Donny are comfortably at least three goals better than us....and while I am writing they confirm that with a well deserved fourth. Well done Doncaster Rovers. I have nothing to say about Boro tonight, except, why did he start Glover tonight.
A new low.
I should care more about the fact that we’ve conceded four goals tonight but what bothers me most is that in ninety minutes, at home, to the reserves of a League One side, Boro created a solitary clear cut chance.
In fact, in 180 minutes of competitive football so far this season, Boro have created a solitary clear cut chance.
All those in charge at the club should reflect on that tonight.
Unaddressed, we will have gone from one of the most potent sides in our division to undoubtedly the least in just two transfer windows.
How can that happen? Poor recruitment allied to an about turn in tactics that leaves only half decent players playing to their weaknesses.
Luckily we have a Head of Football who is employed to oversee recruitment of players and managers and ensure that we are working to a coherent strategy and have continuity to smoothly manage change. Goodness knows where we’d be without that.
Utter shambles, best team won, how poor must swansea be, doesn't bode well for Saturday
From the Beeb's match round-up:
Middlesbrough fans are making their feelings very clear. This was not good enough.
Doncaster, newly promoted from League Two, made 11 changes and looked significantly better than Boro in the early stages, with deflected strikes from Ben Close and Damola Ajayi giving them a deserved 2-0 lead.
Rob Edwards' men did work keeper Ian Lawlor several times and Delano Burgzorg thumped the post, but Robbie Gotts cracked a late third and Thomas Nixon stroked the fourth.
The visitors really might have had more before the final whistle was greeted with a chorus of boos from the fans who had only remained in order to do so.
And this was a paragraph in the match preview:
Doncaster have lost 11 of their 13 away games against Middlesbrough, failing to score in any of their last eight visits. Their last goal scored there was on Christmas Day in 1956, netted by Tommy Cavanagh, however the only previous encounter in a major knockout competition saw Rovers romp to a 4-1 win at Ayresome Park in the FA Cup in 1952.
We learned tonight that our squad and the reserves are not good enough, But we knew that already.
But we also learned that many of the first XI also aren’t good enough, which is even more disturbing.
Forgive me because the game passed me by. Rather like the Boro players, it would appear. Too grim to comment on at length but if I were the manager I'd be concerned. Plenty of first XI names in that team & reserves. Good job they were playing lowly Doncaster! Hate to think what a good team might have done to Boro.
I am DELIGHTED I didn't pay to watch that.
This was Donsaster’s second team against a Boro team with fewer changes and a demoralising score of 0-4.
So what can we say ? Useless, appalling , rubbish, embarrassing , etc etc.
It’s only 2 games into the season and I’m thinking where do we go from here. This is not good. The team desperately need some new signings to raise standards and morale etc.
Edwards is clearly under pressure and we’ve only played 2 games.
philip of Huddersfield 👎👎☹️☹️
John, where in West Norfolk do you live? I’m in West Norfolk too and so it is possible that I live quite close to you.
Not much to say about tonight’s shambles except that it was extremely embarrassing. If that was the best the players selected could do then it is going to be a long depressing season.
I don't believe in gambling, haven't had a flutter for years, but I have rarely seen a more tempting offer than the spread betting companies thinking Boro will get 65 points this season, pretty much the same as we did in the last campaign. Selling that looks less like a bet to me than a solid investment.
I was going to read through the posts on here. But after the first three (?) I have given up. If the players can't be bothered, why should I?
Best wishes, John Richardson.
I will sleep on it.
I’d like to apologise for thinking the negativity on here was too early. I really didn’t see many positives tonight and it looks like RE has got a mountain to climb with no equipment to help him.
Tonight’s game didn’t do anything to lift my post-holiday blues.
@andy-r A very truthful post Andy and one that should give some real concern.
I know I may go on a bit at times, like a stuck record, however I have said since before Edwards’ appointment.
How can a club go from one extreme to the other and expect everything to be hunky dory.
It is beyond belief that Gibson and his cohorts could come up with what is obviously an undeniable mistake, that everybody on this blog knew will probably be very difficult to rectify. Edwards is on a hiding to nothing and will ultimately carry the can if failure comes to pass.
The team tonight was a complete shambles. Toothless, ponderous and clueless as to the chosen syetem of play. At the end, with more of the “first teamers” on the pitch than started, we looked just like a Carrick team, trying to pass, pass and pass again to get the ball into the net.
I know it is only two games, and some will say, we are better out of it, given the squad depth, but unless Edwards and his assistants can come up with some kind of miracle, it is going to be a long difficult season.
Well that was a shambles in lots of ways. I lost the feed at half time and having watched the first half decided enough was enough. So Donny made 11 changes and none of their players looked like youth team players. If we made 11 changes half the side would have been Under 21's. They looked slicker and better, the ball seemed to be passed with much greater pace than we did. When we passed the ball it looked like the grass was longer than when they did. Maybe we should ask the EFL if we can always be drawn away as we can't win a tie at home.
@boroexile We live in Upwell.
On to last night's feast of football... I'm tempted to shout "Nurse' and press my alarm buzzer but that wouldn't help. In fact nothing would help that shambles, not even a horse tablet.
My only potential source of excitement today is to see how Teesside Live turn that into a planned and cohesive victory for planning, tactics and organisation. Or simply a turning point. Thank goodness we have a Director of Football, to direct us?
Ah well, the old Boro are back, but not to basics.
ATB everyone.
UTB,
John
Ditto. I hope it will be better on Saturday. Up the Boro!I’d like to apologise for thinking the negativity on here was too early. I really didn’t see many positives tonight and it looks like RE has got a mountain to climb with no equipment to help him.
Tonight’s game didn’t do anything to lift my post-holiday blues.
Middlesbrough have reached a verbal agreement with NEC Nijmegen for Sondje Hansen for a fee of around €4.5m
OFB
@original-fat-bob. Not how he fits into our new system as a right footed winger.
Hopefully he will be better than we have.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sontje_Hansen
@pedro - Thanks for the link and the info on Sondje Hansen, Pedro.
Don't know very much about Hansen, but I'm re-assured that, as with Morris and VdB, Chris Jones seems to have been the moving spirit behind this signing.
I see also that the Gazette's take on last night's debacle is that Doncaster (Reserves) were "flattered" by the scoreline.
Don't know very much about Hansen, but I'm re-assured that, as with Morris and VdB, Chris Jones seems to have been the moving spirit behind this signing.
I see also that the Gazette's take on last night's debacle is that Doncaster (Reserves) were "flattered" by the scoreline.
More like Middlesbrough were flattered by the scoreline, or maybe it should that have said Middlesbrough were flattened by the scoreline...
Not surprisingly really, the local journos in South Yorkshire saw things a little differently to the Gazette (sorry, Teesside Live) crew. From the Doncaster Free Press:
Perhaps more impressive than the result was the manner of the performance, especially given thatGrant McCannopted to change his entire starting XI from the weekend league win over Mansfield. For most League One sides travelling away to a second tier team, that decision might have seemed dicey but McCann believes he has built a squad that has quality laced throughout and they certainly showed that here."
@lenmasterman mind you, to be fair to Craig Johns in three separate articles he stated:
- in one, that Middlesbrough "...were second-best all over the park and while they did have a few chances of their own, they were ultimately bullied and beaten far too easily by the League One outfit";
- and in a second article that "Doncaster were good value for their win against a poor Boro team" ;
- and in a third that "Boro couldn’t match the fight of their opponents and were resoundingly beaten after a really poor performance."
It was also refreshing to see and hear RE unable to hide his disappointment with the players and also, good on him for insisting they went to acknowledge the supporters after the game.
@powmillnaemore I feel sorry for Edwards already to be honest. He's clearly a genuine bloke but he's taken on a squad that is both well short of quality and depth AND not suited to his way of playing.
This could take some working out.
They obviously do not go to Specsavers, if it had been five there could been no complaints. Flattered? That is reporting that beggars belief.
At least Mr Edwards was honest about it and faced up to the fans, he made the team do it too. Good for him. Why did Boro sell Coburn? Baffles me. Where's a Test match when you need one?!
All the horse pills have gone!
ATB everyone.
UTB,
John
Well I missed the whole sorry episode yesterday evening as my laptop has been behaving strangely and like Boro in the Carabao Cup was looking like it was on its way out.
Hard to make sense of how a relatively strong Boro side were thrashed at home by a Doncaster reserve XI - especially since I didn't even write the preview! Incidentally, I wrote the preview last season where Boro were dumped out of the Carabao after losing 5-0 at home to Stoke so maybe we can take one small positive in that it was an improvement 🤔
I haven't read all the post-match comments yet as we've just got back from the beach to escape the 32 degrees heat - whether Edwards can escape the heat if his team put in another performance like that is another matter - though perhaps the blame for that should belong to those at the club who believe he can get more out of less with players not fit for purpose.
So should we consider Swansea was a blip after preseason saw Boro conceding 10 and struggling to create chances? I guess we'll find out on Saturday against Millwall whether the coaching team can pick up the pieces.
btw On a positive note, after several hours running various troubleshooter processes, following many online suggestions and getting nowhere in trying to work out why my laptop kept randomly shutting down programs after 10 seconds and constantly popping up a dialogue box telling me to shut down - I decided it could probably be something related to the keyboard so I ordered a new one from ebay as a last resort.
Anyway, as I started to remove the old one I noticed a small crumb stuck between two contacts of the ribbon cable that attaches it to the motherboard. After a quick hoover of the contacts I put the keyboard back in and hey presto the laptop was once again working as normal.
Whether Boro can find some crumb of comfort before the weekend is another matter - we can only hope...
Even here, Powmill, there is a bit of varnishing. The impression given is that we were bullied and beaten in a physical battle. The unvarnished truth is that we were outclassed in every department by a scratch Div One reserve side made up entirely of loanees and free agents.@lenmasterman mind you, to be fair to Craig Johns in three separate articles he stated:
- in one, that Middlesbrough "...were second-best all over the park and while they did have a few chances of their own, they were ultimately bullied and beaten far too easily by the League One outfit";
- and in a second article that "Doncaster were good value for their win against a poor Boro team" ;
- and in a third that "Boro couldn’t match the fight of their opponents and were resoundingly beaten after a really poor performance"
@eboroacum - My son surprised me yesterday, whilst I was watching Yorkshire on the live stream in a great win over Lancs in the 50 overs cup at York CC. He told me he'd bought tickets for us both to see the Yorks v Somerset at Clifton Park, also in the 50 overs "Metro Bank One Day Cup" tomorrow. It will be as near as dammit to my 71st BD so it is a present. Anyway, I'll be off to York all day tomorrow. For once I will not be going into the city centre but I have obviously visited York many times in the past, since it is relatively close. One of my very favourite places to visit. But tomorrow it will all be about the cricket!
Well at least you’ll have some enjoyment his week and the pleasure of being with your lad.
Happy 71st birthday 🎂🤔
OFB