@exmil The annoying thing is, that he gets in to good positions but then doesn’t get his head up. Will it be possible to train that out of him? I’m not sure, but he’d be a useful asset to bring on, if he could improve that part of his game.
Great win today with Morris the best player for me. His post-match interview was interesting too when he said that two of the factors that have improved the performance of the team this season so far are the high work ethic and the very strong team spirit where every team member supports every other. These positives are evident on the pitch and long may it continue.
@boroexile said prior to the game that the midfield battle between OHare/Hamer and Hackney/Morris will be pivotal in the result of the game.
Fair to say Morris and Hackney bossed it, let's just hope and pray today wasn't the last time we see Hackney in a boro shirt.
Thanks for that. So it means the exit door (loan or sales) will be open until Monday afternoon.I had previously calculated Boro had 24 players who needed to be registered (i.e. over 21 at 1 Jan 2024 or a loan player) - Since then Matt Target and Kaly Sene have arrived and Azaz has left - so I make that 25 players at the moment.
btw Sol Bryn is 24 - I suspect a few will leave on loan as can’t see Alex Gilbert getting any pitch time or indeed Hamilton (even if he doesn’t count towards the 25) - plus will Barlaser and Forss be even getting on the bench now - ok with the former it may depend on any late Hackney deal.
Up the Boro!
A few thoughts on today’s players,
Brynn - I like the way he comes off his line to dominate the box but don’t know how good he is at making saves. Obviously not in the same class as the on loan goalie last year.
Jones- goes about his job without any fuss. Good partnership with Fry.
Brittain - looks a bit of a steady Eddie - okay defensively but not seen much as a wing back. But early days.
Targett - based on this cameo of a game he looks solid and capable of telling passes. Better option than Silvera.
Ayling - deserves his place plus a natural leader.
Silvera- looks like a promising player as a winger but poor as a defender. How come his 2 loan deals last year were so disappointing but he looks a different player this year.
Hackney - Is a class player at this level and capable of being a decent Premiership player. If he goes it would be a massive loss. There’s no guaranteed player to take his place.Looking at some of the fees being paid I believe Boro should insist on a minimum approaching £25 million before any add ons.
Morris- he’s fast becoming my favourite player. The effort he puts in is enormous. He puts himself in difficult positions for the sake of the team and takes the bumps and bruises in his stride.
Conway - never stops running and doesn’t see a lot of the ball. Not good at holding up play and best when balls played in front of him. Given decent chances I think he’s capable of 15-20 goals this season.
Whittaker- Opinions may be mixed but I believe there’s a decent player in him. He’s capable of more than he is currently showing.
Hansen - I think he’s a bit off the pace and possibly one for the future. Didn’t see much of the ball today and the game passed him by. Right to sub him at half time. Also good that we have a manager who subs players earlier than Carrick.
Nypan -Clearly a talented young player who needs to find a position which suits him and the team and not moved around. Although i think it will be expecting too much of him to be a regular player. He needs to be carefully introduced to games.
Finally, Burgzorg - no more comments !!!! Today he epitomised all his weaknesses.
The squad , with the recent 2 new forwards ( includes Strelec) is clearly looking much stronger and some players need to leave as they’re unlikely to get much game time eg Forss, Hamilton and others who didn’t make the bench today.
Just a few thoughts as I dwell on the excellent start to the season - pity there’s no game next week as we’re all looking forward to forward to games with an air of sensible optimism.
Philip of Huddersfield 👍😁👍
@philip-of-huddersfield thought you must have been keeping the best until last Philip ( Dael Fry ), lots of excellent individual performances today but got to give a mention to Fry who got his head to everything.
Oh and Lenihan coming on for the first time in a couple of years - could be said a perfect day.
I fully agree. Fry looks a better player than last season although to be fair he was troubled with injuries. He’s our best defender at headed clearances and a solid defender. With Jones and Fry it could be argued we don’t need 2 other centre backs with Ayling and Forges also capable of playing as a centre back.
philip of Huddersfield 👍😁
Currently watching the game again on Sky which has reinforced my thoughts during the game this afternoon.
The ref should have issued a red card for an over the top straigh leg off the floor tackle. No question about it.
The ref should also have issued more yellow cards and I felt Sheff Utd were lucky not to have more players penalised.
Boro have the best two midfield players in the league and if we lose H it will be a disaster.
The squad looks strong and is full of running and we don’t play about in defence now.
Most of the play is down the right and the midfield and defence make the most of it.
OFB
🚨 | Middlesbrough forward Marcus Forss is set to sign for Bolton Wanderers on loan.
[Dom Shaw]
@original-fat-bob yes the tone of the blog is outstanding and I think its what we all appreciate.
Also, while opinions can vary (an imperative anyway) there is a conviction in what everyone comes up with which is brilliant.
Re Azaz, probably very worthwhile to have in an attacking and winning team but, as you say, much less so when we're up against it and really that's the crux.
Just a few thoughts as I dwell on the excellent start to the season - pity there’s no game next week as we’re all looking forward to forward to games with an air of sensible optimism.
Philip of Huddersfield
I'm not so sure. We have had a lot of new players arrive in the last two weeks and there may be more changes. It won't do any harm for the management time to have some extra time to blend everyone together and make the team even stronger. As Morris said, there are still a lot of ways that the team could be improved and the extra training time will be useful for everybody.
Fingers crossed that we can keep Hackney. If not, we now have to be looking at Pds25 million basic plus add-ons and a sell-on %.
UTB
The desision making by Burgzorg was the worst he can offer, so I was frustrated.
Having said that, he is nearly always causing havoc in the final third. And he does score goals, too. Everyone must remember the difficult position from which he scored at Millwall.
So although frustrating at times, I still think he is a good sub and important part of our squad. Perhaps a supersub this season a la David Fairclough - the Liverpool striker of 1975-83, of his 153 appearances, only 61 were from the bench.
I am quite happy with the squad we have now. A lot of new players, though and we still need time to bed them in, like Selwe
Sorry, I cannot correct Selwynoz' name above nor finish the post in edit mode.
Up the Boro!
Another game I didn’t see - another win! There must be something in this…
I did manage to catch the vast majority of the game on TalkSPORT 2 and they were quite impressed with us.
They commentated on us dominating the first half and later in the game said that we were winning every 50/50 which certainly chimes with the comments here about the determination and togetherness being witnessed.
They were also adamant that Sheff Utd should have had that red card.
On the plus side, it’s possible that Targett would not have come on had Silvera not suffered such a brutal tackle and his brilliant first-time pass (I’ve seen the highlights) set Conway away for the crucial - and very well taken - goal.
Like Len, my pre-season frustration is looking less and less warranted with each week (though it really started in January) and I’m delighted about that.
The endless question marks over every area of the club are seemingly being answered positively one by one. Those that remain are:
1. Can performances remain consistently around this level (or even better)?
2. Can we score enough goals to be a serious proposition this season?
Four games in and suddenly the season has so many more possibilities.
@philip-of-huddersfield. “Silvera- looks like a promising player as a winger but poor as a defender. How come his 2 loan deals last year were so disappointing but he looks a different player this year. “
I agree that he is a winger and not a left sided wing back. His better performances this year have come primarily in pre season against inferior opposition. He looked out of place yesterday in the first half and the blades did us a favour by clattering him a few times so that he was substituted at half time.
When he first joined the club he was played as a winger and failed to deliver despite a lengthy run in the side; add to that his two failed loan deals tells me that he is not capable of producing consistently at Championship level.
I suspect he is only being retained because of the long term injury to Bangura and I can’t see him getting back in to the team a head of Targett. 😎
@andy-r. “2. Can we score enough goals to be a serious proposition this season?”
If we keep a clean sheet we only need one goal to win. We have now won two games out of four 1-0. How many times did we do that under MC?
Stick to the Burnley game plan and we will be fine. 😎
@k-p-in-spain Very true, KP.
”if we keep a clean sheet” is perhaps the problematic point. If we only score once then we HAVE to keep a clean sheet to win is another way of looking at it.
No complaints of course but Burnley were a bit of an outlier last season in terms of how they got promotion - most sides need to be pretty good at both ends.
However, it’s very possible that Edwards and his staff have done the sensible thing and focussed on he defensive side first - pressing, shape, mindset and battling qualities - and will more slowly evolve the attacking element as the new recruits bed in.
Either way, we’re top of the league!
@martin-bellamy - We need a squad where the Bench is strong rather than consisting of several players who are named in order to fill the list and keep a seat warm for 90+ minutes each week. If we have a squad where Bugzorg is listed on the Bench because all the others who get a start are stronger and better, players, then that is good for Boro. Our Bench has, in recent months prior to this season, looked threadbare.
I hope you can at least manage to watch the Southampton game in a few weeks so I’ll have someone to share the blame when I write my preview 😏
A strong bench helps to keep everyone honest - plus could you have imagined Carrick making a double substitution at halftime?
All will be revealed in the next 29 hours or so 🤔.
Come on BORO.
According to OPTA, the supercomputer has predicted Middlesbrough to win the Championship title this season.
Rob Edwards’ side have been given a 17.92% potential of winning the title from this point, with Leicester City coming in 2nd with a 14.98 chance of the Championship top spot.
This puts Middlesbrough’s promotion chances at 29.66%, and a play-off finish at 31.88% likely.
OFB
@original-fat-bob Maybe a bit early for confidence in those figures - we can but dream!
Our win yesterday was as consummate a Boro performance as I have seen in a long while. Against a supposedly strong challenger we were defensively superb, compact and highly organised. The midfield duo were outstanding throughout and the various parts of the team linked well together as in a well-oiled machine to create numerous chances. We played some lovely football. I can’t see many Championship sides getting the better of us if this continues. We’ll take some beating, I predict. One goal conceded in 4 games against some tough opponents says everything - at long last we have a solid defence, but this appears to be different to Aitor’s team because this lot can attack with purpose, too!
Earlier in the summer I was very negative about the prospect of our appointing Rob Edwards, and I was highly critical about what passed then for our recruitment. I wasn’t alone. I am delighted to have been proved entirely wrong. The players we have signed appear to have improved the team immeasurably, and if Strelec signs I think we’ll have one of the best squads we’ve had for years, as someone above commented. Edwards clearly knows what he is doing and his passion just shines out. His coaching team appears talented and competent. We appear to have all the ingredients in place for a successful season. Fingers crossed that we can maintain this amazing start!
It’s early days, of course, but I am much encouraged. And I must say that the noise generated by the Riverside crowd yesterday towards and at the end of the game was terrific. It reminded me a bit of Steaua Bucharest!! UTB.
@clive-hurren The Riverside attendance was 26,610 yesterday. But it sounded like more!
Average home league attendance was 25,330 at Riverside last season. Up the Boro!
The computer never lies 😏
Interesting take on Boro's interest in Hull's Croatian goalie:
Surely worth a try if it means that we get shot of Dieng...
Further proof, as if it were needed. that Craig Johns is a poor, semi-literate hack:
"should have saw"?!! 
Actually @werdermouth, I have recently read a piece on an AI that does indeed lie. I forget the detail of the learning models it was started with and the nature of the information it was asked about, but in instances where the AI had gaps in the true information it could respond with, it did indeed make up an answer. A little different from the more commonly know phenomenon of "hallucination", this was considered to be deliberately misleading. I'll see if I can find the link and post it for you. But in short, it appears the computer can indeed tell lies.
I think we are lucky, given our average vintage in Diasboro, we will not live to see how far AI may go towards making the human being a little bit redundant... or not?