Well typical Boro do it again from a winning position we let it slip.
No good beating West Brom if you can’t take points from a poor Watford side.
I may have been over optimistic in thinking we can make top two after this display! 😎
So what do good teams do. Leading away from home after missing a few chances with 15 minutes left, they close the game down. Not Boro they concede 2 goals and lose momentum. 2 minutes left.
Philip of Huddersfield
That was very disappointing. Besides the goal, which one could say had an element of luck, we did very little with all the possession we had.
Once Watford equalised they looked to be able to score a second. We were a second best.
It has to be said as many have said on here. We look good with our pretty passing football, however we will not mount a serious top six challenge, unless we start scoring.
All this talk of giving some team a good hiding is just pie in the sky at the moment. The team also still looks unbalanced to me. Maybe the returning players after the break may help.
And Carrick really does need to solve that No. 10 slot.
Something entirely different after today’s disappointing result.
How are the new players doing ?
Hamilton 4. Makes no attempt to get past his man Just passes the ball backwards or sideways. A dream to play against as he offers no threat.
Edmundson 7. The best by far . Slotted in seamlessly. A steady Eddie player.
Doak 7. Very food start but I’m sure the opposition will suss him out and so I expect Jones will increasingly be needed.
Conway 5/6 Not a number 8 or 10. Can’t see him creating chances for others. Looks like a centre forward but not as good as Latte Lath.
Berges 5/6 . Still early days so we need to see more before final judgement.
Who have I missed out ? Whoever they are I mustn’t have been impressed.
Philip of Huddersfield
It’s late and I’m tired!!
Sorry, I missed the best new signing - Morris , 7. Looks very reliable and you know what you’re going to get week in week out. Could become Mr. Reliable for Boro hopefully for many years.
philip of Huddersfield
Philip is right to praise Morris. A very good acquisition.
Watford are on the up and by no means the weakest side in the division.
Boro are a better side when McGree starts.
Still everything to play for !
UTB Chris
I watched MC’s post-match interview on the club website yesterday with interest and he seemed both very disappointed and somewhat miffed at his team’s self-destruction in the last 15 minutes of the game and so he should be. As Philip of Huddersfield has said above, good teams close out games when they are 1-0 up with 15 minutes to go. Boro didn’t and paid the price.
For me yesterday’s defeat at Watford highlighted once again one of the biggest problems that I think needs to be addressed which is the Boro’s lack of consistency in performance and results. I have mentioned it before in posts over the years as it is a long-standing problem but it seems for some reason the management seems to find it a difficult nut to crack. I was hoping that the excellent and important win at The Hawthorns on Tuesday would be a platform on which the team could build and go on a winning run but as is so often the case any possible run was immediately nipped in the bud by losing to a very average Watford team.
I know that The Championship is a very competitive league and any team can beat any other on their day. However, the teams that finish at the top of the table are those that grind out results even when they are having an off day and show a relentless winning drive over the entire course of the season. I don’t see the current Boro as that kind of team and I even wonder whether they can become one. My doubt is because while I think that we have the playing resources now to be a top team we lack the ruthless focus and combative attitude needed to get to the top of the league and stay there. I hope I am wrong and that, while recognising that many other managers have failed, MC can somehow unlock the magic ingredient that turns the Boro into a consistent, relentless, resilient and feared winning team. He needs to and soon if we are going to get out of this league on his watch.
@boroexile. Excellent post and summary of both yesterday and of the persistent failing under MC which, as you say, is one of consistency and ruthlessness.
I suspect that the lack of posts since yesterday’s match is because some of us are a little despondent.
Many of us were being to feel that things were starting to gel and that the team was about to go on a long run without losing; instead it’s back to the norm of two steps forward and one step back.
I appreciate that the last three matches have yielded six points, an average of two points per game, so all is not doom and gloom but we are still outside the top six and having to play catch up. Good sides will be up there for the majority of the season and at the moment that is not looking like us.
A consistent failure to put average teams to bed will see us struggle to make top six and probably put top two beyond us, which in my view we need to be capable of achieving if we wish to have any hope of promotion and staying in the PL for more than one season.
Possession football alone will not achieve the club’s objectives and unless MC and his squad can find a solution quickly, then sadly another Championship season may be in the offing.
I suppose the easy answer is to start taking their chances but presently that is easier to say than do. 😎
@boroexile. As KP said, a good post. I also have wondered about the lack of posts!!!
We have brought in a number of players this season, however they all seem to be of the "new project" type. Young (ish). The Morgan Rogers profile that we can develop and then sell on at a profit. The caveat is of course that we may just blend together a team that gets us promoted.
What we do not have unfortunately, is a Leadbitter. A leader and a player who can influence the rest of the team when needed.
In reality we have an inexperienced squad. Even some of the older players have no or limited Championship game time.
I know it is easy to say in hindsight, but we really miss not signing somebody like Leadbitter, for the likes of yesterday.
Re my post at 5:38
Many of us were “being “ to feel should read “beginning”! Needs to proof read more carefully! 🤔😎
KP, I agree with all you say and would just add that the team was suffering from chronic inconsistency in many seasons before Carrick came hence the “typical Boro” refrain. It’s his turn now to try to fix it!!
@boroexile Yes, “Typical Boro” has been with us for a number of years now. I wonder what Mr Vickers makes of it all.
However at this moment in time the biggest issue to solve is the goals for column.
Four games at home = 6 goals Five games away = 4 goals
If we do not improve on that, we will get nowhere near cementing a place in the top six.
The question that will come soon is. Are the players we have brought in, good enough to provide them?
I agree with everything you say, however the profile that "any team can beat any other' needs to be adjusted for Boro. Their problem is, being 'typical Boro' they can lose to any other team. Tactically they aren't beaten they toss it away with: as lack of concentration, lack of ruthlessness, complacency or not just being plain boring when they should be. As you say at West Brom they were brilliant then revert to type. Complacency? Gypsies curse? Or just plain sloppy? The only consistent thread is they aren't.
I think it's down to team management and coaching but then being Boro I could be completely wrong. We are to easy to foil and eventually beat. they've been sussed out.
UTB,
John
Speaking personally, I just couldn’t face writing more of the same comments after we threw away a match that we had dominated. I’m sure that plenty of users felt the same. The positives are there but the failings are obvious. It’s easy to query management decisions but it just seemed a bit pointless after we had had so clearly turned a corner.
Maybe a ten day break will restore faith.
UTB and Exmil
Are we being a little too pessimistic in response to an away defeat?
I look at the table and see Coventry, Hull, Luton, Stoke, Bristol City and Swansea below us. Norwich, Leeds and West Brom within 3 points (1 win! ) !
Who would we swop for Carrick, RVB, ELL, McGree, Morris, Hackney et al ? I would stay with what we have compared to our near rivals.
A run of wins - such as those we have put together in the last 2 seasons - will have us at the top of the table.
We will be there in the mix at the end of the season, that's my feeling. I had us down for 5th and I haven't changed my mind.
Chris
It took me two nights to get over the result at Watford.
For the first time in ages, after our goal I started to think, that we are one of the teams that can grind a result if we score a goal. After a couple of clean sheets, I did not see Watford scoring in the game.
So I was very upset when they scored the equalizer - and was shocked when we lost. We were THAT good until the final 24 min. We should have won and comfotably.
For me this sounded as bad a result as when we lost at Derby. I did not see that match, but I, boy watched it on Saturday. We should have been at least 2-0 up before the half time.
Well, these things happen, but we still need to improve. We should aim for an unbeaten run until Xmas, next. Our team is that good and the manager is second to none, too. And this season we have more depth in our squad than never before. I fully expect us to play as well results wise as we did under Aitor Karanka in he promotion season.
Pity we must wait two weeks for the next Boro match.Anyway, I have a match on Thursday to look forward to, when Finland play Ireland. I hope FInn Azaz will start the match and plays well - as on Saturday. Then I have tickets for the England match on Sunday. Unfortunately neither Southgate nor Forss will be there.
Up the Boro!
It’s easy to feel full of doom and gloom after a result like Saturday’s - I think losing when you’ve been one-nil up is extremely demoralising.
I’m sure we’ll win again to lift our spirits and I’m convinced we’ll be in the mix come the end of the season, but if that’s going to happen we need to start scoring goals again. I’ve said before that what we don’t know is what’s going on the players’ heads - football at this level is very much a confidence game and if you think you’re going to score, you probably will - unfortunately the opposite is also true and when confidence is low it seems to affect player’s physically as well as mentally. I’d like to see Forss back up front as soon as possible - he’s not had chance to miss chances so hopefully he can get us back on track.
At least the mighty Wigan Warriors are through to the RL Grand Final next Saturday - it just happens to be my birthday too, so hopefully they’ve got a present wrapped up for me.
To pick up a few points raised above: after a disappointing result things can go one of two ways. Many people either want to vent their annoyance/anger or whatever at the performance (so you can get very angry messages on social media or other football blogs from people who may not necesssarily be prepared to use calm words or give constructive thoughts and/or solutions) or people can just turn off, as the players might appear to have done towards the end of the Watford game ("Well if they can't be bothered, why should I?"). I tend to prefer to think about things before reacting in any detail. Of course that MIGHT cause people to stew in their frustrated annoyance, and for the pressure levels to rise even further before their later release!
I'm not incandescent with rage at what happened. I could almost have expected it. The "Typical Boro" phrase came about for a very good reason. People have become used, over decades and more, to good Boro performances being followed by poor ones, or at least in the following game by a decent show being let down by a few incidents when there have been big mistakes made, lack of concentration demonstrated for all to see, catastrophic decisions made, or a simple failure to use common sense. "After the Lord Mayor's Show" is another phrase on which Boro should have registered the trade mark.
It's difficult to blame the coaching staff. There is little point in suggesting even young players need guidance about how to approach the last 15 minutes or so of a game when you are away from home and 1 goal up. A 22 year old or a 23 year old might well be considered "young" but he's probably been playing and been coached in football academies for at least 10 years and sometimes a few years more than that. He'll probably have been a contracted professional footballer for 5 or 6 years, thinking about little else than football. Do they HAVE to be told how to try to see a game out? (Possibly, if Tottenham yesterday, is anything to judge by - 2 goals up at half time and going on to lose 3-2 at Brighton).
It would have been good to have entered the "International Break" with a third win on the trot, which would have seen the team level on points with WBA and above Leeds (and Watford!), safely in the top six. It wasn't to be. No doubt the experience will be repeated at other times throughout the rest of the season. Sadly that won't make it feel any better.
After I have pressed "send" on this post, I will open The Times football supplement, "The Game" which I see features the Spurs game with a front page picture and the headline "Unacceptable" and then has a double-page spread inside headed "Collapse was crazy - even by standards of Spurs". Even multi-millionaire elite international footballers can do what Boro's players do. I was at the "Slaughtered Pig" yesterday to watch the Spurs game with a couple of resident Spurs fans (every village should have a couple) and they were distinctly unamused by what they were watching in the second half. Not that all this makes yesterday's defeat at Watford any less depressing. But it puts it in perspective.
What I found particularly disappointing about Saturday’s defeat was that it wasn’t just one of those “bad day” at the office which you can accept now and then, it was a case of the same old failings we have seen for a long while added to some poor management decisions.
Tom Cleverly clearly was the cleverest of the two Man Utd old boys as he set his team up to defend deep, looked to hit us on the break and introduced subs who were able to impact the game and ultimately reaped the rewards.
MC on the other hand stuck to what he always does, didn’t look to shut up shop and hang onto the points by bolstering the midfield or defence with appropriate substitutions but went like for like and paid the price.
If managers are going to adapt their game plans when coming up against us and we are going to continue in the same vein then I am not sure things will improve as the opposition are learning how to negate our strengths.
Latte Lath is not being allowed to run into the channels or off the shoulder of defenders into space behind defences and capitalise on his speed, which is what he is good at, as he is not a CF who can play with his back to goal as a hold up man.
Watford also showed how to negate Ben Doak’s impact by doubling up on him and no doubt other teams will do the same; we need to find a way to overcome this.
It will be interesting to see what if anything changes in the coming weeks following this defeat as MC did not look/sound very happy post match. 😎
@k-p-in-spain 100% KP.
For me, Carrick to take a fair bit of the blame for the collapse on Saturday.
We were in the driving seat, in reasonable control and had also been warned earlier of Watford’s ability to create chances.
So, one nil up and time to shut up shop. Unfortunately, MC just not yet have the tactical ability to move onto Plan B within the ongoing game.
As KP pointed out, he went, like for like, possibly thinking of “tired legs” instead of fresh legs with a different tactical change of plan.
Jones would offer more than Doak in defending. However it was too late for McGree and Borgzorg offers very little. The one player Philip missed out of his list of “how good are they” He certainly is a, has to do better.
We had lost the middle ground and Dijksteel would have been a good option. We have lots of options on the bench when players are fit. However I am not convinced that during the summer, we have brought in the right overall selection.
you might be interested to know that I went with my son to the RL Grand Final on Sunday evening. Penrith Panthers v Melbourne Storm 80,000 people at the Sydney Olympic stadium (Accor). I don’t know if anyone on here watched it. The standard was amazing but I found it almost boring because the defences were so good that everything became quite repetitive. For me one of the advantages of football over league. Much more free-form.
Anyway, just a diversion for readers to help us get through the break.
UTB
Borgzorg doesn’t close the opposition down, create chances, take chances, isn’t good in the air, pretty average in controlling the ball, not a winger who takes on his opposing full back as his natural movement is to come into midfield and not a natural centre forward who’ll get you say 15 goals a season.
However ,the biggest failure which alienated him from the fans here at Huddersfield was his unwillingness to pass the ball to teammates when they were in a better position.
My friends who are Huddersfield Town supporters were glad when he left and amazed Boro, a better team, signed him.
Obviously, Boro saw something in him but so far the supporters are still waiting for whatever it might be. Has anyone seen a spark from the way he plays to suggest he will be a success ??
Returning to the last result, it seems to me that Carrick has one way of playing, unable or unwilling to change tactics and won’t play a formation which suits the players. I wonder if he’s also too nice a guy - I can’t picture him lacing into players like say Warnock when the players are playing badly or, say not following instructions
The results so far, many against teams in the bottom half of the table, indicate that Boro should end up in the top half of the League but top 6? - I wouldn’t put money on it.
Philip of Huddersfield 👎☹️
@selwynoz The Australian teams set great store in their defence. It’s just as much an art as try scoring and all the best teams are strong in that area.
Our own Grand Final will be a tight game but Wigan have some super talented players in their team (as do Hull KR, to a lesser extent). We simply outplayed Leigh in the semi final. For those who don’t follow RL here are the highlights.
https://youtu.be/cFu0DN3Jv40?si=bQ5o5i2tKgIJikxw
Got back from Berlin and discovered Boro has thrown away another opportunity to win a game and didn’t really have anything to say after thinking we’d turned a corner only to turn two more and end up back where we started.
It was a shame the team couldn’t hang on to those 3 points as it would’ve left us just 2 points off the top and plenty of momentum going into the break - it would certainly have made my preview of our next game more like…
Werdermouth 🙂👍
than…
Philip of Huddersfield 🙁👎
Still don’t think I’ll be able to write the whole preview in emoji 🤔
Hi guys, just to update you all and thank you for the well wishes, I had my left lung completely removed on Friday morning and was released from James Cook yesterday afternoon. I am stiff and sore in many places but it is manageable (with the help of some pain killers, I am not using the Oral Morphine Sulfate but have it in case of extreme pain). I am finding it exhausting just to do simple tasks (getting a wash/shower, making breakfast etc) but this will improve in time, my plan is to go for short walks outside starting the weekend/next week (depending on the weather) my ultimate goal is to be at the Riverside for the Bristol City game on the 19th.
When, late on Saturday, I found out the Watford result, I too was disappointed but after reading the match reports and comments I have tried to put things in perspective. The way things were going for Boro prior to the Stoke game (and how people were “worried” about that game) would people have accepted 6 points from Stoke (H) WBA (A) Watford (A), I think most people were thinking 3 points, 4/5 if we are lucky ! Do we get carried away by one win, 9 games played 14 points how many did we have at this stage last season 🤔. One thing life has taught me this year is take things as they come and don’t take too much for granted in the future.
Come on BORO.
@exmil Well done on the getting home front. As my consultant told me, 'when you feel tired, or knackered as he put it, stop and have rest it's just your body telling you to stop.
Great to hear from you, I remember being worn out just putting a coat on!
UTB,
John
Good to read you're back home already Exmil. All the very best for your recovery.