Doak on for Jones in the 68th minute. Here's hoping...
ELL had a goal ruled out for offside in the 53rd. 🙁 So far 14 shots on goal, four of them on target.
Doak on for Jones in the 68th minute. Here's hoping...
ELL had a goal ruled out for offside in the 53rd. 🙁 So far 14 shots on goal, four of them on target.
Morris, Burgzorg & Hamilton on for Barlaser, Azaz & ELL in the 78th minute.
Well more of the same disjointed forward play from Boro and that was most definitely 2 points dropped against a poor Preston side that didn't show much all afternoon. Boro never really looked like scoring a winner and in truth looked incoherent and weren't sharp enough when they had the ball - Latte Lath didn't really provide the focal point and for all the potential on the pitch you couldn't see much in the way of understanding on the pitch and patterns of play that others knew where they fitted in. Much work to be done on the training pitch if Boro are to avoid dropping points against average opposition.
At least the Deckchairs lost away to "Wayne Rooney's Plymouth" (3-2), though they're still top of the league, with Boro in 10th.
I’ve just got back from a weekend away with work and wasn’t able to follow the game at all. Haven’t read any comments here yet and have just checked the score.
Let me guess…. Boro by far the better side but couldn’t find the net and maybe chucked in a defensive error for their goal?
Poor refereeing today cost us the game in my opinion.
Should have had at least two sendings off for two cards and second card not issued. Typical time wasting tactics not picked up by the referee and only 5 minutes added.
Barlaser and Azaz don’t fit into this team and shouldn’t start.
OFB
Agree Werder, two points dropped against a very poor side. We should have had the game won in the first half, but after the opening goal we played the ball out from the back far too slowly.
It was a tactic that took the pressure off Preston and allowed a mistake-prone defence to settle back and compose themselves. it also failed to engage the crowd, which wasn't encouraged to get involved apart from two short spells in the second half.
I noticed at Cardiff how slow Borges had been to get back after any forays forward, and today he ambled back after losing the ball and was still outside of our penalty area when the ball went into our net. Earlier he had been on his heels leaving his man unmarked at the far post. Something to keep an eye on.
So ends a run of six fixtures as undemanding as we could have wished for. I doubt whether any of the teams we have played so far will finish in the top half of the table and two of them are my selections for relegation. We have 8 points from 6 games. I am no optimist but I would have expected 14-15 from our fixtures so far.
M-o-M was Tommy Conway for his goal and all-round effort, but this was another very disappointing afternoon.
Wonder if club realise there are no point for possession, most of the time our build up is so slow, the worry is that the majority of team will use the PNE tactics when they visit, lack of clinical finishing is going to cost us. All in all a very frustrating day.
NB though ref was poor as well
A quick message from Dave: “Great holiday , way too short! Thanks to everyone on Diasboro for their supportive comments. Very happy to take a point from that game, we were shocking defensively first half but there were chances at both ends for either side to have won it! See you at our gaff later in the season!”
There’s no getting away from it that Boro, particularly at home, just don’t create enough chances and when chances are created they are not taken and the style of slow possession football becomes predictable and ,at times, boring with no end product. Plus , they consistently can’t keep a clean sheet.
Teams must like playing Boro because they are so predictable playing slow possession football and so to counteract Boro, teams simply have to defend deep knowing that sooner or later Boro’s defence will offer chances.
The frustration is that , on paper, the squad looks as strong as the better teams but I feel Carrick needs to decide his best 11 players and play them more often and not keep making changes every week.
And , so to next week in the hope that somehow Boro can create a win.
Philip of Huddersfield 👎☹️
Are you psychic
Poor refereeing display spoiled a game which should have been won in the first half. A missed penalty decision awarded to Boro by an incompetent referee who let PNE use Bully boy and strong arm tactics to make sure they shared the spoils.
At least two players of PNE who had been booked should have received a yellow card and obvious time wasting was ignored until the crowds reaction got a response from the referee who booked their goalkeeper.
Morris should have started I don’t like Barlaser and equally I don’t like Azaz. The stats may say they contribute to the overall impact of the team but to me they only slow down play and lose impetus whilst Boro are in possession.
Conway took his goal well and looks to be a good signing.
Edmundson looks quite solid at the back and a mistake by Borges was responsible for PNE equaliser.
The side looked better after very very late substitutions (as usual) and Doak looks lively and keen to get among the goals.
Overall two points dropped !
What to do you all think 🤔
OFB
I think that to be a realistic contender for promotion you need to beat teams like Preston convincingly and consistently especially at home. I agree with much of what OFB says and with Philip when he says Carrick should sort out his best team and play it regularly.
As you all know I try to look for positives from each game, Edmundson had a decent debut, Doak look lively and got a trick or two, Conway looks an excellent purchase, Morris was his usual energetic self. I agree with most, Azaz was nowhere near his recent form, Barlaser was poor, the jury is out on Borges, Lath needs to find his shooting boots, but then again it took him a little time last season to get going, Jones could easily lose his place to Doak, even Ayling was a bit off colour today, Burgzorg and Hamilton didn’t really have time to get into the game, although I am not convinced by either of them. Now the real positives, we are 1 point outside the playoffs and 3 points from automatic promotion, after giving away points against 3 opponents that we should have won against.
Come on BORO.
P.S. Another positive, Sunderland lost at Plymouth giving them their first win of the season, otherwise they would have been second from bottom.
Werder
Hope you are feeling a bit better the only good thing about your trip was you didn’t have to share a bed with a John Candy character like the Trains Planes and Automobiles movie !
“Those aren’t two pillows !”
OFB
I'm glad I'm not alone in wondering why Barlaser is at the front of the queue for the starting eleven, even at the ripe old age of 70 I reckon that I could do him in a short sprint and he couldn't pass a pie shop, so why he was bought in the first place simply baffles me.
I suppose no real surprise to see Boro looking like they didn't know how to play together given they ended the game with 7 new signings on the pitch. Despite thinking Boro only needed to tweak their side after a strong finish to last season, further injuries and key players like Latte Lath and Hackney still way below their best has left Carrick trying to work out his best side and searching for the right balance.
I was surprised not to see Gilbert get on the pitch yesterday and maybe given Doak had trained with the team for two weeks he maybe should have started ahead of Jones. With Latte Lath looking more like the player who started last season then ended it, then Carrick may have to make call soon on whether to persist with him and maybe let Conway lead the line and choose from his ten forwards who are on form.
At least Edmunson had a good debut but it looked like he and Clarke were essentially left to start every Boro move and act as playmakers - which became very predictable as the game progressed. So it looks like lots of work needed on the training pitch and for me that would mean getting my most intelligent players on the pitch like McGree and Gilbert to feed the players with pace out wide. Conway looks like a confident finisher if he got the right delivery but not much sign of anyone else is wearing shooting boots at the moment.
My feeling is that Boro have somewhat squandered a chance at setting the pace after a very easy opening 5 games to build momentum - we probably now need to beat Sunderland to regain the initiative or indeed find it!
@werdermouth. Excellent post Werder.
I have nothing to add to what has already been said by others both the good and not so good.
For me a disappointing start, must do better especially next week! 😎
Good posts from Werder, Philip and Len.
We have splashed the cash and brought in a boat load of players, with probably only Edmundson not allowed for in the initial thoughts.
We have had a pre season and five league games before yesterday and still we look very much the same as last season. Predictable, slow and disjointed with some of Carrick’s team selections.
As Werder said, an easy start in reality that we have not taken advantage of. Eight points is not really acceptable and some of that lays at Carrick’s door. Opposition Coaches admit that they know how we will play and how they will counteract it.
We have no width at all with Jones a shadow of two seasons ago when he used to take the FB on and deliver into the box from the line. Is he under orders to play it inside as he does?
On the left, whilst I know Borges has to settle in, but first impressions are not good defensively. He was at fault early in the game losing his man, and the PNE guy was unlucky not to score. Same again after we scored, another cross, losing his man. Then he lost a 50/50 ball, Clarke was dragged across, two on one, a cross and tap in. And as Len pointed out, after losing the ball Borges made no real effort to get back. Engel, all is forgiven. 🤣
We have all these “forwards” but they appear, at the moment, to be not on the same wavelength. We once again had opportunities, but against a packed defence it it difficult to either shoot from the edge of the box on target or play through them to do the same.
Azaz has very little impact playing on the left, and he did not last season when he played there. From where I sit, you can easily see him coming inside looking for the ball and taking space. I do not think Conway is a number 10. Either use Azaz or my preference Gilbert.
I think Carrick is trying to fit both Latte Lath and Conway into the team. After all the latter cost us circa 4.5 mill. However I do not think it is working.
Possibly McGree on the left may improve things, but then he does not defend that well. Does Carrick try Doak from the off or even Hamilton on the left. One thing is certain, his selection did not work very well yesterday.
Very disappointed at the moment , however once we get away from these teams fighting for their lives to not lose, we might see games were both teams are trying to win,
The Edmonson signing is strange, unless he's looking to change to a back three, one of our problems is when teams sit back, we play it square ,we need a CB who is comfortable bringing the ball out through the middle drawing them forward .
Watching W.Brom, they're going up, Best coach, by the way, Mowatt playing excellent,
Carrick obviously has a problem with Mcgree, Gilbert, two creative players ,so I'm beginning to wonder about super coach?
Just back from an hour and half walk so getting back to match fitness - plus it’s also my first long walk since I did my Achilles in July too - so passed a double fitness test.
As for Boro, I guess things will improve once key players are fit again but the reality of the here and now is that it’s just 4 more games to the next international break - which includes tricky trips to Sunderland, West Brom and Watford!
So Carrick will need to find a way to get Boro into taking advantage of possession and chances - perhaps rather perversely it will be easier against sides that will be looking to win on their own patch and not play the low block. He will need to pick the right players though and if the likes of RvdB, McGree and Howson are fit then we’ll see a bit more cohesion from Boro.
We just need the real Latte Lath to turn up and then the new players may find it easier to step up as well. Whoever plays Boro will need to play with more intensity against the in-form teams if we are to avoid going into the next break pondering how to reboot our season!
@werdermouth. Just watching the Pompey v Baggies game and the Baggies are displaying cohesion and intensity in spades and winning 0-3 comfortably, with Alex Mowatt scoring two and the team now topping the table.
We will certainly have to get our act together if we are to get anything from the next three away games; anything less than eight points from the next four could potentially see hopes of a top two position slipping away. 😎
Yes it's not going to be easy and if anything Boro look still in something of pre-season mode, trying to find patterns and rhythm and testing out signings as to where they fit in - Carrick may need to decide on a core group and then stick with them for the next few games as too much chopping and changing probably won't help anyone to settle.
Can't see a back three having got about 10 forwards chasing 4 starting places already as an extra defender will leave just 3 forwards. I think McGree got injured again so hasn't been available and may not be fully fit yet but I think he could do a lot worse than starting with Gilbert but he's probably a victim of Carrick having too many options. Left-back is seemingly a hard position to sort out as Borges is probably more of a wing-back but it's early days for him and is still getting up to speed - he had a good debut but is now being asked to do more and take more risks and will make mistakes. It seems there's a lot resting on Clarke's shoulders at the moment with a new central partner every game and a new left-back on the other side to look out for.
I actually think changing to a three might work Clark would be closer to the left back, then Hackney , Howson , Morris , with Latte, and Conway upfront. A strong bench , Halftime you could change , if Latte still stinks Conway upfront ,Mcgree free to play anywhere across behind him
Wow, 5 games in and the pessimists are out in force, people wondering about Carrick, so who would you bring in as manager 🤔. People are starting to give up on automatic, even playoffs, thank god I didn’t have these people watching my back in the army 😱.
Come on BORO.
Too early to be pessimistic given Boro are still only one point outside the playoffs but I think there's a general feeling of disappointment at our missed opportunity in not being better placed.
I think the next 4 games may well be pivotal in shaping our season and looking at the table after 9 games last season is quite revealing. Top six after 9 games was 16 points or more with the top 2 already on 22 and 24 points with Ipswich and Leicester.
At this points none of the 4 teams who made the playoffs were in the top six - however, they did occupy positions 7-10 and all were 3 points or less from 6th spot.
So to keep up with that trend, Boro may need 8 points from the next 4 games with a minimum of 5 points to keep close to the top six pack. Of course 9 games is only a fifth of the season but playing catch-up in the Championship is never easy unless teams go on long winning runs.
Boro have built a top six squad so they really need to start banking some points and wins against teams in the top six almost count as double in terms of league position.
Just a thought, but wouldn't you want people who feared the worst around every corner watching your back rather than optimistic fellows who thought no need to worry everything will be fine 😉
I trust Carrick. He just needs some time.
Perhaps, we need Howson more than we know. I like Morris (he is no Marina, is he?). But perhaps we need a leader in there. I would prefer Hackney and Morris in midfield but perhaps Jonny has his leadership. I do not know.
And if we get Rav back, then all good for the time beeing.
Just thinking out loud. I am not worried as there are many matches to come. We are capable of winning a few in a row. Like so many times under Carrick. And the same goes for Latte Lath., too.
Up the Boro!