Definitely a game too far today with injuries and a lack of attacking options coming home to roost. We just need to keep in touch with the last couple of play off places in the next month and hope we have reinforcements lined up in January.
Maybe Carrick could have brought on some subs as mentioned by others but I had the feeeling we could still be playing now and we still wouldn't have scored. What I saw was a team playing conservatively, conscious of the players missing and temporary defensive set up, leading to a lack of confidence and belief. Jones was definitely misses so one to let go and focus on a better performance on Wednesday.
@werdermouth Agree that VDB continued to try as best he could when the game was lost. Otherwise I thought Engel did OK, as did Latte. Clarke tried his best, but the long lay off showed.
As for the rest, NO player deserved more than a four, including Howson. As much as I admire him, he should have been replaced, Barlaser however is not the answer, even though he at least tries to play the ball forward. Unfortunately too many loose balls.
Our midfield made Morsy look like a world beater.
The reality is, that the majority of players brought in the summer, are only squad players and nowhere good enough for a permanent first team place, needed for a top six place.
@eboroacum Agree MC made his subs far too late. They probably would not have made any difference, but to wait until we were 2 goals down, was naive and too late.
There were some very poor performances out there today, Crooks as a senior player culpable of being one of the worst.
it does not look as though we are going to get any injured players back soon, so this poor run could continue, although Jones and Dijksteel may help.
That is 5 for the season but we are past the first cut off date, 19 games. The next cut off is 37 games so he has 17 games to pick up his next 5 and get a 2 game ban.
Have not seen the game but not really surprised by the result. Since MC has come in we seem to play in streaks both good and bad. It happened last season and has done again this .
First seven games 2 points
Next seven games 18 points
Next six games 7 points.
I think that the consistency of results reflects the consistency in selection, and I know we have a lot of injuries. In our squad we have 4 players who have played 15+ games and one of those Hackney did not play yesterday. Contrast Ipswich who have 10 players who have 15+ games and most of the squad who played all of last season. They only signed five players and one of them had been on loan there last season.
Also when Josh Coburn starts we have only lost one game.
Howson and Clarke were better than the rest. But we definately missed Jones and Dijksteel going FORWARD. And the left side was not functioning either. Greenwood was not having his best game.
All in all, we looked exactly a team missing nine regulars - fortunately this was only the first time we looked like that even we have had the long injury list for over a month. Especially so as you looked at the bench - only Silvera and Bangura was there to change anything going forward. And Coburn.
Still, it was small margings. If Clarke had had time to move his head half an inch more, he would have reflected the strike for a corner or at least against the post.
Also Latte Lath should have made it 1-1 when he shot just wide. But all in all Ipswich looked more like a team that has played together a year longer than ours. They deserved the win.
Luckily we have the next game against Hull on Wednesday. Up the Boro!
Definitely a bad day at the office.
Perhaps the only positives are that we are still in touch with the top six and we should have at least two more players available for Wednesday unless more injuries emerge! 😎
Only saving grace is their coach will get the Man U job instead of Carrick, I'm at the stage now after all these years of highs then lows ,of promises not kept, changes here and there , you just shrug and enjoy the wins and accept the losses.
It's obvious these players dont have the ability, or consistency or character to Excell, it's not their fault they are were we always are .
That was a very poor way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Spitting with rain on the walk to the ground. Cold, grey and breezy. Not a great spectacle to watch. Ipswich didn't play any better than they needed to but were still generally in charge and won with ease. If Ipswich had been on top form it would have been carnage. No Boro players stood out as having a really good game, even in a losing cause, although there were a number of decent defensive Boro blocks from Ipswich shots as the game went on, without which the score would have been much worse. To cap it all, the rain set in on the walk back to the car after the match and continued throughout the drive home. Not even the usual debrief after the match at the Murdered Monkey, so no opportunity to drown my sorrows (I was wet enough outside in any event). A thoroughly dispiriting afternoon.
And now, as time moves on, I will attempt to download the Opener for the Hull City game which follows on Wednesday evening, 13th December. As explained within the piece, it was typed BEFORE the Ispwich game so maybe it will not sound so depressed. But if I have a problem downloading it, I may have recourse to other methods via OFB or Werder. Let's see how it goes....
@mw-in-darwin CROOKS , No problem, he can do it easy !
He picks up too many bookings through reckless/ lunging tackles but does his size go against him.
It WORKED but by cutting and pasting rather than using that toggle button, and I didn't lose the saved document. Next time I will save twice with slightly different names in case I press a wrong button as I very nearly did lose the piece. OFB & Werder can stand down as urgent help is no longer required this time. Thanks!
(Really, I am a quill-pen-and-ink kind of guy but all this technology....).
Yesterday’s result was no surprise as Ipswich are having a brilliantly season following their promotion. Usually promoted teams start well and then drop off but no sign of this with Ipswich. They are strong contenders for promotion even at this stage of the season .
Meanwhile , Boro lack consistency and a real goal scorer. Latte for all his efforts is not the man. Coburn will get some goals but is not quite there as the number one.
The good news is that Clarke might just save Boro going into the market for a central defender. Assuming he plays on Wednesday will be a big test for him coming so quickly after Saturday and the time he’s been injured. Fry, McNair, Clarke and Van what’s his name , as a back up, should be enough. I’d still consider Howson in an emergency - it could extend his season.
However, Boro have the worst defensive record away from home apart from Norwich and Rotherham but only two teams, Leicester and Coventry , have a better defensive home record. That’s weird.
Hope we can sneak a win against Hull on Wednesday to keep within sight of the 6th placed team.It’s on Sky.
Philip of Huddersfield
First match attended since I returned from down under, and it was poor fayre, I know we have injuries but they didn't have to get out of 2nd gear
Yes I agree it was a poor display yesterday from Boro reserves against Ipswich first team. I also think MC got it wrong playing Greenwood on the right (favoured side being the left) a player that can use either his left or right foot, whereas Rogers who is only right footed was played on the left. I fully expected them to be switched over at halftime as neither player were effective in the first half, it didn’t happen and there was no improvement.
The only positive I can take from yesterday, is we are 12th but only 3 points from the playoffs, hopefully with more returning from injury by the end of January plus a couple of newcomers. Just before the Leicester game I looked at the 3 fixtures, Leicester (H), Leeds (A) and Ipswich (H), taking into account their form and our injuries, I would have taken (pre Leicester) three draws and has it turned out we got the 3 points, how do people feel about that and what was their expectations before a ball was kicked against Leicester.
Come on BORO.
@exmil. I was expecting three points but on the basis we would have lost to both Leicester and Leeds but beaten Ipswich.
Whilst I accept that injuries and suspensions have impacted, one has to question how effective has our recruitment been when we can’t manage a better display against a side who were in League 1 last season. 😎
@k-p-in-spain Given their league position, I’m pretty sure we’re not the only team who’ve struggled against Ipswich so far this season.
A strange game really and a bit flat to be truthful. The players,never seemed to communicate with each other and actually there were one or two who seemed to have arguments over misplaced passes.
We left ten minutes before the end and there were queues of people waiting to get out.
A dreadful afternoon and one to forget.
Yes we have injuries
Yes we had suspensions which fortunately will be lifted for Wednesday
Too many players off form
Howson legs gone Ona damp cold pitch
Crooks missing Dijksteel and Jones
Greenwood lost on the right hand side didn’t touch the ball in the first half
I will say it again!
ONE TO FORGET AND MOVE ON
OFB
@k-p-in-spain Ipswich have won have won 15, drawn 3 and lost only 2 of 20 league games so far, I think your comments about them only just come up from division 1, are a bit disrespectful to Ipswich.
Come on BORO.
@exmil. I was not being disrespectful I was being factual. 😎
There appear to me to be two choices.
1. Your suggestion that the whole of the Championship is poor because virtually nobody has been able to cope with Ipswich.
or
2. Ipswich have put together a very coherent team under a top class manager and are certainly benefiting from having very few changes from last year when, after Christmas, they were untouchable.
I go for two. Ipswich have made a great start whilst a lot of other teams are sorting themselves out. Having now watched them, I still think that they might struggle to hold off Leeds and Southampton in the battle for automatic promotion. I also think that if we had been able to field three from Hackney, Jones, McGree, Forss and Dijksteel we could have beaten them.
UTB
@selwynoz - I also think that if Morsy was still at Boro he'd have walked into our team on Saturday. Ipswich = good team, well managed and confident. A defeat to Ipswich is not the end of the world although the spirit and lack of quality shown by Boro was a concern. I accept Boro has an injury crisis. The squad will have to come together and fight through this.
For me it is 2. They have only lost 2 away games this YEAR! They are also backed by an American investment fund which runs the Arizona State Pension fund. That fund has $13 billion dollars invested and has $700 million in cash. They also paid off 100 million pounds of their debt. Hence they were able to buy players when in League One for over 1 million pounds.
Another goal and assist from Stuani, as Girona go top of La Liga.
A bit like the loss against Leeds, the loss against Ipswich was hardly unexpected in the circumstances. With so many players missing it's not just that the replacements are lower in quality but that they aren't used to playing together. Carrick often stresses the importance of building connections on the pitch but that requires time and consistency. Until that point a team will always be consistent.
Ipswich's success is grounded in part from having been able to grow the core of the team together over 1.5 seasons.
That said, it still felt like a nothing performance. You get the impression that we could have played for a week against Ipswich without scoring and Carrick seemed clueless about how to address it. Rumour is that Coburn has a hernia so he's on the bench not really available to play which would explain why he never got on the pitch. The team also seemed badly set up. There was no real pace and Greenwood looked like he would rather be in goal than stuck out on the right. Playing as a full back is a useful experience for RVDB but he really isn't a full back.
Not sure what this all means for the future. I guess, long term, it gives Carrick a chance to see what his backups are like but that's only useful if we write off this season.
@selwynoz. Both you and MW in Darwin make some valid points. In so far as your two choices are concerned, I would suggest that both have merits.
I believe that the three PL teams that were relegated are stronger than the three that were promoted but also that there is not a lot to separate the remainder of the league, apart from Ipswich who currently appear to be the stand out team. I also believe that our squad is not as strong as last year's and for me the jury is still out on a number of recruits and whether or not they will come good.
At the outset of this season, I felt that Ipswich could do well but that their squad may not have sufficient quality and depth and over the whole of the season this could prove their downfall. As it stands, it appears they may have a stronger squad than ourselves but only time will tell.
I don’t think it is disrespectful to Ipswich or the other promoted teams, to expect a club of Boro’s championship pedigree and promotional aspirations to have made a better fist of things on Saturday.
It is to be hoped that it was just a bad day at the office for all concerned, both new recruits and regular first team players; if not, then clearly this will result in posing more questions about the recruitment team's judgement. 😎
@k-p-in-spain “I don’t think it is disrespectful to Ipswich or the other promoted teams, to expect a club of Boro’s championship pedigree and promotional aspirations to have made a better fist of things on Saturday.”
I’m not sure about our championship pedigree. It seems like a long time since we qualified for Crufts and there are plenty of other breeds out there who aspire to be best in show as well as us.
I’d agree that we didn’t play well but I don’t think we can just expect to be better than Ipswich just because we want to be.
@selwynoz - I also think that if Morsy was still at Boro he'd have walked into our team on Saturday. Ipswich = good team, well managed and confident. A defeat to Ipswich is not the end of the world although the spirit and lack of quality shown by Boro was a concern. I accept Boro has an injury crisis. The squad will have to come together and fight through this.
Morsy is the Tractor Boys' captain & scored the winning goal for them at Watford this evening to put them top of the table, pending the outcome of Leicester's match at home to Millwall tomorrow evening.
Meanwhile, at the Stadium of Sh!te, the Deck Chairs spiked Leeds' guns by 1-0, the goal scored by Jobe Bellingham, the younger brother of Jude...