@pedro I caught Bake Off last night (don’t ask) - there’s a guy on there who’s a dead ringer for RG - no wonder he hasn’t got time for football.
@martin-bellamy. Should have gone to Specsavers! 😂😂😎
@martin-bellamy Yes he does. My other half was watching that show on catch up a little later. I had my nose buried in my iPad reading DiasBoro.
Just catching up on the thread. A real pleasure to read such an insightful and highly analytical starter.......required reading that continues the all round excellence that has been provided so far this season - well done to all.
Watched the Leicester Leeds game and the latter had a high press that worked well and limited chances to the home side. Not sure Boro have the personnel to do this and feel Leicester may try and do a Stoke and stop us building a head of steam and building from the back. It was a very effective ploy that I think Leicester will have noted worked well.
Having said that, we are at home and hopefully Leicester have had some wind taken from their sails.....so 1 each for me.
On the subject of how we counter the Leicester threat, does anyone think we could play Engel in a more advanced left-wing position, with Bangura as the left back behind him for this game? That might help to restrict any threat down Leicester’s right, at least. Given how effective Engel can be at crossing (and shooting), I could see him in that sort of role. If he’s given a little more freedom to attack , he could provide some accurate ammunition for Coburn or Latte Lath.
Just a thought. But I’m guessing that if MC has had the same one he’ll already have rejected it as too radical.
Yes. I was feigning not watching Bake Off too, but just caught enough to tell my wife "There's Ryan Giles"
If MC chooses to stick with four at the back, then playing both Engels and Bangura would certainly be an option albeit a rather defensive one. It could even be doubled up by playing both Van Den Berg and Dijksteel on the right. That creates a defensive shield around the central midfield where you play Howson and Hackney with perhaps Greenwood or Crooks in front of them and Coburn or Lathe Lath up front. That team could get to half time at 0-0 and then you look at options for the second half.
Alternatively, you can play three at the back - choose three from Van Den Berg, Fry, McNair, Lenihan, Clarke - and have Engels or Bangura as left wing-back and Dijksteel as right wing back staying deep to control Leicester's wide players. That leaves the option of an extra player in central midfield or forward. Maybe even try the much talked about combination of both Coburn and Lathe Lath which would give extra ways to bypass Leicester's press. More likely MC would play four behind Coburn or Lath, choosing Hackney and Howson and two from Barlaser, Jones, Crooks and Greenwood. The danger is for us to be outnumbered in midfield but the 'opposite side' wingback could push more centrally when attacks are on the other flank to help with numbers. Leeds showed how to play this way for a lot of the game. They did, however, have outlets on the wing which we would not, except possibly for Jones who could start or come on after 60 minutes.
We are all thinking about different options and it will be really interesting to see what stance an formation Carrick goes for.
UTB
I hope McGree will be fit after the international break, even I doubt it after having the same problem a few years back. For me it took over six months to heel. Plantar fasciitis problems are tricky ones.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/plantar-fasciitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20354846
Up the Boro!
@peter-surtees - My memory for names and faces (which in truth was never that good) must be getting worse. If Ryan Giles walked into the "Smacked Pony" I doubt I'd recognise him. Maybe if he ran into the pub in full Boro kit I MIGHT have a flicker of recognition, but otherwise I probably wouldn't give him a second glance.
Some interesting permutations and formations that you have considered for MC to use. From what we’ve seen of his teams over the past year he doesn’t appear to mix them up or prepare in a different way to meet the opposition.
Personally I don’t think he will change anything and just put out the same team and formation.
Hopefully Howson has had a rest and can use his legs for most of the game. Roll on the Xmas transfer window for another striker and dynamic midfield player. Is leadbitter still fit ?
OFB
@jarkko - I must say that Mrs Dormo, her father (he was a dentist and studied anatomy at St Andrews with the other medics before they all branched out into their own specific fields, though we are talking DECADES ago now, as he'd be approaching 100 if he were still alive) and both of their doctors all pronounced it more like "Plan-tar-fash-ee-eye-tis" (syllables separated by hyphens to show how each is sounded, but when spoken the syllables run quickly from one to the other). But those Americans at the Mayo Clinic, as do Americans generally, have their own way of speaking your linked article suggests. We sometimes recognise some of their words.
For the letter "Z" the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Canada (save a few in the maritime provinces) say "Zed" whilst our cousins below the 49th Parallel (and those in Alaska) say "Zee". Don't mention parmesan ("parmaZHon") or pasta ("paahstah"), and imagine calling Basil Fawlty "Bay-zil" or even, Heaven forbid: "Ay-dolf Hitler". If we let them, they'd fillet our language (or "fill-ay" it).
I once saw him in ASDA car park in Darlington. My attention was drawn because my initial reaction was to wonder what a kid was doing driving a very expensive looking car and speculating that he'd nicked it. Then recognition clicked in. I can't say his left leg looked any different from his right one.
@forever-dormo And in Spain, in the alphabet, it is ZETA. Pronounced with a TH. But like everywhere all the regions tend to have a slight difference.
As for Saturday, I do not think “this man is for changing”. So MC will probably start with the same team as against Plymouth. If Jones and Greenwood are out wide then the midfield will be overrun with the obvious consequences.
@original-fat-bob. My thoughts exactly. He hasn’t changed in the past so why now.
It will be the same format with any changes probably down to injuries or lack of game time. 😎
Leicester have sold their allocation of 2,563 and according to the MFC ticket site we have 1,560 tickets left.
Come on BORO.
@exmil if correct, even allowing for the safety corridors, that would top 30K probably.
From EG
Michael Carrick says Riley McGree is still a 'number of weeks' away from returning for Middlesbrough, with other injured players further still behind the Australian.
McGree has been absent for several weeks now with a complicated issue on the bottom of his foot. McGree is one of six first-team players currently out injured, with Tommy Smith out for the season, Sonny Finch and Lewis O'Brien not expected back until the New Year after surgery. Like McGree, it has been less clear on Darragh Lenihan (Achilles) and Marcus Forss (thigh), with Carrick saying the nature of their injuries made it difficult to give an exact timeframe.
It was mixed injury news from the Boro boss as he met with the press after a week off to preview the clash with Leicester City at the Riverside. While there aren't expected to be any new issues for that Leicester game - final Friday training session permitting - the chances of getting McGree, Lenihan or Forss back any time soon appear slim, despite the two-week international break that follows Leicester.
READ MORE: Michael Carrick will have tough selection calls when Middlesbrough's injured players return
Carrick updated: “It’s pretty much the same at this stage. As time goes on and the weeks pass, hopefully some of the boys will get closer. But at this stage, we are what we are.
"None of them are massively close, to be honest. It's hard to give an exact timeframe. Riley has a problem with his foot and will still be a number of weeks. Everybody else is a little bit further than that."
Despite the injuries, a number of players have stepped up in the absence of key players. Boro won six league games on the bounce without the six players in question for much of them. But the scheduling was beginning to look like it was taking its toll on a depleted group as Boro picked up just one point from their last two league games, albeit with a cup win at Exeter sandwiched in between.
Carrick is delighted with how hard his lesser-used squad players have been pushing though. He said: "Some of the boys couldn't really do much more to get back in the team, and that's absolutely brilliant. It's on my toes to kind of manage that and try and pick the right team that gives us the right balance to win each game.
"But certainly, in training and in coming off the bench in games and making an impact, what they're giving me right now is all I can really ask of them. We've had this week to work more on the training pitches and this weekend it's a big game, of course it is.
"But we know it will be an incredibly busy period in terms of the amount of games we've got coming up and everyone is going to play their part and the boys are all ready for that. That's brilliant as far as I'm concerned.
"We want to be winning games, we want to be advancing in cup competitions and we want to be playing two or three games a week. I would never complain about that, I think it's a great time to be a footballer."
I used to teach in Istanbul when Souness was managing there and he regularly came to pick up his kids as did Barry Venison and Dean Saunders.
Thanks for a great intro Selwyn Oz. Quite frightening the gap between the Premier League and the Championship. A draw would do for me but not hopeful. One good news for the future it looks like Tom Glover has not been selected for the Socceroos this window as the manager only wants to pick those who are playing regularly. So maybe he won’t be picked for the Asian Cup in January. Silvera has been picked so has to travel to Australia and Kuwait for World Cup Qualifiers.
Mrs Dormo's health situation after her three operations this year, following the appointment yesterday to review the situation as a result of tests and analysis on samples taken in her breast cancer operation, is as good as it could ever have been expected. Brain, cataract and breast cancer ops all appear (so far) to have been completely successful and so far as concerns the last of them, all traces of cancer have been removed and there is no evidence of spread. Just drugs to take and check-ups for the next 5 years, but it's looking excellent. Of course a 2nd cataract operation is expected in the New Year but in the scheme of things that is fairly minor and after that we can hopefully relax and not see another scalpel for a long time! (The eyesight and cataract operation is as a result of her eyes having been "attacked" by the chemo drugs she had to take to reduce - successfully as it turned out - the breast tumours prior to her operation: definitely a price worth paying). I can't expect another 42 years of having a wife to moan at, because by then we would both be over 110 years old and that would be more than greedy, but I would gratefully cope with another 20 plus.
So, back to worrying about the Boro!
The information about Leicester in the starter by @selwynoz, its squad-depth and value and the start that club has made this season in The Championship, gives us pause for thought. I'd LIKE to think Boro will win tomorrow before an almost sell-out crowd at the Riverside. That would certainly get the weekend off to a cracking start (even if my good start began yesterday). But the reality is that Leicester is as good as any Championship team has ever been at this stage of the season. Nobody could suggest, with a straight face, that Boro is that good. The team had a shockingly poor start to this season, followed by an excellent run of results, followed then by a home defeat to Stoke City, an away League Cup win against lower-league opposition at Exeter and then an away league draw at Plymouth. If we lose at home to Leicester we will have put our recent string of good league results behind us with a total of 1 point from 9 in the last 3 league games.
A neutral would probably back Leicester to beat Boro tomorrow despite their result against Leeds. Obviously football doesn't follow logic and Boro follows logic least of all. I'd be delighted with a draw, to be honest. Maybe we should apply the Sir Geoffrey Boycott Test to football as well as cricket. In its original form, he always suggests adding a couple of wickets to your score before forming a view as to where the team is in the game. Scoring 100-2 by early afternoon on the first day of a Test (or First Class) game might look OK, but if you add a couple of quick wickets when we know that one wicket often becomes two, then 100-4 doesn't look anywhere near so good a start to the game. So in football I tend to look at the match and predict my score but, if I have "skin in the game" (in supporting Boro) I recognise that my prediction is likely to be looking through slightly rose-tinted glasses. I add a goal or even two to the equation, maybe adding one to the opposition and taking one from Boro's score if Boro isn't playing too well at the time.
On that basis I might have been hoping for a 1-0 win at home to Leicester if Boro had been on a good run and Leicester being "average". But since Leicester is top of the league and Boro is NOT now on a good run, that changes to a Leicester win. However since I mentioned above that Boro and logic don't exactly go hand in hand, I will STILL plump for Boro 1-1 Leicester City and, in the circumstances, I'd be content with that. Madness, I know...
@forever-dormo Nice to hear of Mrs Dormo’s pleasing results and situation. Hopefully you will now, both be able to relax a little.
Peter, I remember Wilf Mannion working as a cabin lad making the tea for the Black Trades as they were know at that time. ICI Wilton, when the built the Nylon plant if I remember correctly.
@forever-dormo. Great news for you and Mrs Dormo and delighted for you both.
Having been through the dreaded C with Mrs P I know how worrying a time you have both been through and glad that it’s a positive outcome; it puts everything else in perspective. 😎
@forever-dormo Great to hear the news about Judith's health. And all the best wishes from my wife Eija , too. We are glad to hear your biggest worry is Boro now.
Talking about Boro, I will boldly go for a 2-0 home victory for Boro. Greenwood and Latte Lath scoring. We must start a new winning run soon, and why not tomorrow?
Up the Boro!
Great news FD and long may it continue to be good news for you both.
As for Boro on Saturday I suppose a draw would be considered a good outcome for us. But, with almost 30000 hostile voices drowning out the couple of thousand calling for you, then we could well see Boro rise to the occasion and make a victory possible.
I'll imbibe some of the fumes from my foam hands and hallucinate we will brush aside the Foxes by two clear goals - 2-0 us.
Brilliant news which puts everything into perspective doesn’t it?
Health, Happiness, Wealth and a Boro win what more could we all want ?
So pleased for you both
OFB