I agree with all of that. It has, however, been encouraging that we are managing to get more players in the box today.
@philip-of-huddersfield “Surely Boro can win this game if they play as well as the second half. But could Derby win it ?”
When have we had a good second half since KH’s first game in charge! 🤔😎
Premier League quality from Brittain in the first half, with Ayling not far behind. The game gets more difficult for us the longer it goes on. Derby's only danger comes from set pieces. We're playing well but missing too many gilt-edged chances.
Derby will get one good chance, that’s a given, plus they are good at set pieces
[...]we've got a ref that definitely doesn't like the Boro [...]
CJ after 58 minutes:
Boro want a red card
Great work from Conway to read a pass and intercept. Elder crunches in late on him and the immediate reaction from Boro players suggests it's a bad one. They're furious. Elder stays down in what looks to me like a stay down because you know you're in trouble. Referee quickly has the yellow out.
Alex Gilbert replaced Sène at the start of the second half.
The Rams go a goal up in the 70th minute. That's it! 🙁
Brittain off injured in the 78th minute ( 🙁 ) & replaced by Silvera; Nypan on for Morris.
Well Derby got their chance and score, something we cannot do. Then to make it even worse, we lose our best player in Calum Brittain, an injury that looks quite bad.
Hellberg then makes two more changes, Silvera and Nypan. That is how bad it is off the bench. It certainly looks as though Hellberg maybe as not as good as we thought.
Hellberg brings on Hamilton and Browne in the 88th minute. Why?.
Alex Gilbert replaced Sène at the start of the second half.
And is booked in the 84th minute.
Browne & Hamilton on for Bangura & Conway three minutes from normal time.
Seven minutes of injury time in which to find the equaliser...
So, that’s 3 losses in 4 games without a single goal scored. I’m afraid several of these players are just not good enough. And why replace Sène with Gilbert????
Another frustrating game to watch as Boro once again fail to find the net and then see the opposition put one of their rare chances away to steal the three points. Boro now down to third and more worrying now only three points ahead of 7th place after dropping 11 points over the festive programme.
Hard to explain how such a dramatic turnaround has occurred but another key injury to Brittain will leave the team weaker and Targett also looking like he's struggling and with no player looking like they know how to score.
Nypan and Conway, dear me.
But we lost as a team, though. We again dominated the game and had plenty of shots and a few really good chances. We just do not seem to score.
So the performance was there again. We just need to score. And now Brittain was injured, too. He is looking so good at right back. Love his play, me.
Up the Borol
@clive-hurren. Agree totally with that Clive. My first question when the teams appeared at half time was why the change. Unless Sene was injured then why was Gilbert a better option?
Unfortunately, too many of these players are just not good enough. My fear is that HH is beginning to realise it and if a PL offer comes in he will be off.
I know we all get down when we lose but there has to be a realisation by those in charge that this scenario of losing and failing to score when we dominate the play is not something new, it has been present season after season.
I am now beginning to question if we are good enough for top six. Others are improving as our decline picks up pace. Instead of looking forward to Sunday I am fearing the outcome. 😎
Last 4 games - 1 point - not the Christmas present we wanted and can we return them for a refund?!
Despite the early promise, we appear to have fallen back into our old ways and our inability to score goals is becoming a real problem which must make KH question his decision.
I know we keep saying it but January is becoming ever more important although finding the right player (as mentioned) will be a challenge and I fear that we may not see any improvements in personnel.
I don’t like to be pessimistic on the first day of 2026 but…………I have seen this movie many times in the past.
Hope to be proved wrong of course.
More alcohol will be consumed tonight to drown my sorrows.
Ok , I’ll be the first of any pessimists and say forget about finishing second in the Division.
Some will say the man of the match was the Derby goalie but all he was doing was ,doing his job. Boro players notably when it came to scoring didn’t do their job.
The longer the game went on, the more Boro slowed the game down with short cautious passing and trying to walk the ball into the net - a bit like the Carrick way of playing.
That’s 4 games without a goal in the last 4 games and only 1 point. We had the excellent start with Edwards and 5 wins and then started to tail off as though other teams had sussed out Boro. Then the excellent start by the new coach with 4 wins and then these poor results.
Is this a pattern which the coach and his staff can address ?
The team play good football but it’s goals which win games. This is the one aspect of the game which seems beyond this group of players.
philip of Huddersfield 👎👎👎☹️☹️☹️
Heaven knows where we go from here. The transfer window is open, but we all know how difficult it is to find strikers and creative players of quality in January. Yet without strong reinforcements I fear our season of such promise will simply fizzle out.
Question? has the manager lost his spark. too early to say but the next few games will tell.
Unfortunately, too many of these players are just not good enough. My fear is that HH is beginning to realise it and if a PL offer comes in he will be off.
This is what I was hinting at in an earlier thread - he might think his best chance of PL football is with a team that’s already there (not Wolves, though). He’s missing out on a huge increase in wages at the moment.
Having said that, his shooting is every bit as poor as anyone else’s.
To his credit KH did change his system today, which got more players forward and in the box. We created some good chances, for a change. The players appeared to have followed his instructions effectively and for most of the first half played very well. It’s not Hellberg’s fault that they’re currently absolutely useless at scoring, but it’s definitely his responsibility (and Kieran Scott’s now) to do something about it. Urgently.
I do think that Strelec would have put away any of the good chances we have squandered over the last two games, but it is hugely disappointing to see so many golden opportunities squandered. So, what I am suggesting is that once he is fit again we will get more good results. However, we do need an alternative to McGree as he is the spark that finds the right incisive delivery to score from. We are more likely to find someone in this window to provide that capability than we are to find an out and out and in form goal scorer.
I remain optimistic for the season and for Kim Hellberg, but this has been a very disappointing festive period for Boro.
More important though, has there been any news of OFB?
I would seriously look at signing Josh Sargent in January - Norwich are in the bottom three and he has I think two years left on his contract. He's the type of player who Boro need to be the focal point in attack - he's scored 55 goals in 150 games for Norwich but he's in a struggling team and after netting 5 in his first 5 games this season went through a lean spell but scored today. He looked impressive when we played Norwich early in season.
Good shout. Do you think Norwich would be prepared to release him, given they’re in a bit of danger near the foot of the table? And could we afford him?
Yes we need goals but if we get Strelec fit and provide him with the right service then we will score. Ideally provision from RM but if not then need to find a similar type of player who can break the lines in the low block and open up packed defences.😎
I suspect they wouldn't want to lose him but I think their wage bill was around £50m last year with a turnover of around £40m and they lost their parachute payments last season - he's probably valued at around £15m but that's not much more than we paid for Strelec and Sene and maybe over 4-year contract is doable - though it may need a higher bid.
It's hard to see how Boro can rescue their season without a genuine striker who is good to go - there's no sign of Sene being that man and Strelec is injured now and has yet to adapt to Championship either - plus Conway just doesn't look like scoring.
Probably a long shot but I imagine Sargent may be interested in a move given Norwich are not going to be contenders - he's unlikely to get a PL move now given he's not scored so freely as last two seasons.