I guess that answers the Coburn question………
18 blocked shots, the TV said! There are always two teams playing and you have to say Millwall defended superbly … well, like Lions. But how we didn’t take something from this game is beyond me. Oh for a prolific striker.
I’ve got the next starter ready, but let’s get this game out of our system first.
About to watch Saints vs Wigan on Sky - a loss for the Warriors won’t help my mood. Enjoy the rest of your Easter weekend.
Our home form in the last 5 games now reads D3 lost L2. For 3 goals. Shots for - hundreds. Touches in the opposition box - more hundreds. Chances created - too many to count. When we end up in the playoffs (IF???), I think we’ll be able to pinpoint with a degree of certainty the particular phase of the season where our automatic challenge withered and died.
Team that doesn’t have a number 9 in the squad fails to take chances again.
Determined defending and a clinical edge from Millwall. Fair play.
Good intensity in the first half from Boro but it couldn’t be maintained. Decent approach play throughout but no out and out striker and therefore no real edge. Nervousness between the sticks at times too.
Oh well. Win the next six it is then.
@clive-hurren Coburn only had Two shots apparently and claimed two goals, although the replay shows it was an own goal by Brynn.
I would not criticise Boro for not scoring more in the first half, as you said Millwall defended very well.
But, we have to accept that the team and squad are flawed. Hellbergball is Carrickball with minor adaptations and one could argue better defenders.
However KH plays high risk football and it has been shown to be vulnerable. Also you cannot have home form like ours and expect to win promotion.
You will always lose against someone like Millwall, better on the day, but those home game points losses are why we will not get promoted now.
Whilst, some will point to our injuries, the bench offered nothing offensively, a massive failure on our recruitment.
And can someone please explain, why Hellberg only brought Sarmiento on with two minutes + injury time to go. He is another KH has made excuses for, but does not obviously think he offers enough. And to think his loan will become a permanent buy next season.
You really could not make it up.
Speechless, form falls off cliff again
Out of top 2 for first time since new years day, I suppose it has been coming, if you can't score you don't go up
Lets look on the brightside. I can't see Ipswich getting any points today 🙄
There was a shot of Kim laughing, when we were 2-1 down. Wonder what Graeme Souness who was sat in the stand, would think of that had he seen it.
Regarding recruitment, once again Kieran Scott has to some of the blame for some of his signings.
It gets worse. We had an XG of 3.12, 32 shots (only 5 on target) and 17 corners. They’re impressive statistics against a side as good as Millwall, especially without Hackney, Whittaker and Castledine, and had this been an isolated defeat you might say we did everything we could to win this game. As we’ve said, Millwall defended extremely well. The stats don’t lie. We definitely did enough to win this one, clearly, but we also did enough against Oxford, Leicester, Charlton, Bristol City and Blackburn to have won all those games handsomely.
We must return to winning ways against Swansea and Portsmouth. You might say that producing stats of this level against those sides should surely be enough to win the games. But can any of us say with confidence that we’ll actually take enough of the many chances we will create to do so?
What concerns me the most, is that assuming we do not achieve promotion now through the playoffs, highly unlikely given that the wheels really have come off, then next season could really be difficult.
Where would one start after losing Hackney, for decent money probably, but maybe not the 20million that Ipswich offered with only 12 months left on his contract.
Assuming we keep the remaining first team players, how can we buy better when we would first need to get rid of the recent failures?
Strelec, Hansen, Sene, Hamilton, and would you count in Whittaker. Then there will be Burgzorg, Borges and our new signing Sarmiento, if the Gazette is correct.
Would you trust Scott and his Recruitment Team with any money after buying that lot above.
I really admire Mr Gibson for keeping going when getting nothing much back on his investment, unless the playoffs suffice.
The volume of attacking opportunities that we are frittering away is beyond parody. Something seems to have got into the heads of all the team, not just the forwards, that the next attack might be the last chance that they'll ever get. It's affecting them in a way that's causing them to make so many wrong decisions and snatch at every striking opportunity.
I’ve got the next starter ready, but let’s get this game out of our system first.
About to watch Saints vs Wigan on Sky - a loss for the Warriors won’t help my mood. Enjoy the rest of your Easter weekend.
Unbelievably, Warriors have given us a decent lead to lose to Saints. Can my day get any worse?
I think it would take an absolute disaster for us not to make the play offs although our recent form does not exactly fill me confidence.
To answer the question posed by KP as to whether I fancy our chances in the play offs, my rational side says no based on our continued inability to score goals despite having most of the possession and as Andy highlighted, umpteen touches in the boxes. Whoever the opposition is, they will know what to do to negate our efforts as Millwall demonstrated today and we do not possess a out and out goal scorer.
But football is a funny old game and stranger things have happened and my foam handed side says of course we can get to Wembley, have a great day out and come away victorious after playing out of our skins with a 3 0 win!!
Or even in my wildest dreams obtain automatic promotion with a six match unbeaten run and the other contenders imploding………….and then I wake up after too many glasses of red wine!
The comments made earlier sums it up pretty well although I don’t think any of us would have expected us to be in the position we find ourselves in, especially after the departure of RE, so in that respect we have a lot to be thankful for. Just disappointing that recent form may let us fall at the final hurdle, which I suppose is typical Boro.
I still maintain that SG is not necessarily looking for the PL as the metric for success given the financial requirement to remain even vaguely competitive. Reaching the play offs every year and a well fought out defeat at Wembley would probably represent a reasonable expectation without him having to put is hand in his pocket even more than he has done already.
We only have to look at the recent antics of the FA viz a viz Chelsea and Man City and the spending to see that they would like it to be a closed shop and that money really does talk.
As for the recruitment policy, I am of the view that this is very much based on trying to balance the books rather than a concerted effort to gain promotion and that Scott and the team have to work within this. Hence, given the mad prices and salary requests of players, we haven’t been able to obtain the services an out and out proven and reliable striker.
Sorry to be a bit pessimistic, it is just that I am a bit deflated after today (would have accepted a draw) although I will be hoping for an Easter miracle on Monday with a resurrection of form and for results to go in our favour!
UTB and Erimus!
Yes the pressure is relentless but I wonder whether today’s defeat may have just reduced it a little bit as the intense pressure of battling to stay in the top two has been eased. Maybe that could reduce the tension and anxiety of the players when they get a sight of goal and improve the rate of conversion of the many chances created.
@pedro. Don’t forget Barlaser, who like Burgzorg, are, I believe, out of contract at the end of the season.😎
@boroexile. The pressure is still on, Wrexham in sixth place are only seven points adrift and whilst unlikely, we could still fail to make the play offs if our inability to win games continue; a defeat on Monday could really set the nerves of everyone even more on edge. 😎
GOODNIGHT VIENNA
Today’s performance confirmed Boro will not finish 2nd in the League.
Overall over 90 minutes Millwall deserved to win .
We learnt nothing new from Boro. Usual stuff with a decent first half - but lacked a killer punch, with a proper striker the game could have been over by half time.
The second half was a complete change with Millwall gaining control and the longer the game went on the more dangerous they were and looked the likely winners.
So that’s 3 draws and 2 defeats in the last 5 home games. It was also reported that against the bottom 10 teams Boro have gained significantly less points than other top teams.
No point adding more comments- most of us would be repeating much of previous comments.
As always, I feel more sorry for the Boro supporters and the Chairman - more so than the players .
Philip of Huddersfield 👎👎👎☹️☹️☹️
Are we going to let a great season of football, at a level none of us expected, be ignored because we’ve lost a game?
Well I’m not and until the large lady clears her throat to sing, I’ll still believe that promotion can be achieved. If you think this season is a disappointment, though, imagine what trying to compete in the EPL will look like.
No doubt fans will expect us to compete and win games against clubs who are in a different financial league. This may well be our best chance to go up for many years but be careful what you wish for.
I’d like to make a plea for a little less negativity and a bit more realism. Today has been a horrible sporting day, but there are plenty of people in the world who’d swap with us in a heartbeat.
Agree that it’s been a great season although it is not just the loss today though. Our recent home form really hasn’t been good enough, especially against teams that we should have beaten along with our inability to consistently score goals.
The finances of the game have changed significantly since we were last in the EPL for more than a season and I really think we would struggle to compete.
It might be sacrilegious to say it but I would prefer a season like this one with a play off final defeat rather than being in the EPL and seeing us have a relegation battle.
Anyway, it is only football and as you rightly say, there are plenty of people with a lot more to worry about.
@martin-bellamy absolutelty right Martin. Like I said previously. Let us save the disappointment for when it is truly time to be disappointed. Sure we can feel let down or frustrated after today's and other recent results, but let us still keep some perspective. There are six games left to play and we are still in the mix to finish second. Let us celebrate the season as a whole and not do the typical Boro fan thing and deny the truth that there is still plenty to hope for. We will begin to convert these chances again. I am sure of it.
@martin-bellamy I totally agree with you, yes I am disappointed with the defeat, especially after taking the lead, there are 6 matches to go and I firmly believe there will be twists and turns over the next 4 weeks, we are only 1 point from automatic so anything can happen over our next 6 matches, Ipswich have 8 🤔. One win (hopefully on Monday) can set the ball rolling again.
Come on BORO.
It’s really hard to know what to think. I watched the game with my youngest son who hasn’t seen Boro play all season, simply watching results.
At halftime he turned to me and said “Do they always play this well? They were brilliant but just couldn’t score the goals that their play deserves. I really enjoyed watching them.” Even at the end, we couldn’t quite believe that they hadn’t equalised.
it’s been a great season and I’m really enjoying the way they play but the inability to convert the chances is soul-sapping. I’m consoling myself by looking at the other results and noting how almost nobody is able the win the games that they should. At this point, one would back Coventry and Millwall to go up because they do what they have to, and then Ipswich, Boro and Southampton for the play-offs. That could all change if Millwall finally lose but I’m not sure that’s going to happen.
What a division.
Martin and others
CAN BORO DO IT ? WILL THEY DO IT ?
Of course Boro can still finish second and get automatic promotion. They could win all 6 games .
But equally Millwall can win all of their 6 games - they have currently won something like 7 out of the last 10.
Equally, Ipswich can win all their 8 games ( means Boro can only win 5) and they are also on a good run.
If the above were to happen Boro would not get promoted. Arithmetically it is now out of their hands.
The point I would make is that Boro are not on a good run - they are on a bad run of results. So the probability of Boro finishing second is now lower compared to Millwall and Ipswich. And so based on current form etc, in my opinion, I just can’t see them doing it.
I hope I’m wrong. I believe I’m being realistic. It’s not unusual for some teams at all levels to look certainties for promotion only to fail in the closing straight.
If this happens I will be happy that Boro have had a good season irrespective of what happens in the playoffs . I’m expecting Boro to make the playoffs.
Philip of Huddersfield
👎👎👎
Cov City now 11 points clear at the top of the table after beating Derby by 3-2 at home, two of the goals scored by Jack Rudoni, who went on as a sub in the 63rd minute. Oh for someone like him in Boro's squad...
@boro-beckys-dad I would rather lose in the double header games than go to Wembley and lose.
MFC reporting that they have had 11500 early bird renewals, up on last season at the same timeframe. A week to go.
We ended the last early birds with 17000 ST’s. After yesterday how of those 6500 will be renewing now?
@philip-of-huddersfield. That’s how I see it Philip, we are not in good form and are now playing catch up due to missed opportunities to solidify our position in the top two places through poor decision making/execution.
By the time we play on Monday we may be further adrift and slipping down the table; whilst I agree that all is still possible I wouldn’t bet that we will suddenly come good in the last six games. 😎