I think we’re missing Ayling bringing the ball out of defence, but frankly we don’t look like scoring at the moment.
A goal early in the second half is essential if heads aren’t going to go down.
My glass is almost empty…
Dear oh dear, a poor performance from Boro, with a number of players below par. Whilst Fry offers possibly more defensively, especially against bigger forwards, we lose out immensely from Ayling’s ability to carry the ball forward and he can pass the ball more than the 10 yards.
Brittain has not been in the game at all, with not much more down the left, so all the play funnels into the middle, and we know what happens then.
I have expected more from Hellberg and his team, but it appears they do not have any answers, so it just rinse and spin.
We need changes at HT, something different. If Silvera has the legs, then let’s try him. Sarmiento has done nothing once more.
Neil Maddison on bbc : "It's far too slow, there's no runner in behind or down the sides, everything is in front of Portsmouth. It's so flat, it's like watching a training game, the afternoon is passing us by"
Just what I was worried about.
I would lukexto see young Cruz Ibeh given a chance.
I think we’re missing Ayling bringing the ball out of defence, but frankly we don’t look like scoring at the moment.
Ayling & Hansen on for Targett & Sarmiento at the start of the second half.
@k-p-in-spain mine has a hole in the bottom
Well we asked for changes from Hellberg, but not what I expected or maybe I did.
Why no Silvera, Hansen hasn’t done enough nor has Sene. Also as some have asked on here, why put Ibeh on the bench and not use him when all the other players have failed. And Brittain at left back again
Hellberg has to take some of the blame for this absolutely aweful run. .
SIX minutes of injury time for Boro to score the winner...
SIX minutes of injury time for Boro to score the winner...
And Ibeh on for Conway in the first of them.
Sucker punch in the dying seconds! 🙁 0-1. That's it!
...and just to cap it all, it is Pompey that put a hole below the waterline of Boro's floundering automatic promotion hopes
Coaching team at fault for me, at least today
ABSOLUTELY LOST FOR WORDS. A DISASTER BEFORE MY EYES
Groundhog Day replicating Carrick last season.
The excuses are looking somewhat thin right now.
Even a play off finish is no longer looking guaranteed....
A disjointed chaotic mess of a performance that looked just a desperate attempt to try anything to see if it would conjure a goal as we just ended up with random bunch of forwards lacking poise and confidence and defenders thrown forward. Inevitably Portsmouth scored a last-minute scruffy goal with one of their few attempts on target. We've seen it many times in recent months at the Riverside and this time it's surely the final nail in the automatic promotion coffin unless there's some dramatic collapse by Ipswich and an even more dramatic return to form of Hellberg's shadow of the team that went top 11 games ago.
@pedro. But hardly surprising, I unfortunately called it at half time.
We are playing more like a relegation side than one looking for promotion; that is probably unfair on Portsmouth who at least battled for ninety+ minutes and hardly looked in trouble for most of the game.
We are doing the same thing week in and week out which is no longer working but still expecting a different outcome. 😎
Boro now second-bottom of the form table, only ahead of Sheff Wed on goal difference - says it all really!
@werdermouth That’s a far better post and words that I could even try to put together.
The players have to take some blame, but a lot of it now has to fall on Hellberg who has run out of ideas just like Carrick did.
You could tell the pressure is immense now, from his swearing answer this when asked about winning this game today.
We may as well start planning for next season in the Championship. One thing that is apparent though, nothing from our Mr Kieran Scott, basking in the limelight of a month ago.
Mentally weak team implodes, we have thrown away our best chance for promotion in years
@powmillnaemore I will double raise your FFS because that is exactly what I said when I looked at the BBC.
I have no words to express my frustration.
Another game that Boro completely dominated but it wasn’t a good performance this time. Quite a world away from the intense domination of Millwall but still ended up in the same result.
Portsmouth score at the death from their only shot on target, which even then had to take a big deflection to be an issue.
A real lack of tempo and intensity today. I don’t really know what Strelec does to be honest and while Conway has the endearing quality of trying hard, he’s just a poor man’s Duncan Watmore really.
McGree, one of the division’s most naturally creative players, has almost nothing to offer with the lack of quality and coherence in front of him, and obviously the missing Hackney behind.
I can’t blame Hellberg - we saw what the alternatives had to offer today and it wasn’t much really.
Pre-season most of us thought this squad was midtable. It’s found its form now.
Boro now second-bottom of the form table, only ahead of Sheff Wed on goal difference - says it all really!
Indeed it does and whilst I knew our form was bad, I hadn’t seen quite how bad it has been. Hardly what you want to see in the closing stages of the season, especially when things had been looking so good earlier on.
Where do we go from here? Is it down to the play offs I fear …….to paraphrase Nick Heywood. Although unless the coaching team and the players can pull a rabbit out of the hat I am struggling to see even that happening.
Anyway a bottle of Malbec beckons tonight to dull the pain!
If we were disappointed last Sunday, then heaven alone knows how we’re going to get through this week on the Forum. What’s the betting that we now beat Ipswich when it’s probably too late?
Meanwhile, I’ll try and get a refund on all those foam hands.
@andy-r I am sorry to have disagree for once. We did't see what thw alternatives were. Munroe and Ibeh left on the bench and unless it was for Conway having taken a knock it was ridiculous to bring Ibeh on in the 92nd minute.
Sure we can blame the players, but unless they are choosing, en masse, to disregard the coaching instruction of how to play the game, then KH and team need to put their hands up and acknowledge the glaringly obvious problem of only ever coming inside.
The HH money will need to be spent ever so wisely this summer and KH will need to make sure we are not just a one trick pony next year.
@pedro I do think that the recruitment team have to take a considerable amount of the flak for the position that we find ourselves in.
That said, they will be working within the budget constraints that they are given and as I have said before, I suspect that they are quite tight and potentially restrictive. The comments in the accounts submitted read to me that the club is trying to balance the books with SG limiting, as much as possible, how much he puts in, as, in their words “strive to achieve promotion”
Not a criticism of SG and I am sure as a fan he would want promotion although as the owner, financially I am not sure he does since it would mean significant funds with no guarantees.
My glass is probably a quarter full at the moment but won’t give up hope until the fat lady has finished her aria!
@martin-bellamy. “What’s the betting that we now beat Ipswich when it’s probably too late?”
To do that we need to score and keep the ball out of our net. All tall order the way the team are currently playing; I think I will keep my money in my pocket. 😎
That was grim. Poor performance even if a few chances were spurned. The final nail of an injury time goal conceded was hardly a surprise. The team might (only MIGHT) still qualify for the Play-Offs and obviously anything is possible...
But the reality is that Boro's current form is so poor that the team would be the biggest of outsiders in betting terms, to win the Play-Offs. I doubt the players would believe they could win. I wonder if they expect even to qualify for the Final.
Is there any way we can play all the play off games away from home?