Author: Diasboro

Barnsley		Middlesbrough
Fletcher (og) McGeehan	3′ 9′	Braithwaite Assombalonga	7′ 60′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	33% 11 3 4 10	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	67% 21 6 7 11

Bright Barnsley start undermines Boro

This morning’s table raised dimming hopes once again that bruised Boro could haul themselves back into contention as serious promotion contenders following Cardiff’s defeat against Birmingham last night. An away win this afternoon at Barnsley followed up with a home win next Saturday against those same Bluebirds could reduce the gap to the Championships early leaders to just two points. Of course other clubs would be seeing the same opportunity but if ever GM needed a break then this was as good as it would get thus far into the Championship campaign. Barnsley had reasons for optimism with four home wins in the last five against us so the odds were slightly in the Tyke’s favour.

Earlier in the week Heckingbottom had admitted that Barnsley couldn’t compete with Boro’s pulling power and potential with regards to Ashley Fletcher so surely with upwards of 4,500 of Boro’s best cheering them on today this had to be the day when it all clicked. Ashley was given the nod from Monk and was starting, presumably in the hope that he would come back to haunt the Tykes.

A warm breeze courtesy of a distant and by now defunct Atlantic Hurricane uncharacteristically warmed Oakwell. Boro fans reenergised from our Brentford no show were hoping that same warm breeze would be the only source of hot air today after being put in our place midweek regarding tactics and formations. Downing was restored to the starting eleven after being in the stands for that Brentford embarrassment. Most tellingly perhaps was the restoration of the Grant and Clayts duo, presumably intended to add some no nonsense stability in the middle of the park. It appeared that there were consequences after the ineffective display against the Bees with Traore, Johnson and Shotton all missing from the match day squad with Ayala starting in place of Shotton meaning that another successful Boro Championship partnership was restored. Rumour was that Traore had missed the team bus.

Barnsley started sprightly (or Boro started slowly again) with two corners in the opening minutes. From the second corner a ball came into the Boro box and the Tykes went 1-0 up courtesy of a unintentional glancing Fletcher headed own goal. A scoring return for the lad was certainly one of GM’s wishes but not in his own net. That second corner came as a result of Boro not being able to play their way out of defence after the first corner.

Ayala who had conceded that first corner now flicked on a Christie throw in for Braithwaite to hit home to make it 1-1 after seven minutes. Just as Boro apparently settled into their stride Barnsley broke and unbelievable defending in the Boro six yard box saw Boro 2-1 down immediately with Randolph uncharacteristically rooted to the spot for the cross as McGeehan took his opportunity.

This wasn’t as bad as Mogga’s last visit here but Boro looked anything but organised and controlled as they played in what I thought was a 442 despite many of us assuming we would line up 433 with Monk’s initial selection. As it was I think we were actually playing 4321 whilst Barnsley settled into their 4321 shape, seemingly comfortable in their set up. Boro in contrast were a mixture of parts both good and bad. Ayala as we know can be deadly in attacking set pieces and so he was but contrasted by Assombalonga who yet again struggled to control balls and of course putting ourselves into trouble for the first goal by not having an outlet from a corner.

As we applied pressure Barnsley slipped up in defence allowing Fletcher to break who played in Braithwaite who fumbled but the ball went out to Assombalonga whose control was typical and he blasted it well wide of the target. Seconds later Britt hit a 25 yard screamer which deflected out for a corner which Downing then hit to the front post from which Barnsley broke, leaving a melee in the Tykes box involving Assombalonga and Williams. Boro then had another quick corner which was poorly hit, resulting with Barnsley breaking and Boro blocking. We were struggling to break through the Barnsley resistance and it didn’t look like we had the organisation and belief to remedy things.

There was a lot of effort from white shirted Boro but we were looking all over the place with no obvious shape and defensively looking very poorly organised. As the half time whistle loomed that daunting walk to the tunnel which signalled the decline of Mogga was now beckoning for Garry Monk. Grant meanwhile rifled in a last minute effort to try and save Monk’s blushes but like many of our attempts this afternoon not really convincing. The biggest positives in the first half were Grant firing up those around him, Downing supply of balls into the box and Braithwaite looking a class apart.

A mixture of mumbles and groans rather than outright boo’s and to the fans credit “Boro we love you” was the response from the travelling Parmo Army as the players made their way off the pitch at half time. In reality that was more than Garry Monk’s Boro deserved. Despite the two week break this side didn’t look like there was any definitive game plan or even remotely working to anything close to a plan. We had possession and we attacked but we looked very poor at the back again. The once notoriously tight defensive unit is now porous and susceptible and is a growing concern.

The upcoming second half forty five minutes were going to be a major defining point for Garry Monks season. Slip further behind and his credibility will take another major hit, draw and it’s simply not good enough only a win would do. No Substitutions as the sides came back out with GM going same again. The second half started fairly inconspicuously until Fabio gave away another of his trade mark rash free kicks for an unnecessary challenge on Hammill. Fortunately for us the resulting free kick didn’t punish us this time.

For all our possession Barnsley didn’t look too troubled and as sixty minutes ticked over GM needed to think about his options. Cyrus Christie this time gave away a free kick which resulted in Leadbitter clearing it out to Downing who fed the up til now underperforming Assombalonga who slotted the ball home to make it 2-2. Boro suddenly sprung to life and an ensuing hectic period saw a Downing shot get the away fans off their seats and the home fans squirming. Barnsley then broke up the other end and in a spell of pressure Fabio put the ball out for a corner which interestingly saw Downing remonstrating how the Boro defence was organising itself. Boro broke up the other end from the Corner only to see Braithwaite lose the momentum and the optimism fizzled out. This was now end to end stuff and the tempo of the game had suddenly racked up several notches as Barnsley wanted the win but Boro now had their tails up with Downing being influential for Boro.

A brilliant move started from Fabio to Downing then playing it into Assombalonga then back to Fabio but the Brazilian’s effort flashed wide. Immediately afterwards Fabio dropped to the ground much as he had done previously against Brentford. Like then it looked like cramp but it seems to be a recurring theme for him which I suspect is perhaps symptomatic of an underlying problem. A series of defending comedy gold from Barnsley this time nearly let Brathwaite through and then Thiam went up the other end nearly putting us back under the cosh.

George Friend meanwhile had warmed up for the struggling Fabio as the game was opening up and tired mistakes starting to take their toll. Pearson then took out Braithwaite and took a yellow for his troubles which allowed George to enter the fray on the pitch where he started off his Boro career all those years ago.

Friend’s arrival couldn’t have been timelier as he almost immediately cleared a Barnsley attempt as it ricocheted off Randolph’s post. Bamford was readied next to come on as Braithwaite looked to be tiring. Boro pressure was building and we were knocking on Barnsley’s door and Downing was central to everything that Boro were producing with Grant pulling strings behind. Bamford finally came on but bizarrely it was Downing who made way for Bamford. That was a substitution that didn’t make a lot of sense to me at all unless Stewy was carrying some kind of a knock. I’m not sure tactically what advantage GM thought that was going to provide as removing our most progressive creator seemed totally counterproductive.

Barnsley made two subs of their own with Barnes and goal scorer McGeehan going off as Heckingbottom tried to freshen things up for his tiring side. Assombalonga then gave away an unnecessary free kick and if he was in any doubt about its recklessness Grant certainly let it be known what he thought of his challenge. The minutes were now ticking away and Barnsley started to clear balls via route one as Boro tried to snatch the winner. Bamford and Fletcher were trying to work some magic as the fourth official held up the board indicating three minutes of additional time left. As the minutes turned to seconds Barnsley had a final attack that ended with Christie being fouled from which Randolph eagerly got the ball back up field but the move petered out with a series of unimpressive supposed head injuries from Barnsley as the final whistle sounded.

It ended 2-2, Boro’s now traditional poor start plus an inability to clear corners without inviting pressure straight back was to prove our downfall. The latter stages of the second half saw Boro push and probe but the shape and organisation just wasn’t there from the off. It was a game that ultimately disappointed and raised even more questions about GM’s pack shuffling methodology and tactics. One word summed it up for me, unconvincing. There appears to be a lack of belief or understanding amongst the Players. At this stage of the season a draw simply wasn’t good enough and certainly not acceptable for a squad of this calibre so the big question after twelve games is what is going wrong and why?

Monk unlikely to find the Barnsley
chop on Gibson’s menu

Boro are looking to prove their promotion pedigree isn’t of dubious lineage against the Tykes on Saturday in a fixture that most remember as the last straw that dogged one particular previous manager in Tony Mowbray. The former inspirational captain was well and truly in the dog house at the exact same stage of the season after a defeat at Oakwell four years ago to the then bottom club. Whilst Monk may dismiss any attempts to see too many similarities with his team’s trip to Barnsley, he will be aware that after the failure to gain victory in his two previous home games he can ill-afford another disjointed poor display.

To be fair, that defeat in 2013 at game 12 left Mogga’s team 17 points behind top club Burnley and 10 points off a play-off spot in a season where the target was a top-six finish. However, Monk’s team won’t be equally off the pace should they suffer a similar result this weekend – but if they find themselves anything like 3-0 down at half-time in hapless homage to Mogga’s under-performing team then Steve Gibson may find the flashback all too illuminating. Though it was perhaps the Boro supporters reaction at Oakwell that convinced the chairman that Mowbray’s time was up.

Barnsley		Middlesbrough
Paul Heckingbottom		Gary Monk
P10 – W3 – D2 – L5 – F13 – A15		P11 – W4 – D4 – L3 – F13 – A9
Position Points Points per game Projected points	18th 11 1.1 51	Position Points Points per game Projected points	11th 16 1.45 67
Last 6 Games Millwall (A) QPR (H) Wolves (A) Aston Villa (H) Preston (A) Sunderland (H)	F-T (H-T) 3:1 (1:1) W 1:1 (1-0) D 1:2 (0:0) L 0:3 (0:2) L 1:1 (1:1) D 3:0 (2:0) W	Last 6 Games Brentford (H) Norwich (H) Fulham (A) QPR (H) Aston Villa (A) Bolton (A)	F-T (H-T) 2:2 (0:1) D 0:1 (0:1) L 1:1 (0-0) D 3:2 (1:1) W 0:0 (0:0) D 3:0 (1:0) W

After losing three of their opening games to some of the early season teams who were quicker out of the blocks (Bristol City, Ipswich, Sheffield Utd), Barnsley gained some respite by thumping Sunderland 3-0 at home before just picking up just a solitary point in another run of tough fixtures against Preston, Villa and Wolves. Their first away victory at Millwall just before the break gave them another much needed three points to move them three clear of the drop zone. The fact that their last five games have yielded just one point less than Boro over the same period is perhaps more of an indication of how Garry Monk’s team have been under-peforming given the disparity in resources. Though it’s always a brave decision to employ a manager with a name like Heckingbottom since if the club ended up in last spot as it would give both sets of supporters carte blanche to chant his name slightly incorrectly.

Barnsley gained promotion to the top-flight for the first time in their history in 1997, which was the year Boro were relegated thanks to our three points deduction. Whilst Boro may have been the team with the Brazilian players in that season it was the supporters of Barnsley who started the chant “it’s like watching Brazil” as their team went up playing entertaining football – apparently some Brazilian fans were tempted to return the accolade by chanting “it’s like watching Barnsley reserves” following their humiliating 7-1 exit at the hands of Germany in the last World Cup. Sadly, the Tykes time with the elite lasted just one season as they finished bottom and were duly relegated as Boro passed them again in the other direction on the way back up to the Premier League.

It’s still early days in Monk’s tenure and perhaps it would be unreasonable to expect the task he was given to have been successfully sorted at this early stage – however, the question mark for the doubters appears to be one of visible progress. With a quarter of the season gone there’s no sense that the Boro manager has yet got to grips with how he can create a balanced team from the resources at his disposal. In fact, it appears the pack of players have been shuffled around too frequently to allow any meaningful partnerships to form and develop. So is it time the players upped their game and lived up to their billing to prevent them being dropped or is the juggler himself in danger of being sacked?

If pre-season favourites Boro continued to slide down the table then it’s possible the writing could soon be on the wall for our promotion aspirations. Even the offer of a stylish ball-point pen that sounds similar to one of Barnsley’s more famous sons, Michael Parkinson, wouldn’t make that message any less palatable for Steve Gibson to read – though given the Boro chairman’s previous on not seeing disastrous outcomes coming, perhaps the former chat-show host will also be claiming that he should have gone to Specsavers should the lack of progress remain unseen.

Hopefully, Garry Monk will have had his mind focused by Boro’s recent abject home display and he will have been working hard in the break to ensure the correct calls are made in the coming weeks. Right now he may be nursing a few wounds to his reputation but there’s nothing like winning games to heal them – so I’m sure most supporters will be hoping the Boro manager is a quick healer and he avoids picking at the scab of unnecessary experimentation. Which brings me almost seemlessly onto the likely advice of another famous son of Barnsley, Arthur Scargill, who would no doubt tell Monk that gaining victory was all about having dependable strikers – though I suspect his preference would be for leaving wounds unhealed as he’d definitely not be in favour of scabs regardless of whether they remained unpicked!

Although Boro have spent big on striking options for this campaign, so far it appears we haven’t seen the goals being banged in for our bucks. There were signs that Martin Braithwaite can be the kind of cool finisher that is needed, especially as Assombalonga has rarely seemed calm or comfortable as Boro’s spearhead. The £15m man has not looked anything particularly special given his top dollar ticket price and seldom gives the appearance of someone likely to change a game – indeed his first touch may often be a barrier to linking up with other forwards. On that basis my preference up front would be to pair Braithwaite and Bamford (who, while we’re on the subject, has also largely remained unpicked) as both have good movement, good feet and a cleverness about their play – Assombalonga is looking more of an instinctive six-yard box finisher who needs service and unless Boro find a way to feed him then he’s not the kind of player who can survive on scraps for too much longer.

Perhaps the biggest issue for Boro is how they provide service for this expensively assembled strike-force. It’s been a long-standing problem that the central midfield functions mainly in a defensive capacity and is less effective at instigating attacking moves. The preference for players in these positions is normally to play short safe passes that essentially slows the ball’s progress up the pitch – most of the forward momentum seems to now rely on laying off the ball to our fast but unpredictable runners who then need to beat several opponents before they can service the strikers. The other option is usually an ambitious long ball that relies on perfect execution to land in the spot that isn’t being covered by opposition defenders. The overall problem is one of static players passing to other static players as they probe for an opening that has long since been shut.

When Garry Monk arrived at the club the blueprint was to change the emphasis from a containment based approach by bringing more dynamic players to the club who were comfortable on the ball and were capable of quickly turning defence into attack. At the moment it seems this transition from a more defensive style of play has yet to find either a system or the right blend of personnel to make it happen. This is where the Boro manager is currently at and he maybe should now know which players are most suited to this aim. We knew it would take time but the club operates in real time and the longer it takes to find solutions the less chance that finding that solution will bear fruit this season.

The time has probably come for Monk to decide on which players will best serve him and if he doesn’t know soon he may not get the chance to eventually find out. He could perhaps seek inspiration on deciding which players to pick by glancing at Barnsley’s club badge and observing their motto ‘Spectemur agendo’. Whilst this may sound like a Harry Potter spell that will allow Boro’s promotion hopes to ghost back on the agenda, it actually means ‘judge us by our actions’ – which in the case of the players it should be extended to ‘and not by our reputations or price-tags’.

So will the Boro players cast a spell over the Tykes and regain their magic touch that has deserted them of late or will Garry Monk be forced to admit that there’s no magic wand as promotion becomes the word that must not be mentioned. As usual give your predictions for score, scorers and team selection – plus will our strikers decide it’s time to return to work?

Middlesbrough		Brentford
Brathwaite Fabio	68′ 76′	Barbet Watkins	29′ 72′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	51%  8  3  3 21	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	49% 14  2  7 13

Busy Bees boss bereft Boro

I have to admit that way back when the fixtures came out Brentford at home didn’t stand out as a must win game. Fast forward a few months into Garry Monk’s reign and the fact that today was not only a must win game but a must win convincingly game set the tone for this afternoons proceedings. Brentford arrived at the Riverside fresh from a victory themselves after a disappointing start to their season keen to keep their new found momentum going. Boro on the other hand had started and spluttered then sprung to life and spluttered again at home to the Canaries.

Garry Monk for the first time in his Riverside career was facing questions on his competencies, selections and tactics. New Boo boys have emerged, underwhelming Striker return rates, defensive frailties becoming the norm allied to slow starts the order of the day and the points per game ratio achieved versus investment potential have stunk the Riverside out. Cheeky Chappy interviews that once endeared GM to the waiting masses have started to wear thin, the “love in” was on the wane pre kick off.

The team selection saw Dael benched and Braithwaite starting in place of Baker. Shotton came into the backline to get his first start of the season, the logic presumably being that a seasoned CB alongside Ben would tighten things up, provide composure and steady things at the back. Braithwaite was always seemingly intended to be a regular starter rather than a benchwarmer so his inclusion was probably indicative of his fitness level back to 100% after his lengthy lay off.

As the teams came out the bright sunshine dimmed as dark clouds came in over the Riverside, little did we know what an omen that would prove to be. Immediately after the kick off Fabio picked up a loose ball, went flying down the wing, bizarrely passed to Johnson on the wing except he wasn’t there and the ball went out for a soft throw in and that was a sign of things to come. A mere hiccup we thought except that the Bees were buzzing, hungry, chasing, closing, playing fast football, swarming forward, supporting their attack, they were supposed to park the bus! Boro were pushed back, defending like Keystone Cops with some of the most disorganised chaotic and comedic attempts to repel attacks since Andre Bikey graced the Riverside Stadium way back when. In fairness to Bikey as the game progressed he would like as not have been MOM had he been playing because there was certainly no one else in a Red Shirt that would qualify.

Watching the game I was trying to mentally note key moments but lost count of the disastrous and incredible scenes which continuously unfolded before me. Christie as we know is great going forward but suspect at times defending, today was no different with Brentford enjoying a fair amount of freedom on his flank relying on the wayward Traore as cover. Adama had one of his off days which culminated in an attacking move in which the ball was played through for him to run onto but he had brain freeze, switched off, standing motionless three yards behind play probably distracted by the big bright lights on the East Stand opposite.

On the left Fabio seemed to struggle and was being out fought as Johnson in front of him was largely anonymous and looked a little out of his depth apart from a few cross field runs. The exciting dribbling skills and turn of pace now seems to be a one game cameo. As a result both flanks were being attacked and we had little in our armoury to hold the line. In the middle of the back line was Ben with Shotton. I only wished someone had introduced Ryan to the rest of his defensive team mates as he looked as confused positionally with them as they were with him, not helped by the fact that our RB and LB were being given a torrid time and being overrun in turn. After 15 minutes I was thinking that this slow start will settle, things will bed in and we will start to put on a show. Little did I suspect then that things not only could but actually would get worse. It was X rated, no it was more like an underground XXX movie that I imagine is only shown on extremely dubious websites on the alleged dark web place (wherever that is). If Channel 5 has any decency tonight they will put Boro’s defending on there in an effort not to upset Teesside viewers and cause irreparable psychological damage.

In the seventh minute Clayts brought down Mokotjo for what looked like a penalty but Ref Paul Tierney ignored the appeal in what was to be an eventful day of poor officiating, so bad in fact nobody was even bothered to sing the “We have some  ………. Refs but you are the worst”. The Boro performance was so abysmal that any sleight of the officiating would have been embarrassing. Boro themselves had a few penalty claims, one a stonewaller on Baker in the second half that was waved away and a curious incident when Christie broke through in the last minute but when clear in the box to cross he seemed to have the merest nibble on his ankle to send him sprawling. Had either been given it would have been an injustice on the scoreline which actually flattered Boro in achieving the draw.

Anyway back to the game itself and as our backline scrambled around clueless not helped much by Howson and Clayton lying deep and clattering into challenges but not coming away with the ball. On the half hour a free kick was awarded for a soft foul on the left hand edge of the Boro box in a dangerous position (stop me if you have heard this before). The free kick was gently floated in, almost wafted in fact it was so graceful and the big Brentford defender Barbet rose in the middle of the 6 yard box, unmarked to do what Britt clearly couldn’t on Tuesday and place a header away from a Keeper. 1-0 to the green shirted Bees and I have to say they thoroughly deserved their lead.

No doubt we would come from behind because under Garry Monk we are now very good at that except we didn’t. We were even more awful, total strangers, no set up, no organisation, no shape and no leadership anywhere made worse by the fact that Grant was on the Bench alongside George and Stewy and Ayala were presumably in the West Stand upper. I don’t think that even during Strachan’s darkest days or even when Gareth had lost it have I seen a team so disjointed, rudderless and hopeless. In balance fair play and full respect to Brentford as they came, they attacked and played decent football.

Britt was running around but not really making anything happen again. Braithwaite done reasonably well considering his long layoff but being honest he wasn’t great but not being great was an upgrade on his team mates at least. As the half time whistle went the Boos rang out loud and clear, can’t say that I booed, I think I was in a state of disbelief at what I had just witnessed. GM needed to do some sort of miracle team talk if he was going to extricate himself from this one. As it was he hooked Adama but it could have been any of them including the normally reliable Randolph who seemed at sixes and sevens with his defence and at one point stood and stared at the ball in the middle of the 18 yard box whilst Shotton, Ben and a.n. other in a Red shirt also stared instead of booting it clear. It had been pure purgatory to suffer. The tweak at the back with Shotton in for Dael had become a car crash with multiple casualties.

In the middle of the first half the Brentford LB had been stretchered off and as they had no recognised LB on the bench you would have thought that Christie and Traore would have destroyed them but no it just wasn’t to be despite a midfielder shoe horned in.

When the second half started on came Fletcher whose long legged frame ran and ran and chased but couldn’t actually control the ball or make any real impact. All afternoon Boro over hit their corners, left nobody up field when defending Brentford corners meaning that they couldn’t clear them as the ball simply kept going to a Brentford player and came straight back at them. Bentley in the Brentford goal would clear his lines by hoofing it up field and setting up another attack while Randolph rolled it out to Ben who was quickly hassled into passing it like as not to Shotton or Howson or Clayts who again were quickly chased, surrounded and closed down often conceding possession under pressure but still we persisted rolling it out.

Bamford had been brought on for Johnson and with around twenty minutes left a ball into the Brentford box from a free kick saw a session of head tennis before Ben Gibson nodded it out to the edge of the 6 yard box where Braithwaite smashed it home, it was 1-1 and Brentford had been robbed. Joyous and euphoric along with disbelief rained down on the Riverside as the Home fans raised their game and now had something worth supporting. With their tails in the air and confidence levels boosted Boro then went and allowed Brentford another goal almost immediately as they carved open the Boro defence with ease and with a trickling ball across the entire Boro backline Watkins tapped in what in my opinion what should have been the winner.

Baker arrived for the tiring Braithwaite and incredibly the comeback Kings done it again Lazarus like. Howson broke into the Bees Box after playing a one two with Fletcher and crossed to Bamford who had the ball nicked off his toes but carried on in the same trajectory to Fabio who rifled home with his trusty right foot, 2-2 and that remarkably is how it ended.

Today showed frailties way beyond anything that SG would have remotely countenanced when signing those summer cheques. The sheer inability of players to have any understanding of a game plan or ability to control the game was a shock. I missed Tuesday night but those sat around me said that it was as bad as today. If so and the abject failure to address it this afternoon made worse by tinkering with the CB pairing is of major concern. There were many utterances after the final whistles which are not printable on here but of grave concern is that GM was being considered as useless without Clotet and would we be better off with the return of Aggers or even AK? Smashing the league wasn’t supposed to be like this!

Boro hope to avoid being stung by Bees

After failing to be on song against the canaries, Boro will want to avoid being stung by the Bees this Saturday – otherwise the Boro chairman may decide it’s time to have a little chat with his young manager about the birds and the bees. Though whether any advice on such delicate matters will give Garry Monk a greater understanding on making our meagre points haul multiply as we go forth remains to be seen.

Brentford had a slow start to their season and only picked up one point in their first four games – though two of those defeats were against early pace-setters Ipswich and Sheffield United and their only point was at home to current seventh spot club Bristol City. Since then they have steadied the ship and have only lost one of their last six, which was away to the Owls – but they seem to have become the draw specialists and have conceding just four goals in the last six outings. It may be interesting to note that although they languish just above the drop zone, they have actually scored the same number of goals as our multi-million pound strike force – make of that what you will but the words for Boro’s is starting to sound like under-performing.

Middlesbrough		Brentford
Gary Monk		Dean Smith
P10 – W4 – D3 – L3 – F11 – A7		P10 – W1 – D5 – L4 – F11 – A13
Position Points Points per game Projected points	9th 15 1.5 69	Position Points Points per game Projected points	20th 8 0.8 37
Last 6 Games Norwich (H) Fulham (A) QPR (H) Aston Villa (A) Bolton (A) Preston (H)	F-T (H-T) 0:1 (0:1) L 1:1 (0-0) D 3:2 (1:1) W 0:0 (0:0) D 3:0 (1:0) W 0:0 (0:0) D	Last 6 Games Derby (H) Bolton (A) Reading (H) Sheff Wed (A) Aston Villa (A) Wolves (H)	F-T (H-T) 1:1 (0:1) D 3:0 (1:0) W 1:1 (1:0) D 1:2 (1:1) L 0:0 (0:0) D 0:0 (0:0) D

I suspect if the club are contemplating any further banning orders then the word ‘smash’ is probably up there with the likes of ‘Dom’ and ‘Jonno’ – it must be a word that stops Steve Gibson in his tracks whenever he hears it as the fingernails down the blackboard on which it was hastily scribbled shred his nerves. It’s possible the Boro catering department has no doubt struck off certain brands of instant mash potato from its shopping list and anyone playing tennis with the chairman is under strict instructions not play unduly hard overhead shots. Even Mark Page has been encouraged to avoid slipping into his ‘Smashy and Nicey’ DJ persona just in case it triggers an unwarranted word association in the Boro owner’s head – plus any remotely passable impersonations of Bullseye host Jim Bowen with his ‘Super Smashing’ catchphrase is now a sackable offence (note: for similar reasons, ‘Here’s what you could have won’ has also been placed on the Banned Phrases list until further notice)

Expectations are never easy to live up to once they have been over-enthusiastically placed in the public domain but I’d suspect any calls for patience at the Riverside may fall on deaf ears as the season gathers pace – though that is perhaps also mainly down to the many years of MMP setting the PA volume levels to eleven.

The question now being contemplated is whether automatic promotion is beginning to look like a target perhaps beyond us this season. Boro are only in ninth spot and whilst six points off the pace doesn’t sound much, the team have still not found their rhythm and we’re still looking like a work in progress. Teams who are making a promotion charge need to go on runs where they win four or five on the bounce – as yet Boro have managed only once to get two wins on the spin and that was back in games 2-3. A win against Norwich would have had most supporters feeling Boro were more or less on track for their automatic promotion ambitions, just three points adrift of the top two. However, a defeat has strangely left many thinking we are not good enough and exposed our weaknesses – perhaps the reality is some where in the middle.

Boro are now at the ten-game mark and we can start to make comparison’s with teams who were promoted in previous seasons. The table below covers the years since we were relegated under Southgate – it shows how each of the automatically promoted teams fared in their first ten games, plus Boro’s points haul is also shown in the final column. Only twice have teams recovered from a worse start than Boro have had this season to finish in the top two – Reading went on to win two-thirds of their remaining 36 games, losing just three more – with Bournemouth achieving a similar feat, losing only as many games as they had done in the first ten until the end of the season. So the odds are probably stacked against Boro unless they can start to put a run of victories together and that means sooner rather than later.

First ten games of automatically promoted teams
Season	Top two teams	First ten games	Total	Boro
2017-18	1.Cardiff 2.Sheff Utd 9.Middlesbrough	W7 D2 L1 – 23pts W7 D0 L3 – 21pts W4 D3 L3 – 15pts
2016-17	1.Newcastle 2.Brighton	W6 D1 L3 – 19pts W5 D3 L2 – 18pts	94pts 93pts
2015-16	1.Burnley 2.Middlesbrough	W5 D3 L2 – 18pts W6 D2 L2 – 20pts	93pts 89pts	2nd – 89pts
2014-15	1.Bournemouth 2.Watford	W3 D3 L4 – 12pts W6 D2 L2 – 20pts	90pts 89pts	4th – 85pts
2013-14	1.Leicester 2.Burnley	W7 D2 L1 – 23pts W7 D2 L1 – 23pts	102pts 93pts	12th – 64pts
2012-13	1.Cardiff 2.Hull	W7 D1 L2 – 22pts W5 D1 L4 – 16pts	87pts 79pts	16th – 59pts
2011-12	1.Reading 2.Southampton	W3 D3 L4 – 12pts W7 D1 L2 – 22pts	89pts 88pts	7th – 70pts
2010-11	1.QPR 2.Norwich	W8 D2 L0 – 26pts W6 D1 L3 – 19pts	88pts 84pts	12th – 62pts
2009-10	1.Newcastle 2.West Brom	W7 D2 L1 – 23pts W6 D2 L2 – 20pts	102pts 91pts	11th – 62pts

Garry Monk has some important decisions to make regarding team selection and the focus should be at the sharp end for a home game against beatable opposition. Assombalonga is coming under scrutiny after another game of fluffing his lines and his price-tag doesn’t make him a better player than other options – just a more expensive one. Whether, his club record fee meant he was given the less-coveted shooting boots of Alfonso Alves as part of the deal is hopefully just an urban myth – though Boro strikers do seem to inherit something of a profligate rather than proliferate stature that is also proportionate to the amount spent.

However, the return of Martin Braithwaite will hopefully add some much needed guile and energy around the box – perhaps the player who can partner him best will get more starts as he looked a class act in pre-season. Maybe Bamford’s more intelligent and nuanced approach would be the best fit rather than the brute force offered by Britt – time and opportunity will decide that one though.

In defence, there were some suggestions that Dael Fry had earned himself a seat on the bench for sheepishly failing to shepherd the ball out of play that lead to Norwich’s wonder-strike. I think that would be a bit harsh on a young player who has on the whole been comfortable in central defence – plus with the international break arriving after the game there’s no real need to rest him. The main worry defensively is that our fullbacks are seemingly better at going forward than defending and maybe are better suited to covering as wing-backs with a central defensive trio being charged with clearing the main threats instead – that is probably something to contemplate in the upcoming break though.

Also the midfield hasn’t really settled on a particular pairing or type of pairing that functions both defensively and offensively. I wonder if Baker will be dropping a little deeper now that our forwards are returning from injury and suspension. Clayton is good defensively but is that enough when the service to the attack hasn’t been of the best quality? Twenty-one attempts against Norwich may statistically suggest otherwise but their keeper wasn’t really troubled by our tame invention. The return of Adama saw some sublime moments of skill and pace but most were reserved for our own half that weren’t going to lead to much in the way of shooting chances – he needs to play 20-30 yards further up the pitch to be a real danger.

So will the Riverside be a hive of activity on Saturday as Boro leave their fans buzzing? or will Garry Monk’s team fall foul to the Bee’s honey trap and continue their sticky patch into the break? As usual your predictions on score, scorers and team selection – plus will Boro’s attack show some punch or will they float like a bee and sting like a butterfly?

Middlesbrough		Norwich
		Maddison	13′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	60% 21  5 13  8	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	40%  5  2  1 16

Poor Performance Prevents Playoff Position

When Norwich last played at the Riverside it had resulted in a 4-0 win for the home team. Bamford had kicked things off with a stooping header, before Leadbitter then added two more either side of the break. Yanic Wildschut (now with the Canaries) then rounded off the scoring with his second and final Boro goal. Could there be a repeat performance on the cards?

Apart from Wildschut, Norwich also have the services of former Boro player James Husband who didn’t have the chance to play much football at the Riverside. Both former players would be out to prove a point that they didn’t have a realistic opportunity at Boro and we all know how often a former player comes back and haunts us.

To complete the set of former players playing their previous clubs, Boro have Jonny Howson who has returned north after five years at Carrow Road and was man-of-the-match for us in the weekend Championship draw at Fulham. A similar performance tonight would be gleefully accepted by at least one set of fans.

Howson told Boro’s official site – “I think whenever you play against your old club these things are going to get mentioned. But once you cross that white line I’ve got a job to do for the team. Things will have been said before and after the game. We are going for three points and nothing different.”

On a night when Middlesbrough fans will be seeking revenge on a Norwich side that ended their Wembley dream of a return to the top-flight at the play-off final in May 2015, the club have just announced closer sponsorship ties with Scottish airline Loganair, which will coincidentally start direct flights from Durham Tees Valley to Norwich for those eyeing up a quicker than usual trip to Carrow Road. So we’ll soon be seeing that sponsor’s logo landing on the back of this season’s away strip, with the newly branded Boro shirt expected to be cleared for take-off in time for the visit to Barnsley in mid-October.

So game on…

A misty eerie night greeted the crowd who were high with expectation as Norwich kicked off towards the North Stand, To their credit Boro appeared to start brightly in a loosely configured 4-2-3-1 configuration with Britt playing a lone striker role and support from Baker, Johnson and Traore. Howson was playing in a more central midfield role and started to thread passes and look towards picking up the pace from where he left off on Saturday.

A couple of nice runs by Traore gave the expectant crowd a glimpse of what they expected to see during the game but Boro were undone when a loose ball on the right-hand touchline was not cleared by Fry, He was robbed by Watkins who centred to Maddison, who crisply finished into the top corner for a goal and this was their first attempt at hitting the target.

This was the cue for Norwich to display the elements of time wasting we have come to expect from teams at the Riverside, with players fastening shoe laces every five minutes and taking excessive time at throw ins and free kicks.

Traore was the outlet for many of Boro attacks at this stage and the crowd felt confident that an equaliser would soon be scored. A number of free kicks were given against Norwich for fouls on Traore but the referee kept his cards in his pocket and play went on. Baker was not having much involvement in the game at this stage and seemed unsure of his role. He wasn’t close enough to Britt to support him up front and at times the play passed him by.

Middlesbrough had a lot of possession but this was easily coped with by Norwich and in the 35th minute a good run by Howson resulted in a centre to Clayton who shot at goal which was easily saved by their goalkeeper Gunn who is on loan from Manchester City.

It was apparent that Britt was getting no service from the Boro midfield and the Norwich defence were not allowing him any space to turn and run at them.

On the 43rd minute Baker produced his first piece of productive football by having a great strike at goal but this was saved easily by Gunn.

Traore was having an excellent game and even ran back 2/3rds of the pitch to make a last-ditch tackle near the Boro penalty area, saving an awkward situation which was wholly appreciated by the crowd.

We had not seen much of Johnson in this half and he was was quiet and seemed to be well shackled by the Norwich defence.

Second Half Period

There were no changes at the start of the second half and indeed the first piece of action came from a Norwich strike at goal from Jerome which was smartly saved by Randolph which was only the second shot Norwich had on target, the first being the goal.

In the 53rd minute Johnson and Traore started swapping wings as each of them looked for a fresh breakthrough for getting crosses into the box. Howson was trying to put some impetus into the play and beat four men before being hacked down on the half way line resulting in a free kick to Boro.

Norwich stepped up their time-wasting efforts as the clock ticked on and it was obvious that changes had to be made to the Boro line up.

Fletcher came on for Clayton in the 60th minute and Baker moved back to a more central role and Howson sheltered the defence. Just after the substitution another free kick was taken by Baker which was collected easily by Gunn. On the 65th minute Traore went on another mazy run, beat three men and shot at goal. Boro were finding it difficult to beat this well marshalled defence and a promising young goalkeeper.

Johnson was starting to find gaps on the wing and sent over inviting crosses which were met by Britt who inexplicably directed headers straight at the keeper each time without the keeper moving to save.

Fry was beaten in the air quite a few times by Jerome who seemed to have the measure of our young centre back during the game.

On 69 minutes Gary Monk went for another substitution taking off Fabio and bringing on Martin Braithwaite. Johnson reverted to a position of a wing back to take Fabio’s place and Boro were playing with a back three.Johnson and Braithwaite showed a promising understanding and on the 72nd minute Johnson put over an inviting cross which was met by Britt and… you’ve guessed it, went straight to the keeper in the middle of the goal.

In the 79th minute Traore was surprisingly brought off to cheers from the partisan crowd of 24,084 and substituted by Bamford who moved over to the right wing. Fletcher and Bamford showed good movement and were constantly interchanging positions from centre forward to right wing in an attempt to create space and confuse the Norwich defence.

Pressure was now constantly being applied by Boro and on the 86th minute a hard drive from Baker sailed over the bar and in the 87th minute Bamford headed over from a Baker corner.

In the 89th minute another corner into the box resulted in strong claims for a penalty when a Norwich defender clearly put his arm around Britt’s neck and prevented him from having a shot on goal.

The fourth official signalled 5 minutes of extra time and the Boro redoubled their efforts to snatch an equaliser. A free kick into the box was deflected by the head of a Norwich defender and was heading for goal only for the keeper to make a magnificent save and flick it over for another corner.

The Boro crowd were gradually dispersing prior to the final whistle and we can only hope that our next home game will result in three points.

Boro attempt to get back on song
as the Canaries visit Riverside

Boro host Norwich on Tuesday evening as they look to consolidate their position in the playoff zone with the first of two home games before yet another international break. The Teessiders are attempting to mine another three precious points from the Championship coalface and the crowd will be expecting Garry Monk will come out on top when he pits himself against his German counterpart Daniel Farke. Whilst avoiding complacency is paramount, hopefully Boro won’t need to dig too deep for victory and the Canaries won’t act as an early warning sign that the refreshing early air of optimism at the Riverside is not in danger of turning slightly poisonous.

Norwich have tightened up at the back of late after conceding four in two successive away defeats at Villa and Millwall – they are now unbeaten in their last four games with two wins and two draws without conceding but have only found the net twice in this mean mini-run. It will also be a return to the Riverside for a couple of old boys in Yanic Wildschut and James Husband – neither of whom will think they got much of a crack at nailing down a place at Boro and will no doubt be keen to prove the club wrong. This will be the first meeting of the clubs since the Canaries beat us 2-0 in that play-off final at Wembley back in 2015 – Boro were slow out of the blocks on that day and were left chasing the game after going two-down after only a quarter of an hour. So no slow starts please and no slow coaches either!

Middlesbrough		Norwich City
Gary Monk		Daniel Farke
P9 – W4 – D3 – L2 – F11 – A6		P9 – W3 – D3 – L3 – F8 – A12
Position Points Points per game Projected points	6th 15 1.67 77	Position Points Points per game Projected points	13th 12 1.33 61
Last 6 Games Fulham (A) QPR (H) Aston Villa (A) Bolton (A) Preston (H) Forest (A)	F-T (H-T) 1:1 (0-0) D 3:2 (1:1) W 0:0 (0:0) D 3:0 (1:0) W 0:0 (0:0) D 1:2 (0:1) L	Last 6 Games Bristol City (H) Sheff Utd (A) Burton (H) Birmingham (H) Millwall (A) Aston Villa (A)	F-T (H-T) 0:0 (0:0) D 1:0 (1:0) W 0:0 (0:0) D 1:0 (1:0) W 0:4 (0:3) L 2:4 (0:2) L

Tuesday’s game takes us to the ten game mark and this milestone will allow the Boro faithful to start making assessments on whether the club are on course for their promotion objective without appearing too hasty. A win will take the points-per-game average closer to that holy grail figure of the golden number two that is required to be anointed as near enough nailed-on automatic promotion candidates. That of course would give you 92 points but the average number of points for the club finishing second in the Championship in the last ten years is actually just under 87.

Though if the objective is finishing above third spot then that requirement drops to needing just 83 points on average – the highest third place points total was in fact 89 when Brighton lost out to Boro on goal difference in our promotion two years ago and the next best is 86 points, which was achieved just twice by West Ham and Norwich. After all that statistical rambling through the last ten years of the Championship we can probably say a safe bet target for automatic promotion is 87 points, an average of 1.89 points per game – OK let’s round it up to 2 to make it easier, so it’s basically as you were folks!

Automatic promotion points target
Season	3rd Place Team	Points
2016-17	Reading	85
2015-16	Brighton	89
2014-15	Norwich	86
2013-14	Derby	85
2012-13	Watford	77
2011-12	West Ham	86
2010-11	Swansea	80
2009-10	Forest	79
2008-09	Sheff Utd	80
2007-08	Hull	75
Average points total		82.2
Average points per game		1.79

The obvious selection issue for Garry Monk tomorrow is the availability of Adam Traore once more after serving out his three-match ban – given his form before being sent off, you’d expect him to come straight back into the starting XI. The return of the Boro power-house will probably see Bamford being returned to the bench unless he’s given a position somewhere else – and that would mean his manager dropping one of either Baker, Johnson or Assombalonga. The problem for Paddy is that his Fulham performance didn’t shout at Monk that he was undroppable – OK, Johnson also had a quiet game by his recent standards and neither Baker or Assombalonga made a telling contribution. Nevertheless, I would expect Monk would quite like to see both Johnson and Adama running at the Norwich defence – the question then becomes whether Baker is the best choice to get on the end of the potential service or could he decide on Bamford in the number ten role? It’s also a possibility that Braithwaite may be ready for the bench following his layoff and he could yet prove to be first choice in the central attacking role.

There are also a couple of other issue that need addressing in terms of selection – Fabio left the field suffering from calf problems that appeared to be just severe cramp, though his performance was probably below par defensively and perhaps Friend will get the nod instead. In midfield, former Norwich player Howson had his best game in a Boro shirt and with Leadbitter still feeling the effects of an earlier knock it’s likely he’ll retain his place alongside Clayton to face his old club – though many are perhaps a little hesitant given the displays of other Boro players against their old clubs.

So come the final whistle will the Boro supporters be singing like canaries after Boro start flying up the table or will the Riverside faithful be spitting feathers after having victory plucked from their grasp? As usual your predictions for score, scorers and team selection – plus will  Jonny Howson try to out-do Assombalonga and Adama by missing a few sitters and getting a red card against his old club?

Fulham		Middlesbrough
Kamara	86′	Christie	88′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	62% 11  4  6 16	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	38% 13  3  3  8

Reds roar back in late Cottage comeback

On Thursday our Manager described the trip to Craven Cottage as a tough test and that he believed Fulham were the best side he faced last season with Leeds, even better than eventual Champions Newcastle. On paper and with the Bookies Fulham were favourites for a Play Off spot as a minimum this season if not in fact an automatic promotion spot. Consider that Slavisa Jokanovic was coveted by many on Teesside prior to Monk’s arrival which in itself is testimony to how tough a game this was going to be.

Sat just 4 points behind Boro prior to Kick Off but in fourteenth place they like Boro had only lost two games but had become prone to drawing too many so whilst their present position was mid table their ability in not getting beat was still strong. That said they lost 2-1 to struggling Burton in their last outing so thus far their season hasn’t quite hit the anticipated heights of last season. Contrast that to a Boro side that had been unbeaten in six games with the last defeat coming away to Forest when Britt should have had a hat trick, a Boro side on a roll and looking like they were starting to click. Arguments on Teesside had been about who should be starting rather than who should be dropped. The problem GM had was that he only had eleven shirts to hand out and that was without considering Braithwaite, Gestede and Traore.

The line-up announced at 2.00pm saw Bamford installed and Johnson preferred ahead of Downing on the left flank. Baker was presumably in the No.10 role and Howson had started in place of Grant who presumably was kept on the bench to tighten things up if needed. Clayts returned in the middle of the park, restored after his suspension and hopefully refreshed.

As it was we went with a 442. Britt and Bamford were up front with Baker right and Johnson left. It was Baker to first show intent with a shot in the opening seconds, then Bamford with an early header straight at Button shortly followed by another Baker effort fired in from just outside the box forcing Button to get a hand to it putting it over the bar for the first Boro corner. Christie was then yellow carded early on for a foul on the seventeen year old Sessegnon. The resulting free kick saw Randolph just getting his gloves to a near post ball to prevent Norwood opening the scoring. A few minutes later and Randolph again had to be quick to get down, this time keeping Ayite’s low effort out.

The game was getting feisty with a few firm challenges going in and Boro were looking a bit sloppy or was it perhaps “clunky”? Fulham were now looking lively with none livelier than the young lad Sessegnon. Johnson for Boro went close against the run of play with an effort just past the post as he rounded former Boro loanee Fredericks. Norwood then had an attempt that fortunately went wide of the Boro goal as Randolph looked well beaten. Ten minutes remaining of the first half and Boro needed an answer to Fulham’s pace and movement to build some pressure of their own and give themselves relief. Fulham had a weak penalty appeal for a challenge by Clayton and as the pressure continued the ball flashed across the Boro goal seconds later by that lad Sessegnon again. A few minutes before the half time whistle Ayite went off presumably injured for Fulham with Kebano taking his place. Boro had a couple of forays at the other end as the half ran down but with nothing much to get excited about. Norwood then again came close with only seconds remaining to remind us that we hadn’t reached half time with a clean sheet just yet. Boro ended the half with a wasted free kick which Gibson hoofed up field but Bamford was on another wavelength as the ball sailed out of play.

My take on that first half was that Garry Monk’s praise about Fulham being the best side last Season had more than just a ring of believability. Fulham had a grip on the game, they were playing good football and Boro just couldn’t impose their game on the Cottagers as their pace and movement were causing us issues. Bamford hadn’t really got into the game as much as he would have wished but on a positive Howson seemed sharp and read the game well, looking far more confident than his early August appearances. Our left flank was looking a bit suspect as Johnson sometimes left Fabio exposed and he didn’t exert the same offensive pressure on the Fulham defence as his opponents.

No changes at half time and both sides had a couple of early opportunities after the restart but not enough to cause either Keeper major concerns. Christie was tackled in the box but it wasn’t close enough to launch a serious penalty appeal. Randolph then spared Ben Gibson’s blushes as he played a weak ball back to his keeper who fortunately was alert and cleared the self-inflicted danger. As the game approached the 60thminute the White shirts were still in the ascendency and Boro were becoming more frustrated as McDonald escaped a second yellow for the second time after being booked in the first half. The ensuing free kick ultimately ended with a scramble in the Fulham box and a Howson shot which sailed well over from the player who was definitely one of the best in a Red shirt so far.

There was a period of more fight and graft from Boro as Fulham kept on pushing but the Boro were showing intent of their own. The youngster Sessegnon and his colleagues were certainly not giving up and kept causing consternation amongst the 3,000 or so visitors occupying half a stand behind Button’s goal. Some eccentric Refereeing throughout the afternoon was proving irksome to Boro as nothing seemed to be going the Teesside’s way and none worse than when a White shirt threw himself to the grass in front of Dael Fry winning a ridiculous free kick from which Norwood again blasted the ball towards Randolph’s goal which fizzed past.

Norwood into the action again clattered into Baker leaving him floored but the Ref saw nothing and gave nothing. Boro then broke with Britt charging up field and laid it on to Bamford who smashed it into the side netting with the consequential net ripples causing a millisecond of false excitement. Johnson then came close just after as Boro had now started to get some momentum going. Whether it was as a consequence of Boro getting a foot in the game or a tactical ploy Jokanovic then made a substitution.

Boro were then forced to attend to Fabio as he pulled up, looked in pain and to be going off but seemingly just needed a bit of physio and a swig of a sports drink much to everyone’s surprise. The Travelling army’s hopes were that our current favourite Brazilian wasn’t going to become a liability if soldiering on, a cross he put in soon after the treatment seemed to indicate that he was OK. As was the nature of the game then Fulham should have opened the scoring as they broke and Kamara missed a sitter from 6 yards out when scoring was easier with only Randolph to beat. That breakout seemed to be the cue for Fabio to give up his task as George came on in a double substitution with Fletcher who came on for Bamford who hadn’t really lived up to his billing on the day.

With ten to go Fulham applied more pressure as they went for all three points but Boro stood firm, sitting deep, defending for their lives. Kebana kicked Clayton which bought some much needed relief for Boro as we launched an attack via George on the left which asked a few questions of the Fulham defence but Assombalonga wandered off side and in doing so handed the initiative back to Fulham. The next break saw Oji leave a despairing Howson, play in Sessegnon who drove the ball to the byline, past Christie, put a cross in to Kamara who beat static and stationary Gibson and Friend to nod home.

GM was preparing a late substitution and with seconds of the 90 minutes now remaining Boro immediately went up the other end and won a corner. After a scramble in the Fulham box via a sliced clearance Howson lumped it back in with Friend challenging for a header the ball broke to Fletcher whose scuffed shot was deflected into the path of Cyrus Christie who scored to make it 1-1 in front of the delirious Boro army. GM then made his change with Britt coming off for Stuart Downing leaving the pace of Fletcher up front on his own and putting the wisdom of Downing into the fray, all this on 88 minutes! The 4th Official then declared that there would be five more minutes. Both sides clearly felt this game was winnable and that more opportunities would present themselves but Boro had their tails up. Downing started pinging the ball about and Fulham started to look very suspect at the back as Baker tried an effort and then Downing following up.

As Fulham cleared their area Downing then won the ball from Sessegnon, sent Baker free who was cut down and a free kick awarded to Boro with Baker himself taking it. Red shirts piled into the box, Fletcher missed it and then George desperately flung himself at it and that was the last chance for either side to take all three points. 1-1 it ended honours even. Fulham played some good football but Boro fought and could have nicked it at the death but psychologically importantly our unbeaten run deservedly continues

As the fixture list was published this game was one we would have gladly taken a point from, we didn’t see a flowing Boro by any means but once again we seen a fighting Boro and a Boro that once again came from behind to draw level and very nearly nick it. Our football was intelligent despite the hectic nature of the game and while it was frustrating to see Cardiff, Leeds and Wolves win it has to be considered that this was a good result on the day.

A worry for me is Ben who seems to have very uncharacteristically lost his mojo with a few ricks appearing in his game of late. MOM was Howson, Christie ran him a very close second and his goal would have normally seen him nick the award but taking his booking into consideration and allowing Sessegnon to get his cross in for their goal for me Howson just shaded it. Talking of plaudits, Fry again shaded it for me at the back while a special mention goes to Downing who definitely made an impact when he came on, picking out passes and asking questions of Fulham in those closing moments.

Norwich at home on Tuesday night followed by Brentford next Saturday with the mental toughness still intact is massive and this time next week the table could look a lot different.

Boro planning to get away with
win at weekend trip to cottage

After the refreshing midweek reserve game victory in the Thai energy drink cup, Boro get back to the potential Champagne cork-popping business of trying to secure their promotion back among the football pyramid’s elite clubs. Boro head down to London (or even ‘up’ in some eyes given the convention for travelling to the capital city) looking to continue their recent progress up the league (definitely not down). Fulham should prove a good test tomorrow as to whether Boro have started to get the measure of the Championship as our trendy hosts were the runners-up in last season’s play-off final. Incidentally, Garry Monk said in yesterday’s press conference that he thought Fulham were the best team in league last season – though I suspect Newcastle, Brighton and Huddersfield could put another case forward on that particular argument.

Despite Garry Monk’s praise of Fulham they haven’t started the season where they left off last term and have won just two games so far, with only one home victory in the their last game at the Cottage. Though perhaps their form has been masked by playing some of the early season pace-setters and they will be keen to start picking up points. Nevertheless, Fulham under Jokovic are known for playing a tight game so we may not get that many opportunities, so avoiding losing an early goal should be the game plan and Boro need to avoid being too lethargic in their early approach after hearing the referee’s whistle.

Fulham		Middlesbrough
Slavisa Jokovic		Gary Monk
P8 – W2 – D4 – L2 – F8 – A7		P8 – W4 – D2 – L2 – F10 – A5
Position Points Points per game Projected points	14th 10 1.25 58	Position Points Points per game Projected points	7th 14 1.75 80
Last 6 Games Burton (A) Hull (H) Cardiff (H) Ipswich (A) Sheff Wed (H) Leeds (A)	F-T (H-T) 1:2 (1:1) L 2:1 (1:0) W 1:1 (0:0) D 2:0 (1:0) W 0:1 (0:0) L 0:0 (0:0) D	Last 6 Games QPR (H) Aston Villa (A) Bolton (A) Preston (H) Forest (A) Burton (H)	F-T (H-T) 3:2 (1:1) W 0:0 (0:0) D 3:0 (1:0) W 0:0 (0:0) D 1:2 (0:1) L 2:0 (1:0) W

Viewing tomorrow’s venue from the Thames,  it seems somewhat of a misnomer to call this sleek modern metal-clad stadium a cottage – I suspect even Kevin McCloud of Grand Designs fame would struggle with the concept if one of the architectural subjects in his iconic house-porn series claimed something vaguely resembling the Riverside stand was indeed a cottage. Though the origins of Craven Cottage go back several hundred years to the time when it was a royal hunting lodge located in part of the hunting grounds of Anne Boleyn – so let’s hope nobody from Boro gets too nostalgic and loses their head on the pitch this Saturday.

Though the actual cottage from where the stadium derives its name was built in 1780 by Baron Craven, which stood for just over a hundred years before being burnt to the ground. The derelict plot was then discovered by Fulham football club in 1894, who chose it as the place to locate their new ground with the footprint of the former cottage now occupied by the pitch’s centre-circle. After several years of using temporary wooden stands, renowned Scottish football achitect Archibald Leitch (who had previously designed Ibrox) was commissioned to build the two main stands of the stadium at record cost at the time of £15,000. The Stevenage Road Stand (later renamed to the Johnny Haynes Stand after the death of the former Fulham legend) was built with a rather meticulously redbrick facade. With such an eye for detail, it’s quite amusing that Leitch only ended up constructing the Cottage Pavilion Stand because he’d forgotten to include the changing rooms in his plans for the Stevenage Road Stand.

So thankfully the Boro matchday squad have somewhere to change into their kit but Monk faces some tricky decisions on who to include in his eleven. Not an easy task as the Boro boss has declared yesterday that he doesn’t have a ‘Best XI’. In fact, he said there is no such thing, which happily solves another argument on who supporters believe should be starting or not. He’s more of the view that it’s a squad game and it’s only the competition for places that helps to enable the players who are selected to raise their game. I suspect the player on everyone’s lips in terms of starting is Patrick Bamford – who demonstrated once again against Villa that he’s got many of the attributes that Boro will need this season.

However, one currently unbanned journalist in yesterday’s press conference went fishing by quoting Bamford as saying he’d like to play more centrally – he then posed the question of whether the Boro boss would see him playing the rest of the season in the centre rather than out wide. Monk responded curtly to that bait by exclaiming “They’ll play where they’re asked to play” and stared at the questioner for several seconds before bursting out laughing and saying he was only joking. Maybe he was just joking? or perhaps it may have been an insight in to why Bamford hasn’t been picked lately and the Boro manager just jokingly brushed over his irritation with the comfortable media skills he possesses. Truer words spoken in jest and a possible sign of tension between player and manager? Maybe, maybe not as Monk didn’t appear agitated or anything other than relaxed – but perhaps Bamford has knocked on his manager’s door to plead his case, we know he did with Karanka and that didn’t go down well with the Spaniard.

Though Monk went on to explain that there are certain players who have key positions and other players who can play in various positions and wherever they play on the pitch it was important there was a clarity in the way they performed that role. In short it appears Bamford is a flexible option and at the moment his manager believes he has better specialist options in the forward positions – though with Adama, Braithwaite and Gestede to return soon, you wonder if pliable Paddy needs a start tomorrow and has to produce an undroppable performance.

In central defence, it should be Gibson and Fry to play together instead of a half each and you would also expect the ever-present Christie to return to right-back. In theory, Fabio should get the nod at left-back but he didn’t look comfortable defending against QPR and was at fault for the first goal. Whether Friend showed enough in midweek is debatable but I feel he’s more aware in his own box than Fabio.

Clayton should get his central midfield berth back after timing his one-game ban to coincide with his rest day in midweek but who plays alongside him may depend on whether Baker remains in his advanced midfield role or not – for instance with Bamford eyeing the number ten role and Braithwaite due to be back in contention next week, it may be time for the Chelsea loanee to be playing a little deeper. It’s quite possible that Leadbitter will be preferred as added security for a tough away game but he may still be feeling the knock against QPR.

With Adama still missing then Johnston is the man to provide the pace on the left with his penchant for cutting inside – plus he was probably MOTM against The Hoops and looks to be quite a bargain on his current showings. Assombalonga will also surely start as the striker of choice and that leaves the question of who plays on the right. Downing has normally been favoured to start games but is still yet to show that he can make a significant impact – though Bamford may end up on the right if Monk chooses other options in the more central striking roles and Fletcher is also an option too. Something a little more left-field on the right could be Christie in a more advanced role with the impressive Connor Roberts playing at right-back – the Republic of Ireland international has shown some good pace and trickery going forward and wouldn’t look too out of place in a more attacking role.

So will Boro lay the foundations at the Cottage for a continued promotion challenge and build on their recent good results? Or will Jokanovic’s men demolish our hopes with some promotion-wrecking balls knocking over our recent progress. As usual your predictions for score, scorers and team selection – plus should Randolph opt to go up into Fulham’s box for a Boro corner if the score is 3-3 in injury time?

Aston Villa		Middlesbrough
		Bamford	58′ (pen) 67′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	41% 8 1 8 8	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	59% 12 3 4 16

Bamford Brace empty Villa Cup hopes

A much changed look to both sides as Steve Bruce made 11 changes to Garry Monk’s 10 in front of a desolate looking Villa Park that had the atmosphere of a reserve match rather than a Cup tie with 11,000 attendees rattling and echoing around the famous old stadium. Wing and Tavernier were the biggest not so surprising surprise inclusions for Boro but probably not half as surprising as the involvement of the Championship’s forgotten goal machine, Ross McCormack who presumably had finally managed to either find the keys to his mansions gates or Steve Bruce’s heart. The desperado came on in the first half for the man who should have been suspended Henri Lansbury but based upon Lansbury’s forty minutes or so on the pitch Steve Bruce probably wished his red card hadn’t been rescinded after all.

It was Villa who first looked like they might get something from the game as a free kick drifted in from the left was headed by Elphick unimpeded into Dimi’s goal. Fortunately the eagle eyed linesman on the far side flagged for an offside to save Boro blushes. The first half itself was fairly uneventful, the best moment when Wing shrugged off the attention of three Villa midfielders to thread a ball out to Roberts wide right who advanced and crossed into the box for Bamford to rise up and hit the crossbar with a perfectly timed if not angled header. Had it gone in it would have been just reward as Boro were the more balanced, composed and threatening of the two “reserve” teams on display.

To think of where Wing and Tavernier normally play their football they did not look out of place and based on tonight’s performances from the pair of them they look ready to do duty in the Championship if called upon. Only Ben Gibson remained from Saturday’s line up against QPR and he himself was duly replaced/rotated with Dael Fry at half time to evenly share the exertions alongside Ayala who managed the full 90 minutes and who fancied a few chances at corners all evening. George was restored at Left Back with Roberts as mentioned previously on the Right side. Howson and Forshaw got more game time in midfield and to be fair looked comfortable throughout. It was that man Wing again from a similar position in the middle of the park who teed up Forshaw for a 25 yard speculative strike which was parried away by Steer in the Villa goal with Tavernier flashing the rebound into the side netting. Fletcher and Bamford provided the attacking threat though it was Bamford who looked by far the more likely to score.

In the second half it was that man Wing again this time feeding Paddy with a beautifully weighted 20 yard ball bypassing Elphick to send Paddy through leaving the despairing Villa CB with no other option than to execute a trip just as Paddy entered the box. It was a penalty and a second yellow for the ex-Bournemouth man as he had earlier received a caution for upending George. Cool as you like Paddy stepped up and a left footed dink down the middle was enough to open the scoring. 1-0 and Boro were well deserving of their lead. I said before the game slightly tongue in cheek that Paddy if given a start needed a hat trick to give Garry Monk something to think about. Just as it entered my mind obligingly this time Tavernier sent in a cross from the left with Bamford ghosting in at the back of the 6 yard box to rise and bag his second goal of the night. Whilst he didn’t quite make it a hat trick he came darn close enough with his first half header to have almost made it a reality.

Downing had come on previously to replace Wing who was looking tired understandably to a chorus of boos from the smattering of Villa fans to be buoyed by “He’s one of our own” from the few hundred Boro fans who should be given first choice of tickets should we eventually go on to achieve the ridiculous. Tavernier thought he had made it three for Boro when he had his close range effort saved on the line which looked about as far over it as Johnson’s cross did on Saturday so I guess some of them you win but I’m happy to not get the benefit when 2-0 up and cruising against ten men! Miller came on for the last ten minutes or so as Monk made his last substitution of the evening to give the lad a run out. Speaking of run outs by this stage apart from the Boro fans just about the entirety of the ground had run out when Boro’s second went in with the Holte end eerily deserted.

All in all a very effective evening which had a few perhaps overly confident Boro moments in the game which is really scraping the barrel when looking for something negative. This side tonight looked as though they could compete quite favourably at the top end of the Championship themselves especially Wing and Tavernier. MOM has to go to Paddy for his two goals and near miss but I wouldn’t put up a strong argument if Wing received the accolade. The Coach trip back North must have been a content relaxing ride for the squad as they now enter the last 16 of the Carabou Cup. Who Boro will draw will be revealed on Wednesday night when its probably drawn out of a Yaks intestine in a remote corner of the middle of nowhere with more entertaining “pairing” errors than a Sunderland back line.

Middlesbrough		Queens Park Rangers
Baker Fletcher Assombalonga	36′ 55′ 60′	Wheeler	2′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	64% 16 8 6 17	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	36% 10 2 1 14

Slow starting Boro nearly shoot themselves in the foot

The answer to the question on every Boro fans lips before Kick Off was Marvin Johnstone. The lad from Oxford got his first start as Adama’s replacement in the line-up. Rangers lined up at the Kick Off with a rather unconventional lopsided approach where they heavily loaded the right hand side of the pitch in a tactic more akin to the egg shaped ball than football. Whatever the logic was it certainly caused confusion with Boro as we started the game almost comatose and paid the price almost immediately and losing our home clean sheet record in the process. Ian Holloway had barely taken his seat when he had to jump up as David Wheeler (also making his first start) slipped in behind a sleeping Fabio to poke home from close range just outside the 6 yard box from a scuffed Freeman attempt. The goal came even quicker than Adama’s sending off on Tuesday night a consequence of very poor uncharacteristic defending from the midfield right through to the CB’s and Fabio.

Frustration set in quickly as Boro laboured away passing the ball around, invariably hanging onto it for too long, conceding possession and giving QPR reason for hope on far too many occasions. Hollway set his team up to chase, close down and not let us get into any stride and so we found ourselves scrambling back chasing hooped shirts when they picked off predictable. This wasn’t going to script and the frustration in the Riverside was building as gamesmanship was pushed to the limit seemingly unnoticed by Referee Darren Bond until the crowd started to boo, whistle and jeer every time a Rangers player rolled on the turf or took an eternity with throw ins with Smithies constantly supposedly undecided what side of the box to take his goal kicks from.

It was niggly and very scrappy which of course was exactly Ian Holloway’s game plan. There were long periods of head tennis which is ideal when you are playing against a Championship side having just spent £40 million thereby keeping the ball off the ground where skills may have more of an influence. It was typical Championship grind, lots of huffing and puffing with little class on display apart from Magic Marvin who lifted Boro hopes with a few darting runs to cause some consternation for Ranger’s defence. Just ten minutes from the half time whistle it was from such a run that Marvin carved an opening in the middle of the pitch and drove at the defence with Assombalonga just in front of him receiving attention but Johnson somehow noted the run of baker on the opposite side of the box and cut a tightly angled pass perfectly into the path on Baker who slotted past Smithies despairingly diving at his feet restoring some respect and allowed us to go again after the break.

The second half kicked off with a few substitutions from both sides with Fletcher coming on for Clayton who had earned himself a yellow in the first half besides his partnership with Grant just wasn’t working for us today. We were too slow and ponderous in the middle instead of the two of them breaking up and closing down we were getting picked apart and passing ourselves back into trouble. Fletcher would obviously add some much needed pace and an outlet to ping balls up to. As a tactic it made sense but once again we started with our heads still in the changing rooms. Inexplicably Gibson and Randolph were guilty of a comedic piece of defending as Gibson was waiting for Randolph to sprint out and clear it and Randolph I think was expecting Ben to hoof it cross field. The momentary hesitation was enough to induce panic and when Randolph did eventually make contact with the ball on the edge of his 18 yard box he hit it straight off Mackie who couldn’t believe it when the ball ricocheted back in front of him with a clear goal in sight. 2-1 and once again we had gifted a really soft stupid goal worryingly from the two players on the Pitch we would normally have the most confidence in.

Having given ourselves another mountain to climb and Ranger’s reverting back to time wasting and delaying tactics at every opportunity the afternoon was not going to plan and once again the frustration levels were building just as fast as the sun was dipping behind the West Stand.  The goal however seemed to galvanise Boro who then went for it and gone was the slow tempo build up that had been so evident in the first half to new levels of energy and pace which Johnson and now Fletcher offered. It was the latter of those two who latched his head onto a perfect left footed Christie cross to head home the equalizer for the second time this afternoon. 2-2 and the Riverside started to rock as belief started to grow that despite the opposition’s tactic’s class was beginning to show.

Fletcher was making a difference not just because of his goal but his chasing and running was starting to put QPR on the back foot and now started looking vulnerable. Boro had their tails up for the first time in the afternoon but Grant had managed to crock himself in a 50/50 challenge forcing Howson to come on in place of him. It was strange and perhaps fortuitous that without our best midfield pairing Howson and Baker showed a lot more intent and positivity and we started looking the more likely to get something more than just a point from the game. For me both of them had their best games to date in a Boro shirt.

On the hour mark Magic Johnson flew down the left flank cutting into the box and with the ball bobbling on the by-line managed to lob a perfect cross onto the head of Assombalonga who headed home from nigh on the same spot that Fletcher had scored not long before. The theatrics from Holloway and his charges took tantrums to a new level. At this stage Boro should have went on and scored two more in what is now becoming a trademark for this side in missing gilt edged chances. Britt was clean through but blasted high and wide when scoring or at least getting it on target would have been much easier. A ball worked across the Rangers box seen chaos ensue with Fletcher coming in at the far post only to see his effort from two yards out get deflected off a last gasp defender on the line via the upright and away to safety. Rangers were rocking and ironically now started complaining vociferously to the Referee for Boro now starting to run the clock down.

With Boro now taking the lead the Hoops did fight back trying to launch it via Robertsons long throw ins but Boro stood firm running the ball into the corners of the pitch in an effort to exhaust the six minutes of added time which had been as a consequence of Ranger’s earlier time wasting. Wszolek came close to nicking a point for the visitors but his effort crashed off the post with Boro hearts in mouths.

A less than convincing performance with only a twenty minute second half purple patch giving Boro the required points to send us hurtling up the table (made all the sweeter with Leeds losing at the Den) closing the gap to top to only three points. The end result was the one we all desperately wanted before Kick Off but we made very hard work of it. The game was a mixture of the Wolves clanger times two and the Preston performance. These stodgy unconvincing starts need to be cut out with energy levels wound up before taking the pitch. Man of the match should go to Johnson but a special mention also for Assombalonga for his selfless running along with Fletcher for adding a credible bit of spirit, Cyrus Christie again was Mr Consistent and delivered dangerous balls in for the Strikers to feed off.

Seven points from three games in a week with two of them away from home is a credible return but today was far from convincing for huge spells but the most annoying aspect was that not for the first time we put ourselves in that situation. If we can cut out shooting ourselves in the foot then we may smash this league after all.

Monk aims to jump through hoops

After two games on the road Boro entertain Queens Park Rangers who are currently positioned just one place below in the table on goal difference. Garry Monk claimed in his press conference on Thursday that the Championship is probably one of the most competitive leagues in football and any team can beat any other – though his plan is to make the Riverside a fortress, which should come in handy if we see a similar display to the one witnessed by Sheffield United’s fans back in August.

The two teams look evenly matched on paper, though the Hoops have not won on their travels this season with just one point picked up at Sheffield Wednesday. However, in their last match QPR set a season’s record best with 31 shots on goal against Millwall, though only two of them troubled the scoreboard. Boro have yet to concede a goal at the Riverside so the supporters will be expecting to see all three points banked. In fact Boro have an opportunity to close the gap on their rivals above them with three home games from the next four in the league.

Middlesbrough		Queens Park Rangers
Garry Monk		Ian Holloway
P7 – W3 – D2 – L2 – F7 – A3		P7 – W3 – D2 – L2 – F10 – A9
Position Points Points per game Projected points	9th 11 1.57 72	Position Points Points per game Projected points	10th 11 1.57 72
Aston Villa (A) Bolton (A) Preston (H) Forest (A) Burton (H) Sheff Utd (H)	0:0 (0:0) D 3:0 (1:0) W 0:0 (0:0) D 1:2 (0:1) L 2:0 (1:0) W 1:0 (1:0) W	Millwall (H) Ipswich (H) Cardiff (A) Hull (H) Norwich (A) Sheff Wed (A)	2:2 (0:1) D 2:1 (1:0) W 1:2 (1:2) L 2:1 (0:1) W 0:2 (0:0) L 1:1 (1:0) D

Garry Monk has some decisions to make on who to play on Saturday, Adama Traore is starting the first of his three match ban for his over-exuberant block of a clearance in the opening minutes at Villa, which left the officials and the FA appeals panel unmoved on deciding it deserved a straight red – unfortunately Golden Globe nominee Conor Hourihane was not similarly unmoved by the Boro forward as our man attempted the tricky manoeuvre at full tilt on a slippy pitch.

Only three Boro players have appeared on the pitch for the duration this season, Randolph, Gibson and Christie – though Fry seems to have cemented his place as first choice partner for Ben after Ayala missed out through injury. Fabio has been given the left-back slot ahead of Friend but hasn’t been totally convincing and it may be that both will alternate until one of them finds some consistency.

You’d expect to see Leadbitter and Clayton continue in central midfield given their last two commanding performances and Assombalonga is probably nailed on to get the main strikers role. All of which leaves the decision of who will be selected in the three supporting forward roles. Surely Bamford will get his chance after missing out on the last three games, it seems something of a mystery given his displays prior to being dropped.

Downing has started the last two games but hasn’t really looked convincing and doesn’t appear to have made any major contribution – he may be the highest paid player on the books but that’s not looking good value at the moment. It’s quite possible that Johnson will get a start as Boro need some pace on the pitch in Adama’s absence and perhaps Baker will continue in his advanced midfield role – but again it’s still a work in progress for him and others so nothing looks cast in stone.

The table below shows the stats on the squad this season, players shown in red are unavailable, with those in yellow doubtful – indeed Braithwaite is generally leaning more towards unavailable but you never know if he could be a surprise inclusion on the bench.

Player	Mins	Starts	Sub-On	Subbed	Goals	Yellow	Red
GOALKEEPERS
Darren Randolph	630	7	–	–	–	–	–
Mejías	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Dimi Konstantopoulos	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
DEFENDERS
Cyrus Christie	630	7	–	–	–	1	–
Ben Gibson	630	7	–	–	1	1	–
Dael Fry	540	6	–	–	–	1	–
George Friend	415	5	–	1	–	1	–
Fábio	270	3	–	–	–	–	–
Daniel Ayala	90	1	–	–	–	–	–
Connor Roberts	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Ryan Shotton	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
MIDFIELDERS
Adam Clayton	617	7	–	1	–	4	–
Jonny Howson	459	5	1	1	–	–	–
Lewis Baker	305	3	3	2	–	–	–
Adam Forshaw	216	3	1	3	–	1	–
Grant Leadbitter	168	2	1	1	–	–	–
FORWARDS
Britt Assombalonga	611	7	–	2	4	1	–
Rudy Gestede	340	4	1	2	1	–	–
Patrick Bamford	311	3	3	2	–	–	–
Stewart Downing	144	2	1	2	–	–	–
Adama Traoré	143	2	2	1	–	1	1
Ashley Fletcher	104	1	5	1	–	–	–
Martin Braithwaite	90	1	–	–	–	–	–
Marvin Johnson	66	–	2	–	1	–	–

So will Boro be cock-a-hoop after claiming all three points to awaken our season or will we be left feeling our promotion chances are becoming nothing but a hoopless dream. As usual predictions on score, scorers and team selection – plus will the players be sporting blond hair with justice for Adama T-shirts in solidarity with the Boro’s derailed express train.

Forever Dormo has put his thoughts together to assess where relegation has left the club following our disappointing season in the Premier League.

The table doesn’t lie. We might have been unlucky in this incident (failure to be given a penalty at Anfield, unfortunate to concede one against Man City at home etc), but that is not the reason for our relegation this season.  We were simply not good enough, not well enough led, and on balance the results over the season reflect that.

Defence: We have been for much of the season, and until the game was almost up, fairly solid at the back.  That is partly due to being spectacularly unadventurous further upfield.  Of course the defence had been a mark of quality in the club over the past two seasons in the Championship and proved adequate early on in the Premier League season but, with injuries, and as shackles were removed when the team was up against it in the last couple of months and there was a pressing need to take more risks, the defence became more porous.  Of course other Premier League teams had, by then, more opportunity to see the weaknesses and take advantage.

Fabio has generally be good(ish), Friend has had his season disrupted by injury  after struggling to come to terms with the division at the start of the season, then improving before injury, then struggling again when brought back, but he always tries and is easily good enough in the Championship where, if uninjured, he should be one of the better players next season.  Ayala is to fitness what I am to ballet dancing and I am not convinced he is a Premier League player but again, if we could see him regularly, he will also be a very good Championship player next season.  Chambers has been good and might be a better centre half than a full back, but he will already be back in London as we speak, probably wanting a chat with Mr Wenger about his prospects next year.  Ben Gibson, apart from a couple of wobbly games, has been our most consistent performer.  He is clearly a leader on the field,  a very competent Premier League player and I think could easily fit into one of the top teams. He will improve further.  He can hold his head up high and be proud of his achievements this season and few Boro fans would begrudge him if he moved away to fulfill his England ambitions.

Midfield: It is no surprise that our “holding midfielders” were able to perform creditably earlier in the season, but there has been virtually no spark or invention, or attacking intent in the team.  If the club had a team bus, it would have been carefully parked.  Clayton has generally been solid.  Leadbitter is not able to be the dominating holding midfielder in the Premier League that he has been in previous years in the division below, but he might be a good squad player next season in the Championship, where, hopefully, we will not see the need to double or treble-up in defensive midfield. Forshaw seemed better a few months ago than he is now. I had expected him to “come on” this season, even at a higher level.

Attack: Up front we have been shot-shy (and if you don’t buy a ticket, you can’t win the Lottery, as they say), with Negredo usually forty yards away from his nearest team mate, and left to plough his own lonely furrow.  If he headed the ball down, there was usually nobody near enough to pick the ball up.  Bamford joined us late on, we are told rather unfit and certainly lacking in game-time in the last 18 months.  He might have been started earlier than he was and we know from previous experience that he can cope well and should score goals in the Championship next season, provided he has a supply.

So far as concerns those who might have been expected to supply the bullets for the lonely chap up front, do we really need to say much about Ramirez?  He obviously has some talent (he jolly well should have for the money paid, and the wages he receives) and there have been rare flashes, but they are far outweighed by dummy-spitting petulance and what seemed to the amateur observer a lot like lack of effort.  He didn’t want to be here after January.   He should never wear the shirt again. Downing may well have had his nose put out of joint by AK making it clear he didn’t have faith in the returned Boro Old Faithful, but even after AK left, and although there were some improved performances from him, Downing must himself have felt disappointed by his general showing. De Roon may have more to him than we first saw evidence of, and he scored SOME goals, but his price seems to have been a gross over valuation.  If he stays, he will improve and will be one of the top Championship players next term.

Goalkeeping: Where do we begin?  Without wishing to be repetitive, when we were promoted we clearly had weaknesses which needed strengthening – we had been short of goalscoring threat even in the last two seasons in the Championship where we finished the losing play-off finalists and then automatically promoted. The defensive part of the team was a strength and it was up front we needed to acquire quality. So buying TWO goalkeepers was a “surprising” decision (if I might use a neutral word). Valdes struggled in the first two or three months then improved (which, bearing in mind his pedigree and the fortune in wages paid to him, is the least we could have expected), and more recently he has been injured. He never looked likely to control his box.  He can make some saves which, after all, is what keepers are paid to do.  He appeared to have “communication issues” with his defence. He has had sore ribs for some time.  If there was an FA Cup Final or an international game in which he was expecting to play, he WOULD have been fit.  A convenient diplomatic injury if someone doesn’t want to play.  A lot more was expected of him – a poor return.  Guzan?  An embarrassment: three nutmegged goals against Chelsea and then in the next game against Southampton many of his team’s own supporters were encouraging the ref to send him off with a red card following his giving away a penalty.  Maybe Dimi is past it and would have done no better, but we will never know as he wasn’t given the opportunity to appear in the Premier League after he had been a mainstay in the team which got us there. At least he had the confidence of the men in front of him.  Difficult to fathom, and difficult to challenge if the goalkeeping plan had worked, but it did not.

Management: The management is always under scrutiny if a team struggles. But on the one hand there is a team cheaply assembled, giving it a go but falling short, but then regrouping with a view to making another challenge for promotion the next year, a la Burnley who kept their manager and many of their players.  And on the other hand there is a fairly abject, whimpering, surrender (which more accurately described what we have witnessed this season, especially for the last 5 months).  Karanka was probably very fortunate to have been persuaded to return to the club after his walkout before the Charlton game last year, and his position may have been mortally wounded at the time of that return, with relations poisoned between him and many in the changing room he felt had been disloyal and challenging to him.  What we can say about Karanka is that he was overly negative, inflexible and uncommunicative.  He criticised the club’s higher management, the transfer window activity and therefore the players brought in (such as Bamford) and the supporters, and you always know that when a manager rounds on the supporters, his time is almost up. Things were becoming rather toxic before Karanka left the club, and the situation could not be allowed to fester any longer – I suspect most agree the decision to part was taken far too late.  Steve Agnew was handed the poisoned chalice when there was precious little time for any antidote he could find, to take effect. It was a hospital pass. Players say he is a good coach, but obviously that is different to being a manager, but what we do know is that he has the confidence of Steve Gibson, and that he cares deeply about the club (which might not be said about everybody who has been receiving wages from the club in the last year). Some players in the squad, and backroom staff,  may have had sympathies with Karanka and none with Agnew.  We will soon find out whether Steve Gibson’s confidence extends to a season managing in the Championship.

Recruitment: The infamous recruitment set-up……hardly a success. Too ridiculous for words.  How much money have we thrown away? How many of the players brought in will go out for any serious money?  If brought in, but not played, why were they brought in at all?  Does it help if they speak Spanish?  How can we employ a professional footballer who cannot even take a throw in? I don’t want to go on about it or I will sound obsessive.

Why have we seen so little of Fischer (when doubts were expressed about Downing), and Husband (when we had a full back crisis)?  Was it thought that Gestede and Guedioura were Premier League players or was it hoped that they might be useful (in which case why pay so much) next season in the Championship – and for that matter if one eye was being cast over the possibility of relegation surely someone might have thought Nugent and Jordan Rhodes had the pedigree to contribute something there?  What about de Pena?  Is there some mystery to football club management that we, mere mortals, can never understand? Or is it really smoke and mirrors, the blind leading the blind and only the mega-rich billionaires able to fund anything remotely like Premier League success (the miracle of Leicester City being the staggering exception)?

The Chairman: Steve Gibson is the man at the top, where the Buck stops. He knows that.  He must know why key decisions have been made, which promises have been given, and why things have gone wrong.  At least I hope he does because it will be much easier to remedy the situation if you at least know what the problem is. There is a very big decision to be made in the next few days which may well set the tone for what is to follow. Fingers crossed that he makes the right decision.  He has put a lot of money into the club and I am sure he would like to see the club successful as much, if not more, than the rest of us do.

I don’t have all the answers but I do realise there are some questions shouting for attention.  I do not expect to read in a few months time the results of a “deep and searching inquest” into the reasons things turned out as they did.  I don’t expect to be told any secrets from deep within the boardroom.  It might simply be a case that the club or its manager over-estimated the abilities of some of the players, that we underestimated the scale of the task in attempting to stay up in a league where the gap between that and the Championship is increasing, and  that we were simply too passive rather than trying to seize those few chances we had to win other games (like Leicester City and Man Utd away, Stoke, Palace and Watford at home….).  But I do hope that those IN the boardroom know what has happened, and that they have a plan to put it right, otherwise how do we avoid repetition in the future?

I wish Karanka all the best for the future. Initial anger has subsided.  I am sure he would have wanted to be successful, even if he wasn’t able to deliver.  I hope he can learn from what he knows went wrong.  I hope Agnew will be successful whatever his future holds (actually, especially if he is still with the club…!).  Most of all, I would like to enjoy the football next season, and will still dream of promotion again when the season begins, even if that means ANOTHER nervy Premier League season after that, when wins will almost certainly be much rarer again.  At the end of the day, football is a pass-time, an entertainment. It is not life itself even if, when the results go badly, it can sour the weekend and can affect those who love us. If supporters are continually unhappy they will stay away.  I am committed to attending again for ANOTHER three years. It would be nice to enjoy a promotion and more Premier League football within that 3 year time span. There is always hope…

This was originally a long comment on Redcar Red’s match report but I thought it would make an excellent midweek post to facilitate the continuation of the discussion – Werdermouth.