Sadly, that result felt pretty inevitable. Being somewhat of an optimist, I can draw a few positives
1. Dieng looks really comfortable on the ball and saved whatever he could reach. No issue with him taking over from Steffen.
2. Lenihan and Fry looked solid but we really need full backs.
3. Silvera looked to have top class potential and I'd like to see him and McGree together. However, I'm not sure that we have enough pace in McNair, Lenihan and Fry to play a back three with McGree as a left wing-back. Maybe Van Den Berg should have come on for McNair when we changed shape. At the moment, any team coming up against us can just wait to exploit the gaps behind our full backs when they get caught upfield.
4. Rogers has a really good touch on the ball but he needs somebody else up there with him. I'll be very curious to see him and Akpom together or how he goes in combination with the incoming goalscorer that we desperately need.
For about twenty minutes before their goal, it looked as if we were really getting on top but the final pass or shot was poor. Forss in particular needs to sharpen up. However, with Akpom or AN Other in there it could be quite different.
Like Clive Hurren I listened to the radio commentary and they were absolutely adamant that the whole recruitment team and the players with whom he was in contact thought that the Giles deal was settled and that MFC passed on other possible recruits. If that's the case, I'll give the recruitment team a pass and look forward to Luton getting relegated.
Some negatives -
1. Hackney and Barlaser seem a bit too similar and, particularly in the frst half, the touch wasn't there which meant that too many passes across the middle were getting picked off by Millwall. Whether this is just a question of time and things will get better, I don't know.
2. We have to work out what we are doing from corners. We took short corners for the first eight and never got the ball into a proper attacking position. We just don't seem to have a tactical approach to taking corners. There has to be something a bit cleverer than just setting up the standard attacking routine that we can build any time that we bring the ball up from the back.
3. Coulson is a stop gap. Better than I feared but not really a standout going back or forward. We have so many good juniors and we see other teams in the Championship with good young full backs that one would feel that one of ours deserves a chance. Maybe we'll see that against Huddersfield.
4. McNair is solid but he's not lightning fast and, personally, I'd cash in and look to use an up and coming player to fill in until Dijksteel or Smith come back. To be fair, this can probably wait a couple of weeks until closer to the end of the window.
All in all, yesterday was frustrating. We were really poor for the first half an hour and were lucky not to be well behind. However, from then on we got a lot better until we reached a point for about twenty minutes or so in the second half when we completely dominated the game and Millwall's defence was starting to look a bit desperate. Unfortunately, we just didn't have that final cross or pass or movement into a scoring position that, typically, used to come from Giles and Akpom and later Archer. Then we were hit by the sucker punch. McNair was beaten for pace and the cross fell perfectly for their substitute who smashed it in.
After that it went back to us in possession but not getting through. The best moment ws a sublime turn and shot by Silvera who looks to be a really good player. Forss also seemed able to create chances on his left foot but his shooting was awful.
I don't think that we're too far away and yesterday could very easily have been 1-0 to us or 0-0 but that's where we are at the moment.
Given that we haven't gelled yet, it will be interesting to see what Carrick does on Tuesday. I think that he has to play genuine first team combinations for at least part of the time. He has to find a way to get the team to click into gear.
UTB
It's obvious what teams will do at the riverside, they saw what Coventry did and will now copy, sit back and counter when it's on, I'm not really impressed even going back to last season with the use of substitutes and at the times it's done ,
It's now the coaches job to find away to punish teams doing what they are doing ,maybe it's the four or five players of quality we need , even two , maybe a formation change at times, this is not panic but it does go back to last season when we dropped off ,
I’m already feeling grateful we didn’t choose SW Germany this year - don’t think the tent would’ve coped with 30cm hailstones 😬
It reminds me when we were booked to camp on the border between Germany and Luxembourg when the floods hit the week before traveling - we cancelled after our pitch was 3m under water - though we let them keep our deposit to help out a little.
@selwynoz Good post with very good points.
As others have now said, I find it incredible that we have not strengthened at the back, with Championship quality players.
Yes we really do lack pace there. McNair, the odd job man on very high wages for his ability, so getting rid of him could be difficult. He made a schoolboy error diving in, then Fry was caught flat footed with his lack of pace and not blocking the cross, leaving the Millwall lad with more or less a tap in.
The reality is we need two full backs, never mind the issues up front.
Disappointing, but at least we have the 'unbeaten since the start of the season' monkey off our backs before it becomes a psychological impediment.
On a lighter note the "boss" commented that she must need new glasses, she had issues reading new scoreboards, they are a tad on the small side
Some very good points there - put in a better way than my quick comments after driving home in some horrible weather.
hard to disagree with what you say but still early days and we will have a better feel come October
and without the time either, just the match time which annoying still stops after 90 minutes, well the two smaller ones did, the main one continued but is damned hard to see!
@pedro I dread to think how big the club's Water Bill must be.
As I said elsewhere, it seems strange that Boro could even think of watering the pitch. It was CHUCKING it down before the game. Rain of Biblical proportions had been seen for the last 40 days and 40 nights. Some old geezer has been seen building the biggest Yorkshire Coble ever seen. In the last 24 hours he'd been wandering around collecting up animals. I don't know what it all means apart from the fact that some of the players will no doubts go down with trench foot.
Anyway I have to read later posts. But that was not a great performance by Boro admittedly against a reasonable Millwall team. I was staggered they took Watmore off. He'd been giving Boro lots of trouble. Their goal wasn't really a surprise, when it came.
A drenching experience and the subject of wry comment from my "friends" when I got back to Beadnell after the 100 miles each way trip.
@forever-dormo You deserve a medal for doing that trip dormo. Also include BB’s dad and anymore that came in from outside of Teesside.
@ selwynoz
That’s a brillant analysis of the game and our current situation. I really appreciated it.
At least the Mackems lost 1-2 at home to the Tractor Boys. Interesting comment on the Beeb's live text commentary by Gary Bennett, an ex-Mackems defender, which has a familiar ring to it:
Sunderland battled on and battled on, but it's the same old problems. Ipswich will be over the moon with the result, but we are desperate, and I mean desperate, for a striker.
We do not score any scruffy goals. We have to work hard to create our chances. We have to be nice and neat and play threaded balls. Look at George Hirst, who got the second goal, who worked hard and worked the channels and he got his reward.
Well, that’s the first complete set of games to start the new season.
A few surprises and my predictions not looking so good.
Quite a few goals scored, in fact only two teams failed to. QPR and ☹️
Funny old game Football watched Blackburn v W Brom first twenty minutes West Brom all over them ,Blackburn were a mess but two silly defensive bad passes and Blackburn scored twice.
Same at Sunderland first twenty they were so bright thought they're gonna get five ,then two breakaways changed the whole game .
It's called the mental Championship
