Team News...
Howson, Hackney and Barlaser all start - as do Engel and Bangura - so do Crooks and Latte Lath - could be an interesting formation. Maybe wing-backs with Hackney in an advanced midfield role?
It's at times like this that you wish you hadn't committed to a dry January...
I like look of the team to start tonight. Here's hoping they make us proud.
CoB
Good to see O’Brien back in the squad providing another option. 😎
So that's two penalties not given already.... hope it will not be one of those nights....
and two players off injured ....So that's two penalties not given already.... hope it will not be one of those nights....
Very impressive to lose the pace of Bangura and Latte Lath, reorganise and come up with a goal like that. Lovely. I'll not mention Cole Palmer.
Well after the worse possible start losing 2 players before 20 minutes had been played I feared the worse but Boro have grown into the game and great goal and something to hold onto. Boro have also rode their luck with quite a few mistakes in midfield but thankfully Cole Palmer missed 3 good chances including a sitter.
Boro need to tighten up in the second half and play some more balls behind the Chelsea defence - the question is whether they will tire and with already 2 subs made it going to need some tired legs to go beyond their limit.
A head coach's nightmare for a start. To replace quick Latte Lath with a bit slower Coburn. And then silver quick Bankura out with the tall Clarke in. All plans to the basket.
I am not saying Coburn or Clarke are not as good as LL or Bangura - they are just totally opposite type of players.
Magnificent flexibility from Carrick and Woodgate - and especially the players. Up the Boro!
The BBC live text commentary is proving quite entertaining, thanks especially to the contributions of Chelski fans crying in their beer - description of HH's goal:
Middlesbrough score first and what a noise at the Riverside.
Levi Colwill, who has struggled at left-back can't defend it against the lightning quick Isaiah Jones, he is able to cross and the late-arriving Hayden Hackney provides a calm and composed side-footed finish from six yards out.
The Championship side take the lead.
Pat Nevin:
We talked about it before the game, we talked about the left-back who is not a left-back - Levi Colwill is a centre back.
Fans:
Anon: Surely Caicedo is the biggest waste of money in the Premier League this season? Misses easy passes, doesn't stop any attacks, doesn't offer any goal scoring threat. And was asleep during Middlesbrough's goal.
Matt: Caicedo stops. He just stops. Pathetic.
Arjun: Awful defending from Chelsea. Just error after error.
The young Levi Colwill is not a left-back. I’m starting to think he’s not even Chelsea standard!
Stewie D:
'Chelsea can create something from nothing'
Not an ideal start with the injuries for Middlesbrough and they have had to change the style. Cole Palmer has had some unbelievable opportunities his first one was gifted from Jonny Howson.
Boro have to be happy and Michael Carrick will be pretty pleased, but Chelsea can get chances and they can create from nothing. Boro just need to cut out the sloppy mistakes in the second half.
Colwill is one tackle from going off
You have got to play to your strengths and it has worked out better for Isaiah Jones in getting him higher up the pitch. Jones' eyes are lighting up and he is saying 'give me the ball'. Levi Colwill is one tackle from going off - Boro need to keep putting him under pressure.
Absolutely great goal to get us in front against the run of play.
Chelsea have made and wasted a number of “should of been goals” chances. Boro have helped make at least 2/3 of them.
We need a little more from Crooks though and JH to look up first.
Well. That will do very nicely. Superb backs to the wall defensive master class in the second half. For all Chelsea dminated the ball, the Boro were equal to keeping them away from any realistic goal scoring opportunities.
That is one to enjoy for now.
I’m sure we’d have taken 1-0 before kickoff. We rode our luck but a win is a win.
That was a massive effort from the players in the second half to hold onto that one goal lead - most looked dead on their feet for the last 15 minutes - especially those just back from injury like Coburn and Crooks. The players deserve a rest for a few days now after basically shutting out 2 PL sides for 3 hours - bar that flukey deflected goal. OK it's come at a price with injuries to Latte Lath and Bangura but with a few players back and Greenwood, Rogers and Azaz watching on then still some players to play at the weekend. Couldn't have asked for anymore than taking a lead to Chelsea and who knows if Boro score an early goal then they will fancy their chances!
Forget the second leg and just enjoy the thrill of winning tonight. The players were fantastic and you could see the plan and it worked. Especially pleasing with 2 players having to go off injured in the first 20 minutes. The players must be exhausted after the effort they put in.
The crowd certainly enjoyed tonight and must be proud of their team.
Philip of Huddersfield 👍👋🤗
As Jarkko said, it was amazing to lose the game plan so soon but to battle through the adversity and get a great win! So we lose the pace of Latte Lath immediately, then soon after, we lose the pace and width of Bangura. How unlucky can we get? I hope neither is badly injured, but I fear the worst. I think the remaining lads, who all played till the end of the game, must have been absolutely knackered. Yet still they held out. Bravo!
Gazette player ratings - 9s for Fry & Barlaser, with the former awarded MotM:
WOW, Gentlemen (and any Ladies on here), WOW! That was a great performance by BORO and a great result. For Chelsea...not so much on either front. Shocking defending by them for Boro's goal, eclipsed only by the lack of quality in Chelsea's first half striking - I will exclude their 2nd half striking as they carved out only one shooting opportunity then, that I can remember.
How can an injury-ravaged Championship team like BORO hold high-flying Aston Villa, in Villa's annus mirabilis of a season so far, to a 1 goal defeat, with a heavily deflected goal 3 minutes from time? And then, 2 clear days later, manage to beat a bling Chelsea team which is only mid-table in the Premier League, but which is stuffed with multi-millions pound players only the PL or plutocrat owners could afford? I am not going overboard here, and I realise that in both games BORO had much the lower levels of possession than they are used to against Championship opponents, but the grit and commitment showed by the team in both games deserved at least one result, and beating Chelsea in this game was always MY priority out of the 2 games.
Obviously there is still a mountain to climb at Stamford Bridge but I was pleased we sent our southern invaders packing after this most recent engagement. Let's take a day to bask in the pleasure of Tuesday's victory over Chelsea which at least helps to turn the tide of recent results against them. If ever a club deserved a defeat, it was Chelsea in this game. I suspect their manager was less than gentle with his team in the changing rooms after the match. I cannot pretend that I am in the least sorry for them.
Football really is a weird game. The depressing lows, sometimes a succession of them, followed by magnificent highs. This is the lot of a football supporter (unless you currently support, say, Liverpool or Manchester City) so we should enjoy the feeling while it lasts.
Hopefully the knocks that took 2 of our players off the field after only 18 minutes are not too serious and the medical staff can do their magic over the next few days. Hopefully others are on the verge of fitness and, of course, we have our new signing (Azaz) to welcome into the squad. It would be nice to think our club's inury problems will start to reduce from now on....
But, still: BORO BEAT CHELSEA in the 1st leg of the League Cup Semi-Final! Sounds good, doesn't it? (Maybe the national Press will tell us all tomorrow that the win was down to Chelsea's unfortunate inadequacies and sheer bad luck, rather than BORO's performance on the night! We will not be fooled!).
Some sore throats and aching heads this morning.
I think we played better against Aston Villa on Saturday than we did yesterday. We defended a bit too deep. Our first bank of players (attacking midfield and the striker) were sat too deep.
But our defenders were superb. The wing backs were excellent in defending but also attacking. Jones made the only goal of the match, too. Fry and Clarks were very, very good indeed. I did not much notice RVDB, but he was not bad.
So in a way we deserved the win as the attitude and team play was there. Perhaps it was not as pleasing for your eyes, but it was effective. And the goal was a beaty.
In the second half, the crowd was not as loud as I expected (could be the TV) as I think most people were biting their nails and were not able to shout. But it was very lound for the last 15 or 10 minutes.
What a match, though. We have the smallest of advantage, but we need to be optimistic and believe we can keep a clean sheet at Stamford Bridge in two weeks' time.
In Carrick we trust. How can he do that with 12 players unavailable? Up the Boro!
That was an atmosphere in the ground last night fir the £600 team v the 600million pound team, let's just enjoy the night because it could resemble the alamo in a couple of weeks, If we have enough fit players. First time we have beat Chelsea in 9 games. HH will have more PL teams sniffing around offering gold and trinkets, good look to him and let's just appreciate his skill while he is with us. Last night is what we love as football fans and it will live in the memory for a long time UTB.........
@paulinboro Boro were without 12 senior players at kick-off because of a combination of injury, suspension, international call-ups and the ineligibility rules of the Carabao Cup. By the 20th minute, the number of absentees had risen to 14.
There was hardly any senior players left on the bench!
Unbelievable effort and resut. Enjoy the moment. Up the Boro!
I hadn’t realised until these reports came out that it was Sir Steve Gibson’s birthday yesterday. It’s good to know he shares his birth date with another noted local celebrity: ME!! 😂🎂🍷
Well it was a night to remember for those of us who either watched it in person or saw it on TV.
It was certainly emotional and whilst the Boro played better on Saturday on Saturday against Villa the hard running and determination of the team and rapport with the fans took this team to another level.
Ive never seen Carrick so full of smiles and emotion as he said it was the proudest moment of his managerial career and he praised all his players.
Two contrasting end of game moments when both sets of players went to see their fans.
Chelsea fans booed their multi millionaire players and berated them quite vociferously. the veteran defender Thiago Silva was spotted arguing with angry Chelsea supporters who booed his team off at the final whistle. A quite disgraceful end to a very poor performance by Chelsea.
In contrast we had the Boro team totally part of the crowd and fans and our younger players signed from overseas who quite frankly had seen nothing like this previously. Crooks conducting the fans at the end at one with the crowd and a sea of red and white joyous supporters as one with their team.
A smiling laughing Manager lauding praise on his depleted squad and saying it was his best feeling as a manager.
A game that should have produced a penalty in the first minute when our strike Latte Lath was wiped out and had to go off. Another cruel foul that resulted in a game changing situation which meant Clarke had to come on and change the formation to a back 4 which meant Jones could push forward and cause problems for Chelsea and indeed create the goal.
So in adversity we won it’s certainly going to be a different game when we play Chelsea next as they know what to expect !
OFB
Great win last night and what a noise at the Riverside! Everyone is right that it will be a different game at Stamford Bridge but I think we have a real opportunity there. Chelsea have to score to have any chance of progressing to the final so they will need to push forward and we showed last night that we have the ability to run in behind their defence. If we can nick a goal then the pressure is really on Chelsea.
Tonight we played like a Champions League team. How many times over the years as our National team or top club went to places that was felt should win easy. ( I remember Poland ) but the other team were organized . solid. Patient and waited. I admit I saw a different coaching think tonight . It might not be this season. But we're in good hands. Long term. Yes . Some games we'll be emotional and want to sack everyone. but that's a fan
On a another note resign Van on a bigger contract with a sell on of £100 m
This is an interesting take on Chelsea (with some nice Boro detail thrown in.) it certainly gives me hope for the second leg.