Blog Posts

Championship 2018-19: Week 23

Tue 1 Jan – 15:00: Derby v Boro
Sat 5 Jan – 15:00: Boro v Peterborough (FA Cup)

As Teesside gets ready to head into another new year, the sound of the Boro recruitment department singing merrily “Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never thought upon” is probably more of a ponderous rhetorical question than an act of celebration. As the promotion Champagne remains firmly on ice in his hotel mini-bar, Tony Pulis will be looking to build on his impressive victory over the bottom-of-the-table stuck-in-third-gear Tractor Boys. Off the pitch, the manager is looking to enhance his promotion squad with the kind of quality signings some supporters can only dream about – by which I suspect for many will be of the recurring kind or indeed the deeply disturbing wake up in a cold sweat type.

Nevertheless, a return to winning ways has at least avoided the Boro chairman of the need to start communicating to the faithful in order to bestow the proverbial vote of confidence on his manger after a rather unconvincing three months. In fact Steve Gibson has been remarkably quiet of late and perhaps may be worried that anything he says will be taken out of context after the word “Smash” was misconstrued by some to mean that the team assembled was going to be the best in the league. The mood at the club is now one of caution and the austerity message from the manager to expectant supporters is that “reality must kick in” – which coincidentally is the same message that many unimpressed supporters were hoping would reach their chairman if the team continued to serve up such sterile performances.

The noises coming from the club with regard to finances seems to indicate they will not be throwing money at their number one objective of achieving promotion. It appears there will be no transfer window splurge as the object of the exercise in January will now be to balance the books instead – though not the kind of book balancing you’d normally find in a finishing school as Boro’s ungainly posture in the market is unlikely to be improved by walking upright with a weighty tome of potential targets on their head. As far as I’m aware, there is little evidence to suggest any of the recent debutants at Boro have ever set foot inside a finishing school of any description – in fact I suspect if they did they may possibly risk being expelled.

Incidentally, finishing schools are no longer the exclusive Swiss destination for social-climbing young ladies needing to brush up on their etiquette in order to impress potential well-to-do husbands. Not at all, modern finishing schools are now even aiming to attract men too – with one such institution at the 15th century Lickleyhead Castle in the Scottish highlands advertising that they aim to teach students how to stand, sit and walk with elegance and poise while honing their skills in public speaking, improving dress sense and making small talk.

It actually sounds like it may be something for our own rough-round-the-edges Tony given his reported problem with sitting elegantly in press conferences – plus I’m sure he could also improve his dress sense by being persuaded to ditch his trademark baseball cap. Though presumably that small talk class will hopefully include tips to young women on how to delicately explain to potential husbands that being a graduate of Lickleyhead is not in fact a euphemism. Nevertheless, the school claim to cover important tasks like ironing shirts, sewing on buttons, self defence and basic first aid. It all sounds very useful but it’s not immediately clear what kind of extreme ironing also requires self defence – not unless of course you ruin your wife’s best party dress by adding a few interesting melted triangular features while watching the footy.

In a final act of irony, perhaps Tony Pulis will one day set up a finishing school in his beloved Swiss Alps where students learn to walk tall and improve their poise while standing around waiting for one of those many famous crosses he so enjoys counting. At least the lone strikers should learn how to be experts in small talk as they pass the time chatting with opposition defenders: “Excuse me, you wouldn’t have happened to have seen any of my team-mates around here lately? They promised to join me in the box but that was half-an-hour ago”. No doubt getting an equally courteous reply from the opposition centre-half “Sorry mate, you’re the only one in a red shirt I’ve seen today – besides I think you have to leave now as your bench is holding your number up”.

Although, there is a sense that Boro have decided to live within their means in recent years and the chairman now in his sixties is not as keen on throwing around his money as he was in his exuberant youth. The total spend in our season in the Premier League was estimated in a post-season Gazette article to be around £100m, which was more or less the same as the prize money awarded – meaning most of our turnover of around £20-30m could be seen as profit. Last season we may have spent big but the net spend on transfers was (depending on exact figures) only £5-8m – plus we had £47m parachute payments and perhaps again around £20-30m in turnover. I suspect all quite a modest spending by current Championship standards.

The summer dealing in 2018, as listed by the website Transfermarkt, show the club received around £43m from sales (Adama £18m, Gibson £15.2m, Bamford £7.1m, Fabio £1.8m and Barragan £0.9m) with purchases coming in at just over £19m (Flint £7.2m, Saville £7m and McNair £5.1m) – which gives a profit on spending of around £24m. Boro also received a parachute payment of £35m and again will probably have a turnover in the £20-30m range – it means essentially the club had a headline income this season of around £100m and have so far spent £19m on transfers. It would be surprising if the loans, wage bill and operating costs were as much as £80m, so it’s a little surprising to hear Pulis say he must now balance spending in January – especially as he claimed just before Christmas: “We’re now £30m in profit… we had to take some tough decisions in respect of the finances off the pitch.”

It’s not immediately apparent why the belt had to be tightened, though it could just be that the club are simply planning on the basis of being in the Championship next season without parachute payments and it may mean only committing to only temporary loan signings. The question may be that selling players like Assombalonga in January might see a larger price realised than in the summer. The problem appears to be that other clubs will prefer to take our players like Gestede or Braithwaite on loan rather than buy them. Overall, it feels like Boro have squandered their parachute payment seasons by acquiring over-valued players who have neither performed to the price tag or retained that value – it may also be that these players and those who have been at the club since the previous promotion are on wages that can’t be sustained in the Championship next season.

Interestingly, if that were the case then it would seem sensible to start building a side around the promising youngsters rather than potentially sidelining them by bringing in loan players who may take quite a while to get up to speed – especially given the lack of pitch time some purported targets have. It appears the club have become cautious both on and off the pitch and are hoping this unadventurous low-risk approach will ultimately see them better the opposition. The bigger risk is that this will not galvanise the supporters and the club will lose momentum as it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of creating a stable Championship club for the long term.

New Year’s day sees Boro make the trip to the Midlands to face Frank Lampard’s Derby, with a late double at Norwich seeing them edge the Canaries 4-3 and stay level on points with Tony Pulis’s team. Since the reverse fixture at the end of October, which finished 1-1 thanks to that late Jayden Bogle own-goal that cancelled out George Friend’s earlier one, the Rams have not fared particularly well on home soil. A 3-1 victory over Garry Monk’s Birmingham was followed up with a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Villa and then a 2-1 win against Swansea has only seen two subsequent draws against Forest and Bristol. Boro have picked up quite a decent haul of 20 points on the road this season and have only lost at Norwich and QPR. Whether they can keep a clean sheet against Derby may determine if Boro can add to that impressive tally.

Saturday offers a break from the stresses of keeping up the promotion challenge as they enter the third round of the FA Cup with a home tie against Peterborough United. Although, following defeat to Burton in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup, Boro supporters will not be overly confident of progress to the next round – especially as Posh are similarly placed in 5th place in League One, three points behind Sunderland and seven from the automatic promotion spots. Just like Tuesday’s opponents Derby, Peterborough also scored four in their last game at Accrington but unlike the Rams they kept a clean sheet. We can perhaps console ourselves that they’ve only won three of their last ten games – though they’ve also only lost two of those.

Peterborough are managed by former Rotherham boss Steve Evans, who left the The Millers to become head coach at Leeds, where he lasted just over six months under trigger-happy chairman Massimo Cellino. He then spent 15 months in charge of League Two side Mansfield before taking up the job at Posh. We would normally expect Tony Pulis to utilise his squad for a game against lower-league opposition but much may depend on the outcome against Derby. The Boro manager will not want to lose another home game against League One opposition as his standing with the Riverside faithful is probably at its weakest since he arrived. Perhaps we’ll see both managers making many changes as the name of the game is promotion and the romance of the cup has become more of a swipe left in comparison to making the right moves in the league.

Middlesbrough		Ipswich Town
Hugill Tavernier	37′ (pen) 72′	Reach	10′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	42% 19 9 5 16	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	58% 6 4 3 12

Boro double eases tension

Paul Lambert brought his nothing to lose Tractor Boys to the Riverside this afternoon to meet Tony’s confidence sapped Boro. After a very disappointing Boxing Day Pulis will have probably the best chance of his career to right a wrong in only 72 hours against the division’s worst side bar none seven points adrift from safety. So bad was the negative, dreary borefest served up on Boxing Day that this afternoon surely had to be an improvement with beleaguered home fans now openly hostile.

The Injury situation for Boro was a case of as you were with only Shotts and Gestede out although there were high hopes in the concourse that a few others who started that numbing negative display against the Owls would have picked up “niggles”. The Blues had a few more concerns with Ward, Adeyemi, Huws and Skuse all out. Having won just once on their travels this season and having lost each of their last three away games what could possibly go wrong for Boro? Boro had now recorded just one solitary victory at home in their last eight games whilst the travellers from East Anglia had won just four games in their last thirty six matches across all competitions.

Team news saw a few changes for Boro with Assombalonga, Clayts and McNair “rested” and Saville, Wing and Hugill in along with a surprise appearance for Gestede on the bench. Pre kick off we assumed (wrongly) that there would be a back four but TP threw a surprise and went with a back three of Ayala, Flint and Fry with Howson and Friend providing the width. Besic was cleaning up in front of the back three with Saville and Wing providing the tenacity and drive with Downing positioned to link up the play with Hugill. As a game plan it made sense to a degree but in execution the game started like the Riverside atmosphere, flat and pretty much continued in that vein throughout the first half.

That Stadium atmosphere was like the Prosecco party originally planned for Boxing Day where the bubbles had now gone very flat for the majority of the Riverside faithful. On the positive Howson was looking lively in his role. We had a few early corners as Wing and Howson linked up well and seemed to have developed a level of understanding from the off. Despite Lambert’s claims to the contrary his side actually started deep with Boro enjoying the early pressure with a Downing effort sailing over as the first real serious threat on Dean Gerkin’s goal. It took the Blues just short of fifteen minutes to register an attack when Kenlock fed Sears whose angled effort was denied by Randolph.

Boro were chasing, pressing and closing down Ipswich high up with Gerkin putting his defenders under pressure a few times by playing it out to them. A clever bit of play between Wing and Howson saw the new wing back driving forward, playing in Wing who then fed Hugill but he sliced his shot well wide while running into the box. At least there was movement on display along with some attacking intent. On twenty five minutes Ipswich “earned” a disputed corner after an effort from the Blues went over the crossbar from which Randolph had dangled from with both hands but somehow it was adjudged to have been a save much to the incredulity of the North Stand. From the corner Chambers made a looping header which had Randolph scrambling and managing to get a palm to it to push it clear in what could and would have been a huge miscarriage of justice. That moment was the first time the crowd had really galvanised albeit into abuse to the officials which was the nearest thing to support for the home side the afternoon had witnessed up until that point.

Ipswich were very much looking like a side rooted to the bottom of the league but Boro despite having more possession and playing higher up than normal still looked little better. Randolph was hoofing it down field rather than rolling it out to Ayala and Friend which kept the pressure on Ipswich but also allowed them to sit deep waiting for the next assault. It wasn’t easy on the eye and the stadium was eerily quiet clearly still suffering from the hangover where proceedings had finished against Wednesday. There were a few moans and groans as Besic was chased down by Downes setting Ipswich free again as if to rub salt into raw wounds but Spence fortunately fired over for the Blues. Just over half an hour gone and although powder was being kept dry you felt that unless there was a Boro breakthrough things would not be pleasant come the half time whistle.

A deep free kick delivered by Wing was met at the far post by Ayala and after some panic in the Ipswich defence dropped to Hugill who missed his target handsomely. A few minutes later Saville registered a shot on target albeit straight down Gerkin’s throat and was easily collected but it did register an ironic burst of cheers and overly enthusiastic clapping from the South Stand. Just short of ten minutes until that damning half time whistle and the mood was building but not in a positive way. A minute later TP’s personal Archangel must have intervened as Hugill was adjudged to have been manhandled as he went for a cross and the whistle went for a penalty to Boro. It was one of those “seen them given” but equally “seen them ignored”.

It was the break that Boro needed because despite huffing and puffing they couldn’t find a way to seriously trouble Gerkin. Hugill himself picked up the ball, stepped up and put it to Gerkin’s right as he guessed left and the boil was lanced and “we’ve scored a goal, we’ve scored a goal, we’ve scored a goal, we’ve scored a goal, we’ve scored a goal” echoed around the Riverside. It was only a penalty but the goal starved Teesside faithful were appreciative despite the self-deprecating sing song. As the half ran down, Kenlock chased a ball down our right with Flint running across to cover but caught in two minds allowed the Ipswich attacker to get past and play in Nolan who in turn threaded his pass to the chasing Sears whose shot was saved brilliantly by the advancing Randolph, quick off his line, using his legs, and that frail solitary goal advantage was just maintained by half time.

Things had lightened a little but it was a less than convincing performance from Boro and it was interesting as the sides took to the field for the second half there was muted enthusiasm and encouragement from either the South or North stands. Clearly Boro hadn’t done enough and the fans were definitely reserving judgement. Early in the second half Lewis Wing chased onto a ball flying across the Ipswich box and went 50/50 into a tackle leaving Chambers in apparent agony with the Blues defender coming off much the worse. I suspect mainly because he didn’t expect such a no holds barred challenge from Lewis in that area of the pitch. There must have been a Christmas miracle as Chambers went from being mortally wounded, laid out on his back for several minutes to running back on to the field of play a few seconds after the game resumed.

Boro were still enjoying more possession but in this half they looked to be a little more cutting and balls were flying into the Ipswich goal area. Hugill saw a great chance well saved by Gerken and then moments later Saville seemed to go down in the box after being bundled into by Pennington but this time the Ref waved play on which in fairness was the right decision from my vantage point. Saville looked to be keen to add to his couple of Boro goals to date as a minute earlier he hit an effort well over. After bitterly complaining to the fourth official over the “penner” that wasn’t TP sent on Tav for Stewy in an effort to squeeze that much needed additional goal to ease nerves. Tav immediately got into the game and even managed to get himself booked for a challenge on Spence whilst back defending.

In response on seventy minutes Lambert brought Roberts on for the ineffective Jackson but within a minute of that Tavernier had chased into the box after a lovely weighted and paced long range ball from Howson in the middle of the park to hit a low stretching attempt with the outside of his left boot catching Dean Gerken wrong footed for the ball to sneak in at the near post and its 2-0 to Boro. This time the celebrations were genuine and minus sarcasm and cynicism apart from a few mumbles about what does he need to do to prove himself to TP. You could sense the defeat in the air now in the Ipswich camp as three minutes later Besic burst through and crossed a peach of a ball across the box with Hugill sliding in but he was inches away from connecting.

Lambert then put Dozzell on for Nolan but at this point Ipswich looked resigned to another pointless journey with Boro recording a season double over the Tractor boys. Hugill forced Gerken into a flying save to prevent a third after a great cross from Friend. Clayts came on for Besic who had done OK despite having one or two of those Besic moments that were less than magic in his own half. On arriving almost immediately a corner came into the Ipswich box and Clayts hit a stinging shot forcing Gerken to palm it out and the Keeper having to reposition quickly to smother the follow up. Boro were now playing with confidence and belief since Tav’s arrival and that crucial killer second goal.

Ipswich had a close effort with Roberts heading a Kenlock cross wide but at the other end Wing forced Gerken to replicate Randolph’s earlier save with his legs as Boro were still knocking. Ayala went off for Danny Batth on ninety minutes and in added time another Friend cross saw Hugill meet it with Gerken flying full stretch to claw it out. Literally within seconds Friend himself had a header just over. The game and three points along with it came to a conclusion just as Boro were about to take yet another corner.

The game was dire in the first half, improved from a Boro perspective in the second and when Tav came on we played our best football. Friend was solid and put in some immense challenges and got some good crosses in. Howson was lively and alert down the right and caused problems and Wing was playing intelligent balls for Howson to both run into and onto instead of those dull midfield passes to standing targets. MOM for me was Howson but Randolph kept us in it and Friend was impressive, Wing was a breath of fresh thinking and Tav scored again!

It was also interesting to see Lambert select Kenlock in favour of supposed alleged Boro target Knudsen as the lad done well. Three points won but apart from the last twenty minutes a less than impressive performance. Given the back drop at 3.00pm it was never likely to have been a classic.

Middlesbrough		Sheffield Wednesday
		Reach	10′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	56% 12 3 5 13	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	44% 4 2 1 12

The Pulis that stole Christmas

After a series of ex Boro managers appearing in the fixture list we now have another series (well two in a row) of managerless clubs. That you would hope would be an added advantage but whether it is Typical Boro or just Typical Pulis we couldn’t be sure about this game and certainly far from confident despite lashings of seasonal hope leftover from yesterday. This reverse fixture at the same time last year was momentous for both clubs with the unlikely scenario of both Managers being sacked shortly after the game which Boro won.

Twelve months on and the Owls are on the lookout for a Manager again with rumours of Steve Bruce about to be unveiled. TP meanwhile has “revamped” the Boro squad and transformed things by being four points better off than this time last year prior to kick off. Cynics may say small margins but I guess if it means finishing the season eight points better off come May then it might look more appealing which is more than can be said for the fayre presented at the Riverside of late. History had the sides level pegging with 46 wins each and 18 draws so home advantage should theoretically tip things in Boro’s favour but it’s our away form that is keeping us in the play offs not home form where we have a tendency to choke.

Wednesday had earned a solitary point in their previous five championship outings whilst in their last meetings between the sides Boro had beaten Wednesday five out of six times drawing only once with the South Yorkshiremen. Team news pre kick off was that Bannon would be back for the Owls along with Downing for Boro with Shotton rated doubtful. Lee Bullen had shuffled a few things in his pack since Luhukay departed including restoring veteran Westwood in goal. Pulis had gone with his predicted negative eleven with three Centre backs, McNair deputising for the injured Shotton and fresh from his rest Downing restored to the side in place of Saville. The only major surprise was the inclusion of young Stephen Walker to the bench.

Boro kicked off and immediately went on the attack or more likely it was because Wednesday retreated into ultra-defence mode with nobody venturing over the half way line. The opening ten minutes looked promising as McNair managed to get a few telling crosses in with Wednesday looking nervy at the back and the early signs were that Boro may get something from this game. One of those telling balls led to a Downing shot that was grass height but had Westwood scrambling. On Ten minutes Flint rose above everyone to stretch his neck muscles but directed his header up and over instead of in a downwards trajectory. So far not great but steady from Boro as Lee Bullen just looked more than happy to simply out defend the master Pulis.

The first serious adventure from the Owls came just before the fifteen minute mark as they launched a counter attack. Ex Boro boy Adam Reach cleared it out to Ex Makem Fletcher who found the lively Bannan, who played in Joao sprinting clear down the left wing. After doing all the hard work the final delivered ball from Joao was thankfully a poor one. Immediately after that brief exertion Joao went down off the ball as Boro were attacking and as the ball was being passed around and not for the first time went backwards Besic sportingly played it out on the half way line to allow treatment and as it happened Joao’s removal for Onomah to come on in his place. This seemingly innocuous occurrence and the fact that Joao was the Owls top scorer should have been a positive omen.

That enforced change however meant that Bullen changed things slightly and realising that Boro had no key to the Owls resolute defence started probing a bit more and it didn’t take long for the now influential Bannon to play a peach of a lobbed ball through to Adam Reach running in behind the Boro backline to cheekily and all too easily collect and slip the ball under a suspect looking Randolph from a tight angle. There wasn’t a single celebratory nuance from Reach as he was mobbed by his Owls teammates in front of the North Stand in respect to his former club and fans. As it turned out those few moments of respect and appreciation for the Riverside faithful was the only thing to be appreciative of for the remainder of the entire afternoon.

I have a feeling that that single goal will prove to be a pivotal moment in shaping Boro’s season. Things started to turn scrappy and messy and Clayts was booked shortly afterwards for a “challenge” on Reach fearing another Wednesday break. By the thirty minute mark the Riverside mood had turned from festive to toxic as boos were ringing round greeting every backwards and “recycled” pass from Boro. It wasn’t unanimous by any means but in front of over 30,000 fans it was very clear and very audible with I would guess around 40% of the Boro fans registering their contempt at the farce that just went from bad to worse in front of them.

There were so many negatives in individual performances to overall team selection and tactics that it is extremely difficult to pick out one thing. Assombalonga isn’t and never has been a lone Striker. He was so isolated it was ridiculous and was totally, completely and utterly ineffective. Playing with Three CB’s and two Wing backs with a wall of defensive Midfielders in front of them at home against a side that has been so poor and so out of form that they sacked their Manager was negative beyond any sense or crumb or respectability or credibility. Downing was supposed to be the No.10, the link up man between midfield and Assombalonga but had to drop so deep to try and collect the ball that when he did there was nobody in front of him in central midfield meaning he had to go back or sideways.

There was absolutely nothing on the pitch that looked remotely like taking the game to Wednesday or perhaps more importantly that had the skill and the intent to do so. Friend and Howson did attempt a few dribbles and runs but they ran into walls of defenders with no support. The few times the ball was played anywhere remotely near Assombalonga he was alone, isolated and surrounded by blue and white shirts, crowded and with nobody to lay the ball off to or to create an opening. That said if Britt moved any slower he would have been done for loitering and soliciting. Being honest, I don’t blame him, had I been given such a futile, pointless and thankless task I think I would have walked off the pitch and thrown my shirt at Pulis. Had TP been of Eastern European or Middle East origin he would (and should) have been up before the war crimes commission for the use of chemical weapons such was the stench and putrid affair having to be stomached by the home support.

Worst of all was that while the many disgruntled in their best (and suspect) Rock Island, Bilberry, Alaskan Duck, DYKN and Herbert Dross Christmas refinery were becoming scathing and clearly unimpressed it was obvious that the Players didn’t buy into what was being asked of them either. You could tell they were robotically adhering to instructions that they had no belief in. Everything that could be broken was broken, despondent, clueless, dishevelled, disorganised, lacking shape and discipline the Boxing Day entertainment wasn’t just the leftovers from Christmas day it was the remnants of what the dog threw up after a nicked mince pie too many.

There was a penalty claim as the ball hit Hector on the arm which looked more like arm to ball but the Ref was having none of it in doing so perhaps believing that it was kinder to put us out of our misery than to provide false and undeserved hope. I’m sure there have been worse and equally poor

dysfunctional performances from Boro in the history of the Riverside but that first half took some beating. Anyway the half thankfully and gratefully petered out and ended still 1-0 down. If you are wondering what went on between Reach’s goal and the other thirty or so minutes until half time I’m sorry there was nothing, absolutely nothing at all, just repeated passing, probing, recycling, passing back and across and then back across again and then interspersed with a half-hearted despondent probe down the flanks. Even MMP didn’t try and cover up the loud boos and jeers as the confused and sorry looking rabble disguised as TP’s preferred starting eleven trounced off somehow managing to find their way to the tunnel without the aid of a sat nav between them.

The second half saw the Boro players run out to abject silence apart from MMP blasting out his seasonal 80’s collection. In an earth shattering shift of seismic proportions Pulis had taken off a CB (Fry) for Hugill and actually played the by now statuesque Assombalonga with a Strike partner as we lined up for the second half in the dubious hope that we might get back into the game. That said I’m not sure that the opening ten minutes of the first half were representative of actually “being into it” in the first instance as Wednesday were so deep that the Life Guards from Eston Baths were scrambled to try and find them at one stage.

Maybe it was the famous Diamond formation that TP was playing in the second half but whatever way you looked at it there was still a huge blindingly obvious gap in the middle of the park where there should have been some threat or perhaps even creativity from Boro instead of a Vacuum. Ten minutes in and Tav was nowwarming up and in doing so put in more of a shift than those actually employed out on the pitch. The introduction of Hugill had had zero effect on our inability to create anything due to a lack of skill and pace in the build-up, every move in slow motion and telegraphed. Finally as the clock ticked towards 70 minutes the penny dropped as boos intensified and TP introduced Tav for Clayton as Wednesday were clearly happy to hang on to what they had earned. Bullen responded by bringing on Pelupessy for Hutchinson who had been largely forgotten by Luhukay.

For the first time all afternoon Boro finally had a spark, a zest, an energy that not for the first time had been overlooked and ignored by the Manager. The lively youngster had a glanced header plucked out of the air by Westwood which give some hope that singlehandedly he might just be able to have an impact. Then with twelve minutes left until the end of normal time Lewis Wing was predictably brought on to try and salvage something from a game that should have been approached as a massive opportunity to string a few wins together instead of looking like we were relegation threatened and desperate to cling on for survival. With two Strikers, Tavernier and Wing we now looked like we could seriously pose a threat as we suddenly had pace, drive, energy, desire and intent.

McNair took one for the team as we pushed forward with Boyd nearly breaking from the Wednesday half as we looked for an undeserved equaliser. The Owls were now effectively “time managing” every break in play with Palmer finally cautioned as a much belated token gesture by the Ref with howls of derision and whistles in the Stadium. With five minutes remaining Lewis Wing cracked in a shot that had the North Stand out of their seats but it went a couple of feet wide of the post. The side that was finishing the match for Boro was probably the line up most of us wanted to start as we belatedly began to show some spirit. There were five minutes of additional time allowed but it was all too little, too late for a by now half empty Riverside. MOM for me was Tav as he changed the game and made an immediate and obvious difference with his pace, energy and positive approach.

As for what happens now and what the club should do is open for much debate. No doubt TP will point to the restrictions in his squad and diabolically poor recruitment but whilst they are absolutely genuine charges to be levelled at Steve Gibson and his senior club management team the selection and tactics are down to Tony Pulis. Neither Steve Gibson nor the Recruitment incompetents decide that Britt Assombalonga can operate as an isolated lone striker, they don’t decide to play against a struggling opponent at home and line up as though they were facing Barcelona with an overkill of slow defenders and midfielders. Today was the worst of everything and not for the first time this season, any slight improvement came about as a reaction to the negative failure of Pulis’s preferred methodology and favourites. As unbalanced and poor as the squad may be in certain areas it is ridiculous, futile and unprofessional to force square pegs into round holes instead of playing to the strengths and abilities of what you do actually have to work with. The continued omission of the likes of Wing and Tav in favour of non-productive expensively assembled flops was laid bare this afternoon as the lone Striker insistence failed yet again and yet again failed miserably.

At some point something has to change and quickly, since the 22nd of September nil-nil home draw against Swansea to the present time which is exactly three months and eight home matches we have only won seven points at home which puts us in the bottom three of Championship sides home form. Only bottom club Ipswich have won less home points in that time, six against our meagre seven points. That type of form needs drastic culling action and as toxic as today’s atmosphere turned in parts any future semblance of that level of clueless ineptness out on the pitch will leave SG with a very simple decision to make, put simply it couldn’t get any worse unless left unattended.

Championship 2018-19: Week 22

Wed 26 Dec – 15:00: Boro v Sheff Wed
Sat 29 Dec – 15:00: Boro v Ipswich

As is traditional at this time of year, people look to their leaders to speak directly to them with words of wisdom that reflect on what has passed and carry them into another year with hope. Thankfully, even the Queen has taken time out of her busy schedule looking after her great-grandchildren to pass on her thoughts on her personal social media Christmas broadcast. Though few Boro followers were anticipating she’d have much to say about the pressing problems occupying their minds – such as whether the experienced Tony Pulis was still the right man to take them forward.

Anyway, after the usual rousing intro of her ‘lead us victorious’ tune the gracious Queen began “Some cultures believe a long life brings wisdom”. It was probably at this point that many of those watching on Teesside stopped wondering what had happened to the last coffee cream and instead stared at the TV in expectation that the monarch was about to speak profoundly to her people. Her Majesty then teased her audience by adding “I’d like to think so” – obviously this slightly sarcastic tone meant she didn’t think a long life necessarily brought wisdom and it seemed to affirm to a few it was a less than subtle dig at Tony Pulis’s long career in football.

Nevertheless she continued: “Perhaps part of that wisdom is to recognise some of life’s baffling paradoxes…” – exactly but where do we start with that one! Surely the 92-year old sage wasn’t about to reveal to the nation some of Boro’s baffling team selections and the paradox of why some players have been dropped for scoring goals. OK, maybe royal intervention on the matter was perhaps long overdue but what followed next was perhaps a little more cryptic than some had hoped to hear as she surprised us with “…such as the way human beings have a huge propensity for good, and yet a capacity for evil.”

Well, say what you like about the Boro manager but is it too early to label him as an evil genius in pursuit of perceived footballing perfection? The signs were perhaps there but surely he’s still a force for good? A little misguided maybe and I’m not at all sure if the Queen has called this one correctly. Though in some ways, I can see why some would regard anti-football as heading towards the path of evil – it certainly ticks the soul destroying box and tends to take advantage of the faithful.

Anyway, what more could our head of state tell us: “Even the power of faith, which frequently inspires great generosity and self-sacrifice, can fall victim to tribalism.” Many at the Riverside are definitely with her on the self-sacrifice bit – they’ll definitely never get that time back for watching some of those recent performances. It appears when it comes to football, she certainly knows her stuff but could this be a cause of division among those who just want to be inspired by their team. If so, then what is the way forward?

What else could the woman on the stamps offer as a solution as we continue to listen to her carefully chosen words: “Even with the most deeply held differences, treating the other person with respect and as a fellow human being is always a good first step towards greater understanding.” Well, I wasn’t expecting to hear Diasboro house rules in the Queen’s speech but at least she’s added to the debate on Tony Pulis. Still, let’s hope his propensity for good prevails over his capacity for evil – at least until the transfer window opens.

The Boro manager has actually delivered a Christmas message himself to Teesside after taking time out from training over the festive period. He said: “First and foremost I wish everyone health and happiness and say spend as much time as you can with your families. This is a Christian country so we are not just celebrating food, eating, presents; it’s Christ and everything we believe in and that’s important as well. Football-wise we are desperate to win a few games so everyone can go home happy. Merry Christmas.”

Though I’m not completely sure on some of the punctuation on that statement as he could have also meant ‘celebrating food eating’ or even ‘eating presents’ – though I would advise against eating any present before first unwrapping them. We should also encourage parents to carefully read any packaging before giving it to children – especially after hearing that a girl in Shropshire only discovered on day 12 that her ‘weird-tasting’ green chocolates in her Garfield advent calendar was in fact meant for cats and were flavoured with yoghurt and catnip. Though it does raise the question of who knew cats could read numbers and indeed actively celebrated Christmas.

It was interesting that Pulis had been openly religious with his message and even mentioned Christ – coincidentally, even the atheists among the faithful on Teesside have increasing found themselves mentioning Jesus Christ while watching Boro games over recent week – sometimes even out loud, indeed very loud! It’s not necessarily a sign of conversion as unlike the Boro manager many are struggling to see the light – let alone the Holy Trinity of three points. Although Tony Pulis could yet be inspired by the Pope’s Christmas message – especially the line “Without the fraternity that Jesus Christ has bestowed on us even our best plans and projects risk being soulless and empty.” However, I believe when all the Geordies went to Rome to hear the Pope he apparently asked who was that team they call the Boro – unless it was fake news.

A bumper crowd of over 30,000 is expected on Boxing Day at the Riverside as Boro host Sheffield Wednesday. The game marks the one year anniversary of Tony Pulis, which coincidentally was due to Garry Monk being sacked following victory over the Owls just before Christmas last year. Steve Gibson appears to have decided against making it a festive tradition to part with his manager but not so his Wednesday counterpart, Dejphon Chansiri, who once again kindly allowed his manager to spend Christmas with his family after the sad-looking Dutchman, Jos Luhukay, was dismissed last week. Steve Bruce is now favourite to be sacked by the Thai owner shortly before Christmas next year if the bookies are to be believed.

The Owls are the first team that Boro will play a return fixture against but it’s only ten games since that 2-1 victory at Hillsborough. Besic and Britt scored either side of the interval to take a comfortable lead before a late Adam Reach strike saw Tony Pulis’s side hanging on for the three points. Jos Luhukay only managed one victory since that game, losing six and drawing two before getting the hook – Wednesday actually won their last game 1-0 against Preston under caretaker Lee Bullen. Given the Riverside will be packed with supporters looking to continue their festive mood, it will be important that Boro put on a decent show. The question is whether Pulis will pick a team that will be a crowd pleaser – we only know that Downing was excused the trip to Reading in order to be fresh for the two home games. I suspect many of those turning up will also want to see Wing and Tavernier get a start but the Boro manager may decide too much cheer may be too much to digest.

On paper Wednesday on Wednesday should be three points for the taking but Boro are probably fancied by most to make hard work of matters – even on public holidays. However, Saturday sees another struggling team arrive at the Riverside for the last game of 2018 as bottom club Ipswich trundle into town. The Tractor Boys are ploughing a lonely furrow indeed and have harvested just one win in their last ten games. Things are looking bleak for recently appointed Paul Lambert’s side and their interest in acquiring Rudy Gestede to fire them to safety may not be the most cunning of plans. In the reverse fixture back at the beginning of October, Mo Besic also opened the scoring, which was followed by a rare goal from Stewart Downing to take all three points. It may be that Pulis hopes the Bosnian will be inspired this week to rediscover his form but has unfortunately flattered to deceive this season in his second spell.

Boro have a great chance to unwrap six points and put themselves back in contention for an automatic spot before the January transfer window opens. The problem for Tony Pulis as he celebrates his one year in charge at Boro is that failure to win or even perform against two struggling teams will have many supporters starting to make their mind up on his tenure. The Boro boss needs to convince on the pitch as at the end of the day (as they say in football parlance) tough talk off the pitch is just empty words if they not backed up by actions.

Reading		Middlesbrough
		Friend	77′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	58% 12 4 9 12	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	42% 16 6 8 15

Friend fires binary Boro victory

Today saw an opportunity for Boro to bounce back against managerless Reading at the Madejski Stadium down in Berkshire. With supposed new non moss gathering boss Jose Gomes still employed by Rio Ave in Portugal subject to a compensation settlement the Royals stand in gaffer Scott Marshall would have been optimistic and buoyed facing shot shy Boro after watching Burton march deservedly into the League Cup Semi-finals at the Riverside on Tuesday night. Slip, siding Middlesbrough apparently had a few niggles and knocks according to TP at yesterday’s press conference. Presumably bruised ego’s were the main requirement for the Rockliffe physio’s ice packs rather than stretched hamstrings.

The “little knocks and niggles” is more likely coded manager speak for dropping a few of those that have flattered to deceive for a very long time now or at least we had hoped. Tuesday night must have surely been a Damsacene moment for the experienced Boro manager in that what he has is now not just leaking badly but starting to dangerously list. If not then the likelihood was for a torrent of abuse from the travelling army building on rankles away at Loftus Road last weekend which then turned into a unified chorus of boos at the Riverside. The hope was that the “one or two changes” that TP alluded to yesterday would have a more positive outcome than watching ten men defend while their striker mate is left unattended and alone in enemy territory.

The “niggle enforced changes” were revealed with Downing omitted from the squad entirely with Hugill out of the starting eleven as TP reverted to a back three with Friend and Shotton operating as wing backs. Surprising for me was to see Besic still in the side after a few dubious performances topped off with dithering yet again instead of clearing the danger for the Burton goal on Tuesday night. Saville we presumed to be playing just behind Britt, supporting him in his lonely role up front. The Royals had handed a debut to 20 year old Gabriel Osha at CB alongside Tyler Blackett. Ex Boro target Chris Gunter missed out with injury and so another 20 year old Omar Richards started in his place at left back.

Reading got the game underway with a back heeled chance coming to Baldock for Reading as Randolph was forced into action early on as Reading passed the ball past our defence not for the first time of late and Randolph fortunately got a boot to it to stop the Royals taking an early lead. A comedy of errors followed in the Reading defence and saw Britt in with a half chance then breaking to Saville and Howson but we just couldn’t take advantage of the situation. Hopefully TP would notice that the Reading back line looked nervy and edgy with two 20 year old replacements in situ.

A Saville near post corner created more chaos in the Reading box with Shotton and Ayala both hovering. Another corner won by Shotton failed to beat the first man by Saville. Boro had Reading on the back foot and still looking very suspect in front of Jaakkola. A poor Royals clearance allowed Clayton to get a cross in to Flint who connected with it but went wide. As defensive a team selection as Boro looked on paper at kick off we were passing the ball around confidently and with fifteen minutes gone Boro were looking comfortable and by far the more likely to score. Assombalonga had another great opportunity set up by Howson but with Blackett closing on him forced a good save out of Jaakkola in the Reading goal.

A Howson right wing cross in to the far post and George Friend was cleared out for a corner which was ultimately collected by Jaakkola who was clattered into by Flint for his troubles. A minor slip by Fry allowed the Royals a little bit of hope but it came to nothing. As dominant as Boro were in this game that was a reminder that if we don’t score goals we are always vulnerable. Howson and Shotton were enjoying a good afternoon up against the stand-in Reading Left Back Richards. A free kick for a foul on Britt was delivered by Saville was met by Shotton in the middle of the Reading box

to put us one up but the linesman’s flag went up for a presumed offside which looked very questionable. Moments later Shotton had to close down Mo Barrow to put the ball out for a Royals corner which was punched clear by Randolph and saw Ayala try and play the ball out of defence which ended up with Baldock fizzing a ball back into the Boro box but fortunately there were no Reading attackers in the danger zone. The disallowed goal had fired up both the home fans and the home side as another Reading corner off Howson’s shin on the half hour mark was delivered in but after a lot of shirt tugging and jostling Flint cleared. Surprisingly the Ref awarded a free kick for Boro which perplexed the home fans but we were happy to take it.

A repeat opportunity for Saville to deliver an identical free kick as the disallowed goal saw the usual Boro big lads up in the Reading box which this time was met by Jaakkola to end the danger. A Shotton break saw Barrow left for dead forcing Richards to concede a throw in but again Jaakkola dealt with the threat. Besic played a poor ball out to Friend to concede possession as Boro attempted a rare break down the left and allowed Reading a chance to get out of defence. Friend again broke down the left but Yiadom tackle prevented any further progress. As the ball then went out of play Shotton was laid flat out on the pitch with nobody near him to be replaced by McNair with the suspicion of a recurrence of his previous injury. It was a huge loss for Boro as up until this point Shotton was arguably the Boro MOM.

Besic picked up another yellow as he was left for dead by Rinomhota as his see/saw contribution to the side continued yet again. The free kick went out for a corner, was cleared but we then immediately conceded another free kick conceded this time by Clayton saw the ball delivered in and after heart stopping activity in the Boro box was saved by Randolph. Almost immediately a long range Baldock shot saw Randolph having to be quick on his feet to keep a clean sheet. Since Shotton departed Reading came back into the game pressurising Boro with the match entering the dying stages of the first half. Barrow beat then McNair out wide to get a ball in which was eventually hoofed clear by Howson, collected by Assombalonga and then twenty yards out Besic had a shot but straight at Jaakkola which in turn went out for a corner. Those frantic few minutes were brought to a close by Ref Stephen Martin who blew for the end of the half.

The travelling army were hoping that we wouldn’t be left rueing those missed opportunities that we had before Shotton went off. Despite having that purple patch in the middle of the half Boro didn’t really seriously threaten Anssi Jaakkola, most of the Finn’s goalkeeping duties were fairly routine crosses and catches. The defensive nature of the Boro set up certainly didn’t help Britt and our old problems of creating good quality chances continued.

The teams lined up for the second half as they had finished the first with Ayala, Flint and Fry forming a back three and McNair and Friend slightly forward as Wing Backs and Howson Besic and Saville in the middle with Clayts protecting the defence. Britt of course was all alone as is ever the case under TP. Boro kicked off the second half in the exact same manner as they did on Tuesday and giving Randolph some action almost immediately. Clearly lessons hadn’t been learnt from mid-week. That did seem to spark Boro back into life as McNair and Besic got us up the pitch where Besic then had a shot put out for a corner taken by Howson which came to nothing.

An in-swinging corner from Saville allowed Jaakkola to again collect easily. A ball over the Reading defence saw Howson and Assombalonga confused with an impending offside and Reading then broke and had Boro looking desperate clearing the danger. The game was now scrappy, messy and as Besic was dispossessed it took a block from McNair to save the Bosnians blushes. The resultant corner was wasted by Reading but again the warning signs were there that if Boro don’t score they look very vulnerable. A chance for McNair ended up with Reading breaking down the opposite end leaving Ayala for dead with Flint coming across to tidy up and Randolph clearing. That might have stirred something deep within TP because both Tav and Wing then started to warm up as yet again our lack of a cutting edged and a plethora of defensive midfielders failed to break down the defence of a managerless and struggling Championship side.

A great ball played in from McNair went past Britt across Jaakkola’s six yard box but there was nobody in a Red shirt to tap it in. Barrow then put McNair under pressure at the opposite end forcing the Northern Irishman to concede a corner which went out for a goal kick as the Boro subs still lined up. Mo Barrow again set up a move for Reading forcing Fry to clear as the home side now looked by far the livelier as Boro resorted to default mode and dropped deep. Boro were looking distinctly flat and out of ideas and we were now struggling to get a grip of things. What the half time team talk consisted of is a mystery because we had zero intensity since restarting the game.

TP then made his substitutions and bizarrely Assombalonga was brought off along with the more obvious hauling off of the erratic Besic to much grumbling from the away end shouting “Attack, Attack, Attack” and not for the first time in recent Boro history. Needing to score against a very poor Reading side and removing a Striker was not what was required in the eyes of the away fans. Lewis Wing came on along with Jordan Hugill as Reading came close with Bacuna but a George Friend clearance up field fizzled out yet again.

Reading then brought Swift on for Loader in an effort to counter what was perceived as a more attack minded Boro. The youngster Osha broke out of his defence Fry like and carried the ball up the pitch well into the Boro half putting us on the back foot. Reading were still controlling the game and a Bacuna chance goal wards seemingly hit Flint on the hand as penalty claims were shouted from the home fans. Saville broke away and was scythed down to give Boro another set piece chance which Ayala went for with Jaakkola with the reading keeper winning the battle. Hugill came close in forcing Blackett to make a goal-saving header as he came close to getting on the end of Friend’s ball in but the Royals CB made a great defensive header.

A fierce Wing shot was rocketed in from 30 yards out to provide Boro with our most exciting effort of the second half. This second half was lacking any real quality from Boro made worse all the worse by seeing a Reading defence that was susceptible and there for the taking made worse by a disappointing like for like sub switch by Pulis with Hugill on for Assombalonga instead of upping the ante. Then as our frustrations had built, almost on cue McNair was fed in by Howson who paused and then squared to George Friend rifling a right footed shot 12 yards out to bury it past Jaakkola and it was one nil to Boro.

A few minutes after that goal went in George Saville went down to much angst on the away bench with some doubt on the merits of his injury voiced by the home fans. A corner taken by Wing was punched clear by Jaakkola, gathered by Saville then recycled to Wing again and it broke to McNair who had been having a good game since arriving as Reading again cleared the danger. With five minutes remaining the young left back Richards was removed for Striker Bodvarsson. Almost immediately Lewis Wing made a run and firing in a shot that was blocked by the lively Jaakkola, seconds later Friend should have had a second as he hit the bar when scoring was easier. Then Friend was adjudged to have handled by the home fans as he got back to defend but thankfully it was adjudged to be ball to hand.

Aden Flint blocked a move involving Barrow who skinned Ayala but the Reading corner was poorly executed and as the ball then went up field Tyler Blackett took Hugill out in what should have been a straight red card but was adjudged a yellow as the fourth official held up five added minutes. Saville took a short free kick and Hugill took the ball onto the touchline, lost it for a Reading throw in and then nearly lost it with Bacuna as they went head to head. Within seconds Hugill then went down

with Blackett in close attendance holding his face claiming an elbow straight in front of the linesman who clearly saw nothing in it. Reading gained possession, immediately went to test Randolph as Bacuna wound up his shot but ridiculously cleared the stand roof never mind Randolph’s cross bar. Flint cleared another Reading assault and then Friend put it out for a corner which ended up as a frantic melee in the Boro box and Blackett who probably shouldn’t have been on the pitch by now had the perfect chance to equalise but fortunately Karma intervened and blazed it over. Stephen Martin’s whistle went and Boro’s good away record continued albeit making far harder work of it than it should have been.

There were many questions on tactics, selections and performance on this afternoon’s performance at the Madejski Stadium but importantly we left with all three points but it was far from convincing. MOM for me was Johnny Howson but a special mention for McNair who came on and put in his best performance since arriving at Boro and for Randolph who kept us in it. With two fortuitous Penalty claims going our way this was far from a resounding away win and could have very easily ended far differently. Playing a lone Striker against a very poor side and then keeping to the same format but with different personnel did not go down well. The result was the right one but the manner of it did little to convince or sway growing sceptical attitudes.

Middlesbrough		Burton Albion
		Hesketh	48′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	63% 8 3 7 11	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	37% 11 2 7 10

Pulis goes for a Burton

In the Quarter Final that time forgot Boro faced Burton Albion in what could fairly be adjudged as the Cinderella tie of the Round. With zero interest anywhere apart from a hardy five hundred braving the wild, wet and windy conditions travelling up the A1 from Burton and the hard core of Riverside regulars venturing out when those of us with more sense should have been sat in front of the glow of a warm fire. Thankfully come 7.45pm the rain and wind had subsided a little leaving a wet surface which would be ideal for a fast paced game, ideal for a footballing side wanting to zip the ball around but then it was TP’s Boro we had come to watch so never mind.

League One Burton had collected a few scalps to get here namely Villa, Forest and Premiership Burnley so the son of one of our most famous sons (James Cook aside) clearly had the ability to manage a shock or three. With due respect to Burton I wasn’t overly worried or concerned about who they had fit or who they would field despite supposedly having 4 or 5 first teamers out. That’s not to say I was being disrespectful it’s just that right here and right now at Boro our team selections of late have been a source of much confusion, including the fans. As it happened Clough junior only made two changes from the weekend.

Up until this point TP had largely used the Carabao Cup as a run out for his fringe players supplemented by a few reserves. Now with just one game away from a two legged semi-final against Premiership opponents and a less than convincing last few weeks in the Championship another selection gamble would either prove brave or foolhardy with spirits at the Riverside restless at best. In fairness TP had quite a few splinter gatherers with a point to prove so that could have worked in his favour but of course that depended on where he would actually tactically deploy them. In the end Pulis made six changes including a few of the peripheral players like Grant, Wingy and Braithwaite but kept several of his nailed on first teamers for this one including Randolph, Downing, Flint and Friend.

The early action saw Boro sit back with Burton working the flanks and getting balls into the box in what has been our trademark start for the Boro these days. I’m not sure if it was Burton’s intensity or Boro just doing that Pulis thing and waiting to go a goal behind before waking up. It took until six minutes for Boro to make their mark on the game and with it nearly took the lead against the run of play as a ball played in from Fry to Braithwaite and then fed teasingly in just in front of the six yard box should have saw Hugill slide in to score but he was a half second out in arriving with his big toe.

Hugill then had a header after a well placed cross was delivered this time from Downing but the looped header was just over the crossbar. Moments later a Wing strike called the Burton Keeper into action to concede a corner. Boro at this stage had now started to settle into the game and were dominating proceedings with Nigel Clough out on the edge of his technical area screaming at his defence to close Fry and Downing down far quicker (or judging by his gesticulations I assume that is what he was conveying). A cheap yellow was given to Hugill for a late sliding challenge on Quinn which was both unnecessary and annoying.

A break involving Braithwaite poked the ball through for Friend who crossed a looping high ball to Dael Fry on the opposite corner of the Burton six yard box but his header in towards Hugill was intercepted and headed clear. A soft free Kick to Burton on eighteen minutes when the Burton attacker seemed to skip into Brathwaite tripping himself was adjudged as a Braithwaite foul. The resultant free kick was played back to the edge of the Boro eighteen yard box but was charged down and cleared without troubling Randolph.

Around the half hour mark Burton had their first corner in the NW corner which was played short then launched, beat Flint but the header thankfully was a weak one at Randolph. Boro then had a Downing Free Kick which cleared the wall but was clawed away at Collins left hand upright in the Burton goal. The pace of the game was a little sedentary and had the atmosphere of a pre-season friendly which probably suited the visitors and their five hundred or so fans. There was a lot of recycling of the ball from Boro to take the sting out but as the home side against league one opposition it wasn’t convincing the home fans as there was little to no high tempo pressing or intent.

A rash sliding challenge from behind on Allen saw a cheap yellow card for Besic on the edge of the Burton 18 yard box. A high hoofed ball up to the on rushing Braithwaite saw him through one on one with Collins but the flag went up for offside as the Dane slotted it into the net. Seconds later Braithwaite again had a chance but it went wide under a challenge as Braithwaite reacted by rolling over clutching his shin claiming he had been fouled.

With four minutes of the half remaining a looped cross came in this time from Lewis Wing but it was plucked comfortably from Hugill’s head by Collins. A breakaway down the Burton Left hand side saw Fry left for dead as a low cross came in that was played across the Boro Box for two free yellow shirts but the ball was placed into Randolph’s top right corner but it went over the bar to let Boro off the hook just before the whistle signalled the end of the first half.

There was a strange muted atmosphere as the players went off, no boos, no jeers, no overt applause or appreciation just a bland polite response much like the game itself had been. It actually felt that I was in a dream and that I would somehow wake up this morning looking forward to tonight’s match so surreal was the indifference at what the fans had witnessed.

The second half resumed with Boro as usual kicking towards the North Stand but yet again a sleepy Boro were almost caught cold as Burton kicked off and went perilously close with a break into the box ripping our so called defence apart. The Burton pressure just continued relentlessly as the visitors now smelt blood. A series of ridiculous Boro passing blunders repeatedly lost possession and encouraged a swarm of Yellow shirts to again run down our right side and unopposed into the Boro box, hit the upright for it to comically rebound out to Hesketh central who, losing Besic, twisted and turned to get a shot off, slipped, fell on his backside, jumped up, had a second go with a daisy cutter from the edge of the Boro 18 yard box and in it rolled past Randolph’s, left hand upright.

Slow starting Boro had somehow managed to take their negative slow motion antics to a new depth. Out fought and out run as Clough had switched tactics during the interval totally blindsiding Pulis as we were now being made to look like a Sunday Pub team. Our slow pedestrian build up to a lone Striker looked more ineffective than at any time this season as Burton looked far livelier and hungrier but most worryingly more confident. Fifty five minutes, one down and it could have been two or three as shell shocked Boro looked totally devoid of ideas.

A mistake by Batth nearly led to Burton nicking their second as he went to sleep and let a ball go over his head instead of reacting to it but he wasn’t the only one at fault, nobody was coming out of this horror show with any glory. Slow pedestrian, readable passing was the best we could muster; I think tactically it’s euphemistically called clearing your heads. We shaped up to hit high balls up to Hugill which Burton predictably dealt with all too easily. The Brewers were now sitting deeper in their own half confidently inviting Boro to pass their way through them and looked at ease knocking the ball about.

TP made his changes as Besic and Hugill came off with Tavernier and Assombalonga coming on to replace them. It would have been more logical for me to put Assombalonga up front alongside Hugill but that would be an admission of guilt from the bench I presume. Downing now went central with Britt taking up the lone role in the hope that Tav might inject a bit of pace down one flank. Prior to Tav’s arrival a Trabant in reverse gear would have injected pace into this Boro side. A half-hearted penalty claim as the lively Tavernier went down in the Burton box was as close as Boro had mustered any excitement in the second half.

In spite of the two Substitutions there was zero improvement out on the pitch as Burton carried on looking composed and by far the more threatening on the break as Boro looked very nervy and scrappy defending. Long gone is that assured defensive swagger from the early part of the Season, replaced by pandemonium and panic. In fairness Fry isn’t a Right back and was done a number of times and Friend on the opposite flank struggled defensively and his attacking forays looked like they were petering out before he gets over the half way line with no serious end product.

The tired and flagging Grant’s number went up for Fletcher on 72 minutes to come on except that it was Braithwaite that was actually being subbed which summed up how the night was panning out for Boro. There were boos as he departed some I suspect at the Dane himself but mostly at the bench for removing a goal scorer albeit an occasional one in a bad streak of form. Struggling to get back into the game the home fans were not entirely convinced that removing another Striker was the best solution to assist with Boro getting one of those things I believe Riverside archaeologists now refer to as a goal. Burton Goal scorer Hesketh hacked down Friend to pick up a yellow and provide Boro with a chance but of course it came to nothing.

As second half’s go this was as uninspiring as it gets. Fry had a chance but he passed instead of taking it on. A cross fired in from Wing was cut out by Brayford as Boro threatened to limp back to life. That cross seemed to offer a slight chink of positivity for Boro as they then started to mount a bit of a mini fight. Once again Tavernier went down in the box this time with the ball breaking to Britt but out it went for a corner which eventually died and ended in a free kick for Burton. Moments earlier the Brewers had been guilty of timewasting with Keeper Collins receiving a yellow for his troubles and now a late substitution saw goal scorer Hesketh amble of the pitch to run the clock down just a little bit more.

A golden opportunity was presented perfectly for Aden Flint and it was impossible to miss but obviously the shock of being able to score for Boro was far too much and he somehow managed to head it wide. There were many other hoofs and runs where Britt was just a yard short or a glanced header from Wing just wasn’t enough or long balls out of defence totally overplayed that even Usain Bolt wouldn’t have made it. We looked totally dysfunctional, jaded and brow beaten despite pumping balls into the Burton half for the last quarter hour plus the five minutes of added time.

The whistle went and I suspect with it quite possibly Tony Pulis’ tenure on Teesside as loud boos from the 17,000 or so home fans echoed around the Riverside on an evening that even edged out Southgate’s Cardiff Cup Tie. Everything that has been wrong and that has gone wrong over the last few weeks was repeatedly magnified. All the flaws and known weaknesses were laid bare in glorious Technicolour. Ultra-cautious nerves allied to negative tactics and a distinct lack of pace and an opposing Coach who wasn’t afraid to attack, change tactics and then sit deep and hang on to what they had justly earned sealed our fate. In fairness Burton thoroughly deserved their win.

MOM, yer jokin aren’t yer!

Championship 2018-19: Week 21

Tue 18 Dec – 19:45: Boro v Burton (EFL Cup)
Sat 22 Dec – 15:00: Reading v Boro

With the stench of defeat still hanging in the despondent air of Teesside, it has thankfully become traditional at this time of year to mask the smell of the one you love with a gift of a little bottle of something fragrant. Still unsure of how to recapture that sweet smell of victory again, Boro followers are starting to wondering how their team has been thrown off the scent of the promotion trail. When Marcel Proust said “Perfume is that last and best reserve of the past, the one which when all out tears have run dry, can make us cry again”, he obviously wasn’t aware of the emotional state experienced by long-suffering Boro supporters in search of lost time.

However, it’s unlikely that any of the great perfumeries in France would be able to capture that essence of expected failure with a slight hint of misplaced optimism and a sharp over-powering whiff of deja vu – let alone bottle it. Although when it come to bottling it, I suspect that could be more effectively undertaken at somewhere local. Nevertheless, many will be coerced by endless meaningless marketing campaigns of vacant whispering unattainable souls before ultimately deciding the new delightfully-sounding fragrance from Christian Dior called ‘Poison Girl’ was on reflection possibly not the most sensible gift for their wife – not unless they were planning on employing a food tester for Christmas lunch.

Finding that elusive fragrance that best encapsulates your identity is no easy matter, which is presumably why it took quite a long time before Gary Gill and Adrian Bevington opted for ‘Eternity’ as they waited and waited to hear for their main targets to get back to them. Though following their recent performances, some supporters have already pointed the blame and would perhaps have chosen the ‘Guilty’ range from Gucci instead – though the jury is still out on whether it should be ‘Guilty Absolute’ and if their complete shower gel would even revitalise them. Still, I suspect Tony Pulis will be hoping his players have applied a liberal amount of Givenchy’s ‘Play Intense’ before they waft onto the pitch.

Though to be fair, being relieved of large sums of money for over-priced goods is not just the preserve of Boro’s recruitment department – it is in fact what drives the spirit of Christmas for the struggling retail industry. We’ve all heard stories of equally inept shoppers who resort to frequenting department stores to seek last-minute ‘expert’ advice from well-groomed artificially tanned shop assistants with unfeasibly long manicured nails, who are sadly physically incapable of gift-wrapping purchases any better than a badly co-ordinated five-year old child due to the handicap of having rendered their fingers useless. After nodding blankly at every suggestions put forward, a few unhappy consumers will eventually claim to have heard of Paco Rabanne and some may even insist to have it on good authority that he’s is actually on Boro’s radar this January – before arguing that Calvin Klein sounds unlikely to reach the heights of what is deemed a Tony Pulis player. Yes,it’s this level of ignorance that usually fuels the rumour mills of the tabloid press.

Other than hoping for a big Brut up front in his Boro Christmas stocking, I’d expect Tony Pulis himself might prefer to receive a more traditionally masculine fragrance this festive period. Perhaps something a little old school that signifies “the mark of a man” in Old Spice is probably more his style – though as the uplifting music of Carmina Burana starts to fill his head in anticipation, the only surfer he’s likely to smell like in the coming weeks is the one who’s been up all night in a cold sweat desperately searching on the internet for players who fit the new low budget profile. For those who missed the bombshell that Boro will no longer be chasing players with eight-figure price-tags, Pulis has claimed the club should instead target up-and-coming footballers that cost only a few hundred grand and then look to sell them on for several million.

This reversal of strategy sounds like a great idea on paper but can anyone outside Millwall actually realistically expect to find a buyer for a player bought for a few hundred thousand and then quoted at £7-8m a matter of months later. The reality of this model is possibly only built on hindsight and is quite probably random in nature. For a start I suspect no club would knowingly sell a player for next to nothing if they thought the they had a multi-million pound asset on their books. Quoting anecdotal examples like N’Golo Kante, who were bought cheap and sold on for a massive profit will conveniently ignore the vast majority who weren’t. It sounds like a model akin to buying a lottery ticket – someone will occasionally hit the jackpot but not something to plan your future on.

Besides, what you actually need to bring players with potential though the system is a manager determined to give them a run in his team. Just how many will make the leap forward is hard to say but at what point do you decide to play them and how many? Possibly two or three a season and maybe after two or three years one may attract the kinds of big offers being muted. Then you essentially lose one of your best players and have to hope there’s another youngster ready to step up or you’re forced to re-invest the cash. It doesn’t sound like a model for both moving the team forward and making money – plus where does that sit with the reality of Tony Pulis as Boro manager? It’s been normally the tried and tested who he turns to first.

Having said all that, it sounds like the plan for January is going to be the former one of splashing the cash on something that, at least in the eyes of Pulis, is closer to the finished article. The Boro manager is still keen to bring in pace and power to replace the loss of Adama Traore – some even suggest the under-used Wolves bench-warmer may be available for a return but I suspect the numbers wouldn’t add up. Although with regard to possible targets, Pulis declared last week “We’ve got feelers out, and we know what we want – we’re trying to get the best we can possibly get, but if we can’t, we can’t.”

Hopefully those are not the same kind of feelers some insects use as they wander around in the dark hoping to stumble across an incapacitated daddy longlegs – we certainly don’t need any more of those. All of which doesn’t sound like the club are any closer than they were in the summer in finding those elusive pacey wide players – perhaps we should be once more gearing ourselves up for deadline day disappointment as deals for Albert Adomah and Jason Puncheon fall through again.

Though as our automatic promotion hopes begin to look like they’ve gone for a Burton, this week at least sees Boro with a decent chance of making the semi-finals of the dead buffalo cup. After seeing off top-flight reserve opposition in the previous round, Boro avoided all the Premier league big guns in the draw and were rewarded with a home tie against the last remaining League One outfit. While we shouldn’t take Burton Albion lightly, it presents the club with a golden opportunity to dream of playing at Wembley again – providing we’re drawn against Spurs in the semi’s of course.

It would be pointless at this stage to field a weakened team, so hopefully Tony Pulis will make several changes to the starting XI from the one selected at the weekend. Though in truth the Boro manager is struggling at the moment to decide what his best team actually is and he could inadvertently select a stronger line-up by accident. We may perhaps see Lonergan in goal instead of Dimi as it’s possibly his turn again and Danny Batth and Fry could in theory be given the nod in central defence. Clayton could be rested with possibly Leadbitter getting another run out, with Besic and the youth of Wing and Tavernier also likely to start.

As to who plays up front? Well Pulis couldn’t quite decide at the weekend so eventually ended up fielding all three of his fit strikers with Hugill flanked by Assombalonga and Fletcher. I suspect we’ll not see Britt on the left again after Pulis admitted it didn’t work but current noises from the Boro camp is that lesser spotted Martin Braithwaite will feature. The Boro manager will be more than aware that defeat in the quarter-finals at the hands of lower-league opposition on home soil will not go down well with the Riverside faithful – Christmas cheer may be short supply if that prevailed and some supporters will start to scent blood.

Still, the prospect of another traditional festive double-sacking at Game 23 is not on the cards this year after Reading got their retaliation in early by dismissing Paul Clement a few games earlier. It was in fact his sacking by Swansea a year ago that fuelled speculation that Garry Monk was in line to replace him following his dismissal after the pyrrhic victory at Sheffield Wednesday. However, the Owls took Boro’s lead and showed Carlos Carvalhal the door too and it was instead the Portuguese manager who ended up in charge at the Liberty Stadium – albeit for five months. Although Clement had spared Reading from relegation last season after replacing Jaap Stam in late March, he managed only four wins this term as the Royals looked less than regal as they sat just outside the drop zone on goal difference.

It’s been quite a fall for Reading in the last 18 months as you may recall they finished third in the Championship in 2016-17 but lost out in the play-off final to Huddersfield. Unfortunately Jaap Stam couldn’t build on that finish and managed just two wins in his opening ten games last term as his team struggled to find form. In the corresponding fixture last season, Garry Monk had been busy trying to find his best XI and the likes of Friend, Clayton, Bamford, Adama, Fry, Marvin Johnston and Lewis Baker had all fallen out of favour. The team that took to the field at the Madejski stadium was lead by Grant Leadbitter and actually saw Marcus Tavernier given a start with Assombalonga leading the line and Martin Braithwaite looking to get match fit after missing most of the opening ten games through injury.

Garry Monk was under a lot of pressure before the game after his team had slipped to 13th place following five games without a win. Thankfully, Grant Leadbitter eased the nerves after putting away a penalty on the quarter-hour mark and Assombalonga made the three points safe with a headed goal 15 minutes from the end. It was the start of three successive victories in a week with wins at Hull and a laboured 1-0 victory over Sunderland at the Riverside – with Tavernier scoring the early goal. That sent Boro back into the top six and temporary relief for the beleaguered Boro manager. It didn’t last of course as Monk then lost three of his next four, which perhaps sealed his fate on his Boro tenure.

After going four games without a win, Tony Pulis can ill afford to see his team lose at struggling Reading under caretaker Scott Marshall. In fact, should he suffer another defeat he will reach the 23-game half-way mark with just one more point than Garry Monk did before he was sacked. It’s not the kind of stat that supporters hoping for a return to the Premier league would possibly want to dwell on as they lie awake at night.

Although if you’re looking for a top flight stat to induce insomnia then a rather worrying one recently published reported that 56 per cent of commercial pilots admitted in a survey undertaken by their union to have fallen asleep while being in charge of an airliner – a scary thought indeed but perhaps even more disturbing was of those pilots who admitted to falling asleep, 29 per cent said they woke up to find their co-pilot also asleep. Something to think about next time you get on a Dreamliner!

Anyway, I’m sure there are many Boro followers who are hoping they’ll wake up and find this season was just a bad dream. However, it’s probably not the time to drop the pilot just jet – though he should perhaps at least wake up and smell the coffee. Steve Gibson had invested quite a lot time and energy in persuading Tony Pulis to join the club and wanted him onboard to also tap into his experience. Pulis has been charged with undertaking a complete root and branch assessment of the how the club operates and the Boro manager has claimed he is currently making changes behind the scenes with regard to how they source and recruit players.

Whether Pulis can deliver on and off the pitch is open to debate but I suspect he wasn’t employed as a short-term fix – though the problem for the chairman will come if the patience of the Riverside begins to wane. It may be that once the incensed supporters kick up a stink on the terraces, Steve Gibson may begin to wonder if his latest brand of Boss that he received last Christmas is starting to get up some people’s noses – the question is whether Tony Pulis will linger for as long as he’d hoped for.

Queens Park Rangers		Middlesbrough
Wszolek Wells	4′ 60′	Saville	51′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	49% 17 2 7 17	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	51% 8 1 5 12

Rangers Reffing pains pointless Pulis

This afternoon we faced yet another of our Ex Managers and our only trophy winning one at that. The Hoops had a bit of disastrous start to their season in contrast to ourselves but they have been quietly climbing away from trouble and until the last few weeks almost looked like potential Play Off contenders. The fact that the Hoops have endured a bad run in November and December didn’t offer much solace to Boro fans who have seen just eight points garnered from the last fifteen as automatic hopes disappeared over the horizon faster than TP’s deck shuffling at Deepdale. Put bluntly momentum was something that neither side possessed going into this game at 3.00pm in West London.

The big positive for Boro fans packed into the School end was that our away form is still impressive having only been generous once on the Road this season when we felt sorry for Daniel Farke’s then struggling Norwich. With the “R’s” current form less than impressive having lost all their last three fixtures could Boro add to their season saving away form at Loftus Road? The R’s man to watch was former Boro target Luke Freeman who is the Hoops “prolific scorer” with five goals this season. McClaren had a doubt over Hemed but would be without Rangel, Cameron and Hall.

TP had Rudy Gestede still on the treatment table, Mo Besic suspended and Wingy struggling with a Hamstring and rated doubtful. A few others had been suffering with a head cold apparently so it may have meant that TP was forced to shuffle his pack especially with more games coming up over the festive period. Dael Fry was fit again having recovered from the blow to the head against Villa.

Team news saw Saville being rewarded for his efforts last week and perhaps stake his claim for the Besic shirt and a surprise repeat taste of that Hugill and Assombalonga pairing from last weekend. Suspected formation was 4-3-1-2 with Howson and Downing wide, Clayts in the middle and Saville providing the ammunition for the front two? Again Martin Brathwaite (head cold or just frozen out?) was nowhere to be seen with Wing deemed fit enough for the bench along with Tav, Fry, Batth, McNair and Fletcher.

Boro kicked off with a 4-5-1 and Assombalonga looking to be playing out wide which was completely against everything the Travelling Army had hoped to see with Downing on the opposite flank. A Wing Back or Winger Britt certainly isn’t. Just when we get our hopes up TP dashes them once again. Early pressure was from QPR with Luongo having an early shot deflected out by Howson.

Saville hesitating gave away possession and from the resultant throw Freeman went close as the rain was now pouring down in freezing conditions. Seconds later and it was Freeman again and then Bidwell who beat Shotton, his cross picking out Pawel Wszolek who put it past the despairing Randolph on four minutes. At this point Boro hadn’t even got started let alone offered any threat. It was all one way traffic and on eight minutes Nahki Wells had the home fans on the edge of their seats as a long range effort ricocheted dangerously fortunately for Boro favouring Randolph.

The diminutive Wells again tore the Boro defence apart as Aden Flint committed himself allowing the on loan Burnley striker in on goal which went out for a corner thanks to Ayala covering. Ten minutes gone and Boro were simply appalling. Our first corner came courtesy of a Saville effort delivered in by Downing which went out for a second corner after complaints from Boro claiming Flint was shoved in the box. That corner was a low one delivered this time by Howson but came to nothing and Rangers cleared their lines.

Boro had nominally cleared their heads a little improving marginally but still nowhere near good enough as another deep static start cost us dearly with 25 minutes now gone. Our shape had looked awkward and dysfunctional from the off and left Hugill isolated as usual. The Boro midfield started to push up now leaving a gap between themselves and Clayton and spreading out. Despite the changes our set up still looked unbalanced and anything but a credible threat. Half an hour gone and we hadn’t registered any attempts on target. Playing Assombalonga out wide instead of up top with Hugill was failing miserably as most had thought it would from the off. Meanwhile Nahki Wells again had a chance which went wide as Rangers were carving the Boro defence apart fearless from the toothless and spiritless Boro attack.

A good throw out from Randolph set George Friend away who charged forward, beating Wells and let fly a shot that was predictably well wide consistent with our shooting accuracy. Unfortunately there was to be no repeat of his effort back in January. That was the best of the first half for Boro who although by now were not as woeful as the opening stages still offered no serious threat despite enjoying more possession. A free kick awarded for a foul on Downing allowed an opportunity to deliver a set piece which was floated to the far post missing all the big lads in the box as though they had never practiced a free kick in their lives. Total strangers!

The dark miserable sodden skies and heavy depressing pitch just summed up Boro in the first half who didn’t look as though they believed in themselves or each other. A Clayton ball to Downing allowed Stewy to get a shot off that went out for a corner. The corner again was subject to a claim that Flint had been grappled and hauled back leading to Ref Oliver Langford speaking to the giant CB. As play restarted a tackle on Saville was adjudged to be worthy of Langford’s whistle as we were breaking free much to the away fans annoyance.

Just before the half time whistle went another ball from the right flew in as Wells glanced his header wide. The contrast between Rangers firing in balls for their Striker to attack versus the angled balls that Boro were putting in aimlessly for Hugill was stark to put it mildly. Thankfully the first half came to a close and allowed Pulis the opportunity to reorganise the mess that had unfolded before him. The ten men last week scrapped and battled with Hugill and Assombalonga working as a pair looking effective but putting Britt out wide was reminiscent of Karanka nullifying Stuani as a wide player. A complete, total and utter waste of something that looked to be working last week sacrificed for the sake of another cunning plan that blew up in the Managers face before his side even crossed the half way line in anger.

No changes to either personnel or shape saw Boro desperately defending from the off as a Shotton error allowed the Hoop’s to take advantage of our generosity. What went on in the away dressing room didn’t seem to alter or change anything as we started how we finished the first half with Freeman and Bidwell torturing our right side and Boro on the back foot. Howson done well to set up our first attack of the half but again the final delivered ball seemed at odds with our isolated Striker and the distant Assombalonga. A throw in while Rangers were down to ten men with CB Lynch receiving treatment saw a Shotton cross poorly cleared out to Saville who took his chance and hit a great ball straight back towards the Ranger’s goal to pull the sides back level.

QPR almost replied immediately with a quick break which was cleared by Randolph’s feet. McClaren made an enforced sub for Lynch as the game suddenly hit new levels of tempo as Boro looked to be willing to take risks and push forward. A Free Kick saw a lot of discussion and pre planning by Boro with the eventual end product by Howson disappointing. At this stage Rangers looked to be rocking, their enforced shuffle at the back not helping things as Boro for the first time had the upper hand in the game.

A Downing free kick into the box saw Lumley in the Rangers goal all at sea as Flint failed to connect but then a break by Luonga saw Saville take him out to prevent Boro being caught out and collecting a yellow for his troubles. Boro charged forward in numbers looking to exploit the superiority but Howson was bizarrely given offside and the game see sawed back again with Rangers going down the other finding Wells totally free in the box and Rangers were back in front 2-1. It was Boro rocking now as QPR took a short corner shortly after regaining the lead which went out for a goal kick for Randolph to take. Cousins then skinned Friend and Ayala had to intercept to clear it out for another Hoops corner, chaos in the Boro box saw Saville blocking and another Rangers corner led to a shot which went over Randolph’s bar.

TP then brought off Howson and Downing for Wing and Tavernier. A Friend ball into Lumley’s box saw Ayala using his favoured arm to control it which ended going wide after Saville ended the move with a half attempt. A free kick conceded by Tavernier on Luongo saw a Freeman ball fired in that was cleared by Friend who was sent flying for his troubles. Since the Hoops regained the lead Boro had lost their mojo and struggled to get back into the game. A weak Boro corner saw Rangers break away with Shotton just managing to get back to take the sting out of the threat.

A poor free kick was easily dealt with as Boro now looked out of ideas apart from hitting pointless balls up to Hugill with all shape and intensity gone. Twenty minutes remaining and if it wasn’t hard enough battling the opposition and the conditions, Referee Oliver Langford seemed to be a twelfth man for the West Londoners as everything was adjudged to be in their favour. A late tactical reshuffle saw Britt moved up front with Hugill as we went to three at the back and Shotton and Tavernier now operating as Wing Backs. A Massimo Luongo lunge at Shotton saw Saville get involved in a scuffle with the Aussie and having already been booked he was immediately withdrawn by Pulis for Ashley Fletcher to enter the fray.

Less than ten minutes remaining and Shotton nearly gifted Rangers their third of the afternoon as he played a ridiculous ball across the middle of the pitch. With Five minutes now remaining I wasn’t sure if Boro had any semblance of tactics (4-4-2?) then Luonga had another effort that went over Randolph’s bar. A long clearance then from Randolph saw a Hugill knock down to Tav who fed in Fletcher but his attempt went out for a corner. Things were now getting messy with frustrations building and Britt managed to get himself booked adjudged to have fouled Furlong.

Four minutes of stoppage time saw Pawel Wszolek with another effort as Boro had shoved Flint up field. An Assombalonga effort was blocked as desperation stakes were raised and a Fletcher effort from a Friend cross gave faint hope of Boro nicking a point. Tempers then flared as Boro retained possession after Rangers had put the ball out for treatment or a substitution depending on your perspective. A last second lofted Boro Free Kick into a packed Rangers box saw Langford blow his whistle to end a miserable pointless afternoon in more ways than one.

More puzzling tactics and again nothing to show for it as Boro succumbed to their second away defeat of the season. I can’t award a MOM award in what was really poor and unconvincing fayre. Things were very reminiscent of this time last year when the Manager just didn’t seem to know what he had or how he wanted them to perform. Apart from Saville’s goal I can’t recall Lumley being tested at all. How we hope to get promoted by sitting deep defending from the off and no longer with a resolute defence to rely on but with no attacking threat whatsoever can only end one way. It seems that Boro fans are once more having to watch an intransigent, defiant Manager sticking to failing tactics have that all too familiar Groundhog day feeling.

Championship 2018-19: Week 20

Sat 15 Dec – 15:00: QPR v Boro

Life in the Premier League nursery, or the Championship as others prefer to call it, is starting to see a few supporters growing tired of the swings and roundabouts in the promotion playground. Many on Teesside have urged that manager Tony Pulis needs to show more adventure in order to be able to climb the table and put the club in the frame for an automatic slot – though it seems many hadn’t anticipated he was about to try out the slide instead. The highs and lows being experienced are starting to look like an unnecessary wobble, with many puzzled supporters still attempting to See what the manager Saw, as the weight of expectation shifts to and fro.

Pulis claims that Boro’s ups and downs in front of goal are mainly down to not being clinical enough and re-iterated last week “I’ve said before, we just need a little bit more quality at the top end of the pitch, so when we get those opportunities and chances, which we do create, we can put them away.” This is possibly an over-simplification of the problems facing Boro in their inability to trouble opposition keepers often enough.

Although even small children in the Family Enclosure at the Riverside can see that our ponderous midfield are perhaps culpable in not providing enough opportunities for the strikers. Even the junior branch of the Red Faction are now reluctant to sing that the wheels on the Boro bus go round and round out of fear that at some point they may also come off. Anticipating such a disaster is all part of their Teesside DNA but surely children should be protected from such vividly-imagined trauma.

Perhaps they could instead innocently remind the boss of what needs to change by singing him a little nursery rhyme as he wanders up and down in his technical area: See Saw why can’t we score, Since Tony has been our new master, The team won’t put their chances away, Unless we can move the ball faster. OK perhaps not the words he might remember from his formative old school days but at least he may be spared a rendition of ‘Three blind mice’ in relation to the shooting prowess of his often preferred midfield trio – while it’s probably not enough to just see how they run, the farmer’s wife may opt against using her club-shop Boro carving knife in case it also proves to be unhelpfully blunt.

Nevertheless, despite Boro’s failure to build on their untypical early-season start, it’s more than likely that Steve Gibson won’t be preparing to throw his toys out his retro Bulkhaul pram any time soon and contemplate whether it’s time to back a different horse on the managerial merry-go-round. After two points from the last three games was a lot less than many had hoped for, it’s probably only regarded as slump territory by those who are suffering from premature over-extrapolation.

Although in many ways the recent dip was largely self inflicted with Pulis opting for major personnel and tactical changes for the trip to Preston instead of building on the momentum of two straight wins either side of the international break. The moment a manager makes the call to rest key players and mix up the organisation on the pitch, he always risks a bit of a knock for taking his eye off the ball and thinking beyond the next game.

Boro went into the game against an in-form Villa somewhat on the back foot after that disjointed performance seeped into the subconscious of the group and meant they didn’t start like a team confident of rising to the challenge. In the end they were second best all over the pitch and uncharacteristic errors from Randolph left Boro deservedly well beaten.

However, the visit of Blackburn offered a chance to get a reaction but after a promising opening ten minutes, Rovers started to pass it around between the Boro lines, which then saw Besic’s untimely interest in the fabric of Bradley Dack’s shirt that consequently left the team a man and a goal down. From that point it was never going to be an easy task but at least the players regrouped and showed that they could raise the intensity of their game. Boro recovered and ultimately showed more application than they had in the previous two games to make and earn a point.

We’ve seen this failure to push on and build on previous wins before but it’s been normally ameliorated by the equal failure of our promotion rivals to capitalise on these stumbles. Unfortunately, leaders Norwich added back-to-back victories to their point at Hull to make it 8 wins from the last 9. Leeds have finally stopped staggering along the road to promotion, arm-in-arm with Boro as they both appeared still drunk on their August points binge and have now returned four consecutive wins since that start. It has left Tony Pulis and his squad suddenly out of the automatic promotion picture as they drop to sixth place and six points behind the top two.

The task ahead for the Boro manager is clear and it appears he’s decided to shuffle through his squad in the hope of finding a trump card that will do the trick in his quest for goals. The aborted recall of Ashley Fletcher, following the dismissal of Besic, is being pencilled in for another reboot this weekend. It seems Pulis is keen to give those on the fringes a chance to prove they still have a role to play – though they must first presumably impress enough to deserve an opportunity. Whether anyone will ultimately keep the shirt they are being temporarily being loaned is uncertain – despite two vital goals, Marcus Tavernier seems to have disappeared just as quickly as he surprisingly appeared.

What price that Britt Assombalonga will be tasked with repeating his wonder goal against Blackburn? Perhaps his subsequent fluffed lines will be held against him but surely the name of the game for strikers is confidence – another goal for Britt may restore his self-belief if not a large chunk of his value in the January window. Although in terms of making Boro a sustainable attacking force, we should perhaps remember what happened in the Premier League and simply ignore wonder goals as an anomaly with goal-of-the-season contenders by Stuani and Gaston Ramirez were the exception rather than the rule. You could argue that if you need an amazing strike to score then something is probably going wrong – though at the risk of being proved wrong, I’m prepared to suffer a few more strikes like the one witnessed against Blackburn.

So, after facing one of their favourite sons at the Riverside in Tony Mowbray, Boro head to Loftus Road on Saturday to be hosted by the man who led them to their first magnificent major trophy. Steve McClaren appears to be back on another roller-coaster ride after being installed as the Hoops manager in mid-May to replace Ian Holloway. The move to the capital made it his tenth managerial appointment since his first post as a number one was presented to him by Steve Gibson.

Although before McClaren could start planning his summer business, he was awaiting a decision on QPR’s appeal regarding the £42m fine imposed on the club for breaching Financial Fair Play rules in their promotion campaign in 2013-14. In the end, an agreement was reached in July where the club would pay £20m (£17m fine plus £3m legal costs) over a ten-year period and convert £22m owed in loans to the owners into equity. In addition, they also accepted a transfer ban for the January 2019 window. All of which means essentially just an annual £2m payment that is not included in overall permitted spending – hardly much of a handicap or deterrent for those looking at possibly emulating their over-indulgence in a bid for the top tier.

Nevertheless, McClaren was given no money to spend in the summer and instead brought in 8 players on free transfers and acquired 3 more on loan. QPR’s start was in stark contrast to that of Boro’s as our former manager presided over four straight defeats with an unlucky 13 goals conceded in the process – including that 7-1 thrashing at West Brom. The goals may have been raining down but Steve wasn’t contemplating reaching for his brolly just yet and his team recovered to what is regarded as promotion-winning form with 20 points from the next 30. Unfortunately, the recent form of the Hoops appears to have dipped again as despite scoring 10 in their last six games, they have only won once after conceding 12.

McClaren can perhaps at least console himself this week that his position as the country’s most notorious brolly brandisher since Mary Poppins was recruited by the Bulgarians to see off a dissident has finally been usurped by Theresa May. As the media desperately searched for a metaphor to demonstrate the deluge of criticism she was facing, the PM was snapped looking miserable whilst holding an umbrella in the pouring rain. If Mrs May had been a devoted football follower like her predecessor, she would have known that those in charge should never risk curse of been photographed under an umbrella.

However, this metaphor was soon superseded after Theresa May was filmed trapped in the back of her ministerial car as the driver struggled to unlock the door while Angela Merkel waited patiently on the red carpet to greet her in Berlin. The Guardian helpfully reminded us that Michael Gove had said in the referendum campaign that the UK remaining in the EU would be “like being held hostage in the back of a car” – as it seems is leaving the EU too.

Although, staying clear of football altogether is perhaps the best advice to the country’s leaders after a gammon-faced David Cameron scored a spectacular own-goal when his football fan fakery was exposed when he forgot which claret-shirted team he supported and became a Hammer instead of a Villain. Perhaps only Tony Blair gained political capital with regard to football with his unfeasibly long game of head tennis with Kevin Keegan, which became one of the most iconic political photo opportunities ever staged. The stunt enthralled the country so much that Blair was forced to produce a dodgy dossier and invade Iraq just to be viewed as a normal politician again.

Keegan of course had form on such matters, some may even unfortunately remember the bizarre photo-op when he was persuaded along with Emlyn Hughes to kiss the newly elected prime minister Margaret Thatcher on the steps of Downing Street ahead of the 1980 European Championships. As Mrs Thatcher stood there posing with the squad in a rather prim dress holding a football, Hughes apparently quipped “I bet you wish you could grab hold of Arthur Scargill’s balls like that” – in stark contrast to her look of bemusement, roars of laughter ensued from the players.

Though Keegan was seemingly quite fond of prime ministers as he also presented Thatcher’s less exciting grey successor John Major with a black and white Newcastle shirt to presumably compliment his monochrome manner. Perhaps if Theresa May intends to make one more desperate bid for popularity then it may be time for her to don the Gareth Southgate waistcoat of likability – though let’s hope we don’t eventually see Jacob Rees-Mogg being ushered into office by street urchins doffing their Tony Pulis style caps in deference.

Middlesbrough		Backburn
Assombalonga ▮ Besic	62′ 21′	Mulgrew	22′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	34% 12 5 4 14	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	66% 15 5 8 12

Britt’s best thaws Besic brain freeze

Today saw the return of yet another of our recent Managers and possibly our finest Captain in recent memory, at least for those of us over fifty. The return of an ex Middlesbrough Manager used to be a very rare occasion but nowadays it has become commonplace in the Championship in fact there would have been another one just last week had Steve Agnew still been at Villa. This was Mogga’s first official return to the Riverside. His last exit from Boro was less than most had hoped it would be but the groundswell of goodwill especially as we enter this festive season was still there as most appreciated that despite some poor runs of results he did have a knack of plucking players from bargain bins and in doing so cleared up Strachan’s mess.

TP had a serious selection problem at Right back with Dael Fry still recovering from concussion. Ryan Shotton was back in training but questionable as to where he was in his recovery program. It may be that he would be risked with the only other alternative being Paddy McNair. Other than that there was a clean bill of health apart from Rudy Gestede but personnel wise attacking options were well covered for TP which was more than could be said for their effectiveness.

Mogga had a few question marks over the availability of Lenihan, Bennett and Bell with two of those three, Lenihan and Bell close to returning. Boro’s record against Blackburn isn’t great having only won two of their last seventeen games against the Rovers (ironically under Mogga), drawn seven of them and finishing up on the wrong end of the result eight times. The main Rovers threat was expected to come from ex Boro boy Danny Graham and the seemingly much coveted Bradley Dack now recently reunited with his Z list attention seeking reality love interest Olivia Attwood (who?, yeah I had to google her as well).

Well the Team news saw that two of Blackburn’s injury worries had cleared up enough to feature on their bench. TP threw the curve ball of starting Fletcher at the expense of Tavernier who was on the bench and Shotton thankfully deemed fit again. Why Fletcher was considered a better option than Tavernier wide left was a strange one but early tactics seemed to be focused on Shotton getting down the flanks and firing over hit crosses to the far side of the Blackburn box aimed at Fletchers height advantage. As a tactic it was basic but potentially functional. Defensively it did leave Friend with more to do than preferred especially against the very lively Nyambe but to his credit Fletch did get a few telling challenges in tracking back and even tried to ruffle the Blackburn defence conceding a free kick early on for his alleged physicality.

Blackburn were moving the ball around with gusto and getting players quickly into position to receive, keeping the ball, constantly moving and with it Boro on their toes but it was Boro who were looking the more likely with a more direct style of play. It almost paid off with a Flint header from a Downing corner with less than five minutes gone. The momentum was slowly building in Boro’s favour as a Shotton cross had the Blackburn defence lucky to get a free kick awarded in their favour when Howson looked like he might be in a position to break the deadlock. Rovers were a constant threat however with their ability to pick their way through Boro with crisp incisive movement and if Boro weren’t careful they looked like they could find themselves undone.

Williams came to the rescue for Blackburn when Hugill fluffed his lines on the Rovers six yard box. A rusty challenge from Shotton on Corry Evans surprisingly saw a straight yellow for a late tackle in the middle of the pitch from Ref Simon Hooper. Most refs would have called him over for a talking to but the Official went straight to his pocket which seemed a bit harsh. Five minutes later Williams was involved again this time to receive a yellow card with Shotton on the receiving end. The game was being competed in a no frills fashion but both cards to me seemed a bit of an overreaction from the Ref so early in the game.

In the middle of the park Besic was busy running in circles taking on players unnecessarily at times overcomplicating as he went, it was at least entertaining even if there was little end product. That was to horrifically change on twenty minutes after he dithered in a dangerous position yet again just outside his own box and had his pocket picked by Dack who was clearly aware of the Bosnian’s Achilles heel. A seemingly straightforward clearance was compounded by Mo’s overly inflated confidence and not for the first time this season gave away possession cheaply just outside Randolph’s box and in an effort to remedy his excesses this time went one further in pulling Dack back. There was a moment of despairing hope that it would all go unnoticed but Dack’s protests and a 45 second delay from Sian Massey running the line saw an ensuing flag waving performance that wouldn’t have looked out of place at a Cheerleaders convention.

The two officials were clearly conversing on their headsets as Blackburn players pleaded their case convincingly and a Red Card was produced from Mr. Hooper’s by now favourite pocket. Despite protestations from the North and West stands it was a clear opportunity created by Besic’s dithering and he had to go. After an encouraging start Boro now found themselves down to ten men and it was about to get worse as Mulgrew done what this entire Boro squad seem incapable of perfecting and curled a beautiful free kick up and around the Boro wall leaving Randolph with no chance putting the visitors one nil up.

The loss of our muddling midfield maestro destabilised Boro. It was now a backs to the wall hanging on display from the Red Shirts made worse by Sian Massey (seemingly rattled by the crowds hostility) giving a few strange rulings, rubbing salt in wounds. A shot from Reed flew past Randolph’s post as Rovers were now intent on taking full advantage of their extra man with Boro still struggling to re shape. Frantic activity on the Boro bench to try and plug the gap resulted in the unlucky Fletcher being withdrawn for the more aggressive and stable Wing with just over thirty minutes gone. What had started off as a confident opening spell had now descended into panic mode with Boro struggling to get a grip on the game.

The pressure was continuing to build with a series of Blackburn passes and crosses cutting Boro open, only some last ditch defending and near misses meant that Boro were still surviving as Downing (Blackburn’s Paul) came close but headed over for the visitors. A fierce low Rovers cross evaded everyone and looked a certainty for Graham to make it two as he blindsided Flint but then an outstretched Ayala leg came from nowhere to clear the danger. Minutes later Graham was again causing problems as he closed in on Randolph, shot and the parried rebound fell to Reed who somehow put his shot the wrong side of the upright as Boro again breathed a sigh of relief.

Boro cleared their lines with George charging forwards, went on a run, evaded two tackles and as the third came sliding in George rode it and in doing so saved himself from a bone cruncher but mysteriously the effervescent Gentleman with the whistle saw George’s actions as a dive and produced another yellow card. The frustration in the stands against the officials was now building and as the half drew to a close the vitriolic boos, jeers and whistles was drowned out by fans favourite MMP as he feverishly just couldn’t wait to announce half time scores elsewhere in an attempt to mask the paying publics opinions.

That was a half which turned into a horror show. That blunder from Besic was hardly surprising, he has been guilty several times this season of the same but fortune had favoured him up until this point. Having great ability is one thing, knowing how, when and where to use it is something else and its becoming clear that this huge flaw in his game is now a glaring a liability. TP took some radical brave, decisions at half time and withdrew Clayts and Downing (Stewart) for Assombalonga and Saville and in doing so removing the safety guard from his CB’s in favour of an extra body up front to assist Hugill.

The half started with Rovers clearly under instructions from Mogga to put this game out of sight and a flurry of immediate crosses saw Ayala once againclear the first one with Randolph dealing with the second with a clean collection clearly suffering no ill effects from his Villa debacle seven days previously. As the Rovers pressure continued it was that man Dack again who saw his attempt hit the post with Randolph saving Conway’s reaction follow up shot. Action man Dack then found himself next in line to collect a yellow card for a challenge on Shotton who himself had been full of endeavour on his return. It was only Shotton’s throws at this point that seemed to offer any cause for optimism as he seemed to have gained an extra 5 yards on his trajectory during his recovery.

With just over half an hour remaining a great chance was created by Saville (who had a good game) by launching a targeted long ball out of defence allowing Hugill to run onto it closing down on Raya in the Rovers goal. Unfortunately Jordan hesitated and instead of either shooting on sight or running across the chasing Mulgrew to draw a challenge he only managed a weak shot that was easily smothered by the Batman masked Raya. There were however some positive signs that Hugill with support from Britt were looking like they could maybe get some change from Blackburn as the ten men in Red were all scrapping, fighting in a brave never say die battle to get something from the ashes.

Boro now looked like they actually had a threat with the dual strike force and a foray involving Friend and a clever lobbed one-two with Britt saw Friend cut inside to feed Hugill who held firm and in doing so played the ball into the path of the onrushing Britt who hit a wonder curled strike from the edge of the Rovers 18 yard box to nestle perfectly in the far top corner of Raya’s net. 1-1, game on and in fairness Boro deserved it for their stoic display. A minute later and a Shotton in swinger was punched clear by Raya. Blackburn were now looking nervy and susceptible on the break with Hugill effective in battling with their CB’s and Britt looking for knock on’s and knock downs. Mogga clearly saw that he needed to mix things up to make their extra man count and on came Armstrong for Conway with twenty minutes left to play.

Still concerned five minutes later Mogga made another change this time local lad and ex Boro player Richie Smallwood coming off for Rothwell. The change definitely added some additional spice for Blackburn and two minutes later Reed had forced Randolph into a save to keep the sides on level terms. Boro took the ball up the other end forcing another throw, Shotton launched the ball onto Flint’s head who glancing it backwards across the face of Raya’s goal was teasingly inviting a toe from someone but none was to be found and the ball went out for a Rovers goal kick. The game was now see sawing back and forth and it was Blackburn’s turn to go for the winner with Dack playing Armstrong in only for an Ayala leg to intervene coming to the rescue. Armstrong had been lively since coming on and somehow had avoided Simon Hooper’s final yellow card after a series of tasty challenges on Boro defenders as he chased and closed down with a little more zest than required.

A late Shotton throw in was headed on by an understandably shattered Hugill but it was an easy collection for Raya as there was neither power nor direction on it. That was to be the last serious attempt from Boro as the three minutes extra time petered out and Boro’s indifferent Home form continued albeit it could have been worse, a lot worse.

There were a few interesting things to come out of this afternoon, the first one was the strange decision to take Fletcher in from the cold after being fourth understudy behind non scoring Strikers but suddenly pressed into playing wide left. I don’t have a problem with giving the lad a chance in fact I fully support it but thrown in from the off for his first start in nigh on twelve months seemed a desperate gamble. The lack of pace in the side is a given and that Ashley offers more pace and mobility as well as additional height is a plus but not at the expense of our only other pacy outlet Tavernier. Where all that leaves Braithwaite is anyone’s guess but maybe Besic’s stupidity may earn him a recall.

Shotton returning was a huge plus and his re appearance today was both timely and impressive. Hugill and Britt looked a handful together and whether it was because of the ten men mentality or just the additional body to create a foil up front, for the first time they looked a real formidable and credible offering. Besic should be under strict instructions to track no further back than the half way line, his self-belief is several levels greater than his actual ability. MOM for me was Ayala with Shotton a hairsbreadth in second spot but Dani did stop a few nailed on opportunities in both halves without which we would have been dead and buried. Before Kick off all 22 of Boro’s league goals this season have come inside the box, Britt’s was the first from outside ending the dubious only 100% such record in the Championship.

Plenty to be cynical about but also plenty to be grateful for and under the circumstances it was a good result.