Just returned from the Hospital and the Consultant is delighted. After a somewhat thorough and painful neck and mouth examination my next meeting is going out to three months. Oh yes, the blood pressure was perfect, thank you Boro!
All the best everyone and thanks for all your support too.
UTB,
John
Now for nearly two weeks of non (false) Boro football news again due to the international break 😱.
Come on BORO.
@john-richardson - The good results keep on flooding in! Very pleased for you!
@john-richardson Glad to hear. I hope you keep fine and have time to press on.
I hope Boro will keep your blod pressure on normal, too. Life is looking good everywhere for the Diasboro. Up the Boro!
Splendid news @john-richardson, delighted to hear that. Long may your recovery continue.
Lets hope that in 3 months time your next check up coincides with another blood pressure calming display from a team then consolidating its place in the top four and beginning to exert a little bit of pressure of its own on the top two 😉
Interesting these days to divide up the season with international breaks. In those terms we have had three groups of games adding up to 16 in total.
We'll pretend the first group of 5 didn't happen for now.
group 2. 6 games: won 4, drawn 1, lost 1. 13 points (2.17PPG)
group 3. 5 games: won 3, drawn 1, lost 1. 12 points (2PPG)
Currently on 16 games, 26 points which means there's 30 games to go. If we can maintain 2 points per game then we would end the season on 86 points. That's an outside chance of 2nd but most likely ends in 3rd place.
It feels like a big ask, as all the management gurus say, along the lines of what Forest did under Cooper 2 years ago with what looks like a weaker squad. However the fact that we've gone through 2 groups of games and come out averaging 2 points per game is encouraging.
We now have a run of 10 league games without a break and then the transfer window opens up. Another 20 points in those games puts us on 46 points around Christmas which should be comfortably in the play-offs.
@deleriad Good points there.
For Group 3, I think you meant to say 2,40 PPG, though. Up the Boro!
@john-richardson. Great news. Continuing with your upwards and onwards trajectory. Best wishes. 😎
From CJ
Middlesbrough's recruitment team had a few major transfers to complete this summer, and arguably the most difficult of those was replacing Zack Steffen.
The Manchester City loanee was never likely to return to the club after missing out on promotion, with the USA international believed to be earning around £80k-per-week at the Etihad - something Boro obviously only paid a percentage of last term. Surgery over the summer would ultimately scupper any move for the former Boro loanee who remains on City's books for now.
The reason why replacing Steffen could have been so complicated for Boro is because of how Michael Carrick asks his goalkeeper to play, which requires qualities not always associated with a traditional goalkeeper. There is as much emphasis on their ability with the ball at their feet as with the saves they can make.
READ MORE: Middlesbrough's Seny Dieng nominated for Championship award that you can help him win
Eventually settling on a move for Queens Park Rangers' Senegal international Seny Dieng, it's fair to say it wasn't a move that necessarily excited Boro fans coming off the back of a rather unspectacular campaign, to say the least. But just shy of four months after his arrival, boy has Dieng more than justified the gamble Boro took on him.
Such specific tactics for the goalkeeper could have resulted in an uncomfortable start or some early teething issues as he got used to the role. It's a style more commonly seen in the modern game, but not widespread enough yet that it can just be expected as a given that all goalkeepers can do it.
It's a style that requires both skill with the ball at your feet, but also a lot of nerve and character to avoid panicking or making mistakes which, as is so often the case in the life of a goalkeeper, will almost certainly result in conceding a goal.
It's to Dieng's immeasurable credit that, with all the above factors in mind, it could be so easy to forget that he is still just 16 games in to his Boro career. So seamless has been his quick transition to cementing his place as Boro's number one, you could be forgiven for believing he'd been in the role for years.
Perhaps fittingly, Boro fans have even replaced Steffen's name for his in their take on Rocking All Over The World, as they regularly serenade the 28-year-old in a sign of the trust and delight they have in his early performances for the club. So good has he been, you could argue, and indeed I would, that he has not just adequately replaced Steffen in Boro's goal, he's actually proven better.
That's not to unfairly knock Steffen, who deserves credit for his efforts last term. He was the first to play the role and had it a little tougher than Dieng in that he had to manage the early tensions that would often be heard from the terraces as Boro fans got used to their goalkeeper playing out in the manner that Carrick wants. That took an awful lot of mental strength.
But Dieng has arrived at the Riverside and picked up exactly where Steffen left off as far as in-possession work is concerned, and probably then taken it to another level. As comfortable as Steffen was at playing short balls out from the back, Dieng has gone a step further and shown the nous and technique to mix his distribution up more, with his fantastic longer ball towards Riley McGree that led to Boro's second goal in the game a perfect example of such.
In fact, Dieng has made three passes this season that have led directly to Boro chances, and only five Boro players - Hayden Hackney, Dael Fry, Paddy McNair, Jonny Howson and Darragh Lenihan have completed more passes than him overall.
Back to basics and the more fundamental or traditional aspects of being a goalkeeper and that's perhaps where Dieng has so far truly outshone Steffen, however. The Manchester City loan man was never the most convincing when it came to crosses during his time at Teesside, while it was fair to say there were times when some of the shots that beat him looked tame, or at least stoppable.
Dieng, on the other hand, has always looked really comfortable in regards to coming and collecting crosses or punching when he has to. Not every goal conceded has been unstoppable from Dieng's point of view, but in recent weeks in particular he has been able to showcase his shot-stopping ability, making some vital saves for Carrick's side.
His stop to deny Patrick Roberts at Sunderland with the scoreline 0-0 at the time particularly stands out, while the two saves he made on Saturday against Leicester City ultimately provided the platform for Sam Greenwood to go and win Boro three huge points with a stunning free-kick.
A nomination for the PFA's Championship Player of the Month for October award is richly deserved, regardless of whether he ends up winning the award or not. It's still early days, of course, but based on the 16 league games played so far this season, Dieng has been Boro's best-performing summer signing by a considerable distance.
@john-richardson Fantastic news - here’s hoping that your health trajectory continues upwards.
@exmil. Were the yellow’s all for league games? Yellow cards in the cup only apply to cup games. 😎
I don’t think that is correct. Crooks has 5 overall but 2 were in the League Cup and he was suspended for Bradford because of those and Jones has only 4 in the league.
@mw-in-darwin According to Sky Sports that is correct. In the Championship Crooks has 3 + 2 Carabao Jones 4 + 1
Hackney had his five all in League games. I do not know the rules though, although I would think KP is correct as Crooks has already been suspended for his + 2
@deleriad Good points there.
For Group 3, I think you meant to say 2,40 PPG, though. Up the Boro!
I was wrong but in a different way. It was 10 points from 5 games; we are on 24 points from 16 games. I kept thinking something didn't look right. Anyway, it means, keeping on with 2ppg would see us end up on 84 points. Comfortably enough for 3rd but very unlikely for 2nd.
@deleriad - The 86 points or 84 points MIGHT be enough for automatic promotion if getting to those points totals involved doing to our competitors (looking at you: Ipswich, Leeds, Southampton) what we did to Leicester City on Saturday. Points dropped to mid-table or even struggling teams may not damage Boro if the team damages Ipswich, Leeds, Southampton etc by taking points off THEM. The fabled six-pointers.
I quite like the idea of going on 6 match winning streaks followed by a defeat or draw against Sheffield Wednesday before going on another 6 game winning streak, then losing a game or even getting a point against, say, QPR, then starting off another 6 match spree ... That way we ARE talking about automatic promotion as the team would be way up in the high 90s as regards points.
EDIT - I apologise for the above. I have been inhaling the fumes from OFB's foam hands.
Boro should have kept Roberts.
From Dom Shaw
Patrick Roberts has now committed his future to Sunderland and put pen to paper on a new deal until the summer of 2026, with the Black Cats having the option of extending the contract by a further year.
Gentlemen, I stand corrected, only red card suspension(s) count for both league and cup, yellow cards only count for the individual competition (5 league, 2 then 4 for cup but cleared after 1/4 final) so Jones is on a tightrope, in the league, with 4 and the cut off point for 5 yellow suspension is after the 19th match which is Leeds away, 3 more games.
My own personal choice, if he is to get another yellow before Leeds, is to pick one up at Bristol, therefore unavailable for PNE at home, rather than get one against PNE and be unavailable for Leeds away, as Greenwood will be ineligible to play against Leeds 🤔.
Come on BORO.
@malcolm. Not sure he would be a regular in our current team.
He hardly set the world alight when he did play for us so didn’t us not seeking to purchase him as a big loss, only in terms of funds. 😎
Those foam hands 🙌 fumes are pretty intoxicating aren’t they ?
OFB
altogether now 🎶🎶🎶
UP THE BORO 🎶THE BORO’S GOING UP
https://www.facebook.com/groups/232851177658560/permalink/1387669742176692/
Anthony Vickers appears on this show, which I watch every week, and towards the end he spends 10 or more minutes talking about his new book, available today in the MFC shop, he will be there every home game before Christmas to sign copies for those who want it.
Hope people watch and enjoy it.
Come on BORO.
Here you can see our ten best goals scored directly from a free kick. https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2023/november/14/top-10-boro-free-kicks/
That includes the strike on Satuday by Sam Greenwood. Up the Boro!
People have said that in January, when Dieng may disappear for a month due to the African Nations Cup, that they haven’t a lot of faith in Glover and should we get a keeper on a month’s loan. If we did go down that route how about Aaron Ramsdale from Arsenal, who could do with some game time 😂.
Come on BORO.
@jarkko Great goals and memories. What might have been and we may not see again given the current set up.
I am happy Martin Payero is starting to show what a good player he is. He has started the last three matches for Udinese in Italy now. As you remember he left Boro this summer after being on loan in his native Argentina.
Interestingly his coach is quoted as saying: "He played a great game. He is starting to come out of his shell now ..."
Perhaps he is one of the players that need time to mature, and grow up late. Anyway, I happy if he would finally have a proper career in Italy.
Up the Boro!