🙂 Easily done - I should’ve spotted Kante was missing!
We have our longest serving player as the captain. Dael Fry has been at the club for 20 years now having joined the club at the age of seven. What a Boro career. He has represented England at under-17, under-18, under-19, under-20 and under-21 levels. He has won the 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Defending looks better than last season l, bit limp upfront, burgzog less said the better
Just like the way Amorim and Glasner play their 3-4-2-1 formations in the Premier League, this Boro side is crying out for a target man at centre forward that the team can play off. Conway presses hard and is a decent finisher given the chance but I think he might otherwise be all wrong for this setup. Not his fault.
Azaz or McGree if fit will add a lot too.
We’re competing well but not too much else to say from that first half.
Some neat midfield play from both teams, but it's telling that the nearest either team has come to a goal has been via two excellent long-range strikes from Ronald and Whittaker.
Silvera the pick of the Boro forwards, but with the Aussie, Burgzorg and Whittaker all operating down the left we have produced no threats at all from the right.
Hackney has phoned in his performance and will do nothing to enhance a possible Premier League move unless he really starts to play.
Swansea are neat and tidy without threatening and this looks like a goalless draw or a single goal win for whichever side scores first.
Brittain has shown nothing so far.
And Dael Fry celebrates being given the captaincy, however temporarily, by giving Boro the lead in the 51st minute.
Still 1-0 at normal full-time, but SIX minutes of injury time. Will they hold out?
Still 1-0 at normal full-time, but SIX minutes of injury time. Will they hold out?
And they did, thank God! Can't complain about a 1-0 win in the opening game of the season.
I’ll take that. Happy with 1-0. Boro were steady.
The bonus to me was getting the ball forward quicker and little tippy tappy football. Defensively looked more of a unit.
Good start to build on and improve.
Philip of Huddersfield 👍😁
Ps I thought Edwards’ press conference was a big improvement on Carrick.
Three points to start the season! Very welcome indeed.
in truth this was a 0-0 game in which neither side created anything of note but Boro converted a set piece to take the points.
The change in style from Carrick was as clear as the Teesside skyline. A new formation, no messing about at the back, much more willing to play a longer ball - this was a completely rebooted Boro with seemingly zero continuity from the previous regime.
But there was no creativity. The short passing may have gone from the back but it was also absent in the attacking third, leaving a willing but flailing Tommy Conway to beaver away with nothing to work with.
Brittain did nothing wrong but offered little going forward, Silvera showed some quick feet at times and made some useful forward runs but his first touch and end product remain below par. Whittaker showed some moments but continues to flit in and out of games, likewise Burgzorg who showed physicality at times but couldn’t make anything happen. Hackney’s passing was rarely on show with so little happening in front of him.
Competitive, determined and organised in defence but stillted, safe and without invention in attack, this was not a Boro side you would have recognised since Warnock.
Hard to gauge how successful it will be as Swansea offered a similar amount to ourselves and there are tougher tests to come against stronger offensive sides.
Whatever the results, I expect it will be a tougher watch without two to three additions to the squad that bring genuine attacking quality.
On today’s evidence, I would say that we need a physically strong no. 9 to link the attack together, an inventive no. 10 who is probably a bit too good for the league, and probably a left wingback too, though Silvera was fine (I just don’t think the quality is there). Hackney will need to stay I suspect as well, though there should be no worries about losing Rav should it happen.
Three points for now though. That’ll do.
A satisfactory 1-0 win for Boro and one suspects not the only binary scoreline we will see this season. Fry, Sivera, Ayling and Jones the stand out performers with the whole defence showing more composure and cohesion than we saw at any time last season.
One of the most astonishing aspects of the game was the resounding cheers given to Kante every time he touched the ball. He is clearly already a crowd favourite and having thought he looked out of his depth last week I hope he fulfils the hopes everyone seems to have of him.
Our lack of forward penetration remains a concern so may the favourable 1-0 results roll on until we get further back-up for our lone striker
From the Beeb's overview of today's Championship matches:
Dael Fry's flashing angled header from Morgan Whittaker's corner, just after half-time, was enough to win it.
Boro's dominance of the Swans at The Riverside continues and Rob Edwards' men win back to back games on the opening day for the first time since 1994. They went on to win the Championship that year... who knows if this is the start of something special...
@andy-r. Brilliant summary of the match, those involved and what is clearly lacking at present. 😎
According to CJ, there were 26,035 at the match! Decent turnout...
I am so happy for Dael Fry. Captain of his home town club and scorer of the match winner!
He is such a good player and hopefully the injuries are behind him. He has always been one of our best defenders when he have had a proper pre-season and an injury-free season.
A memorable match for him. Up the Boro!
Interesting match report by Dom Shaw in the Echo:
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/25378043.middlesbrough-1-0-swansea-dael-fry-heads-winner/
Thanks for the match review Andy - I was only following the BBC live text but thought it was broken as there didn’t seem to be anything being reported - though perhaps it sounded like a game few incidents with apparently Swansea had an xG of 0.1 so sounds like Boro kept them at arm’s length.
Nevertheless, an important win and three points to get Edwards off the mark after an indifferent preseason - another win from the next three games before the international break will be job done for me - plus of course some incoming signings and preferably keeping Hackney until January!
I think people should give Britain some slack as he only joined on Monday 😱, give him time to get to know the other players and I don’t think he did too bad today.
Come on BORO.
BORO’s POINTS AFTER FIRST 10 GAMES
These are the predictions received before the first kickoff:
exmil 14
Andy R 11
John Richardson 13
Martin Bellamy 18
Powmil-Naemore 18
Pedro de Espana 12
lenmasterman 10
Boroexile 10
selwynoz 15
werdermouth 12
MW in Darwin 9
Forever Dormo 12
jarkko 15
KP in Spain 11
Clive Hurren 12
OFB 10
It will be interesting after the 10th game to see if the optimists or the pessimists are closer👍.
Come on BORO.
Allegedly Danny Ings was sat with Steve Gibson at the match today and it is also reported that Ings is undergoing light training at Rockcliffe whist recovering from injury 🤔, read into it what you will.
Come on BORO.
I see that the Robins thumped the Blades by 1-4 at Bramall Lane to go straight to the top of the fledgling table. I must confess that I was so engrossed in the results in the run-up to Wimbledon that I had no idea that SheffU had dispensed with Chris Wilder's services & taken on Rubén Sellés in his stead.
In his pre-match press conference Edwards referred to the difficulties of signing a new player and how long does it take - even if the player is on a free transfer. Perhaps he was thinking about Ings?Allegedly Danny Ings was sat with Steve Gibson at the match today and it is also reported that Ings is undergoing light training at Rockcliffe whist recovering from injury 🤔, read into it what you will.
Come on BORO.
Gary Pallister was hoping Ings to sign for Boro. He must know more about football than I do. So Ings can be good for us.
Up the Boro!
I expect nothing less from one of my underachiever tips 🙈
@exmil What, just arrived at Rockcliffe and injured before he signs. Not a good sign at all.
May be, if he does join us, we could have another challenge. How many games, how many minutes, how many goal/assists will he achieve.
Now that would be interesting,
@andy-r I think that both your posts Andy are fair and to the point, but surprising in their content. In fact although written better than I could probably write, they could have come from me. What I am saying, is that for you they seem somewhat negative. That is not a criticism, but trueful at this time.
“Conway presses hard and is a decent finisher given the chance but I think he might otherwise be all wrong for this setup. Not his fault”
Again, I think you are so correct in the above paragraph. As I posted previously, it really does ask questions about Edwards appointment, as a sizeable portion of the first team pick just do not suit his system and in reality it showed this afternoon, despite all the effort from some players.
If we are to get the best out of Conway, we need balls into the box from wide positions, not something we did today. Otherwise as you said, a focal point number 9. Somebody like Josh Coburn. We will probably get “sick note” Ings because he is on a free.
If Ings was to be the number 9, I think he would be all wrong for the role as well. He’s not the physical hold-up player that the structure requires.
He might be very good as one of the 10s - he certainly has the quality.
As they say though, the greatest ability is availability.
a slightly more upbeat report from The Guardian.
I remain hopeful even optimistic. Winning 1-0 as a new manager and new system beds in is not the end of the world. We can anticipate a few good signings to fill out the team and bolster the squad depth.
utb
Just watched the highlights and pleased to see we scored a goal from a set piece. Even Dael in his interview said that we should score more from those opportunities. Happy with a clean sheet and a surprisingly high attendance considering we only sold 17000 season tickets. It will be interesting to see the line up on Tuesday in the League Cup as there wasn't much depth on the bench yesterday.
At least he’ll stop McGree getting lonely…
Btw what happened to McGree - last time I heard he came off because he felt a bit tight on the back of his leg 3 weeks ago.
Anyway, sounds like Danny Ings may be another one of Steve Gibson’s picks if he’s sat with him in the Directors box - only see him as an impact sub really, someone who comes on and uses his experience to find the space and get a late goal. Can’t see him being fit enough to start many games with his record.