@martin-bellamy I am eating my own words now, as I write this, as this is surely now the time to be disappointed...
... well if we do get into the playoffs we may well play the 2nd leg away...so who knows?Is there any way we can play all the play off games away from home?
Oh dear. That was hard to take.
How can we have 20 shots and the oposition only one and we lose? And this is not the first time.
It was a goal one would expect Portsmouth to concide - not a top team. How can we be so unlucky and for so many matches.
At least we have the playoffs to look forward to. Up the Boro!
Information I heard a couple of days ago is that Boro had agreed a package to bring Paddy Bamford back to Boro (so I guess that was planned before he signed for Sheffield United during the moJanuary window) and to sign a Scandinavian young striker (not named) and all for less than £3.5M. However a certain senior executive vetoed the move on the basis they were "not better than we already have". We will see how that pans out, particularly as it has appeared for some weeks that the team up front fires only blanks.
I realise Bamford is past his best. But he still managed to score against a Boro team that was playing well at the time, and to cause us a few problems in defence in addition to his goal. And the reality is that he would only have needed to score 2-3 goals in some of the goal-less games to put Boro 4-6 points better off than at present. Wouldn't we all like to see 4-6 points extra? And in winning those extra games confidence generally would inevitably have increased for the other games. What is the prize we could have won? £110M the first year plus parachute payments later?
Being a corporate administrator/executive doesn't necessarily result in better FOOTBALLING decisions being made.
Let's hope Ibeh gets more than a couple of minutes injury time, next time. Nobody can know how good he is unless he is given a chance.
NB. I am giving no clues as to the identity of the executive in question.
A dire performance today which now almost certainly puts the automatic places out of Boro’s reach. At least KH agreed that it was a very poor performance in his post-match interview on the Boro website but then he couldn’t really say much else. What really surprised me was the lack of intensity in the team today. They were in theory playing for the biggest prize of a place in the Premier League but you would never have guessed. The only reason I can think of is that confidence in the players is so low after the dreadful recent run that they struggled to bring the energy and intensity that was needed to the game today. Well they need to find it again pretty quickly because they need to win a few of the remaining games to be able to enter the playoffs with enough confidence to compete.
UTTER SHAMBLES
Neither the Coach nor the players are capable of putting things right. Same old problems.
They should be embarrassed at getting paid for the last dozen or so games which is the second worst of all the teams. The results in this period has been relegation form.
I wouldn’t put good money on even making the playoffs. If they do then I can’t see them winning the 3 games. I wouldn’t even back them to win 3 games in a relegation play off. At the moment any team are capable of beating Boro - or, to put it another way, I can’t see Boro beating any team in the Championship based on current form.
If this shambles continues to the end of the season then the role of the coach must be under severe scrutiny- the book stops with him.
philip of Huddersfield 👎👎👎👎
@andy-r In fact as werder said, the form is even worse than midtable. It is so hard to believe that we have gone from nearly a foot in the EPL, with just a modicum of form required, to a complete collapse into relagation mode.
The (offensive) recruitment has been absolutely disastrous these last four windows, not helped, I appreciate, by injuries and although there is some sympathy for Hellberg and his assistants, he has to shoulder quite a bit of the blame as well.
All teams hit sticky patches and it is up to the Head Coach to find a way back. I don’t think KH knows what to do other than look at the stats and say, we are doing everything correctly.
We now probably need Wrexham to drop points to guarantee not having to win there on the last day.
A month ago this scenario would have been unthinkable, not a reality.
As Basil Fawlty said "It might be a dream" (Bangs head on desk ) " No, it's real, we just have to get on with it. "
Love your positivity Jarkko.
UTB
Love your positivity Jarkko.
UTB
I too find that cautious optimism helps keep me sane. At the moment, I am contemplating a finish in fifth or sixth, a 0-0 draw at home and a surprising away win that will see us into the play-off final. Anything beyond that is still over the horizon of my personal landscape.
More difficult is to know what to write for the intro to the Sheffield Wednesday game. I'm not drawn to history given that we are so near to the end of the current season and looking around I really don't see a compelling theme that isn't a repeat of everything that has been written on here over recent weeks. Given that we have the Ipswich game to get through first, and then a couple of days to sort ourselves out, it could just be the shortest that I've ever written.
Just as a quick thought about the Portsmouth game, did anyone else think that the Portsmouth manager set them up in a clever alternative to the low block by sending two, three or even four players to cautiously move forward and intercept us in our own half. This didn't leave room for a counter-attacking style but still penned us back and we struggled to build any momentum. For me, it demonstrated perfectly the importance of HH who is a midfield player who can carry the ball through the opposing midfield and turn them round. Question to the panel; does he play again before the play-offs even if fit or do we get him ready to go off at full power.....or keep him available for sale?
Ah well....onwards and upwards.
UTB
Couldn't believe the result when waking this morning. Remember Pompey did win at Millwall earlier this season so have picked up some decent results, but conceding that goal is a real sickener, and Chaplin is on loan from Ipswich!. This must be the longest Manager of the Month curse in history, since 13th Feb when KH won it we have won 2 games! As with others I'm not sure if we will win again this season. The play offs may also start to feel like a bridge too far as we need Wrexham to start dropping points if we are to make it.
@paulinboro I think we still have a good chance to play Coventry next season. All we need is to start converting the chances. Simple.😂
We need to find the form we had for most part of the season. Up the Boro!
"Question to the panel; does he play again before the play-offs even if fit or do we get him ready to go off at full power.....or keep him available for sale?"
For me you make sure he is fit to play in the first play-off game, but that is me assuming we will get the handful of points to guarantee we make it into the playoffs.
In the unthinkable scenario we will not even win a point against Wednesday, then he will need to be fit for the Watford game (unless, that is, Untypical Boro steals all 3 points at Portman Road).
To mis-quote the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan, when you say "The (offensive) recruitment has been absolutely disastrous these last four windows", do you mean a recruitment of itself that is repulsive, or the recruitment of attacking players that are themselves repulsive?.
Ken might have appreciated that reference and in anycase I suppose you could argue both!
I have woken this morning and re-read everyone's reactions in here for the third or fourth or sometimes even a fifth time. I am still in shock that that nightmare result was no dream. Although mathematically 2nd place is still obtainable, I don't think any sane person is now going to squander money and place a bet on it.
As it is, the playoff games may well suit us (as I think Werder intimated), because all teams will need to play sufficiently openly to win through. Also, a 5th or 6th place will not be so bad a thing, so as to ensure we play the 2nd leg away. I think we could then be genuinely optimistic of making it through to Wembley, where the width of the pitch will also suit our style of play.
She might be in the building already, but the large lady hasn't even got her costume and make-up on yet, let alone started her vocal warm-up.
So while I am disappointed our automatic promtion chances appear to have sunk without trace, I am keeping optimistic that winning promotion this year is still something that is in our hands.
@andy.
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.
Without trawling back, I think it was you that said we have a “gem” of a Coach in Hellberg. Whilst he had done well until nine games ago, he has struggled to come up with a solution to our current woes.
He is relatively young and although I am not certain, I think he is not very experienced in coaching at higher levels, even in Sweden.
Could this be an issue for him? Maybe he has never ever been in a situation like this before. He really has not tried a real alternative to his style, probably thinking “his way” will return to winning ways.
Although he does have Adi with lots of experience, is he listening to any suggestions.
Also maybe we have found our real level, but this now is relagation form and not even midtable. It is beyond belief that we can be so bad in the points gained/ lost these last nine is it.
As for the squad, its frailties and lack of depth, Millwall, Hull, Derby, even Wrexham have done OK. And Derby apart, they all may finish above us.
@powmill Forwards bought / loaned Hamilton, Whittaker, Iheanacho, Hansen, Sene, Strelec, Sarmiento, Castledine (only because he has been injured)
Have I missed anyone during the last four windows.
To mis-quote the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance ...
[/quote
Correction, it was The Major General I was mis-quoting, from his exchange with the Pirate King !
Forwards bought / loaned Hamilton, Whittaker, Iheanacho, Hansen, Sene, Strelec, Sarmiento, Castledine (only because he has been injured)
Have I missed anyone during the last four windows?
Conway, Burgzorg, Doak, Illing Junior,
Forwards bought / loaned Hamilton, Whittaker, Iheanacho, Hansen, Sene, Strelec, Sarmiento, Castledine (only because he has been injured)
Have I missed anyone during the last four windows?
Conway, Burgzorg, Doak, Illing Junior,
Should also look at the ones let go in the same period:
Hoppe, Jones, Latte Lath, iheanacho, Doak, Illing-Junior, Forss, Coburn, Azaz, Lennon, Burgzorg
On the question of HH on a potential return for the play offs (if we make them) that assumes he will be fit.
There are rumours his season is over and I believe even KH intimated they have had differing reports from consultants on his injury so this to me suggests he may be highly doubtful; even were he to make it will he be ready to start, not KH’s usual process when players return from injury and how influential will he be after a number of weeks absence? 😎
As far as KH’s performance is concerned I posted some weeks ago, when the team were having a winning run and scoring freely, that there were still question marks over his ability to deal with and overcome teams who came to play with a well organised and defensive mind set; clearly he has not yet been able to satisfy us on that point.
In part that is down to the fact that for many a season the team has comprised numerous players who have been poor in the final third of the pitch, either making bad decisions or failing to execute a pass or shot. Yesterday, TC was passing when he should be shooting and vice versa.
In addition we still have players playing out of position, JS and TC who are right footed being employed on the left.
Only time will tell if KH can adapt, recruit players more attuned to his style and address the deficiencies that have long been present, yesterday was back to the bad old days of Carrickball. 😎
Very disappointing performance yesterday and the team look lost and short of ideas. Is this their fault or the coaching staff ?
I could go through all the team of players picking faults McGree didn’t look interested we’re certainly missing Hackney in midfield.
The two sub strikers don’t look as it they can provide and goals or quality up front.
Strelec has not lived up to his potential.
Worst performance and game I’ve seen for many years
OFB
@k-p-in-spain Thanks Len, PN and KP for filling in the gaps.
Overall it does not make for a good read, and as I have said before it is easier to buy defenders/midfield players than attacking forwards.
However we have bought / loaned some pups.
It also makes me wonder about our Academy output. Coburn apart and I guess you could include Jones as we got him from Non League, there has not much success recently since HH, other than to include Sol Brynn, who some are questioning.
FD, for your info; Whilst I did express my doubt over his fitness/injury levels, here are his stats.
Joined Sheffield United on 13/112025: Played in 24 out of 27 available at an average of 60 minutes per game. He has scored NINE goals with no assists.
@k-p-in-spain I think there are legs in that rumour of his injury, from early investigations.