Ben Gibson equalises for us for Stoke against Coventry. Hang on in there Potters!
None of the the games that matter going for us, unless Coventry drop a couple of points, but we would then HAVE to win, as Philip put it, our next important game is now more important than the last. Or, our Birmingham game is now a "must - must win game.
This is all so difficult on the nervous system.
Well thwn
No rwsults to help us today, so we will just have to make sure we help ourselves on Monday....🤞
@powmillnaemore They are all queuing up behind us now, waiting for any slip up or points not won.
Good grief. All 5 of the clubs immediately below us won. Millwall are just 1 point behind us.
This is the big drawback of our game being pushed back till Monday. Today’s results put the squeeze and enormous pressure on Boro now. And exactly the same could happen again next weekend with QPR on Sunday.
Don’t panic! Don’t panic, Captain Mainwaring! But we really need to win on Monday. Let’s hope our players can cope with the hugely increased expectations.
@clive-hurren. Yes this really does increase the pressure and poses the question, can Boro deliver when they need to?🤔😎
Things are getting tight the drones keep picking up points at the right time
Boro have one big problem every team in the division are scared stiff of them, they play us very differently to all other teams they take each other on in the belief they are as good as each other ,not against Boro hence how they set up against us, it's difficult because you are susceptible to an interception, set piece etc, that nullifies all the good things, , I think the back four we have is becoming a little creaky at times, and we might be missing a cruncher in midfield.
That's for another day, let's hope all the good play gets its reward , a little bit of luck would help ,
Keep the faith , COB
Nothing to do with the Birmingham game but did everyone see this page about International Fans' Week
https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2026/february/26/introducing-international-fans-week/
It might be worthwhile getting in touch with the club and pointing out our existence. We certainly cover Europe and Australia.
UTB
Well yesterday's results certainly went badly from Boro's point of view so probably makes tomorrow's game a must win really - especially when you consider that defeat could potentially see us drop to 4th place before we play again next Sunday. The best hope would be draws from Ipswich v Hull and Hull v Millwall since both teams in those fixtures can't lose.
Hopefully, it mean Boro will be fully focused tomorrow and even more hopefully will put away any early chances - it's a massive game and at least February has ended to nullify the manager of the month award 😓
Birmingham are the most robust (ie dirtiest) team in the division, so they will be aiming to get at us a la Coventry. They won't be standing around admiring our tippy-tappy defensive and midfield play, but will aim to be as disruptive as possible and break up any rhythm we try to establish.
Craig Johns has been pretty accurate in his recent predictions on the Boro's starting Xl, suggesting he may be being reading the Hellberg runes/ tip-offs correctly. He thinks that Fry will replace Ayling, a change that few would quibble with. He also thinks that Strelec will come in for Browne.
This means that on recent form Boro will be going into battle with two possible passengers, and a weakened midfield. When you are sitting on the Boro coach, knowing you are going into the trenches, who do you want there next to you, Whittaker, Strelec or Browne? I'd go with Browne plus either one of the other two. Playing both Whittaker and Strelec constitutes too much of a risk for me.
This looks like one of the most difficult of our remaining games and I'd take a point if it were offered now
@lenmasterman. Unfortunately, Browne apart, I don’t think we have many who can battle in the trenches; we need a Leadbitter, Quedrue or Pogatetz in the side to get something at Brum I fear. 😎
I guess there’s no getting round the fact that if we don’t win the majority of our remaining games, we don’t deserve to be promoted. It doesn’t matter who the opposition is, if we want to finish in the top two positions we should be able to beat every other team.
Our opportunity to take points from Coventry has gone - they’ve banked the six points and reclaimed their rightful position at the top, so the likelihood of us taking top spot seems to have gone. We’d all settle for second place, but securing it will be very, very difficult, although no other team has a right to claim it, although Ipswich’s games in hand give them an excellent opportunity.
Am I safe to assume we’ll definitely finish in the top six or could we slip out of the playoff spots between now and the end of the season? Has anyone looked at the remaining matches and worked out what we need to achieve to finish in the top six?
I’m pretty sure our season is going to go right to the last game. If we’re nervy now, how will we feel then?
I'd play Stelec in place of Whittaker as Boro are going to need someone until the end of the season who is making runs into the box and he's probably the only real striker in the team as Conway prefers to drift wide and deep - plus if it is a physical battle then Whittaker is likely to be brushed off the ball. It does sound like a game that Browne would do well but he's add a couple of off games recently. Fry for Ayling makes sense given how Luke performed in the last game - he could have no complaints.
However, I wouldn't take a point as that's not going to help much after only taking 2 points from the last 3 games - it has to be a win for me tomorrow to shore up our second place and then I'd even allow Hull to beat Ipswich!
A top six finish is almost impossible to avoid barring a total collapse - even if Southampton in 7th managed 2 points per game in their last 11 games they can only get 75 points. Boro only need 4 more wins out of 12 to achieve that.
@werdermouth - I agree, Werder, Boro must go for the three points at Birmingham. And without wishing to repeat an old tune, we should not worry about what other teams do - it's about Boro. Win the games and Boro ends up in the Premier League. Obviously it would be nice to have a safety margin between Boro and Team Three, but so long as Boro remains in the Top Two, everyone on this Blog would take it at the end of the season. Few would have thought that to be any-shade-of-likely at the start of the season.
A top six finish is almost impossible to avoid barring a total collapse - even if Southampton in 7th managed 2 points per game in their last 11 games they can only get 75 points. Boro only need 4 more wins out of 12 to achieve that.
Thanks Werder - that’s very reassuring. I hope it won’t come to playoffs, but I doubt any team would want to play us in a game they need to attack us and win.
@martin-bellamy I dread the thought of being in the play offs. Southampton home and away say.
My big concern is that we may not be a ream in form.
Don't forget Sunderland lost their last 5 games and scored only one goal but still won the play-offs - in fact they only won 2 of their last ten games and accumulated 8 points from a possible 30 - which is relegation form that would've equated to 37 points over a season.
Though that's probably only highlighting that the play-offs are a lottery so better to finish in the top two!
Looking at the stats, in terms of yellow cards, Birmingham are 18th in the table with 57 yellows. We are 22nd with 53. However, if you look at Red cards they are joint top with Sheffield United with 5 reds each. Interestingly, Sheffield have less yellows than Birmingham. The team with the most bookings is Hull City with 84 although surprisingly with such a large number they still haven't had a red card yet.
The clever dirty teams follow Revie's formula by targeting particular players but taking turns in committing bad fouls so it's more difficult for any one player to get a card. This is what Coventry did last week with some success against Hackney, Morris and Browne
Sunderland were and still are a dirty team or clever depends? Seems some teams are copying against us, they leave their foot in late ,if they don't win the ball ,they go down injured conning the weak ref,
Some stats from the BBC
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Birmingham City have lost 11 of their past 15 league games against Middlesbrough (W3 D1), losing each of the last six since a 2-0 win in October 2021.
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Middlesbrough have won their past four away league games against Birmingham, only having longer runs against Rotherham (six between 1956-1962) and Liverpool (five between 1957 and 1960).
- Middlesbrough have won five of their past eight away league games (L3), as many as they had in their previous 20 (D5 L10).
Sunny intervals this morning in North Yorkshire. Let's hope the sun shines on Boro this evening. I will take my seat at the Battered Badger to watch the Birmingham match and will keep my fingers crossed.
Forecast for Birmingham tonight, cloudy, temp about 10 degrees, rain forecast to be around midnight, by which hopefully happy Boro fans well on their way home.
Come on BORO.
Hi everyone.
Popping in to share some observations that I've already shared with a friend of mine since the Leicester draw.
First, my primary belief. That being that Boro are going through a traditional wobble brought or forced upon us by the burden of expectation and closeness to the big prize, which was already clear before Coventry, and now the fear that we've been found out.
We know this isn't the first time something similar has happened under Kim Hellberg. We went at least 454 minutes without a goal before a second half Southampton blitz got us back on track and we never seemed to look back. And then came Coventry.
I wrote, when I reviewed Saipan (Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D'Sa, 2025) that the film took the bold step of never blunting the proverbial 'fault line', that the film understood that scapegoating was too simplistic and could either foster further divisiveness or point attention where it doesn't need to be pointed. That's just it - blaming KH's tactics, chances missed, poor defending or lack of investment is far too easy. The problems run deeper.
Continuing with the theme of looking back in time - I do that a lot, don't I? - I recently reflected on a pair of "twinned games". Ireland 1, Italy 0, from 1994, and Manchester United 3, Boro 3, from 1997.
Surprisingly outstanding performances from underdogs who performed much better than expected, where an aging star defender with injury problems (Paul McGrath, then nearly 35, and Nigel Pearson, then nearly 34) produced a masterclass.
However, the enormous emotional and physical investment in each match was costly. Neither Ireland nor Boro won their next three games after each match, with both teams managing a single goal each (John Aldridge against Mexico, Juninho against Leeds). You could also point out that a vital frontman was lost in each game (Tommy Coyne was severely dehydrated after the Italian game, and Fabrizio Ravanelli got injured).
Thinking of that made me think, this could also be what's happening to Boro right now. Tiredness combined with enhanced pressure to deliver following a pleasant surprise to all. I think that, against Oxford and Leicester, we needed either a crucial break to put us ahead or a Grant Leadbitter or David Nugent moment, like their last minute winners against QPR and Hull respectively, both of which kickstarted long winning runs. We got neither.
While no longer seeming the underdog isn't a sole reason, it plays its part. I've repeatedly found that Boro and expectations go together like oil and water. Look back thirty years, and within a few weeks in September '96 you get Boro 4, Coventry 0 and Southampton 4, Boro 0. Or twenty years, and you get Boro 0, Villa 4 and Boro 3, Chelsea 0 within a week. Sublime to ridiculous to ridiculous to sublime.
If we could simply see KHBoro's current malaise as simply a natural cold spell which happens to every single club, even the best, we could be a lot better off, but I understand how emotional and financial investment makes that very hard to do.
Along with our history. We've simply become too used to the feeling of "betrayal" or being "let down". Like forty years ago and the lack of support when we "nearly died". Like thirty years ago when we counted upon a star midfielder and a star striker to simply knuckle down and earn their wages even when culture clashes were apparent. Like twenty years ago when the England speculation rolled into town while our preparations for Eindhoven were going on, and we weren't fully ready for the transition from one coach and Europe to another inexperienced coach and no Europe. Like ten years ago, and the arrival of a forward who, however gifted and vital he may have been, had a playing style completely at odds with the structure and mentality ingrained in the club by the head coach. Great short term results, sad long term consequences.
And like this year, where January has disappointed people by not providing the "Fuchsian Fillip" or "Branca Boost" or "Gastonian Gumption" that previous successful promotion seasons had, even though we've spent lots of money over the two windows. Strelec, Sene, Malanda, Hansen and Brittain alone have cost over £20 million.
So what's going on? Why are we deemed to be light up top?
My theory is this - as with AKBoro before Gaston and Rhodes came on board, we win as a team. It is a communal effort. There is no obvious Big Star front and centre. Jeremy Sarmiento carries plenty of promise, sure, but like Andy Cole in 1995 at United, and Hamilton Ricard in 1998 at Boro, he reads as someone being signed for integration into an already successful unit rather than a New Star. Someone who needs time to bed into a whole new way of things, and given the keenness to take advantage of this great promotion opportunity, that's at odds with what we probably most want to see.
It is as if, as my friend pointed out, we'd like the structure and solidity of Karanka along with the out-of-this-world class of '96 - which doesn't work. The paradox to that is that Magic Men sell. They're box office. They can bail a team out when they're on an off day. The other paradox, of course, is finding someone who can be totemic and doesn't upset the balance of team spirit. Oh, it's a tricky one.
But, in the aftermath of Rob Grant's passing, I also recall how the talented elements of Red Dwarf came together - the impressionist, the DJ, the dancer, the writer, and the stand up comedians (one male, one female) to produce a comedy classic. Further evidence for believing in the "team" model to triumph, for being proud of the possibility that we might succeed without an obvious Fuchsian Fillip - and for Kim Hellberg to remind us, as Norman Lovett's Holly once, famously did, that the moral of the story is: "appreciate what you've got - because basically, I'm fantastic!".
Onwards and upwards.
@martin-bellamy History shows us it's not always about results against fellow top teams, Martin.
In 1994-95 we managed just three wins out of eight against our fellow "top fivers" - we drew and lost to second placed Reading, we drew and lost to fifth placed Tranmere, and we lost at third placed Bolton. One win over Bolton and the double over fourth placed Wolves were exceptions. So that's three wins and two draws from eight.
In 1997-98, we failed to score against champions Forest altogether, drawing at home and getting blitzed at the City Ground. We also failed to win against fifth placed Ipswich (two draws), sixth placed Sheffield United did the double over us and fourth placed Charlton beat us 3-0 at their place. A fortuitous home win over Charlton and a (crucial) double over third placed Sunderland, who we pipped to automatic promotion by a point, were the exceptions. So... three wins and three draws from ten! Not great.
2015-16. Well, well. Four points from Burnley (nearly six), four points from Derby (again, nearly six), four points from Brighton, the double over Sheffield Wednesday and a win over Hull. The 3-0 reverse in November '15 was our only defeat to a fellow top sixer as Boro took twenty-one points from a possible thirty - six wins, three draws and one defeat. (By January 2, it was sixteen points from twenty-one!) Our approach, however, was less effective against weaker sides - and this was a factor in why we didn't win the league.
We will deserve to be promoted if we finish on more points (or equal points and better GD) than the team that will finsh in 3rd place. That is less about us winning all our games (although no one can argue that doesn't help!!), it is all simply about making sure we get that one point more than another unlucky team.I guess there’s no getting round the fact that if we don’t win the majority of our remaining games, we don’t deserve to be promoted...
You might be predicting correctly Martin, that if, come the end of play against Wrexham in May, we did win most of our games between now and then, we will be promoted. However, we might still be promoted if we only win 6 and draw 6. On the other hand we might still not be promoted if we win 7 or 8 games.
Actually, I just paused writing there and used Google Gemini to look up what the pundits were thinking and it came back to me to say Opta is predicting that 82 points should do it. That is 21 more points more than now or 5 wins and 6 draws, or 6 wins and 3 draws...
Forgive me being pedantic, but I think it is still too early to be calling needing to win the majority of our remaining fixtures 'a fact' just yet a while. All the same, I won't argue that it does feel like it though !!
A good win tonight - even a scrappy win tonight, and the world doesn't look quite so grim (well the Middlesbrough football world at any rate. The real world is looking decidedly grim at the moment.)
@powmillnaemore Well summarised. I think maybe I’d fallen into the post-modern definition of “facts”. I’m much happier to accept your alternative thoughts, which seem more achievable.
Unbelievably, but Boro were allocated 7,396 ticket for the Blackburn away game on Saturday 21 March, which were available to buy on Thursday, Friday and today, MFC announced at 12:30 (before they were available for general sale at 3pm) that they were sold out 😱.
Come on BORO.