Well the fat lady had started to sing again, but got stage fright again and stopped.
Hope OFB stayed away from commentary it wouldn't have done his ventricles any favours, terrible match but we nicked it.
No way is that team good enough, so slow and ponderous but we are good at a sideways pass
Echo player ratings:
And analysis of whether the Conway pen was a pen:
The general consensus is that, at this stage of the season, it doesn’t matter how you win games so long as you win them.
It didn’t feel like that today!
I’ll get the starter up for Wednesday on Monday on Sunday morning.
Poor performance today but I suppose an undeserved win is still a win.
Please, please, please Mr Carrick don’t pick Iheanacho in the match day squad for any of the remaining fixtures. Send him back to Seville where the oranges come from. Alas he is a lemon.
EXMIL CHALLENGE 2025
OFB and Andy R haven’t submitted entries for Part 3, we all know OFB has medical problems and in the interest of fairness to everyone, I have decided to withdraw both from the challenge and this year there will not be relegation for anyone.
Come on BORO.
Did you try to confuse everyone with that last sentence 😂😂😂.The general consensus is that, at this stage of the season, it doesn’t matter how you win games so long as you win them.
It didn’t feel like that today!
I’ll get the starter up for Wednesday on Monday on Sunday morning.
Come on BORO.
After the match, Jeff Winter said it was never a penalty. But it gave us hope.
Up the Boro!
Now is not really the time to evaluate Boro’s signings both permanent and loan signings but, for the life of me, the signing of Iheanacho was a massive gamble simply because he’s played so little football in the last 2 years and clubs have moved him on.
So, Mr. Carrick please take Boroexile’s advice and don’t select him for the remaining games. I would expect the majority of, if not all, the players don’t want him as clearly he’s done nothing in the time he’s been here.
Philip of Huddersfield 👎☹️
Just watched the highlights from yesterday and Boro lucky to get the win as that was never a penalty - Conway felt a touch and made a somewhat theatrical dive - also Whittaker's didn't look like a penalty either - he stretched out his right leg looking for contact and if he got any it was minimal. Still a vital three points and keeps the show on the road!
@jarkko. Hope you didn’t leave early and miss the second goal!😉😎
@k-p-in-spain We NEVER leave the stand before the players leave for the changing room.
In a theatre you do NOT leave before the end, either. Simple as that.
Very important three points - and the win keeps the Monday exciting, too. Up the Boro!
Boro very consistent- awful, boring and clueless.
At half time it was clear that things weren’t working. So change was needed.
What did we get ? More of the same. And this was against a team at the bottom of the league table.
I had the feeling that if Plymouth had been a bit more adventurous then they could have got all 3 points.
And then Boro get a penalty to nick a win.
I am very pleased for the Boro supporters but dear oh dear this team does put them through the mill.
Philip of Huddersfield 👎☹️
Its easy to say 'change is needed'. However, 11 men behind the ball fighting for their life against relegation doesn't make for an easy task. They were coming off a win at Sheffield United where did the same thing. Personally, I thought that we did reasonably well to build up the pressure over the last twenty minute and I'll happily take the win.
All that can be said is that we won, listening on Tees was very frustrating. Watching the highlights I thought it looked like a push in the back for the penalty, and the Whitaker one was not a pen, although won of the pundits on Soccer Saturday thought it was a penalty!. Iheanacho is a bit of a conundrum, 4 years ago to the day he scored the winning goal for Leicester at Wembley in the FA Cup semi and has a cup winners medal in the same season. He now looks like he has no ability what so ever. How has he deteriorated.
I agree about the penalty. Conway may have made the most of it but the guy definitely put his hand on his back which was a dumb move. Whittaker's didn't look like a pen from most angles although he might have had his foot caught.
For me the key takeaway from the penalty is that Conway is a real hero. I ws trying to imagine the pressure and am really impressed with how he dealt with it.
The crazy thing is that, as it stands and without some crazy goal difference swing, we have the playoffs in our hands. I can't see it being easy - this is MFC after all - but it's good to know that we're still in with a chance given that all the commentators wrote us off ages ago.
Oddly enough, I can even see us having a reasonable chance in the playoffs against teams who try to play their own football instead of us having to defeat an eleven man defensive wall.
On we go
UTB
Boro very consistent- awful, boring and clueless.
At half time it was clear that things weren’t working. So change was needed.
What did we get ? More of the same. And this was against a team at the bottom of the league table.
I had the feeling that if Plymouth had been a bit more adventurous then they could have got all 3 points.
And then Boro get a penalty to nick a win.
I am very pleased for the Boro supporters but dear oh dear this team does put them through the mill.
Philip of Huddersfield 👎☹️
Its easy to say 'change is needed'. However, 11 men behind the ball fighting for their life against relegation doesn't make for an easy task. They were coming off a win at Sheffield United where did the same thing. Personally, I thought that we did reasonably well to build up the pressure over the last twenty minute and I'll happily take the win.
I couldn’t agree more - I’d be interested in what change MC could have made to guarantee a win.
Conceding an equaliser so soon after we scored, gave Plymouth every incentive to pack their defence and settle for at least a point. And who were to blame for that equaliser? Only Howson and Morris - two players whose names would be first on the team sheet in most fan’s judgement. So what changes would be suggested at half time to improve our chances of scoring?
As for the “penalties“ - I thought MW’s incident was one, but TW’s wasn’t - I’ll settle for the result and we move on to Monday. I’m hoping @Jarkko is our own Finnish, lucky charm.
Unless Coventry go ballistic in their next two games, both away at Plymouth and Luton, then if we win our three games then we are in the play offs. There again it is Middlesbrough Football Club we are talking about.
I think we might all become Luton supporters for a couple of weeks, their last three games are Bristol(H), Coventry(H) and West Brom (a)
@pedro - Your post from 2.43pm yesterday afternoon about players (in general but McGree in particular) picking up knocks in training... It is a fact universally acknowledged that players from all clubs receive knocks in training and during games, and you will regularly hear former players say that they almost never played 100% fit but were carring knocks and niggles in most of the matches they played. Maybe Boro players don't have slight knocks or feel a slight twinge in muscles but, instead, regularly give and receive knee-high and studs-up tackles in training, and therefore suffer commensurate injuries.
It's not just the odd player here and there. It seems to be MANY players MUCH of the time. The training sessions must be like SAS training sessions using live ammunition and sharp blades. I mean, it could be just bad luck. But when these "little knocks" keep on happening and they develop into lengthy absences one could be forgiven for being a little cynical. Boro could become the first club to abolish training sessions on a Health & Safety basis on the grounds they are too dangerous. The only club whose training and fitness sessions result in a general reduction of the players' fitness.
"We'd been looking forward to seeing Player X. He'd joined the club in August and looked in the peak of condition and a fine figure of an athlete. Unfortunately he took a knock in his first training session and we are told he'll be out for a few weeks. So we are pencilling in a debut in December...."
And as to yesterday's game against Plymouth Argyle, played on a Friday afternoon at 3pm. Somehow it seemed like a Saturday.
Plymouth lies clearly at the bottom of the league. Boro needed the win to remain with any realistic chance of a place in the Play-Offs, especially with Bristol City and Coventry, already above Boro, winning their games. Boro got the win. Three points banked whatever the performance. I accept that Plymouth had chances to win the game but failed to convert them, which is why that team is at the very bottom of the league table. So Boro's win, 2-1 with an inury time penalty to separate the teams, could under no stretch of the imagination be described as a dominant performance.
However it was at least a win. It was enough to allow the season to stagger into its last 3 matches with Boro STILL able to dream of promotion. Bearing in mind some of the performances Boro has put up this season - Boro being 3-0 up on Boxing Day against Sheffied Wednesday at HT yet managing only a draw, Boro being 3-1 up away to Norwich City and with a penalty kick to go 4-1 up only to miss the penalty then concede 2 late goals to stagger to a draw in October, Boro leading 1-0 at Watford only to concede 2 goals in the last 15 minutes to conjure up a defeat from victory also in October, much less the 0-3 Riverside defeat by Coventry in November, to give but FOUR examples - that is almost uneblievable.
You shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Instead you should take advantage. Looking back over the season there have been many occasions when it would have been unrealistic, maybe bordering on the insane, to expect promotion this year. Yet here we are: Boro's future in its own hands. Win the remaining 3 games and it WILL be Play-Off time, maybe on goal difference, but still in the mix to gain promotion. Incredible but still the prize is there to grasp. That's football for you...
I remember Stachan saying, when he was at MFC, that the majority of players by the time the get to 27/28 are generally carrying a niggle of some sort and just have to get on with it and continue playing.
I assumed at the time, he did not mean a broken bone or similar. 🤣
Now, how many players do MFC have over that age at this time. Howson, Dijksteel, Fry, and Iheanhacho? The first three we know about, so I guess that must by the last ones problem why he has been so poor.
So, the play offs are now in our own hands, as they say. Three games and three wins.
When was the last time we did that?
And Sheffield Wednesday have not won at home since January 1, when they beat Derby 4-2.
What are the odds now.
Martin, generally the defence has been poor and the midfield at times not up the scratch of late. Yesterday Morris was way off the pace. Possibly he is carrying a niggle.
As I posted previously, Howson is very good at carrying the ball out of defence, but a defender he is not. Fry will start on Monday.
Now whether Carrick will chance Howson at RB is a question. If so, best not to have Whittaker in front of him. He could not tackle a Sunday Lunch. 😊
Thanks for the comments to my earlier posting saying when the style of play wasn’t working Carrick needed to change things. In the previous game Millwall’s style of play in the first half wasn’t working and so the coach changed things and they took control of the game, particularly for the first 20 minutes and scored and Boro didn’t get back into the game.
Clearly Plymouth would come to defend, get players behind the ball and hope to catch Boro on the break. I thought they were successful in doing that and could have ended the first half in the lead had Travers not made 2 good saves.
The point I would make was that Boro’s build up play was so slow with too many side ways passing that Plymouth had lots of time to get players behind the ball and in a formation to defend with a back 5 with 4 or 5 in front. Consequently when Boro got near Plymouth’s penalty area it was packed with players and Boro’s passing wasn’t accurate enough. Even a top Premier team would have had great difficulty in passing the ball through such a congested area . Consequently Boro were easy to play against.
And so change was necessary. What needed to be done?
Firstly, play the ball faster. Reduce the slow sideways passing. Stop short intricate passing and play quicker and possibly longer balls, take a little risk instead of playing the easy ball, encourage players to dribble past an opponent to create space - losing the ball in your opponents half of the field isn’t the end of the world when you have many teammates to help behind the player losing the ball, ( the only player to do this was Iling jnr who was successful at times), get balls into the box to put defenders under pressure, when anywhere near the edge of the box look to shoot- you might get a lucky deflection.
All I’m trying to say is when the pattern of play and tactics aren’t working then try something different to get the opposition out of their comfort zones.
So here’s hoping for an improvement against Sheffield Wednesday.
Philip of Huddersfield 👍👍
A penalty in added time - can we watch
After an assist from Ienacheo. Fate laughs at all of us
Even a broken clock is correct twice a day
@martin-bellamy Well, what can one say. We have free speech, but sometimes when I hear or see certain quotes from people, may be we don’t deserve it.
I agree with your comment about faster play. When we speeded up for the last twenty minutes it ramped up the pressure and finally led to the goal.
utb
@selwynoz. I also agree and in my view Fry should have started with Howson in midfield so as to try and win the ball in the opposition half.
When we start attacks from our half it is at a pedestrian pace with the away team all behind the ball.
We need players prepared to run at the opposition, when we do that we are far more effective at creating space or committing defenders into mistakes or fouls in or around their box. 😎