The Robins go two up courtesy of a penalty in the first minute of injury time!
CJ:
Calamitous five minutes from Boro. Engel this time guilty of making a mess at the back post as the ball bounces through to him at the back post as he he just heads it down into the danger area. James runs onto it and Fry rashly sticks his foot in and fouls. Lucky again Fry not to get a second yellow!
That was an underwhelming end to the first half. Listening to the BBC Tees commentary it seemed as if, with a majority of possession, Boro threw it all away in the last 10 minutes by sloppy play. The Bristol second goal "had been coming" for some time and at least Boro ended with 11 men on the field. Could have been a red for Fry and a Bristol penalty 2 minutes before the actual penalty was awarded in injury time, which made it 2-0. It would be a monumental effort to get anything from this game now. Maddo still thinks Boro can get something out of this game, though.
Defence looks like a third rate team
OFB
Poor, poor first half where we have dominated possession but have been weak in the final third and sloppy/negligent when defending against a very average City who I suspect cannot believe their luck.
Massive second half required to try and salvage at least a point. 😎☹️
We were in control for most of the half but never really applied much forward pressure. They do appear a bit ponderous at the back which is probably why MC decided to go with Latte Lath but he has had no service at all and, therefore, hasn't made an impression. Their first goal was a worldie. No keeper on earth would have stopped it. It's true that there wasn't much pressure on him but it was an amazing strike. The second was a comedy of errors. Fry miskicked, gave away a free kick on the edge (yellow card), Sieng made a good save, the ball came back across. Engel miscued his header but we should have been Ok but Fry then obligingly stuck his foot out so that the player could fall over it.
Hard to know what to suggest other than play better...and faster. Greenwood had a really poor half and maybe Rogers would do better. Alternatively, it might be a time to try Coburn and Latte Lath together to shake up their defence. Our best players were Dieng, Hackney and Van den Berg but we had no real punch. Something has to change.
UTB
Well it is back to "Typical Boro". Two poor goals with Fry involved in both. The Bristol lad had all the time in the world to take his strike, even if was a good one. HH not tracking again, VDB showing he ids not a RB and then Fry backing off and turning away.
The second goal, well Fry was a little lucky not to get a second yellow, but giving the penalty may be counted.
Nothing up front though from, Latte, Greenwood or Crooks. I cannot see any comeback from this game and of course the missing players are now showing
Boro pull one back in the 50th minute through a Zak Vyner OG!
Yippppee...even if a total fluke.
Well well - not as long a way back as i'd initially thought 😉
Boro pull one back in the 50th minute through a Zak Vyner OG!
Crooks makes it 2-2 two minutes with a bit of help from Howson!
What is going on? Presumably Matt Crooks will be urine-tested after the final whistle as it was his shot that hit the bar before being headed in for an own-goal to make it 1-2 AND THEN Crooks slots it home to make it 2-2 virtually straight afterwards. Something funny in the half time cup of tea, or a shellacking from Michael Carrick? At this stage who would bet against Boro winning here?
Boro pull one back in the 50th minute through a Zak Vyner OG!
Crooks makes it 2-2 two minutes with a bit of help from Howson!
Sam Greenwood, not Howson, according to the Beeb's live text commentary.
Sonebody hasn't read the script as it's now BristolC 3-2 Boro.
Would you believe it! BC score from a corner 3-2. 😎☹️
Bangura on for Engel in the 66th minute (injury), just before the 3rd Bristol goal, & Silvera for RvdB & Rogers for Crooks in the 73rd.
A missed opportunity today - especially after getting back on level terms so early in the second half but in the end conceding three goals is never the best way to try and win some points. Overall, plenty of effort but to many mistakes at both ends of the pitch and Boro just lacking a bit of quality when it was needed in the last third with too many errors in their own third.
A mistake today in dropping Josh.
@malcolm Do you think we would have scored more with him on the pitch or was he going to help the defence stop them from scoring?
Very disappointing, with some poor performances. When you have some many of your first team players missing, then the replacements have to really step up. Today they did not.
Toothless upfront, too many loose passes and trying to walk the ball into the net, only to be crowed out.
Nothing from the 8 corners that ever looked like making a goal opportunity. Why is it we do not try anything different than hoofing it toward the penalty spot. And only four shots on target. It is going to be a difficult ask keeping close to the top six with so many games to come before January.
EG Ratings
Seny Dieng - 6
Conceded three goals but was unfortunate in this one having made some big saves. Nothing he could do with the first, the second was a penalty and the third was a rebounded effort after his good save.
Rav van den Berg - 5
Tough afternoon as he struggled to help Boro in possession early on as Bristol City pressed hard and put Boro under pressure. He then showed Taylor Gardner-Hickman for the first goal, and was one of two defenders beaten in the air for the initial header for the third goal.
Dael Fry - 5
One of the main culprits of a calamitous end to the first half. He backed off too much for the first goal, was lucky not to be sent off as last man moments later as misjudged the bounce of the ball. He then gave away the penalty for the second goal, which could have easily been a second yellow.
Paddy McNair - 6
The best of Boro's defence with some decent tackles and balls out of defence. But was one of two defenders beaten in the air by Ro Dickie leading to the decisive third goal.
Lukas Engel - 6
Not alone in losing composure after the first goal, though his error was one of many, it was the one most highlighted as it ultimately led to Fry conceding the penalty. Slightly made amends by providing the cross that ultimately led to the first of Boro's goals, even if it won't be credited as an official assist.
Jonny Howson - 5
The game somewhat passed him by. It was fast-paced and frantic, and with Boro struggling to deal with Bristol City's early press, he wasn't able to get on the ball enough.
Hayden Hackney - 6
Not at his best in this one, which Bristol City deserve plenty of credit for. He was still able to have brighter moments in the game and was the man trying to make things happen in the middle.
Isaiah Jones - 5
A sloppy afternoon for Jones. He struggled to have much of an impact from an attacking point of view and kickstarted the implosion after the first goal with his poor backpass to Seny Dieng that was well short.
Matt Crooks - 7
Was pivotal to Boro's second-half fightback as he smashed the bar before the defensive error for the first goal and then scored the second goal.
Sam Greenwood - 6
A mixed performance from Greenwood. He worked hard out of possession for the team and profited from that with an early chance and setting up the Boro equaliser. But he was also guilty of being sloppy in possession once too often as Boro struggled to make possession count for chances.
Emmanuel Latte Lath - 5
Worked hard up top and competed well in duels while often isolated. More because of the lack of quality behind him, he didn't have much of a sight of goal in this one and then switched off as Mark Sykes fired home the rebound for the winning goal.
Substitutions
Alex Bangura (For Engel, 66') - 6 - Unexpectedly on as Engel got injured, Boro fell behind from the corner due to be taken as he was introduced. He worked hard down the left to try and help Boro find another equaliser, but it was in vain.
Sammy Silvera (For van den Berg, 73') - 6 - Came closest to firing a third goal for Boro as he hit the post and was generally lively from the bench.
Morgan Rogers (For Crooks, 73') - 5 - Didn't quite manage to impact the game, though one miss-hit cross did almost find itself in at the near post.
Dan Barlaser (For Howson, 85') - N/A
Josh Coburn (For Greenwood, 85') - N/A
I may as well use my match preview earlier this week as today's post-mortem:
"We were by far the better team last season but threw away the three points with some woeful defending.
I'll be disappointed if we haven't learned from that and come away with less than three points against a bang average Championship outfit who have just sacked their manager."
Indeed Neil Maddison's summation of the game was a precise echo of those words;
"I'm disappointed. We've played a bang average Championship side, And lost"
Michael Carrick revealed a slight knock for Josh Coburn ultimately led to Emmanuel Latte Lath starting for Middlesbrough in their defeat at Bristol City, with the summer signing pushing hard for some time to regain his place.
Similar to Len, I reiterate part of my pre-match comments:
” Given BC are only averaging a goal a game, then if we defend as a team and don’t make any silly mistakes we should be capable of taking all three points; a point would be welcome albeit slightly disappointing.
Having said all that this is a “typical Boro” banana skin game, having just beaten the league leaders the Boro of old would be highly capable of losing to a mid table side whose performance levels so far have been inconsistent. Fingers crossed that Boro of old have been well and truly banished.”
Well Diasborians
I’m feeling a bit low after that performance. Shocking defence needs a good clear out at Xmas. Howson very poor. Latte lost his froth !
I’ve shared a nice bottle of wine with Mrs OFB for dinner and now have a large Malt and the world doesn’t seem such a bad place after all.
OFB
It’s hard to be critical after some of our recent performances, especially as I wasn’t at the game, so I’m only going on what I’ve read, such as the EG’s scores. While we win as a team and lose as a team, the best teams defend from the front and it seems we didn’t do that today. Nonetheless, it’s difficult from what has been written not to blame our defence for shipping 3 eminently avoidable goals. It begs a number of questions:
Dael Fry, once one of the best defenders in the league, seems to have had too many off-days this season. Why is this? We have one of the Premier League’s best ever defenders as first team coach. How is Dael being supported and trained by Boro’s coaching staff?
Is it time to give Rav Van den Berg a go in his true position of centre-back? Isn’t Dijksteel a better bet at full-back, especially as he is much stronger going forward?
If the midfield isn’t being effective, as seems to have been the case today, shouldn’t MC change it sooner? Might Barlaser have been introduced earlier? Why take Matt Crooks off after his great contribution second half?
And most importantly of all: given that we have two key defenders out for the season (fingers crossed about Engel), and that our defence is hardly watertight, do we need to recruit a new defender in January? If so, should we aim for a central defender or someone more versatile who can also play at full-back? Wouldn’t it be better to pay good money for a an experienced and successful defender from the upper reaches of League One or from the Championship rather than someone else from abroad who might take a while to settle in? Or should we seek to loan in a Premiership guy who might not currently be getting a game?
Any thoughts, guys?
Good old Boro, they have managed to snatch a defeat from the jaws of at least a draw with sloppy defending. Defending I hear people say...
Quite depressing and as I said earlier 'Typical Boro'. Mind you we could have been Port Vale.
OFB, you're lucky you can take the anaesthetic Route to help you forget!