@forever-dormo. Excellent post and points FD, sadly local journalists have failed to ask probing and pertinent questions for some time; pity you can’t get an invite.
With regards to points 3 & 4 the answer is sadly no to both in my view; whilst goal scoring is an issue it is the defending which is the major concern and has been for a number of seasons. If you don’t concede you can’t lose and you might even win. 😎
@clive-hurren yes an extra two weeks is not going to make much difference to most ST holder decisions, in terms of affordability.
If fact by Saturday night, there may be a few thousand more that will decide not to renew, given the poor season and future uncertainty, never mind the 15th.
@k-p-in-spain exactly KP. As I have said "too many" times now. The whole defensive block is poor. CB's and midfielders with little pace or tackling ability in the latter. Again as you said, the issue has been around for a number of seasons. When was the last time we had a midfield pairing as good as Leadbitter and Clayton.
As much as the football last season was good to watch, but far less so this season. In fairness, last season better in some ways than under Karanka, however, if we scored first, is was not often we did not get a point or three.
Anyone know what's happened with Sonny Finch seemed a bright prospect
Great post Dormo. I liked the way that most of the answers are implicit in the questions that you raised.
They are precisely the kind of questions that Gibson should be raising with his senior staff.
And there are some which the Chairman should be asking of himself.
In all you have produced a perfect example of how asking a question with scrupulous politeness can in itself be a subversive activity.
@lenmasterman. Well said Len.
What annoys me is the way they treat the fans, with little to no information as to the clubs realistic, future aspirations.
Let's be honest here, for the majority of club / fan communication, you don't need a degree, but you do need empathy and common sense.
You see lots of that on this blog.
On receiving my early bird email, I was startled by a simple lack of civility. The upshot was get your money in sharpish otherwise it is going to cost you more. No thanks in the preamble etc. All very strange. Surely some brief road map as to where the powers that be, think the club is going, words to inspire, could have been provided? Really poor customer service IMO
We have a pretty awful record at the Deepdale in recent times. I think the worst loss was under Wilder when we were hoping to finish in the top six entering the final day of the season.
Since then, we lost the first game played under Carrick last season. So not very fond memories of visiting Preston.
But like I said before, we played quite well against Bristol City on Saturday. If you delete the 15 min period - or the two minute period when we concedee two goals - we played pretty well and created more chances than Bristol. I know the result was awful, but the spirit was there in the second half. We should have earned at least a point.
So I hope we'll get a result finally from Preston. I would guess we start with the following:
Dieng
Ayling Fry van den Berg. Thomas
Howson. Hackney
Forss. Azaz. McGree
Greenwood
I hope to see Latte Lath and Coburn on the bench as impact subs.
I will go for a surprice 0-2 win for Boro. Greenwood and Hackney scoring. The latter has been a bit rusty since returning from an injury, but I hope he is playing better now after a few outings. Azaz should start to bed in, too.
The season is not over just yet. Up the Boro!
I first saw Middlesbrough in 1966 after moving down from Scotland.
Since then, over the years, communication with fans has been poor and this week is no different.
Wins last night for WBA, Norwich and Hull have made it extremely difficult for Boro to reach the playoffs, even if we win our game(s) in hand. With the Baggies now 11 points clear (in effect 12 with goal difference), it means the rest of us are fighting over the last playoff slot. Norwich and Hull are both 7 points clear of us and both have a superior goal difference. Coventry and Sunderland are both 6 points clear, again with much better goal difference. For weeks now the EG has been saying we are only a few points off the playoffs, but with our poor form and the relative success of other sides it was inevitable that the gap would eventually widen beyond what is realistically possible for us.
I’m going to stop fretting now about the playoffs. There’s no point. I’m just going to try to enjoy the football and hope we win more games than we lose or draw before the season winds down. I suggest the players and manager do the same. And I think planning for next season needs to start right now, if it hasn’t already.
@jarkko - "...we played quite well against Bristol City on Saturday..."
Forgive me, Jarkko, for not agreeing. Yes, there were times we put together a couple of passes; yes, the ultimately "offside goal" by Greenwood was well struck; yes, after the goal which defelected in off the back of Azaz (?) BORO attacked and beseiged the City penalty area in a sadly fruitless attempt to get an injury time equaliser.
But the BORO performance in the first half wasn't simply below standard, it was shocking. The passing was poor (I will exempt the passing side-to-side between the 2 centre-backs which invariably arrived at the intended target) with many passes elswewhere on the pitch being intercepted or hit way wide, the defending filled many supporters with terror and, had we gone in at HT 0-3 down (which looked likely until Glover rushed out to save at the foot of an attacker on the edge of the penalty area) that would have reflected the quality of BORO's performance until that point in the game. I accept the performance in the 2nd half was better but it would have been difficult for BORO to show the consistency required to make the 2nd half as bad as the first.
The team was booed off at HT. Many supporters left well before BORO's late goal and subsequent attempted rally. (It is always helpful for a swift getaway that thousands have already removed their cars before the final whistle, after which they are stopped to allow pedestrians to get out of the ground more safely). Even with that late rally, there was booing at the final whistle. No doubt that would have been deafening if it hadn't been for the late goal which gave a sliver or hope before it was snuffed out at the whistle. It wasn't as if the team played well, in my eyes, but had been unlucky or had come in front of a team playing irresistible football. If there had been a survey of supporters after the game, I'm pretty sure the majority would have slated the performance.
Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We are told football is "all about opinions". I was more interested in the Rugby from Twickenham after sitting through BORO v Bristol City, so I heard the commentary of the first half of England v Wales on my personal DAB/FM radio (and then on the car radio) as I made my way home, rather than listening to the people ringing the post-match BBC Tees phone-in. How did the supporters on BBC Tees (or Maddo for that matter) react to the game? I accept that the reaction of the callers after the match sometimes seems rather extreme - we win a game and we look set for promotion, we lose a game (Oh! If it were only one game!) and BORO is set for a destructive decline and woe is us... But I genuinely wonder what the feeling was amongst those who called in on Saturday. Were there regular public safety/welfare messages put out on the radio, advice to family waiting at home to hide away all the sharp implements, advice not to fall into the trap that excessive alcohol consumption would take away the sense of despair?
Well - the lads have to do it all again this evening at Preston. I wouldn't be amazed if BORO turned it around this evening but I don't expect it. The defeat at home on Saturday wasn't just an uncharacteristic one-off but, given we have won only six (?) home league games despite having reached the middle of February, it might be thought to be par for the course. If I were a betting man (which I'm not) I fear that if wagered money on a BORO win tonight I'd only be putting that money into the profits of William Hill, Ladbrokes or Bet1234 (other online providers of poverty to the masses are definitely available).
@forever-dormo ON THE NAIL DORMO. Rubbish, woeful, wasteful, dispiriting, clueless, I could go on.
The season is finished even if we won tonight, as there is no chance on Saturday. We have been kidding ourselves, thinking we may just make the play offs. Well, I have not, because it was all there to see at the beginning of the season, and I said so in Powmill's COTS event. I think we could finish even lower the 14th on current form.
Hopefully the points in the bag will will keep us away from relegation as Martin noted.
@forever-dormo I think we were the better team in the second half. We were rubbish in that 15 min period - or the two goals conceded in a minute if you take away the time Brissol spent celebrating. I watched the highlights and it was the same - we were as good as them and had more chances. We should have got a point at least.
So I did see positives. It was like watching us in the first seven games of the season. We have something to built on - especially when we have LL and I Jones back!
So I hope a better result today than on Saturday. Trying to be positive. Up the Boro!
I've decided that Boro are going to win the next two games just to (1) prove they can and (2) prove that all form in the Championship is meaningless - note Bristol City just beat unbeatable Southampton last night so anything is possible.
So Boro lost to the team that beat the most inform team in the league, who are now by default the best team in the league thus making Boro players think they're nearly as good as the best team barring a dodgy offside - let's call it insta-x-tok-face logic and therefore true!
I've not as yet worked out how they will win those games but it is probably dependent on the players suddenly remembering that they must play with intensity and ensure they pass the ball to a teammate rather than the opposition player next to him.
Clearly there is also no better time to go on a winning run as what would be the point of waiting until it didn't matter - besides they must have been told that early-bird season ticket sales depend on it - though still waiting to be contacted by the club to ask if Forever Dormo is available as an out-of-contract free-agent letter writer to pen the next communication to encourage them to kindly part with a wad of cash.
Anyway, hope I've not miscalculated my logical prediction...
Talking of unpredictable outcomes - I discovered today that there is a new phenomena sweeping the nation's up-and-coming young footballers - it's called the Brexit tackle. Apparently, it means taking out the player without getting the ball, all while shouting ‘Brexit means Brexit’.
Of course, it's not a tackle that as far as I know has reached Germany but I'd be grateful if anyone watching schoolboy football has any first-hand account of this new tackle that sadly probably needed Matt Crooks to demonstrate it properly to his teammates.
The growing craze is outlined in this Guardian article: Why are kids doing the ‘Brexit tackle’? - warning: this article contains disturbing use of the word Brexit for readers who have tried to forget the word ever existed.
Anyway, I'm now looking forward to the 'Stop the Boats' long throw making a splash in the near future...
@werdermouth Well, you have got me believing that my post of 13.20 was somewhat of an over reaction.
I am now recalculating the Boro's surge up the table on the back of the players now knowing what they should be doing. And if you could kindly delete my previous post, other members on here may also be believe that anything is possible, until it isn't. 🤣 🤣
All logic may be subject to revision at 9.55pm 😉
@werdermouth Maybe the Boro have adopted Sunak’s latest nonsensical word-salad, “Back to Square One”.
I'm presuming that in a nostalgic way 'back to square one' must now be regarded as a good thing 🤔
Boro backtracking somewhat over the ST "early bird" request.
However, when you read the short statement, they once again shoot themselves in the foot, by referencing the rise in the minimum wage they have to pay staff. Of course what they mean is, match day ground staff and probably a fair number of their permanent employees.
NOT of course the players who are on thousands of pounds a week. Yes, market forces etcetera for the cossetted few. But once more badly written and put out to the media.
Also, although it does not tell the whole story, MFC ST prices compared to the rest of the Championship appear to be a lot higher. Two links to the most expensive and least expensive.
@werdermouth. I hope you are correct and that it doesn’t turn into a Valentine’s Day massacre! 😎
Well. Lots of good reading that I am at last caught up on. Well done headline writers and posters all.
First of all I am disappointed for Boro that Crooks is away. I reckon he would have made us a better interim target man than Greenwood. Good luck to him though, he served us well and always left everything he had on the pitch. All those left would do well to emulate that now.
I can't comment on the Brizzol game. I haven't bothered to look out the highlights on the Boro site and from all accounts there won't be many Boro highlights in that to see anyway.
The Robins victory last night tells us that this season is far from over yet even for a team currently languishing in 13th place. The top 3 or 4 excepted, this really is a poor Championship this season, with only WBA showing any glimmer of the form you would expect of a playoff contender.
That said, unless we can get something from tonight as well as beating an improving Birmigham in our spare game, then a 6th place finish might be all but impossible.
This is Boro though and Boro does have a very frustrating habit of not delivering victory when it looks harder to lose and then confounding us all by winning games the form table says should be beyond us.
So. Come on Boro. Take our minds off the season ticket renewal debacle and grab an unlikely three points tonight.
I found it amusing to read in the article that it would be cheaper if the club paid every supporter £10 per game for them to stay away - I'm open to that offer if they decide on that option so hopefully we can sign up when it materialises.
Though seriously - can it be true if an average supporter pays £26 per match then they're saying it costs £36 per supporter to allow them in the stadium - that's £720,000 on a 20,000 crowd to open the Riverside each time or £1.65m per season! Suppose it could be around that figure.
Team News...
Quite a few changes with McGree thankfully starting - Clarke replacing Fry and Thomas in for Engel - Also Howson returns to partner Hackney and Barlaser on the bench where he'll be sitting with that other rare lesser-spotted Hoppe.
That’s exactly the team that should have been picked on Saturday !
you watch they’ll get trounced now I’ve said that !
OFB
Looks like a strong team on paper.
As they say, shame it's played on grass.