What do you make of Kim Hellberg's Slow Gardening Clubs sweatshirt today, with the subtitle 'Let nature take it's time'?
Was that a subliminal message to the fans that we'll go up when we're good and ready? Maybe next year would be a better time to smash the league. Only joking.
What do you make of Kim Hellberg's Slow Gardening Clubs sweatshirt today, with the subtitle 'Let nature take it's time'?
Was it really spelt with that aberrant apostrophe? Sorry, but all my instincts as a former professional linguist made me ask... 😉
Of course not. That was all my own work. I'll swear to my dying day that it was spell checker or autocorrect or something, but my best bet is my (honest) claim that it was my careless fingers, rather than any failings on the part of my English teacher at Acklam Hall.
FORGET THE PREMIERSHIP
In fact I’d forget the playoffs as there’s little chance of beating eg Southampton over 2 legs based on this performance and recent performances.
Usual stuff - lots of possession, over 70 % , almost 4 times as many passes of the ball than Blackburn, too much passing the ball sideways and backwards, build up play too slow and predictable, useless in the last third of the pitch, forwards offered very little, what few opportunities were wasted by players who can’t score, was Strelec on the pitch, an insistence of when the ball was passed to the byline it was then passed back into midfield, the longer the game went on the more predictable and boring the team was, subs brought on too late etc etc.
Want more ? I’m tempted to say what I really think !!
I feel really sorry for the Boro supporters.
I will get more enjoyment in watching 10 minutes of the under 15’s Sunday morning game at the local park tomorrow.
Philip of Huddersfield 👎👎👎
@pedro - I think Ayling talked himself into the referee's book by comments he made to the linesman and referee, quite apart from the hugging match he instigated after the foul. I am typing this after the game but, to be fair to him, the referee had a better game today than any of our forwards/attacking midfielders.
Really well thought out post Si - “never say never” although I am starting to feel that we have blown the chance to go up in an automatic position. A team looking to achieve that cannot drop the amount of points that we have along with an abject failure to score goals despite creating the opportunities.
The games against Ipswich and Millwall are even more crucial than crucial game can be if, and for me it’s a pretty big if, we can hold on to second place. Unless our form can change dramatically, then I don’t fancy our chances in the play offs.
If one were if a cynical mind, then you may almost be thinking that the plan is not to gain promotion because the last few games have not exactly shown the opposite!
It isn’t over until the rather large lady sings although sadly, I think she is starting to warm up her voice in her dressing room before making her slow progress to the wings.
However, we should count our blessings- I was out yesterday at a retirement do with some Sheffield Wednesday fans (and the Administrator was actually there !) - they are pretty despondent, especially since they think they will start next season with another 15 point deduction regardless of whether they can find a buyer.
So with Steve Gibson, we have a lot to be grateful for.
@martin-bellamy I appreciate your positive stand Martin, I really wish I could muster even a little, but after that abject display in the final third and box area especially. ☹️
I am sure why you mentioned Edwards and Hellberg, I am certainly not criticising either of them. My angst is with the recent window players that Mr Scott took a punt on, the forward players have been a failure to date.
However, do you honestly believe we can achieve promotion, never mind second place with this present form that now appears to be more than a “blip” . Blackburn were so poor, at the moment I doubt we could get a result against Sheffield Wednesday.
FORGET THE PREMIERSHIP
In fact I’d forget the playoffs as there’s little chance of beating eg Southampton over 2 legs based on this performance and recent performances.
Usual stuff - lots of possession, over 70 % , almost 4 times as many passes of the ball than Blackburn, too much passing the ball sideways and backwards, build up play too slow and predictable, useless in the last third of the pitch, forwards offered very little, what few opportunities were wasted by players who can’t score, was Strelec on the pitch, an insistence of when the ball was passed to the byline it was then passed back into midfield, the longer the game went on the more predictable and boring the team was, subs brought on too late etc etc.
Want more ? I’m tempted to say what I really think !!
I feel really sorry for the Boro supporters.
I will get more enjoyment in watching 10 minutes of the under 15’s Sunday morning game at the local park tomorrow.
Philip of Huddersfield 👎👎👎
I haven’t seen the game, so difficult to comment although from the reports and the view expressed on here, sadly, it is hard to disagree with that.
I am not convinced that should we go up, SG has the willingness to spend what is required to be competitive in what has become almost a league of three parts - the rich, the not so rich and the poor!
That is not a criticism of SG at all, just what I think is the reality and despite the natural wish of supporters(for me almost 60 years)to see our team to do well at the highest level, football has changed so much that (whisper it ) I would almost prefer us to get to the play offs every year with good football rather than struggle in the PL.
Just my opinion - does that make me a lesser supporter? Answers on a postcard!
With Coventry leading by 0-3 at Swansea, it means we won't catch them anymore.
Luckily, the second spot is in our own hands. We are having a problem in front of the goal, but other than that our performances are there. Let's hope the blib in results is just temporary.
I still trust the team and manager. Up the Boro!
Of course not. That was all my own work. I'll swear to my dying day that it was spell checker or autocorrect or something, but my best bet is my (honest) claim that it was my careless fingers, rather than any failings on the part of my English teacher at Acklam Hall.
Ah, OK. It's just that I see them everywhere now & they're rarely, if ever, challenged, so I wouldn't have been in the least bit surprised that that one had been professionally printed & gone unnoticed. 
@martin-bellamy I appreciate your positive stand Martin, I really wish I could muster even a little, but after that abject display in the final third and box area especially. ☹️
I am sure why you mentioned Edwards and Hellberg, I am certainly not criticising either of them. My angst is with the recent window players that Mr Scott took a punt on, the forward players have been a failure to date.
However, do you honestly believe we can achieve promotion, never mind second place with this present form that now appears to be more than a “blip” . Blackburn were so poor, at the moment I doubt we could get a result against Sheffield Wednesday.
Re the first sentence of your last paragraph: Yes - as I’ve said many times on here over the years, I’m not sure that the Premier League is Nirvana, but I still think that it’s possible for us to be promoted. Will I be gutted if we fall short? Not really, it’s been a great season so far with more success than anyone on here predicted and another one in the Championship wouldn’t bother me too much.
Would I be looking forward to losing virtually every match in the EPL if got promoted? Definitely not.
Throughout this season we’ve been very lucky on many occasions when other teams have failed to take advantage of our losses or draws. Who’s to say that luck won’t continue?
There are 7 games to go and we’re second on merit, albeit Ipswich can overtake us if they win their game in hand. That’s still a big “if” and if we were to beat them at their ground we’d be favourites to finish above them.
So, yes, I still believe.
I went to a mate's house to watch the match this lunchtime on SkyTV. The sun was shining on a very pleasant day. I had a couple of mugs of good old Yorkshire Tea and a min-Battenburg cake. The match started well and Boro could easily have scored through Ayling after about 5 minutes. As we know, goals change games. Sadly Ayling didn't score so the play continued unchanged for the next 85+ minutes. I witnessed lots of possession and a modest number of attempts on goal, but the game then settled into a routine which is becoming familiar to me. The frustration mounted and tension in the second half became almost unbearable. The best bit of the lunchtime entertainment was the tea+cake, and the chat. The football? Less so!
Now I am home, my friend has messaged me to say he had checked and he saw that Coventry had 40% possession in its game (HT at the time he messaged) but out of the 5 shots on target Coventry had 3 goals. QPR also had 40% possession but scored 6 goals. He pointed out that no other team had anywhere near Boro's 71% possession today.
Possession (together with its illegitimate offspring, passes made) - the stat that smirks at you then spits in your face.
I KNOW Boro still stands second in the league table. But I also know that there is a limit beyond which the Gods of Football will no longer humour the line of the loyalists who maintain it will "all come good in the end". Boro's away support may be excellent and the home support good at least for The Championship. Boro's defence may be good. Boro's midfield may be good. But if our attacking players need so many more chances than everyone else in order to score, we can hardly pretend THAT is anything approaching good, can we?
Imagine life in the Premier League (if we were so lucky). Let's assume for the moment that the teams in the Premier League are better in almost all positions than teams in The Championship. It is hardly a work of great deduction to assume Boro will struggle to achieve 71% possession against Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and the like (well, also like Brighton, the football giant that is Brentford, Sunderland etc). In fact let's assume THOSE teams have 71% possession against Boro, does it look even remotely likely (1) that Boro would ever keep a clean sheet and (2) how many goals would Boro be likely to score from 25% possession in the Premier League if these days it seems as though a solitary goal proves beyond Boro against the lesser Championship defences on almost 3 times that possession?
We dust ourselves down. We rest. We go again after a short break. I must say that the break, which would not normally be greeted with pleasure, will now be grabbed like a long-lost lover. It has come to this...
The way Boro play then all teams whether at the top or bottom of the League will fancy their chances of at least drawing . It’s so obvious that all you have to do is get 11 behind the ball when Boro have the ball in the opponent’s half and let them have loads of possession.
And then wait and be patient for a corner, or free kick outside the area, or a mistake by a Boro defender or a bit of luck with a deflected shot. Or, if you fancy being a bit braver then “ give it a go “ towards the end of the game.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Ipswich and Millwall basically adopt this tactic when they play Boro.
Regarding Boro goal scoring chances they are mostly half chances as the penalty area is so congested that there’s little time to compose yourself. This is where the natural goal scorer earns his money with his knack of being in the right place at the right time and having the talent to snatch a goal. Boro just do not have that kind of player.
And now the good news - no game for a couple of weeks and so less stress for Boro supporters.
Time for a decent glass of wine - or two
Philip of Huddersfield
still -👎👎☹️☹️
In case anyone thinks I’m being over negative then I’ve thought of a positive - could Malanda one day be a midfielder. His passing and control of the ball today was very good.
Frustrating doesn’t cover the half of it. Our amazing support got behind the lads for the first 25 minutes or so, but even by that stage we had quietened as it became obvious Boro were once again struggling to score.
In the second half, our frustrations boiled over as Boro yet again missed an opportunity to shoot when reasonably well-placed, McGree (on this occasion) feeling the wrath of Boro fans. It wasn’t just him - we were guilty of it all afternoon, as had been the case so often in our recent home games.
What was most frustrating was the constant recycling of the ball backwards and sideways. Obviously, we were trying to find a way through the packed Rovers defence, trying to pick the lock, but failing to do so on so many occasions. This made it all the more infuriating when we didn’t take our chances to shoot.
The following pack are closing in. It’s getting edgy. We really can’t afford too many more missed opportunities to pick up maximum points or it’s the playoffs for us.
@philip-of-huddersfield Ipswich and Millwall need to win against us though. A draw won’t be enough for them, so to a certain extent they’ll have to come out from attack. That will suit us better.
Let’s not give up yet.
It’s a small thing, and admittedly ninety seconds’ worth of highlights are very, very little to go on, but in the first half alone it did look like we were getting at them with the directness and urgency we want to see. It appeared we were carving through the opposition early on, and commentators did say it felt like only a matter of time before we made a breakthrough. My friend has also told me that Blackburn didn’t “sit in” at all.
The problem, then? To these eyes, we are simply trying too hard in the final quarter. Too much is at stake and therefore nerves are impairing our judgement, calmness and incisiveness. We haven’t had as good an opportunity as this for a decade - so of course the pressure has been escalated. I am very grateful now for the breathing space of the break.
For anybody that is interested. Form tables for the last 6 & 10 matches.
https://thefishy.co.uk/formtable.php?table=2&tab=tab-last10
@simonfallaha I would argue that Boro for the first 70+ minutes were slow and ponderous and that Blackburn had all the time in the world to line up defensively with most players behind the ball.
Generally they waited for us to lose the ball and then hit on the break. A better team may have scored.
Very informative information.
Southampton are the form team which is a good time to be doing so well. Easily keep in the top 6.
Norwich scored 9 and conceded 2 goals compared to Boro scored 9 but conceded 4 goals yet Norwich have gathered 6 more points. The season may end too soon for Norwich to make the top 6.
Boro have to many draws.
philip of Huddersfield
So yet another disappointing result and some how promotion is still in our hands. The Millwall fixture is now ,I believe, a must win as it will put us 5 points ahead of the Lions. Millwall then have to play an inform Norwich on Easter Monday. Ipswich have to go to Norwich and Southampton before the end of the season. Quote from Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna
" We were not ruthless enough in attack in the 1-1 draw with fellow promotion chasers Millwall.
"We should win from where we had it," McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk. "The performance in the first half was really, really good and we gave them so many problems and dominated the game."
Sounds familiar.
Excellent post, Si. Luckily the others are as nervous as we are.It’s a small thing, and admittedly ninety seconds’ worth of highlights are very, very little to go on, but in the first half alone it did look like we were getting at them with the directness and urgency we want to see. It appeared we were carving through the opposition early on, and commentators did say it felt like only a matter of time before we made a breakthrough. My friend has also told me that Blackburn didn’t “sit in” at all.
The problem, then? To these eyes, we are simply trying too hard in the final quarter. Too much is at stake and therefore nerves are impairing our judgement, calmness and incisiveness. We haven’t had as good an opportunity as this for a decade - so of course the pressure has been escalated. I am very grateful now for the breathing space of the break.
We are in a good place, as MV said above. The others have more difficult matches to navigate through. Up the Boro!
@simonfallaha. “Too much is at stake and therefore nerves are impairing our judgement, calmness and incisiveness.”
Simon I could buy into that if this was just happening but it isn’t, it has occurred throughout the season.
We even had a spell under RE when he said that decision making and execution needed to be better; alas it is still happening at the wrong end of the season. 😎
I like the idea of context - the dropped points are naturally frustrating, but remember both where we are and our achievements throughout the season on the whole.
We here that KH is very much a stats man so perhaps he should looks at this piece and share with the team:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cx2ekj37y1wo 😎
Loved that one.AV’s post on Bluesky seems prescient:
We are still second. I repeat, we are still second with seven matches to go.
Of course the matches at home to Millwall and away at Ipswich are huge. But we are here on merit and already looking forward to these games. Next Millwall.
Up the Boro!
@jarkko Of course the matches at home to Millwall and away at Ipswich are huge. But we are here on merit and already looking forward to these games.
Two very difficult games against two games in rather better form than we are.
What is so disappointing and more frustrating is, even taking into account those teams around us dropping points, given the teams we have recently played, as werder said I believe, we should have had sufficient cushion to lose both those games and still be second.
If we do not go up this year, next season could be one of the hardest to escape from for years, even more so for MFC, given we will lose HH and possibly another one or two of our best players.
More than happy to highlight some positive historic parallels.
1998
Two league wins in seven, including four defeats, a Cup final and the integration of Paul Gascoigne seemed to have played their part in leaving a Boro side who were once three points clear at the top four points behind second placed Sunderland and out of the automatic promotion race. Sunderland, like Ipswich this season, took time to get going but looked very strong once they did. So it looked grim.
Salvation was at hand. Days later, Sunderland surrendered a two-goal lead at home to QPR and conceded a late equaliser at West Brom after coming from 2-0 down to lead 3-2, while Boro defeated Bury 4-0 and Reading 1-0. Scrappy but brave Friday night victories at home to Man City and away to Port Vale followed, while Sunderland got back to winning ways, but their 2-0 defeat at Ipswich handed automatic promotion right back to us. A draw at home to Wolves, 1-1, and a final day victory over Oxford, 4-1, took care of it.
2016
We remember this one. David Nugent's late winner reignited a promotion push for a sluggish Boro in the aftermath of the Charlton fiasco and kicked off a run of six straight wins, featuring a 3-2 win at QPR, a 1-0 win at home to Preston, a 3-0 win at home to Huddersfield, a 2-1 win at home to Reading and that 2-1 win at Bolton, with famous late, late goals from Adam Forshaw and Jordan Rhodes playing their part. We still had to play rivals Burnley and Brighton in the final four games, but fortunately, draws - along with draws against Ipswich and Birmingham - were enough. Sure, it wasn't easy, but what is with Boro?
In both 1998 and 2016 it came down to a final set of games - in 1998, the final six, and in 2016, the final ten - and on this occasion, it's the final seven. And we are arguably better placed than we were back then.