to a conventional Left Back in a back four fared little better. Monk then decided enough was enough and to alter the balance of the team he put Fabio Left Back and brought Friend off for Bamford to add some impetus further up the pitch. Paddy provide an option when trying to play the ball out as we switched formation yet again this time to a 433 but Boro still looked very confused and at odds with one another and by this time Preston had confidence on their side. We had Randolph to thank once again as he got low down to turn a Maguire effort wide and just immediately after the ex-Hammer yet again managed to somehow keep out a point blank header. Despite Bamford’s arrival Preston were determined to keep the pressure up and Boro were looking edgy and disconcerted. Gone was the flamboyant passing attacking fluidity that we had seen fifteen or twenty minute glimpses of in some games.
In Traore’s absence Christie went on a surging run down the right cutting into the edge of the 18 yard box beating 4 or 5 white shirts en route but instead of feeding Assombalonga he just kept on running into a sea of defenders like Adama in slow motion. Assombalonga himself had a break on the left flank but with fellow Red shirts arriving late he attempted a lob come cross come shot that sailed over to the far side of the pitch. The Gestede/Assombalonga/Bamford thing wasn’t working. Gestede was more reminiscent of the player from last season when the ball bounced off his head rather than a deliberate and delicately placed header. Britt was getting possession but backing into players, holding the ball up but nothing was coming off as he was invariably crowded out.
Realising that his tactics were continuing to splutter Monk turned to Downing to try and liven things up. Stewy took to the pitch accompanied by a few moronic boos that were deliberately and successfully drowned out by the Boro faithful cheering and clapping with a chorus of “he’s one of our own”. The tide turned slightly on his arrival as Downing was taking on defenders, driving forward and getting balls whipped in and providing Christie with an option. I’m not going to claim Downing was MOM material but he did have an effect on the game including getting an important block and challenge in on the edge of his own 18 yard box probably to the frustration of those who still hanker and haven’t moved on from Negredo, Valdes and Ramirez. Not liking a player for whatever reason be they for factual or just emotive opinions I get but to boo and try and put off someone who has come on to try and turn the game leaves me ashamed at thankfully a decreasing minority in the crowd. He had arguably our best and from memory our only attempt on target as a low ball into Maxwell’s left hand side was tipped around the post late on.
It wasn’t a great day for Garry Monk or for Boro. The tactics were a shambles from the off with George still charging up field gung ho totally forgetting he was a CB and not a wing back leaving exploited gaps. Baker was busy trying Cryuff turns and clever stuff which never came off, losing possession and in general there were far too many misread balls into the next phase of play which in fairness is to be expected from players still getting used to their new team mates. We knew August was in all likelihood going to be a gelling month and not to expect to hit the ground running but tactically today frustratingly was an error by a Manager learning his trade who got things badly wrong. In doing so he created unnecessary confusion in his ranks by worrying too much about the opposition instead of building on what he had created so far.
Two weeks now to regroup, sort out who is staying and who is finally going and coming in and get back to what they were doing well. Today’s tinkering was unhelpful and disruptive; in all honesty Tuesdays team probably would have given a better account of themselves. Lessons learned I hope and September when it comes should be the dawning of a new Riverside era.
That was an absolute shower. Abysmal. Tactically that was up there with one of the most inept managerial displays I have ever seen. Players out of position all over the place. So much ability not utilised. Gestede with no width/crosses. Baker, good on the ball, stuck out on the right flank. 4-4-2 with no wingers. Three at the back with an international centre back as one of them, surely overkill at this level. Friend, his game all about pace, power and forward surges square pegged as a centre back. Howson.. who? The gap between midfield and attack was a gaping chasm again.
This after two home games where at times we looked really really good. Why? Another scratching your head moment where you can’t help but feel your manager is trying to overthink things. The annoying thing is at 2pm I could have predicted the performance if not the result. Why oh why do managers try and complicate things? (Especially when nine times out of ten it doesn’t come off)
RR
Totally agree our manager got the tactics wrong today
Ref the Traore thing I know he was at the team talk meeting before the game
Rumour on twitter is he refused to play so make of it what you will
Clayton had a good game
Clayton, Fry and Randolph were good the rest were distinctly mediocre or looking lost. Bamford and Downing were OK when they came on but why no Traore if he was there (and not in Lille as rumoured) and why no Bamford starting when he has looked like the nearest to a Ramirez replacement considering that baker was on instead of Forshaw.
The midfield is a mess at the minute, Howson has underwhelmed since arriving, Forshaw limits us and Baker is undoubtedly skillful but lacks the nous to know when to reign it in and keep it simple. Grant in my opinion should be ahead of all of them with Clayts as his partner. Instead of Clayts playing in front of the CB’s I would play Clayts and Grant and let them cover the central and left side and central and right side in front of the back four then put Baker/Downing in front of them with a front line of three Strikers.
Grant will probably get his game sooner rather than later at the rate Clayton is collecting yellows. I suspect that if Grant was playing then Clayts wouldn’t be getting booked quite as often.
RR
Traore was in the team meeting which was confirmed by Steward on the team room door
Rumour was that he had refused to play and had been reported early in the morning before anyone arrived at the stadium
I had heard that Bamford would be dropped to the bench and I mentioned that before the team was announced
Baker does unnecessary back heels and flicks which don’t come off and whilst it may be showboating you can’t do that when it disrupts the team pattern of play
Forshaw was nowhere to be seen and perhaps he could be on his way it was rumoured Brighton were interested
Even if we sign Jota our midfield is unbalanced unless you play Downing or Bamford
I’ve said before on here that I’ve a sneaking feeling that Downing will be staying
Pleased that Clayton is playing well
And another positive was Fry is getting more and more confident each game
Thanks, RR!
I get the impression GM is the ‘motivation’ man that works well with the ‘tactical’ no.2 partner. Only problem is we dont have the no.2. That means we’re stuffed!!!!
Just sayin it first like
Spartak, if Monk is the motivation man then he’s not delivering the goods.
It was very poor – we looked like we thought we could just turn up and win. Preston out-battled us and deserved to win. I said on 90 mins that perhaps we should try and take it in the corner and protect our point. It was a good example of why it doesn’t matter whether you play one up front, two up front or ten up front, if your intensity and work rate isn’t there, you aren’t winning anything.
It’s early days though – Monk clearly doesn’t know what his best system is and we still have a lot of uncertainty around who will stay and who will go. Two weeks off now to get all of that sorted and hopefully come back firing.
A managers contract should only kick in after 90 days, it gives the suits and fans time to assess the stupid decisions they make!
RR, great report as ever. Your killer comment is that Monk sowed confusion by worrying too much about the opposition instead of building on what he had so far.
I couldn’t agree more. We should set our stall out in our way and let the opposition worry about us. We need to demonstrate more self-confidence and, yes, a bit of swagger. We are the Boro and we don’t need to be afraid of anyone.
Great report as usual RR but why is it managers find a formula/team structure that wins and then change it? Why do we worry about them? Shouldn’t they worry about us? Why not stop meddling?
Oh bugger I need a drink and an early night. Where’s my white board and felt pens?
UTB,
John
Sorry, missed a bit out, by them I meant the opposition. Need a beer.
UTB,
John
Swagger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv84uS-KvOo
Those were the days…
Buzzer
Mary Hopkin
I thought they’d never end
Interesting reading various thoughts about the game.
Often we ask people to use three words to describe a situation or event. Not watching, only catching a part of the commentary it is a case of a view from the outside looking in but here are the three words from the Derby jury.
Muddled, muddled, muddled.
Tactics Tactics Tactics
I’ve not idea what Monk was thinking with his team selection and formation.
When trying to build a team, play players in their best positions and keep unforced changes to a minimum.
Considering how appallingly wrong Monk got it today, a draw is a great result.
He’s not a bad manager and he has my support. Hopefully he’ll take today as a lesson in what not to do.
He’s not a bad manager!
That is the biggest condemnation any manager can receive IMHO. We’re NOT going to smash the league for sure bcause we have a manager who is not ‘bad’!
Cue red flashing lights, claxtons howling and bells going ballistic.
Get him a tactician assistant sharpish or we’re doomed.
What do we think of “Football on 5”? I thought it has been pretty poor in its presentation since its inception, but now I feel it has reached new depths- so disjointed, and find Colin Murphy so irritating. Hope I don’t have to watch this programme next season!
The big difference today was that Preston – a team assembled on a shoestring – played together as an effective unit, whereas Boro, assembled in contrast at great expense, played like a bunch of unfamiliar individuals.
My PNE-supporting mate warned me they would be no pushovers. They executed their game plan really well, and broke up our play in the second half with some irritating, but highly successful spoiling tactics. It didn’t help that we were embarrassingly awful almost all game.
GM said afterwards that we didn’t get the basics right. Being able to string two or three passes together to other red shirts would be a good start next time out.
Clive, I think you said it well. Preston was miles ahead of us as a TEAM.
I was watching the game live via iFollow on the Preston NE home site. For the first time there was a commentary, too. And the Preston commentators were wondering all game where the intensity and work rate of Boro were. They we right that this was missing.
Let’s give credit to the boys from Preston though. They defanded very, very well as a team and Boro had no time to get going. Only in the last 15 min or so Boro seemed to be better on the game as the Lily Whites were running out of steam. Well played for them.
I think we will benefit from the two weeks break as we need time to gel. And with the window closed, we can concentrate on playing again. Up the Boro!
Well what can you say about that!
Feel sorry for SG, all that money invested and made to look second best by PNE while Cardiff and Warnock smash the league.
You couldn’t make it up.
Can someone give GM a shake.
Two thoughts.
The first is that it is early days and we are settling. No one else has changed manager or had some form of turnrnover of players this summer so it is to be expected.
Bit of a gap has opened up but clubs have done that before. Cardiff have blown promotion themselves. Forest came out of the traps a few season’s ago. We had our Mogga implosion.
That brings me on to my second thought, the MO factor. Not the fleet footed multi medal winning, Gunners fan but Modus Operandi., some apply KISS others like to meddle.
MOgga loved to switch and change formations to suit the oppositions kit man’s sons school team, This created confusion at times and some embarrassing results.
My initial perception was that MOnk was a 4231 manager like many others, maybe he suffers from MO as well, with the ‘riches’ he has inherited maybe we have Mystic MOnk?
Early days but not much evidence of coherence as yet, it appears we have defenders and attackers but no glue. Blue Peter showed us that a lot can be achieved with random items as long as you had some glue.
As Jarkko says, two week break to work on things. In AK’s play off year the early part of the season didn’t go well.
How Garry Monk responds to yesterdays game will be interesting (and defining). Against Wolves we were undone by a momentary lapse. Against Forest we should have had at least three or four goals so we could see reasons for optimism despite defeat. Yesterday however was worse than those two defeats just by the very nature of it. Fair play to Preston then were organised, efficient and had synergy through understanding one another’s roles. Boro on the other hand looked and played like a bunch of sangria infused holidaymakers against the Hotels Waiters, total strangers, no idea of positions or anyone else’s ability or indeed lack of.
What possessed GM to go unnecessarily with three at the back was bizarre. The formational changes indicate confusion on the bench and it showed on the field. 4231 I think suits the squad that he has best or 433 if he prefers it. He has an abundance of attacking talent at his disposal so for heavens sake use it, don’t keep it wrapped up.
The midfield solution is simple Grants and Clayts (or Forshaw when Clayts is suspended) as the two. Where Howson fits in is up to the Manager and the Player himself. Had he not been a new signing his performances to date would have seen him fortunate to make the bench, at the moment I would be hard pushed to differentiate him from Guedioura in terms of usefulness and what he brings to the side.
With the Left Back slot George has just become a Dad again, maybe late night feeds are taking it out of him but he needs a break and Fabio deserves to start, its not difficult to see that. Christie leaves a few worries in terms of his defensive abilities which in balance is often after he has surged forwards which is exactly where having Clayts and Grant fit in to cover for the wing back system.
On the positive, I think its pretty universal that we are happy with Randolph. No keeper is faultless, just ask Joe Hart (controls a snigger) but Darren looks like he could join the likes of Schwarzer, Pearsy and of course Platt. Out of the two CB’s I have to say that any scouts watching Gibson yesterday may turn their attentions to Fry when they report back to Manchester/Liverpool/London.
With Traore it will be interesting to see what the truth really was about yesterday. Clearly there seems to be a no awkward question policy in place with BBC Tees (which has now become embarrassingly cringe-worthy) when interviewing Garry Monk after games. If the lad refused to play he was badly advised, his career to date has been based around avoiding a moss build up.
Adama has failed everywhere he has been to date at whatever level. At 21 he needs to step up to fulfil his potential, running away and hiding under the “new signing” grace period will not last him for another decade. The Championship may not excite him but it is the perfect platform to be the big fish in the pond, the stand out star attraction if he truly has the complete ability. If he stands out in the Championship he will have opportunities way beyond anything switching to Ligue 1 will attract in future including salary.
If he simply wasn’t selected for the squad then that is a real head scratcher but after the actual team selection it wouldn’t totally surprise me. Let’s hope he was just carrying a knock. On Bob’s point about the Steward saying Adama was in the Team talk, a bloke near me said that Adama was warming up so why wasn’t he in the team? The Adama he actually saw was actually Britt with Adama style bleach on his noggin. I’m wondering if the Steward was also maybe fleetingly mistaken?
Spot on RR and follows another excellant match report.
I am still fuming at the rubbish I witnessed yesterday. I will post when I have thought a bit more about it.
It was a bad day at the office yesterday. Even the ball boys had a bad game !!
and girls !
I’ve said for a long time that Boro need to get a grip on the ball retrieval from the sidelines
The amount of time we lose or even the players having to go and hunt the ball os simply not professional
It al helps the opposition. And even returning the ball to the wrong team breaks up play !
It’s a pet hate of mine
Got to agree that our Ball “persons” are noticeable by their absence in the main. I know they are just kids and the blame lies elsewhere with their training and organisation but they are either too slow to react or ominous by their absence.
Its maybe going too far but for me they should be trained with signals to know when to take their time in throwing the ball back and just short to wind the clock down, when to leap over the hoardings and sprint like crazy to get the ball back to a red shirt asap.
Totally agree with that RR
In the European home games (remember those heady times ?) we used the academy lads as ball boys and they were slick !
I’m not advocating using the academe lads but some pre match training with whoever is going to do the job would help IMHO
OFB
Hot off the twitter news
Traoré will be a Lille player. €10m + €5m in add ons. £6.5m profit which means Villa receive £1.95m they had a 30% sell on clause. 👋🏻👋🏻
NOTE NOT VERIFIED
Preston didn’t!
Gibson as re hired Strachan.
And he can fire im as well!
🙂
Have a look at the video that Simon posted a link for, in the bottom right hand corner is the club badge. Not the current Hogwarts special but the 1986 version, still looks so much better.
Disappointing!
We are always slow to start in the first twenty mins but today we never really got going at all.
Where is the high intensity and work rate? We are so pedestrian at times it’s infuriating. How about hounding the opposition from the off instead of letting them settle?
Fry is looking our best defender at the moment yet the defenders we are looking to bring in will allegedly replace him in the team.
Four bookings from Clayton now and 1 away from a one match ban at this rate he’s going to spend more time banned than playing.
Three of our next four games are away at rock bottom Bolton,Villa and Fulham and two home games against QPR and Norwich take us to the benchmark ten games when we’ll assess how we think our season will go!
Going to need majority wins here to remain optimistic!!
Meanwhile my Leeds supporting family say Garry who??
Anger does not begin to express my thoughts on hearing the team.
To leave out Bamford(a touch of class in a wilderness of dross, his mind is light years ahead of the opposition at this level) was the action of a fool(sorry) as for the traore act of folly, words fail me. Speed kills, hardworking limited teams like Preston are undone by speed.
After his stats in midweek it was a foolish act of bravado to leave him off the bench.
he should be easy to handle, just tell him that he will be sold to one of the giants (he is that good) when we have straightened him out.
nevergiveup
If someone like Clayton is getting booked, often he is taking one for the team. It is a reflection of the lack of control by the team on the game. It means too many last ditch tackles to stop someone getting free.
It is a sweeping generalisation, in his position you pick a fair number bookings but so many in such a short space of time makes you it reflects on the team as a whole. Sadly we are off out in glorious weather so will miss Goals on Sunday, Damn.
The worrying aspect is that I feel we should have a strong enough squad with what we currently have, but now people are hoping for further signings. We paid 15M for Assombolonga, surely if we are playing 2 up top it should be him and Bamford not Gestede. I pray we haven’t got another manager who puts square pegs in round holes.
It strikes me that GM was trying to have his cake and eat it starting both daSilva and Friend. He clearly recognised that daSilva earned a start, but couldn’t bring himself to drop Friend.
Up front it wasn’t broken… Assombalonga, Gestede and Bamford have been working well together and clearly enjoying it. Disappointed with that decision.
Ah well. The last of the uncertainty will be taken away as the window closes this week, do lets just hope this was an aberration and we settle down well after the break.
Could it be that Monk was trying to find a system that countered the two players’ limitations? For all George’s forward charges, there is little end product: so curtail that and play him in defense. Fabio is defensively suspect so tap into his attacking strengths by playing him as a WB rather than FB.
I understand your point. But curtailing George’s forward runs by playing him in central defence, for me, takes away the strongest part of his game. Also, if Fabio is not great defensively and is instead picked for his offensive prowess then why play fabio as a wing back and instead just play a left winger instead.
All the money monk has spent and so many players out of position and being played in positions they clearly weren’t comfortable with.
Am just hoping this was a one off, an anomaly, or I’ll be very worried.
On another note, the squad quite clearly has the ability to be up there challenging it just needs the right team with the right balance.
It would suggest to me after the comfortable defeat of Scunthorpe with our second choice eleven that maybe our first choice eleven shouldn’t necessarily be what it is.
Great, well balanced report RR more balanced than the team that GM sent out yesterday.
Preston reminded me of Boro a few seasons ago, hard working, well organised, high pressing and playing for one another but failing to score.
Fast forward and yesterday we turned into the complete opposite.
GM needs to quickly settle on a match day squad which is able to deliver what Preston did yesterday coupled with an end product.
The early picture for me is not one of promise but of confusion and concern.
Some hard work and clear and decisive thinking is required before the away game at Bolton, where we need three points!
In order to ‘smash the Championship’, we were promised pace and creativity. Where are they? We’ve spent a lot of money, usually had our pick of new players, but still lack these attributes.
Pace. Quick even by PL standards, Traore is our only speed merchant so it was a shock to see him omitted yesterday. However he has rarely been selected and might be soon about to leave. Other than that, Christie has a turn of pace, Bamford can outstrip most and Assombalonga is useful over 20-30 yards. The rest are pedestrian. We look one-paced even by second tier standards.
If there are signings yet to be made, can we please get somebody speedy?
Creativity. The import that was obviously for flair was Baker. He boasts an array of flicks but we have yet to see him consistently put it to productive use and, too often, his trickery is disruptive. Howson was bought as a Championship-proven player who could add creativity. Not seen any of it yet. Both of these might yet come good but meanwhile the midfield is deficient and we are not gelling.
Clayton is a no-brainer fixture in the holding position but, limited by his role, he can offer little going forward. Forshaw was one of the more constructive of the many defensive midfielders deployed last season. However he could never be described as having creative flair or incisive passing and his form has dipped anyway.
I agree with others that Grant looks life offering most in terms of organisation, team cohesion and penetrative passing. He probably can’t play twice a week and might not always last 90 minutes but he gives us something that nobody else does.
In the same vein, if Downing is to stay, I think he would be worth a place. He has been disappointing since his return but he does have a range of passing and guile. Also, although his pace has gone, he can still come wide and curl round the outside when needed. He showed what he can do just two seasons ago for Big Sam and, now with more than one isolated forward to pass to, we might just get an indian summer out of Stewart.
I still see Bamford as a forward but he seems to be getting joy by playing wider and dropping deep. He offers more pace and, in the no. 10 role, has showed some insightful forward passing and cute interchanging. He brings new dimensions and it was a surprise to not see him come out yesterday.
From his showing on Tuesday, I consider that Tavernier (he tried to pass himself off as Guedioura but failed 🙂 ) justifies more first team exposure.
So, to increase creativity and more incisive forward passing, my first choice would be: Clayton, Leadbitter, Downing, Traore and Bamford, backed up by Baker, Howson and Tavernier,
Thanks to RR for making sense of Garry Monk’s somewhat weird tactical decision – though it seems the players were unable to make any sense of the switch.
I speculated with Spartak before kick-off as to the actual formation but it was hard to find a setup to match the players chosen. What was disappointing for me is that Boro’s strength was the apparent riches we had at our disposal in attack, so to just select Assombalonga and Gestede seemed to pass the initiative to Preston from the off as Boro concentrated on stopping their game instead.
I agree with Plato that Bamford and Adama would have caused the kind of problems that Preston would rather not have. The two main threats from Boro came when both Britt and Christie ran at their defence with speed – if only we had someone who could do that all game!
I also agree with Geoff that the idea that the problems will be solved by more incoming before the deadline is missing the point – we have Braithwaite ready to come back, who looked a dangerous number ten type player in pre-season with an eye for a goal, to add to Bamford, Fletcher and the youngster Tavernier on the left – plus Downing looks like staying too and he looked a lot more dynamic yesterday than those who were brought in to replace him.
I think we only really need one central defender as clearly three aren’t enough for a season in the Championship. As for Jota? Another player to fit in at the expense of someone else – will we have a happy squad in the end? probably not if we see anymore formations like yesterday!
I’m worried about Friend. Since being signed, he has been one of the first names on the team sheet. However he was found out in the PL and seems never to have recovered.
My recollection is that he came as a CB/LB and more of the former than the latter. Nevertheless he looked lost and bewildered at the start yesterday.
Even as a LB, while the positives always outweighed the negatives, George has always had his weaknesses. His attacking forays sometimes leave us exposed on the left of defence but, even when in position, he can occasionally be easy to beat. He is impressive when going forward but the cold-headed assessment is that, for all his eye-catching attacking enterprise, there has rarely been sufficient end product.
Those limitations were true at his peak but we haven’t seen that level from Friend for 15 months. He had a traumatic season in the top flight and, it seems to me, has never bounced back. Is George one of those players that, once they stare their limitations in the face and are found wanting, they are never the same?
George was injured for a lot of last season and he came back into the side at the very highest level in world football in a struggling team with a split dressing room. Hardly conducive to a successful rehabilitation and rediscovering your best form at the best of times. His Mrs has just gave him another daughter this week and those of us lucky enough to have kids of our own know only too well how demanding and draining that can be and stressful. He is definitely not at his best at the moment but I think he just needs a break despite the summer recess, hopefully these two weeks will work wonders.
I didn’t see yesterday’s match nor did I hear the radio commentary, so my observations are based purely what I have read. So what have I learned from yesterday?
1. I’m not ready yet to say that Garry Monk is a bad appointment, but if the intention of the club is merely to get promotion this season and then reorganise after promotion, then Neil Warnock is in my opinion far and away, with his track record, the best manager to accomplish that. However, he never was and never will be a good Premier League manager.
2. Experimenting with different formations and therefore playing players out of position should be done at Rockliffe, not during a match. I still feel that whatever Bamford has achieved as a midfielder is a waste of his goal scoring potential, and that he and Assombalonga would make a good partnership in a 442 system.
3. Brian Clough always maintained that football should be played on grass and not in the air. Gestede, if he is to be retained, is not a “grass” player, but might be useful as an impact player if we’re chasing for a goal in the latter stages of a match.
4. Too much reliance is being placed on Clayton as a protection for the defence, and because of that, is only one game away from his first suspension. We are missing goals from midfield, and the only player to score double figures from midfield in recent seasons has been Leadbitter, albeit including several penalties. We seem to buy midfielders with a reasonable return of goals with their former clubs, then convert them into defensive half backs.
5. The biggest concern though is the number of shots we have on target. With the strikers we have bought our goal return is the joint third lowest in the division. Yesterday we played a team with a worse goal scoring record than ourselves, who nevertheless missed several chances, some through their own profligacy and some through good goalkeeping. We were lucky not to lose, and against many teams with similar chances, we would have. I hope we are not going to emulate Villa’s record of last season, but unless we buy some pace in the transfer window, I’m fearful that we might’.
Spot on Ken. Hits the nail on the head.
I can’t agree that Monk shouldn’t be trying things in a match. I’m sure AK was critcised for being too rigid so we can’t have it both ways. Yesterday just didn’t work, and I’m sure Monk would be the first to accept that. But, whilst the system didn’t seem to help the performance, had the intensity and workrate been right then we might well have won, even with the wing-backs.
On Howson, who seems to be getting a bit of stick at the moment – I don’t think he has been great but I’m not sure what people expect of him. He’s a steady eddie central midfielder. He has shown some interest in getting into the box and played a couple of good forward balls yesterday but we obviously need to see more.
I think there is a perception that he is more forward thinking than he actually is – but defensive-minded De Roon got more goals last season than Howson ever managed in a PL season. He once hit double figures for Leeds but that was over 46 games.
Midfield plodders comes to mind, Borophil. No doubt workrate can be at a level required and tackles made, BUT that’s it! Then it’s safe side to side and backward passing.
IMHO we have, as of the side played yesterday, a dysfunctional unit.
As much as we love him, Cloughie wasn’t always right. One of the best and most important goals Roy Keane ever scored was with his ‘ead.
And our Gest’s ‘ede is very useful.
Simon
Yes if he puts the ball into the net or heads to a team mate but he certainly did not do that yesterday.
What we saw yesterday was a performance from him similar to last season which was/is not good enough.
Similarly, as the Preston radio/iFOLLOW commentator mentioned what exactly did we get for our £15M centre forward?
Yes he has scored at this level but not over a protracted period. A strong individual with some pace but who at times looks clumsy and unable to control the ball/pass to a team mate.
On yesterday’s match it is difficult to counter that viewpoint.
Having now watched all the league games via iFOLLOW and whilst accepting that it is still early days and as many have said we should only judge GM and the team after ten games, i remain concerned.
There appears to be fundamental flaws within the team, we do not operate as a team and it appears at times like watching a kids game with everyone chasing the ball. There is a lack of structure and intensity to our game, it’s not just about having quick players, it’s also about our tempo and how quickly we move the ball into attacking areas and how we regroup when a move breaks down.
I could be being over critical or too negative but on the evidence so far I feel this could turn into another typical Boro season.
I hope I am wrong but my gut feel so far is not good.
I wonder if statistically you’re more likely to score goals as a central midfielder in a team that concedes more goals – i.e. once you concentrate on mainly defensive duties maybe you don’t get into the box that often. Also when does an advanced midfielder become a forward and when does a deep-playing attacker become a midfielder?
I think Monk wants his players to interchange positions more on the pitch but the problem appears that our central midfielders have a mindset that is more focused on defence rather than attack – whether that can be easily changed time will tell. Our two up top yesterday looked a little more isolated than they have done previously and didn’t particularly link up together either when they got the ball. Assombalonga often played quite deep and was seldom in a position to attack the goal.
I am dismayed by the (no doubt true) report of the sale of Traore, let there no mistake, he is improving in his use of the ball, he is blindingly fast, we thought it was clever to let him dribble four players(whilst our lazy and tactical inept players stood well back and watched him).
Now some genius has decided that his speed cannot be used in our team. Let us pray that it was not Monk, because if it was, the consequences do not bear thinking about. Combined with the bizarre reshuffle of yesterday we really are at a crossroads.
To sum up, we thought that we were getting there. We had settled on Gibson and Fry centre backs, tick we can forget the goalkeeper Randall, he is the goods double tick. Fullbacks Friend and Christie, tick. Midfield any from Clayton, Hobson, Baker, Ledbetter et.al. Forwards, Gestede, Assombalonga, Bamford, Downing, and the most wanted man on our books Traore.
So tell me, why did we throw the entire defence in the air, play them all in strange positions, drop Bamford?, and reward Traore for the match winning performance in midweek by telling him to go to the cinema for the afternoon?
Somewhere far at the back of my mind, I wondered why, after a quite wonderful début as a manager, his local club wasted no time in dispatching him, and I do not think that they shed a tear. The first offer here is. “the tinker man”
What worries me, Plato, is that at Leeds the last 7 games of last season became something of a meltdown or at least the performances dropped below expectations. Now we’re 5 games into the season and GM has 2 wins to his credit with the last game scrapping a draw.
I really do think he needs a quality no.2 to assist him. Or else……
I believe Steve Agnew must be getting bored of gardening by now – plus not much to do but sweep up the leaves soon…
If the news from the twittersphere mentioned by OFB above that Traore is off to Lille for €10m plus €5m add-ons is true then I think the club has made yet another bum decision.
Not only is Traore the only player we have with real pace that terrifies the opposition but he is also the only player who gets the crowd on their feet when he runs at a defence. Without him what is now a pedestrian team will become even more so.
Moreover, if selling him is seen as a good business decision then the person who made it is deluded. If Lille are prepared to pay up to €15m for him now when he is not yet the finished article just imagine what he would be worth after another couple of seasons of development at Boro.
Maybe he is going because Monk doesn’t know what to do with him (as seems the case with some of the other players) and therefore the concept of investing in him now to make a huge return on him in the future is seen as a pointless exercise.
The team and the club will be worse off without him and his sale will do nothing to improve results or to convince many fans that the management knows what it is doing.
Boroexile
If he is leaving because the manager doesn’t know what to do with him then Monk is not alone on that list of managers.
There is a footballer in there, in my view he is worth keeping but I don’t know enough of what goes on at Rockcliffe never mind on the pitch.
It seems we are doing well financially, money pressure appears unlikely.
If we get a player in who will do it now and can be trusted to do it over 90 minutes then on balance that may be better. The fact he may be going overseas avoids him coming back to haunt us.
It is wait and see.
Ian
We are a stand still team, no speed, he had a great game in midweek, getting to the by-line(some thing we do not do) we as a club and a team are not in good enough shape to sell him to one of his many admirers(by the way, if they want him and you do not have to sell why did we take less than our asking price).
It’s the buying and selling that makes or breaks your club in the end.
Boroexile
I have to disagree with you entirely.
If we have been offered €10M with €5M add-ons then I would say this is exceptional business for some one who cost us allegedly £7M but has failed to produce anything meaningful for the team. A MoM display against a lower league team in the cup is not meaningful in my view.
The track record of this player is that he has failed to produce wherever he has been and some good managers have failed to get the best out of him. If he can’t do it now he never will in my view. He does not have a footballing brain nor can he produce an end product either for himself or for others.
He has got pace and it may well frighten defenders but if nothing comes of one of his mazy runs then what good are they?
It’s all well and good the team having players with pace but if there is a lack of intensity and the required tempo in getting the ball forward to use the pace of the quicker players then it all peters out as has often been seen.
One of the many problems of the current team is not necessarily the pace of individuals but the pace at which the ball is passed and distributed into the attacking areas.
Take the money and move on and concentrate on improving our tempo and distribution – purchase an attack minded midfielder with the money received who can move the ball quickly and see a pass/create openings would be a sensible management decision in my view.
Just say’ like 😎
KP, no problem, I don’t expect everyone to agree with what I say. The strength of this forum is that there are divergent views and that all of them are happily tolerated.
I can understand why you think Traore is a lost cause but he is different from the typical Championship player (of which we have plenty) and I think he could be a huge asset. Even now with all his faults don’t you get a tingle of anticipation when he gets the ball and runs at the opposition? How many of the other players give you the same feeling and isn’t football supposed to be entertaining?
Mrs OFB thinks Traore is great and I can say he loves attention always one of the first to go over to the fans amd sign autographs
Will try and track what he is doing
Boro
If you cannot move the ball or deliver it to your very fast player, then put a rocket up your team, do not get rid of the speedball. That just gives them permission to stand about in their normal manner.
These people were offered 16 mill for a player who had refused to play for them. They refused the money.
I do not think their ability in the transfer market bears examination.
Adama would be exceptionally useful. I can’t lie to you and say I’d be happy if he left – but if he does, c’est la vie. We’ll deal with it. You can’t make one player the be-all-and-end-all when a whole squad needs our support. We’d too much of this last season.
Just been asking what Steve Agnew is doing ?
Apparently nothing !
He’s been enjoying being with his family and has been to his Villa in Portugal a few times with his wife and daughters
A nice guy surprised he hasn’t teamed back up with Steve Bruce
Let’s wait and see
OFB
Now, I’ll repeat an extract that I very recently used in this comments section, from Andrew Glover in 2010, shortly after Mogga had taken charge. Because it needs to be repeated, lest we be in danger of heading in the same direction again.
“I wonder now whether the penny has finally dropped. Almost half way through the second season after relegation and there is still the sense that many Boro fans and a fair proportion of the players still believe the Championship is beneath them. As we pondered dropping out of the Premier League there was lots of talk about visiting new grounds, scoring some goals and rediscovering that winning feeling. That script has been torn up and I doubt any other team in this division sees a game against us as anything other than ordinary.
“I debated strongly on the way home from Swansea that our performance had been half decent. One of my mates tried to convince me that I was talking rubbish as Swansea were ‘hardly Man United’. My argument was that compared to us at present, relatively speaking they are. Teams in the Championship who have found a winning formula by combining energy, effort and flair are deservedly the top dogs. We cannot just expect to turn up and roll these teams over.
“The defeat to Millwall was one of the grimmest Riverside afternoons I can remember, and wow, there have been plenty to choose from. The team was again outfought by opposition who stuck to a solid game plan and were prepared to put the hard yards in for each other.
“…The crowd did not seem up for the battle this time around. Red Faction apart there was little encouragement from the stands in the second half. The familiar moans and groans at misplaced passes have soon returned. Clearly Moggamania has fizzled out quicker than anyone at the club could have imagined.
“…Midfield is still the major concern. That was where the game was lost and must be the priority for any funds…
“…To get any run of consistency going, though, everyone connected with the club would do well do breath in a big sigh of realism. This is a tough league and our recent history entitles us to nothing. Players and fans need to give this division the respect it deserves and treat every game like a cup final. Only then might we start to compete.”
Commendable points, Simon but that was then and this is now – circumstances change.
The Boro were stripped of quality under Mogga. His ability to organise and motivate ran its course. He had to beg for a million or two from SG. GM by contrast has had riches beyond Mogga’s imagination thrown at him. Yet, the balance of the team and the tactics are wanting. Smash the league is dead 5 games in.
The problems now are not the same.
Correct, Spartak.
But if the circumstances are not the same, the mentality may yet be. Better that the penny drops sooner rather than later so that every game is indeed treated like a cup final – and that goes for fans, players and management.
Still, if one says “give it a go” and “smash the league” and the club show no signs of living up to either promise, they’ve made their own bed. The concerns of Monk being given the keys to the treasure chest so soon are showing.
Am in Turkey for the next few weeks so thank you RR for a great report. My concern is that we keep on about wait till we click etc… How long can go on saying this. Other teams are doing better than us. It is a long season of course but we need to be showing some sort of team togetherness but we are nowhere near at the moment, which is disturbing to say the least. Things have got to be sorted soon otherwise it’s going to be a very long and disappointed season.
Most of us wanted rid of Mowbray, and after three more years Karanka too. Yes, Karanka probably had to go, but by all accounts he was very hardworking but probably too intense and emotional. But isn’t that inbred in many Latin continental managers? I mean, just look at Conte. I’m not saying that Karanka as a manager was in the same class as Conte, but we seem to have now thrown out the baby with the bath water by discarding all of the assets that Karanka had.
I agree that the Premier League was a step too far for him, but for all his faults his record as a Championship manager was pretty good.
Obviously when a club gets promoted, the manager has to recruit some better players. In that respect Karanka maybe brought in too many new players, but hasn’t Monk done the same thing, some of which are no better than those discarded?
Steve Gibson promised that we would buy players with more pace and more flair, and that should have been Monk’s priority. To date I don’t see any evidence of that in his purchases.
I don’t think we discarded all of Karanka’s assets just the Premiership glory boys who came, saw, sniffed and left as soon as their feeble efforts let the club and the supporters down. Gibson, Dimi, Ayala, Friend, Leadbitter, Clayton, Forshaw and arguably Fry and Bamford to an extent (both of whom are arguably our best players at the moment).
Thats a strong backbone or core of a proven side. Granted randolph has now usurped Dimi but I think the Irishman seems good value for money and an upgrade. Nsue has been replaced by Christie and again whilst not flawless I don’t see immediate cause for concern. Up front is where the majority of changes are to be had. Personally I wouldn’t mind Nugent and Adomah but Assombalonga, Braithwaite and Fletcher are not exactly poor in their arts but we do definitely need an Albert type on the wings to add some creativity.
So in essence if I was Monk I would box clever and stick to the proven, tried and trusted and enhance it with the new additions. As Ian I think has mentioned KISS.
Ken
I think that the main reason that a lot of players have gone is because we had split factions within the club which was not conducive to team spirit
Players that have been signed have in the main proven championship pedigree and are English speaking amd know how to play in our league
The flair can come after we prove we can fight and battle for points first
Ken, RR
This issue is fuel for my next Talking Point.
Looking forward to it Simon!
Meanwhile I’m away for a week to the Costa’s for some sun and a few beers but will be checking in for a good read, relying on Bob for updates on incomings and outgoings.
Amazingly Mrs Red couldn’t believe my luck when I said “fortunately I wouldn’t be missing any Boro games”. “I’d almost think you planned it” she exclaimed, I smiled, nodded in amazement and said “yeah how lucky was that” and kept a straight face.
A well deserved training and bonding session in an Iberian resort. Hope you both havd a gresg time
A well deserved training and bonding session in an Iberian resort. Hope you both have a great time
Boro have tabled a £2m bid for Oxford winger Marvin Johnson. The League One side want £3m. #boro [Sun]
Mates
I expressed my disappointment above at Boro’s performance against Preston, and I agree that some of the manager’s decisions were puzzling. However, I do think many of you are having the jitters prematurely. There’s an amazing level of despair and disillusionment from many. One or two (I’m looking at you, Spartak) are even saying Monk is not the right man for the job!
Can I just plead for a little more reasoned balance after just five games? Elsewhere, AV has pointed out that our start is by no means unusual and it is by no means disastrous. We’ve made similar starts in recent seasons and still done well by the end of the season. GM has set about the business of transforming the club, the approach, the personnel, the playing style and everything else that was rotten about last season. I’m impressed with the way he has gone about this and with the calm professionalism he demonstrates, as exemplified by his press conferences. I’m convinced he is the right man for Boro. He has to be given time. Steve Gibson willl give him that time. Thank goodness.
We may be feeling the doom and gloom because there are few signs yet of us smashing the league. Keep the faith, lads and lasses. The revolution Monk has begun will take time. It may be a few matches yet before we hit top gear. But we surely will, and I think it will be soon.
Clive
Au contraire mon frère
Didn’t say Monk is not up for the job or did I?
I believe I said he needs the assistance of a No.2, who can offer support on tactics.
Hear Hear Clive
I’ve just got my foam hands out from the loft
A bit moth eaten or mouse eaten but still enough I’m one piece to wave at Wembley in the playoff final !
OFB
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/4333447/middlesbrough-home-in-on-oxford-united-winger-marvin-johnson-with-2million-offer/
Better than we already have inhouse?
Have you noted, AV is out surfing on the real waves instead of surfing in the internet and doing Untypical Boro?
Good for the man. I tend to take too seriously the following of my bonny Boro. Perhaps we all should relax a bit.
Thank you, Clive for the comment about keeping faith. Yes, this is still early for the season and we are still above Aston Villa, for example. Nothing lost yet.
Up the Boro!
You sail towards an iceberg that will sink your ship.
Guy next to you says ‘Dont worry we haven’t hit it yet! Drink yer tea and enjoy the view.
Really!!!
How do you solve a problem like Traore!
If we get 15m euros for Traore and replace him with Jota, say 7m pounds. Would that not be a good outcome? we cannot afford to wait for a project to blossom as we run down our parachute payments.
I would be sad to see him leave but I think it has to be done as he wont be happy playing a bit part in the championship.
We have probably got this season and next to get promoted before the financial brakes are applied and the fire sales start.
Remember the asset sales and bargain bin buys Mogga was forced to make after the tartan failure, I never want to see that again.
Please, no more projects or “ones for the future”
Traore has had many chances and yet his stats are shocking. It is frustrating to see him take on two or three players, over run the ball and then stand watching as his team mates shout at him and the opponent takes the ball up field.
Jota has assisted and scored goals in this league consistently for a few years now,
he fits the bill as an intelligent player and may well get supporters out of their seats more often than Traore.
Quoted figure of £1.75 million would go to Vila as their share of the sell on fee
It’s not all for Boro
Sell on clause demanded by Villa would take £1.75 million apparently
Some coaches have a knack of buying what one might call average players, but can see the potential and know how and where to integrate them into the team. This knack is not exclusive to football, but also to other team games. I’m not an expert on American Football or Aussie Rules, but I’m sure there are coaches in those sports that have such foresight and development skills.
Now I do know a bit about Rugby League, and that many supporters of Hull FC wanted their coach Paul Radford sacked a couple of seasons ago, not just because of their style of play, but also their recruitment. Well, Hull FC have just won the Challenge Cup two years running.
Similarly when Castleford Tigers appointed Daryl Powell four years ago as their coach they were second bottom in Super League. Not only his eye for a player but his coaching and development of players along with the help of his coaching team have enabled Cas to finish 4th, 5th and now 1st in successive seasons. Supporters have recognised his skill and have adopted Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” to sing after every home win, not just because it’s a great song, but because of the line “Where it began”.
My point to this story is that maybe Garry Monk can spot a good player, and perhaps he has the coaching skills to not only develop a project into a good player, but also the knack of intergrating such players into a successful team. There are a few bloggers on this forum, and certainly many writing on the Gazette forum, who think he was the wrong appointment, but I think that most of us realise integration of new players into varying systems takes time.
We all want Premier League football as soon as possible. It may happen after one season, but it may take longer, and I think we sometimes overreact to what we see on the playing field. It is very difficult for a team to play so defensively one season then to suddenly become a high scoring team the next, and I’ve probably been as impatient as the next person over our progress, but if we don’t achieve promotion this season would that necessarily be a bad thing as long as we can see that we’re building a team that can sustain Premier League football for several years after.promotion? We don’t want to become a yo-yo team do we?
Maybe Garry Monk and his assistants have those coaching qualities and are still working out the best way to utilise such qualities into providing a successful team. So let’s show a bit more patience, for after all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Sounds like Simon’s old mantra has returned ‘Patience, patience!’
Next we’ll be getting ‘In Monk we trust’.
Getting the Abbey habit !
I think aisle just take a pew.
I don’t want to be nave about it!
Out of the pain into the fryer?
Is that your morning song ?
And the first exclusive of the day ?
Didn’t we report this a few days ago on Diasboro ?
Tut tut these journos have a lot to do to keep up with us !
http://www.teamtalk.com/news/exclusive-middlesbrough-star-set-for-france-switch
OFB
Ken,
I understand the need for patience but it is Waring a bit thin as far as Traore is concerned. Is this his fourth season in England?
The rest of the squad will need time to gel.
Some may have to leave if we recruit more as there are only 11 places in the team and we seem to be top heavy with forwards.
I admit now I went overboard. But sometimes a bit of patience is prudent.
However, it is much easier to appeal for it when you don’t follow the Boro up close and personal, at the games.
Vic on AKBoro, circa 2014…
“It is easy to explain the difficulties of rebuilding on the hoof and point to the positives… to appeal for patience and point to the next window. It is far harder to sell to already uncomfortable supporters the aesthetic attractions of a water-tight team strangling the game and stifling the opposition en route to yet another joyless stalemate.”
Well there’s patience and then there is impatience – Boro have more or less bought a new team and hired a new manager and his coaching staff. The general view was it would take time for the team to gel and players to settle and is proving to be the case.
Every signing in all likehood won’t come off and the manager’s job is to try and find the best fit and system to make it all work. Garry Monk seems a pretty clever sensible guy and I’m sure he won’t get caught up in his own ego and unbreakable methodology – so let’s give him the chance to enjoy his honeymoon as he’s more or less just disembarked from his flight and unpacked his Boro Bermuda shorts – five games is a bit on the early side to decide he’s not up to the job.
None of either the three relegated clubs, the three who finished in the Playoffs or joint-favourites Villa have got more points than us as the table stands – The Championship is a long game and we can’t really say with any certainty whether Boro are contenders or not just yet – I’m holding off another five games before I stop measuring my responses and since when have Boro given us an easy ride?
Some of us are too impatient, and I don’t exclude myself from that, for at my age I may never see Boro in the Premier League again. But I bet the fans of Derby, Leeds, Villa, Wednesday, et al are just as impatient. What I was trying to convey was “Where it began”, the starting lines of Sweet Caroline.
It started for Cas with a new coach once discarded by Leeds Rhinos; who’s not to say that IT MIGHT BEGIN for Boro with a new coach once discarded by Swansea City! Just saying like.
Ken
I agree, it could come good for GM- I hope it does BUT I have forebodings of the presence of flaws, weaknesses and issues.
Maybees he’ll sort it out. Maybees he wont. We’ll see all in tbe next 5 games.
For a change, a general comment.
All, and there have been several, of the matches which have induced despair in the fans in recent seasons, have been the result of wild, off the wall selections.
Saturday was one of these occasions, it was bizarre(and that’s pitting it mildly)
It raises several questions, as these affairs often do.
Why do these aberrations occur in home matches?
Do these managers think,” an easy home match, yippee, I can try my new improved team selection without risk”?
Do they think,” this is boring, I’m better than this endless picking the same team?
Or is it just, you pick a wrong un and the play must go on to it’s final dénouement, and we all know how that ends.
Experiments should be on the training ground or behind closed door friendlies
As previously written, I’m not sayin GM is not upto the job (however, Saturday was not a ringin endorsement), or am I?
I’m not just considerin the last five games but his last 7 with Leeds (note where they are in the league at present) & his time at Swansea.
I know they all have their unique features, but the common denominator is GM. Has he learnt, well maybe but then look at last Saturday’s performance.
I not sayin sack the Monk. However, there are issues there and better resolve them now as kill off the chances of promo this season hopin things will be better next.
Well done for the trabbie or maybe an old skoda…..
Still recovering like…
Btw pathetic performance… RR lipstick doesn’t hide the pig
There is another way to look at it, Spartak.
Every manager has flaws. They’re not gods. They’re human, like us.
And would you want them any other way? Our imperfections make us what we are.
It’s when one stops striving, or trying, to put things right and instead attempts to sweep all the bad things under the carpet that concern arises. Any manager or player is defined by how he deals with adversity.
Time for my Crazy Alternative Theory of the day.
“Hi boss, wouldn’t it be right to go to London the night before the play-off final? Soak in the place and the stadium?”
“Boss, we scored three and won at home in our biggest victory of the season. Shouldn’t we talk it up and fill the fans with confidence, especially so close to Christmas?”
“Boss, the fans need a lift. How about bringing on Jordan Rhodes?”
The sentiment of Karanka’s probable response…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFxcJp2VQPU
Worked brilliantly (!), didn’t it?
Against Preston once again we were unable to impose a threatening pattern of play, or maintain any possession in the opposing half for most of the game, so there was no pressure on the opposing goal.
Later, when both Stewy and PB were on the pitch, we gained more control of the ball and there was a flurry of balls and runs into the box, and finally a shot on target.
We switched to playing with wide men rather than wing backs, but Baker and Fabio are not going to terrify opposing defences in that role, although overall Fabio played well.
You all know exactly where I am going with this.
We need to balance the squad by bringing in players who are comfortable on the ball, can retain possession and who can create chances with vision, guile and accurate passing.
We can only hope that this is happening right now.
In terms of being patient and giving GM time, I absolutely agree with that if we could see progress, even slow progress.
What we have seen instead is the system changed – presumably because GM himself doesn’t think it’s working, not us. So now we are no longer tuning up an established pattern, we are starting again and we don’t know what to expect in the next game.
I thought we were developing Baker to solve the obvious playmaker black hole, but now it turns out he’s being considered to play wide, so again we don’t really know where we are going with that, or if he’s the answer. We do know that we have ended up playing at Championship level with two makeshift widemen.
Last time we were promoted, we brought in Ramirez in January to cure an obvious deficit, and he made the difference – we simply had no-one like him, and he was what we needed.
It isn’t unfair to GM to point out that there are some gaps in the squad, and some glaring repeated problems in our performances, and that he’d have an easier job if the club equip him with players offering skillsets which would address the problems.
I have no problem with playing a patient long-term game over several seasons, if there is no alternative. But if there is money available, and if there is great potential we are not unlocking, we may as well give promotion our best shot here and now by using some of the money to enhance the squad, as long as we keep the club solvent.
What must be done?
To put it simply, dear ladies and gentlemen of the DiasBoro, certain informal discussions will need to take place among the management, including a full and frank exchange of views, out of which there at the very least ought to arise a series of proposals which on examination prove to indicate certain promising lines of enquiry, which, when pursued, will most likely lead to the realisation that the alternative courses of action deemed to be the answer to numerous difficulties only a matter of days ago might in fact, in certain circumstances, be susceptible of discreet modification, leading to a reappraisal of the original areas of difference and pointing the way to encourage fresher possibilities of compromise and cooperation, which, if bilaterally implemented, with appropriate give and take on both sides, might, if the climate were right, have a reasonable possibility at the end of the day of leading, be it rightly or wrongly, to a mutually satisfactory resolution.
We need to do a deal. For more creativity.
Simon, that’s the longest sentence I’ve heard since watching Sir Humphrey Appleby in “Yes, Minister”.
Yes, Ken, it was a case of very slightly paraphrasing Sir Humphrey. The Yes, Prime Minister episode in question is “Power To The People”.
KISS ~ Keep It Simple Simon, long sentences are for criminals, though the Preston game WAS criminal.
When McClaren sent out some bizarre formation and tactics, it was tosh.
When Southgate did the same, it was tosh. Even with ‘In Mogga we Trust’ it was tosh.
With Strachan and AK it was the death penalty and Tosh.
Whatever religious order Monk belongs to Nothing to do with can he or cant he manage, nothing to do with is he good or not, nothing to do with settling in. Guess what, correct it was plain and simple Tosh
Ian,
I agree with you. Don’t over complicate. Don’t big the opposition up and don’t radically change how you play, that must sow doubt in the player’s minds. Mogga always went on about how good the opposition were, what a hard game it would be and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy before you know it. Play to your strengths and get at them.
I see in a Gazette report that George is worried about the slow starts, well do something about. I find the whole situation bizarre.
I don’t know if the international break is a good thing or not. Boro could become catatonic by the time it’s over and we’re back to playing again.
UTB,
John
We keep going on about a playmaker(rightly) but it is illogical to leave out the one true and tested playmaker from the attacking department(yes yes, I mean Bamford)
He is now showing just why one of the bigger clubs had high hopes for him.
Our distinctly average strikers are getting more balls shoved through to them in front of goal since he showed that he was back.
Watching him is pleasing to the eye, and no, I have no idea why we decided that he could sit on the bench with three easy points to collect. A silly idea which got it’s comeuppance.
The simple way out is 442 away and 433 at home.
Why complicate things.
The incumbent doesn’t impress much and may not last longer than Southgate at this rate.
Allan
The simple way out is to settle on a way to play and keep doing it. That is plan A, have B and C ready just in case.
The tricky part is having the players to do it.
Crikey, the mood seems to have changed 180 degrees in less than a week.
I think rather than a Plan A, B, and C it’s perhaps more effective if you have players who can read the game and they are good communicators on the pitch to make adjustments accordingly. I think it’s a danger and indeed a modern trend to expect the manager to orchestrate the game whilst it happens.
Personally I don’t buy into the idea that the manager has to do the thinking on behalf of the players and attempt to be a kind of puppet master. The manager can select the players who he feels have the right skill-set and perhaps flag up issues that the players need to be aware of ahead of the game – but the players must think for themselves and make their own decisions.
If you attempt to control the players too much they will simply pass on the responsibility and await instructions.The reality of the Championship is probably most weeks you may have 1-2 training sessions to prepare for a game, if you add into the equation that squad rotation will effect established partnerships and upset understanding on the pitch, then the idea of having this mythical Plan B (or C) that suddenly snaps into play is merely an illusion.
I would argue the best path is to have like replacements to cover injuries and loss of form – then develop a few power plays to crank it up when necessary and have the ‘see out a game’ plan ready to kill the game when needed. For a manager to attempt anything too radical on a week-by-week basis will more often or not lead to confusion and hesitancy as players attempt to concentrate on executing instructions rather than playing instinctively.
Ken, you will see over time that one result not going as expected and people’s opinion go from optimism and hope to “We are doomed Mr Mainwaring”. A win or two the same people suddenly think we are going to win the league, although these same people have the experience of 7 years in the championship and have seemingly forgotten how unpredictable this league can be.
Opinion of GM seems to be turning against him after 5 games yet season after season in the championship we have seen teams, such as Reading one season around (if not in) the relegation zone at Christmas only to be in the top 6 (if not automatic promotion) by May but their response would be that’s Reading (or any team of their choice) not Boro.
So Ken, do what I do scan who the poster is or scan the post and ignore it unless it goes on for a few days then post a more optimistic view and you will see others join in.
Come on BORO.
Exmil
All the angst on the posts has nothing to do with the form of the team.
Briefly, we had lost two away games which we should have won, won two home games easily, had a couple of romps in cup ties, and now faced a home game against a team we should beat easily, spirits were high, hopes were high, a team was beginning to emerge.
Bamford, tick, Fry, tick, Gibson, tick, the goalkeeper, tick, Traore, high hopes,
At least the beginnings of a team.
Then, out of the blue, without warning, everybody out, all change.
The best central defensive pair in this league cast to the wind in a three.
Bamford, clearly higher class than this league, on the bench.
Traore, the fastest man in this league(best display three days earlier) not on the bench..
This is serious, we were on course to be competitive at least.
Now we know nothing, not even what day it is.
Just a silly point.
Late on in the game we finally got the ball coming out of the box to one of our midfielders beautifully set for a rocket shot into the net, ballooned high over the bar.
Very late on, Downing corner of the box, ball at feet, weak little poke which was collected easily by the keeper.
So tell me, what has changed?
Werder
Plan A is how you normally play, players are schooled in that day in and day out, player drops out and a replacement steps in, Plans B and C are part pf scenario planning/training for the players. The actual game on the pitch requires fluidity from the players but you cant just change without knowing what you are going to do, that is folly.
As for our manage it is far too early to write him off, that is nonsense. What is fair is to say Saturday was a riddle, wrapped in a mystery. There was a purpose but the rest of us are at a loss.
We move on.
Is that what you call an eniGMa ?
The roll Clayton has been asked to do, for me is backside first, every team wants a Kante or Mane type, but they don’t play the destroyer way like we do.
An example is when big Sam took over Sunderland Cattermole played deep and because of his reputation as a defensive midfielder,he was always getting booked for tackles, and teams got free kicks in dangerous areas what Sam did was play him higher up the field in front of the other two, so when he got stuck in, refs would either play on ,or if it was a foul, for what ever reason didn’t book him because he was usually closer to the opposition goal.
Clayton should be pushed forward to win the ball higher up the field, to put pressure on the other teams back line, it’s also better if your so called skilled players picked the ball up of the goalie or defender deeper so you can start attacking with vision ,Ramerez did that at times.
Monk has to decide what formation is best for who we have in the squad, not any other teams squad .
I think we may be turning into Arsenal in reverse. Wenger sees his team is weak at centre half – buy a creative midfielder. No midfield enforcer – buy a creative midfielder, tea lady retiring – buy a creative midfielder. But in our world, the solution never seems to be a creative midfielder.
Jono’s EG article on transfers is a classic example. He says of buying a creative midfielder: ‘…one more attacking option would provide the icing on the cake of what’s been an encouraging summer window.’ But elsewhere in the same article he talks about: ‘Boro’s over-run midfield against Preston’ and admits we had only one shot on target (put in by a creative midfielder we are trying to get rid of).
I don’t see an inability to hold possession, or craft a clear chance in the opposition’s half, or getting ‘over-run’, or playing with two makeshift widemen, or only one shot on target at home against an average Championship side as a cake requiring a bit of icing.
Sounds to me like some essential ingredients of the cake are missing. And they’ve been missing for over a year now.
It’s deja-vu repeating itself all over again.
My second big bugbear is Jono’s point that: ‘The ideal candidate would fit into Gibson’s ‘pace and flair’ category, offering an energy and goal threat on either flank, as well as being capable of playing through the middle – acting as the link between midfield and attack.’
Why are we obsessed with recruiting creative players who are fairly good at several things, rather than players who are very good at something specific? In the last promotion we needed both Albert and Ramirez to get us over the line, with their different skillsets. Does anyone think Albert would be much use as the playmaker? On the current criteria we’d never have bought him.
I see a lot of positives with the team, and here I’m just focusing on the negatives, but I do think it’s ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ time at Boro recruitment department.
*Of course, there’s a lot of stuff I agree with in Jono’s article as well.
Surely we’re not saying that to buy a number 10 (hate that description) or a fast creative winger will solve all our goal scoring problems. What we need also is to play a system that allows the midfielders we already have to be more creative.
As I stated before, we seem to buy midfielders who have reasonable goal scoring records with their former clubs, and then convert them into defensive midfielders. Karanka was not the only manager to do that; I recall that Mowbray also did it with Bailey.
I agree that Monk’s formation with square pegs in round holes last Saturday was bizarre, and that he was over complicating the problem of how to overcome a team who hadn’t conceded a goal in open play. However, he now has a week after the expiry of the transfer window to experiment and decide what system to adopt, and which players to fit into that system. At the moment I think some of the players are confused as to what their functions are, especially when formations are changed during a match.
Steve Gibson will certainly give him the time, and I think Monk will realise that he made a mistake last Saturday, and that we should not worry too much about how other teams will play, but let them worry about us. Once we have a settled system I’m confident we’ll start scoring goals and climb the table.
Mark
Good post and thought provoking
Regarding Albert I would never see him as creative and always thought he liked to do his own thing
He also lacked tactical discipline at times
I always remember our crucial last game at home to Brighton when we had to win to go up and Downing told Albert to take the ball into the opposing corner to run the time down. As we only needed the draw. What did Albert do? He crossed the ball into the box the keeper collected and booted the Ball upfield and they nearly scored.
If they had done that then we wouldn’t have gone up.
He did things like that quite a lot and I suppose Simon has stats to prove what I mean
So no more Albert please
OFB
‘Garry Monks boys need to reach the top of the learning curve quickly.’
Eric Paylor 08/17
make that…
‘Garry Monk needs to reach the top of the learning curve quickly.’
In addition, I do believe there are some on this blog who are so adverse to change they would sleepwalk into Hades and not even bat an eyelid.
Good morning!
Just sayin ‘patience’ like.
😉
I’m not convinced that it’s easy to judge how creative we are whilst we’ve got so little grip on midfield. To my mind, the first thing Monk needs to do is address central midfield and give ourselves some control of the game. That is the basis for everything else.
I’m not against signing Jota in any way, with Gaston gone we are short in that area but Ibwould doesn’t be looking at whether Leadbitter is a better option than Howson at the moment.
Perhaps we need to reprise the Clayton-Leadbitter axis and the 4231, instructing the duo to stay behind the ball at all times. Then the front four and fullbacks can concentrate on attack when in possession.
Fully agree Andy, I think the answer to Monk’s muddled midfield is sat on the bench behind him. Clayts and Grant in front of the backline and let the rest strut their stuff.
To date Monk had seemed astute, likeable and a good fit for the club. The results haven’t been as we would have liked but there was promise and progress. Saturday was an abomination when overthinking created more problems for us than the opposition. Hopefully thst bad day at the office won’t be repeated.
I think Garry will bounce back from Preston and learn as the alternative is unthinkable and at this early stage ridiculous for us to even countenance.
The sooner this flipping window gets shut the better because there are far too many draughts. Right now I’m more concerned that we could bring in nigh on £40m by losing Traore and Ben with Shotton and the Oxford lad replacing them, now that really is something for us to worry about!
Find a way to get a grip on midfield and things will look a whole lot better. In the month of August 2014, in AK’s first full season, we had 6 points from 5 games, we then got 11 from 5 in September.
No need to panic but we do need to progress.
Elsewhere, it is reported Wednesday are letting Rhodes leave for £7m.
We should buy him back for £7m and put an offer in for Albert if Traore goes…………………………leaves bait and walks away 🙂
NO NO NO
AND THRICE NO
RR
You’re just stirring it aren’t you ?
Well that’s what this Blog is for…..
OFB
For all the money spent and the number of players brought in, did we not get the people we wanted? I pose this question because of the of the changes to team set up and personnel.
It is crystal clear that GM does not know his best 1st XI or formation. The various team shapes and radical changes of tactics – even in the first half of a game – amply reveal that he is experimenting and searching for the best fit. Why so? Having imported the majority of a team, surely we had a team shape in mind, at least a plan A.
To give him credit, AK knew from day one how he wanted to play and he stuck by his beloved 4-2-3-1. Players were drilled in their roles and, having seen a porous and brittle defence for months under Mogga, we saw the dramatic tightening within weeks under AK. That system was imprinted into the squad, everybody knew their role and AK selected and bought players accordingly.
So what’s happening now? GM has had the opportunity that few get in their footballing careers: a blank cheque, the chance to hand-pick the majority of a squad and to mould them into a team.
Having seemingly done that, why doesn’t he know who to pick and how to play them?
Boro have had an offer accepted for Aden Flint
Looks like Stewy is staying put now
If it goes ahead I think Flint could be a “Typical Boro” favourite in the making.
He’s a big lad an absolute giant
So, an offer accepted for Flint’ ~
I think I need a McGuinness.
So you’re going to have the MALT AND BARLEY BLUES
but it won’t matter to me
WHEN IM DEAD AMD GONE
In one of my rare wisely reflective modes, I remember saying during the close season that it would take time for all these new players to gell, especially with a new management team also. Quite rightly, I emphasised that we would need to be patient.
Funny how different if feels when the season is under way and we’re dropping points. The even-handed rationality of the summer soon crumbles under the anxiety of defeats and the desperation for signs of progress.
I’m as bad as anybody else but I was right then and am wrong now. Still won’t stop me fretting.
The problem is to play a number of systems you need a number of different players with different skill sets. You also need to keep them happy when the new system doesn’t require certain players.
For me, If we play 4-3-3 gestede effectively becomes redundant as we don’t have the width to get crosses in. If we play 4-4-2 then we need two wingers not a full back and a central midfielder impersonating wingers. If we play 5-3-2 then perhaps two holding midfielders is rather negative at home.
What we can’t do is play different systems and have full backs as wingers. Play 4-3-3 and moan about the lack of width. Etc. We need to play to the strengths of the players we have.
We need a system, that works home and away, buy the players to work in that system and give it chance to work.
At the moment there seems to be an ideology that if we throw money at the squad we’ll get promoted, when for me, the quality is already there and we’re not getting the most out of it.
Yes another creative player would help with our options. Another central defender in case of injuries but would that change Saturdays debacle in any way? I would suggest not.
It’s very early days. GM has done a radical overhaul of the squad and for me we have the potential to get promoted. He’s done the hard part of the job very well. His next job is to get them playing coherently as a unit and if he manages that results will come.
The reason the mood has changed so considerably is that in the last game gm didn’t just get it wrong it was painfully bad for so many reasons. The formation was so wrong and so many players were out of position it would have taken about five subs to get every player in their optimum position. And to change everything mid game when Preston had gained confidence and were in the ascendency doesn’t always work. Meanwhile there was probably over 30 million pound of talent on the bench or not in the squad; compare that to Preston.
Still onwards and upwards, hopefully as the ability is there and it’s just a matter of tapping into it.
Good Post
After watching George on Saturday we need back up for Fabio now who should be in the first 11
It’s a year since we last won away from home – but that was only the Mackems so that hardly counts ;-). Therefore I would argue that’s it’s been nearly 17 months since a meaningful league victory away from the Riverside.
And whaddya know – it was at Bolton, our next opponents. Wouldn’t this be a good time to kick start our season, emulate our last result at the Macron and put this particular hoodoo to bed?
With such a long time without 3 points, by now our players must set out on their travels with little confidence and no expectation of a win. Time to change all that. If this is to be a successful season we need to get back into the mindset that every game is winnable. Winning teams expect to win and Bolton is the place for Boro to start.
You remind me, Nikeboro, how much easier it is to call for rationality from a distance. It’s when the bad times are swept under the carpet rather than dealt with and built on that problems arise. They say you learn more after setbacks – we have to hope Monk will.
International breaks are a time for taking stock and reminiscing. I recall during Mogga’s reign, pointing out that you don’t have to be that good to gain promotion. All that’s needed is a team without glaring weaknesses and a system to suit those players, one that they all buy into. In short: balance and teamwork.
For good or bad, that was AK’s approach. An emphasis towards caution and defensiveness developed over his last year but, for much of his time, Aitor assembled a reasonably balanced team. Also (it’s hard to remember after last season’s strife and fracturing) AK developed a tightly-knit loyal and committed group for his first couple of years. It was enough to get us promoted, despite the dischord that erupted during that season.
Our current squad does not strike me as balanced. We are desperately short of the promised pace, especially if Traore leaves. I can see no width other than the FBs bombing forward. We still seem to be short of creativity although it might just be taking time for the players to re-learn how to play that way.
Some of this needs to be remedied by Thursday.
If teamwork and a committed group of players is to be achieved, then GM quickly needs to settle on his first choice team and set up. Yes, there is a need for rotation and we need a plan B and C for when plan A doesn’t work but, to start with, the players need to get the hang of plan A.
In my opinion, as far as possible GM needs to pick the same team for a few matches so that everybody can be drilled into their roles. Then the players need to be convinced that the system works (by winning!) so that they fully buy into the approach.
Get us some pace and width this week, settle on a team and by the end of September Boro could be heading up the table.
Thanks for the fantastic response to what I posted, I know everyone is getting sick of me riding the same hobby-horse.
One problem of ours is inability to retain possession in the opponent’s half. Partly this is because we play two guys in Britt and Rudi who have some excellent specific skills, but are not great at manipulating and retaining the ball, and are not often going to contribute to sophisticated passing moves, except in the sense of taking the ball in an advanced position and bringing someone else in with a simple pass.
For example, on Saturday Britt went on a great bulldozing run into their box, but then failed to play a straightforward sideways pass to Fabio who was wide open and would very likely have scored.
Maybe we can only afford to play one guy out of Britt, Rudi and Fletcher, alongside a player with better ball skills and vision like PB. Or if GM is going to go with Britt and Rudi, one or two effective wingers who can run at defenders and cross the ball accurately would help his case.
If we look at Adam Clayton in the first half on Saturday, Preston were clearly trying to harry him all the time, maybe hoping for an early yellow card. Clayts then puts on a masterclass of feints and turns to create space for himself, and then move forward with the ball.
Harder to do in their half, but we need players with that skillset as part of the mix, who are very difficult to dispossess and who have vision and guile, so they can make space, and then link with someone like PB to create a chance through high-level passing skills. There was almost nothing like this on show on Saturday.
It may be that Baker, Braithwaite and PB will get something like this going at some point, but I don’t think we know yet if Baker and Braithwaite are going to cope with the Championship to the high level of performance needed in a promoted team. And even if they do, they can be injured or lose form.
As the posts on Saturday’s match show, our performance was a complex and many-faceted failure, so of course one or two new players will not solve everything overnight – there is no silver bullet, but there could be additions which are not in themselves sufficient to solve everything, but provide necessary components of the solution.
If we buy Flint and Jota, then get Ryan Kent on a season long loan, do we think that would be enough or too much, also keep Ben.
Come on BORO.
That would do for me
On Albert OFB, I’d just like to point out he was by far the best dancer in the team.
I’ll go along with that but when he amd his brother were making Mexican waves about money I was pleased to see him waltz out the door
0-0 is an underwhelming result, but given we were apparently the second best team on the pitch maybe not a complete disaster.
The season is proving to be a slow burner for the Boro which in one way is understandable and frustrating in another.
When your Chairman sets the aim as ‘smashing the league’ and then backs it up with cash most Championship teams can only dream of then a ‘slow burn’ start is not what any of us want. Assuming what we are seeing is a slow burn rather than the standard for the season!
We’ve got two weeks now to prepare for what is a great opportunity for an away win, which would take us closer to the two points a game average that we need to achieve.
Lets hope that by the time the Bolton match comes around we’ve still got Ben in the team.
Nigel
It’s still early days and with so many new players and coaching staff we were never going to hit the ground running
Let’s see where we are after the magical 10 games then Xmas
If we are still nowhere near a playoff spot then I’ll get worried
Headline on MFC website.
”With this week marking a breaking in domestic fixtures, a number of Boro men will head off to represent their countries.”
Four is a number, there is absolutely no doubting the veracity of the statement.
Randolph, Christie join up with the ROI team, Dael Fry on England U21 duty. Guedewhoareyou joins up with Algeria, hopefully he does a runner.
That leaves most of the squad to work on shape and formation, building partnerships. Hopefully Gary will have raided Blue Peter’s old store cupboard for glue and sticky back paper, plus of course he will have had to get his parents permission if using scissors.
OFB
How dare you jolly well besmirch Albert by implying just because his brother came out and said give us more spondoolies or Albert leaves that it was in any way related to money.
The truth is Albert’s brother went in to negotiate a pay cut for Albert. AK and co rebutted their approach and offered a pay rise instead following promotion. This wasn’t satisfactory tp the Adomah’s so they left adopting the high moral ground, ‘we would rather play for less in the Championship than a pay rise and play in the top flight.’
Oh dear me. How could I have got it so wrong!
Albert (and brother( I humbly apologise for thinking you wanted more money.
I was right about you doing a dumb thing in the Brighton game though!!!
I notice the media including the Gazette have picked up the interest in Flint by Boro.
They must have read it first on here !!
First with the news it’s Diasboro !!!
No surprise that Flint would spark interest 😃
OFB
Gives us a clue – can’t find anything on gazette site or elsewhere that says we have had offer accepted for flint.
Jota’s wife wants to remain in London and Fulham are prepared to pay him 30k a week.
Can’t we throw a new wife in as part of the Jota deal especially one that can cook Parmo’s. London is only a couple of train hours from Darlo and I would guess that the deal on the table for Jota would be enough for a super saver off peak return every now and then, maybe even enough for a B&B near Kings Cross.
Its similar to the Ben situation. We know an offer may come that creates a wobble and he may depart to a “bigger” club but we would (replacement aside) begrudgingly accept it but if it was Newcastle there would be outrage and disbelief no matter how much money they offered. Brentford fans I imagine would rather anywhere but Fulham.
OFB
The London link is understandable for players from overseas. If an English player went overseas would his family prefer some Spanish version of Teesside or Barcelona/Madrid?
That is life, we can bleat all we like about the beauty of the moors and how happy the likes of AK have been on Teesside but if the family are happy where they are living then a job move without a house move would be more attractive.
When abroad on holiday and get chatting with locals and telling them I’m English, invariably I’m asked if I live in London. It seems to be the Mecca of the World to foreigners. I used to reply that I would hate to live there, and they look at me incredulously.
I’ve tried telling folk I’m from Teesside or Redcar or near Middlesbrough, and most of the time they say ‘where’s that?’ Last year in Italy having got tired of trying to explain, I said I was from Yorkshire and when asked where it was I said as near to Heaven as one could get. The poor chap didn’t even know where Heaven was. Mind my knowledge of the Italian language isn’t very good!
It’s highly likely that, given the choice of remaining in London (notwithstanding the mooted 30k per week), Jota will go to Fulham, so I hope that we do have other options lined up.
Agree with those who think Leadbitter should be back in the first X1. Howson has not lived up to his billing so far.
Other teams can pick up on anything that could be considered a weakness I’ve noticed Baker pulling out of tackles and complaining to the ref, this type of thing can get into a players head affecting his game.
I’ve also thought Christie has been a little soft at times .this could be a concern in the winter months.
If anything the Championship has taught us, it’s that you can’t carry passengers ,you have to at least be up for a tussle for ninety minutes each game
Bamford, Downing and Baker can all play the creative midfield role behind a front two.
Play Bamford up front and we still have a choice of two.
I cannot think of a single team which was successful without a settled back four, or a solid CB pairing at the very least.
Our Gary Mogga-lite slow starts are also a worry.
Hopefully these issues will be addressed during the next fortnight.
Chris, you are absolutely correct. Since Mogga’s days we have been slow starters to a game. Perhaps it is a culture now and it takes a while to learn away from that now. Up the Boro!
Chris
Few teams are successful without a defined way of playing plus back up plans. The starting point is a settled formation, then build in tweaks.
It is still only five weeks in but there is the concern that we haven’t settled yet.
Speaking to a Derby fan about their debacle at the Blades and his comment was that twelve months ago Pearson came in and said that he thought the players were not good enough but he now realised they were not and they needed to rebuild. He subsequently was sacked, not for his views I believe of friction.
Twelve months later and Gary Rowett has come up with the same view with three days to go in the window My Derby fan isn’t happy.
Where does the purchase of Flint leave our Dael? Or, maybe Dael is safe, but is it a pointer to Ben moving onto the bigger things? Or maybe perhaps is it just GM leaving no (Flint)stone unturned and making sure we have adequate cover in the middle at the back. I hope the latter to help make sure we are in for a yabadabado time this season after all.
Powmill
As long as he doesn’t have a Barney with bam bam
My view is that over the last few games in isolation if I was forced to make a choice between Dael or Ben I would pick Dael.
Looks like Boro were pushing the rumours about Flint to make Birmingham move Shotton
Rumour Jota is having a medical at Fulham
This is feeling like a re-run of last year, we are still looking for a “playmaker” to complete the jigsaw. As I said in my earlier post, Jota would surely favour a move to Fulham than come to the frozen North, so do we have other options under consideration? Will we hold on to Ben? All will be revealed (or not) in the next two days. I hate the Transfer Window.
Looks like the Boro sniffing around Flint have made Arry get off the pot!
Birmingham City defender Ryan Shotton is poised to join Middlesbrough.
A deal for the 28-year-old to link up with Garry Monk’s side has been agreed for some time, with the only thing holding it up being Blues’ desire to bring in a replacement beforehand.
But, with Harlee Dean set to arrive at St. Andrew’s, that has allowed Shotton to complete his move north.
He is expected to finalise the deal and complete his medical within the next 24 hours.
Read more: http://www.birmingham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=502815#ixzz4rAki75aB
Hope not!
Middlesbrough have confirmed the signings of 20-year-old Amadou Sylla and 17-year-old Jakub Sinior on their club’s official website.
Frenchman Sylla joins as a free agent after a stint with Stade Reims in France whilst Pole Sinior joins from Legia U19s team.
Both players will be joining the club’s academy to further their development.
Sylla, who plays as an attacking midfielder, has featured against his new team before in the UEFA Youth League, a tie in which he scored once and provided two assists.
Sinior, whose primary position is as a centre back, only moved to Legia’s U19 squad last month and had no time to make an appearance for them before his move to Middlesbrough.
Transfer window looms.
It will be what it will be, I don’t expect we need to get excited about incoming. The biggest concern may be outgoings.
If Traore goes it may be imperative Stewie stay as we seem to have few alternatives.
The biggest result would be Gibson staying.
It is never that simple, sightings of Messi at New Marske could happen.
Ian
I can’t see any contradiction with my view and your first two paragraphs.
I’m not sufficiently in tune with Derby to comment on the rest.
Chris
No problem, The Derby comment was only to show that fans views are similar to ours.
The Traore rumours seem to be firming up as suggested above. It mow appears that Adama is wriggling. In that case get the best deal you can. It may leave us a bit short but if he hasn’t contributed enough yet and we make a profit take the deal.
If he stayed great gut that doesn’t seem likely so move on. Money in the bank is better than a player who doesn’t want to be here and doesn’t add to our promotion chances.
Rumour that Flint is off to Brum freeing Shotton to join us,
Good old rmouts.!
“I remember saying during the close season that it would take time for all these new players to gel, especially with a new management team also. Quite rightly, I emphasised that we would need to be patient.
“Funny how different if feels when the season is under way and we’re dropping points. The even-handed rationality of the summer soon crumbles under the anxiety of defeats and the desperation for signs of progress.”
Marvellously put, NikeBoro, and it reminds me of this, from Nick Miller in February 2016.
“(Paul) Clement was not perfect. The football (his Derby teams) played was not always attractive, and he seemed to have a slightly skittish approach to team selection, a little unsure of the best way to use this large group of players purchased for him.
“But even then, these faults could either serve as an argument for keeping Clement or for getting rid of him: his defenders might say he needed more time to work all that out, his critics could note that managers have to know much quicker these days, and that sort of time simply isn’t realistic anymore.
“Particularly for a club in a hurry, as Derby are. (Chairman Mel) Morris’s promise not to dismiss Clement (in November 2015) was nice to hear at the time and his words spoke to a long-term plan, but it fell firmly into the who-are-you-trying-to-kid camp: a club in the Championship does not spend £25m on players and remain content with a solid 8th-place finish, ready to build for next season…”
Emphasises what you implied – that rationality is so much easier from a distance.
Anyone know if Ben Gibson qualifies for any other national, through a long lost relative or is he smoggy through and through.
A positive then & one for the stats, Boro getting a Shotton target 😃
Not to worry with Flint off to Brum, he was a cricketer anyway 😃
It looks as though the Johnson deal is going to happen. I’m not sure that at 26 with a Motherwell and Oxford pedigree he is going to help us any more than who we currently (at the time of writing) employ. Still happy to eat my words and be proved wrong, he may be a late developer!
Manchester City prepare £20m bid for Middlesbrough’s Ben Gibson as West Brom stand firm over Jonny Evans
Jota to West Ham odds have dropped by the bookies
MIDDLESBROUGH are to set to complete the signing of Oxford United winger Marvin Johnson within the next 24 hours.
The U’s talent has been on Garry Monk’s radar and the two clubs have been negotiating a fee with an agreement reached that will see Middlesbrough pay £2.5m with a further £500,000 depending on appearances.
Oxford had asked Middlesbrough for more than the £2m initially offered because of a sell-on clause which enabled Motherwell to get a cut of any fee.
Bob,
Have you copied and pasted part of the Northern Echo report?
You seem to have pasted as much as can be read until the words are obscured and a pop up box asks for a donation.
Not to worry, I haven’t subscribed either.
There is always the free articles in the gazette with pop ups and survey requests.
Or better still Diasboro.
Not only are some Gazette articles free, but a recap of Tuesday’s blog now has an opening repeated several times. Seems as if the record got stuck – reminds me of Johann Strauss’s Perpetuum Mobile.
Would an Oxford pedigree bring us a degree of success ?
Perhaps help us to win the race?
Or help us with our University challenge ?
As long as we are not sunk or left high and dry! 🤣
That’ll be at least 20 millions short of a decent opening bid… Hope that is all journalistic froth and nothing will come of it
RE: Manchester City prepare £20m bid for Middlesbrough’s Ben Gibson as West Brom stand firm over Jonny Evans
If West Brom stand firm over Evans, one can only imagine how firm Steve Gibson will be over our current captain! I also hope City run out of time if they want the Junior Gibbo.
BTW, who is the official captain? Leads I would imagine but who is the deputy? Gibbo Jr most probably and not George Friend as during AK’s time perhaps.
We don’t have an assistant manager yet. With Autumn coming soon and then winter, with Angnew on garnering leave and looking for a permanent job as a manager, we cannot wait much longer, can we? There is too much work load on a manager nowadays – as can be seen with many clubs having a director of football or somebody else responsible for transfers. And more and more head coaches, like.
Up the Boro!
A song by green day comes to mind.
Wake me up when September ends!
Under two days left in the window.
Stories are that Boro have dug their heels in over Traore. That will be interesting, I believe the second half of his season at Villa was marked by some internal matters If he has set his heart on leaving will he be willing to knuckle down? We need everyone pulling together to mount a promotion push.
It is a good sign for Gibson staying, if the club wont let a project go for a big profit, it is difficult to see them letting Ben go unless it is for a truly humungus offer from a top six club.
Has Jota finally signed for Fulham?
Don’t know much about Johnson.
May be a quiet end to the transfer window.
Nothing is ever black & white, that’s why I suspect GM won’t panda to league smashing expectations.
The Preston result & what’s gone before suggests that Boro couldn’t smash their way out of a paper bag.
Regarding prospective sponsers Barry Venison & John Deere : I suggest the latter, as they would a tractor wider audience.
Not to worry though, in Dog I trust.
Beattie has already addressed the broadband issue on the shirts.
Monks Men will soon be singing from the same hymn sheet & we’ll rejoice by Downing an Abbot Ale (other beveridges are available) or three.
He rounds the goalie & under the SG directive, smashes it into the net.
3 minutes…offside?
Thank you Allan, I thought my card was inconsistent refereeing. No need to appeal to the Diasboro Panel!
UTB,
John
Is it just me or is today going slowly….. Like watching paint dry
Have we signed Alan Rough and Joe Allon yet?
Alf Common was spotted at Dinsdale station
That song Marvin Johnson sang ” Rose for my Rose ” in the wife’s fav list,
Looks like he’s come along way since, Motherwell and Oxford
The lad from Oxford may be useful.
We normally spend big and live to regret it while other teams bargain buys always seem to play well against us.
I remember us once picking up a cheapy from Oxford who against all odds retained his place in Robbo’s team of millionaires.
Take a bow Robbie Mustoe.
Jimmy Phillips wasn’t too shabby either.
Someone please clue me in on why I was offside 😕
Too many puns. The pedants’ sub-committee, concerned to deter occasional rash outbreaks of the disease allows only one per person per month, and that for inoculatory purposes.
Mr Parkers Dog
They are just stood with arm in the air hoping the assistant puts his flag up. It was a 200 by my reckoning.
It seems this Johnson is more of a wing back or left back,
A more like a winger I think, like. See Marvin Johnson at:
https://www.transfermarkt.com/marvin-johnson/profil/spieler/216564
Up the Boro!
Premium Boro writer John Nicholson for the Gazette:
‘We had a great win in the League Cup last week and that is always something to cheer the Boro soul. As it’s the only cup we’ve ever won (apart from the Anglo-Scottish cup, the KIrin Cup and the FA Amateur Cup, of course) it is always close to my heart. For some reason, it seems to throw up more unusual or unexpected results than the FA Cup.
These days it is rather disrespected by top teams who seem to see it as a problem rather than an opportunity. But it wasn’t always the case. From the late 60s to the late 90s it was most certainly taken very seriously as a trophy to win. Why wouldn’t it be? We play football to win things, not merely to accrue money, which, all too often now, seems to be the whole reason for a club to exist.
Boro played in the first year, the 1960-61 season. We were at home to Cardiff City in the first round but lost 4-3, with Clough (2) and Peacock on the scoresheet. An inauspicious start and we struggled through the 1960s and early 70s to make much of an impact in the league cup.
It was the 1975-76 season before we reached the semi-final for the first time, beating Manchester City 1-0 (Hickton) at home but getting a 4-0 kicking in the away leg. City would go on to win it that year, beating Newcastle United.
We played a rare game against Hartlepool in the 1986-87 season’s first round, drawing 1 – 1 and winning the home tie 2 – 0. The home leg in early September was our first game after the padlocks had been taken off Ayresome Park, of course. How ironic it was against the club which hosted us a week before.
In 1991-92 we drew the home leg of a semi-final against Manchester United and narrowly lost the away tie 2-1. But it’d be 1996-97 season ( the same season we had our record league cup win 7- 0 v Hereford United) before we made our first League Cup final, losing 1 – 0 to Leicester after a replay, the following year it was Chelsea who beat us in the final.
Victory was to be ours in that legendary final against Bolton in 2003-04. It was an almost unbelievable, golden moment in all our lives, the light from which has illuminated darker days ever since.
For the Boro to have reached the semi-final twice and the final three times makes it easily our most successful tournament but since that win in 2004, we’ve struggled to make an impact, with our 5th round loss to Everton a couple of years ago the best we’ve done. Maybe this could be our year. We’re certainly due an excursion into the latter stages.
I’ve never understood sides with no European commitments – and we were guilty of this under Gareth Southgate – fielding a weak team in the early rounds, as though the League Cup competition is merely a hindrance. For clubs like ours, it is easily our best chance of silverware in any season. The top Premier League sides use their reserves until the latter stages which gives the rest of the top two league’s side a chance to progress.
A few years ago Bradford City got to the final and they were in the third tier. Smaller clubs need this occasional brush with glory, it is reward for the fans loyalty in the face of many barren years.
A good cup run should boost the club’s league season by increasing confidence and team spirit. So I hope we’ll be putting out our best side in the coming rounds because there’s no reason why we can’t get to at least another semi-final. I love seeing us beat teams, even if they’re lower league teams like Scunthorpe United. A win is a win and I’ll take it.
In fact, I’d much rather we threw all our resources at the League Cup than anything else. I’d rather win it than be promoted, oh yeah, every day of the week. I know today, football is all about Premier League money, but it shouldn’t be. Money has no soul. Football should be about the glory of victory, not the glory of riches.
Winning a cup beats everything else. That’s how it always was and I still stick with that old-fashioned notion. Clubs like the Boro need cup wins to sustain them through the bleak times, so let’s give it everything this year.
C’mon Boro!’
4 quid a month for this? Give me Ken Smith any day
Seconded!
Great post Dalla. Some memories rekindled in there for most of us i think.
Me, me I’d like my cake and eat it at the same time…glory day in a cup final and promotion please.
And we also get the news first hand from Bob before the Gazette, not to mention Redcar Red’s match reports.
lenmasterman :
Re offside : I’m really not sure what you’re on about so I would appreciate input from others here !
Well, 3 posts in a minute is certainly being ball greedy, particularly when they do little to move on the debate and are clearly little more than a series of quick quips to bag a trabbie….. But, and its a big but … I’ve seen them given.
I’ve been critical of Stewy Downing since he came back to the club, I’m not sure if he got down because he was expecting the number ten roll or what? But it didn’t look like he was committed to the cause.
Having said that, based on what I’ve seen so far this campaign ,forgetting the goalie and centre backs , he’s looked our best player in the sense of ball retention and vision.
To be honest I’m a little confused with the squad Monk is putting together, it seems a Mish mash of talent with no exact concept, where is that midfielder general ,who can sort out things on the park ,when it becomes rush ,rush, rush.
Looking at the squad does any one know the best team and system we will use
I don’t?
UTB
Well a little over 24 hours before the transfer window closes – so I’ve just posted a preview to hopefully a quiet day for Garry Monk…
https://diasboro.club/2017/08/30/august-transfer-deadline-day/
Morning All
Feeling quite refreshed after been in the dark for last 49 hours
Got my phone back (and a £1k bill for my car!)
So what happened with our transfers?
https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/transfer-window-round-up
Really the only thing that was kept under the radar was Magic Johnson from Oxford although we were one of the first to post it on our site.
We also said on here quite consistently that Ben would be going nowhere nor anyone else even though we had late bids for Adam Forshaw
I thought Downing would stay after he started training with the first team again amd being brought back into the fold.
It’s interesting to note that despite a ten year age difference Ben and Stewy are good mates amd travel into Rockliffe every day together with Woody as they all live close to each other. I also ponted out Ben is getting a nice house built at the moment and feels he has something to prove as a Boro fan amd captain to get our club back into the Prem.
So we are what we are and we have what we have. The only thing that will happen now is possible loan signings from Prem clubs once they have sorted out their names squads
Oh and what happens to Guediora ??
Nice to be back hope you all missed me and the news and had to put up with Jim at Sky !
OFB