@malcolm Sadly Malcolm, we have some difficult games coming up, but saying that, they all appear difficult for this team.
We have had the problems we have now, for far too long. Carrick could not solve them, Edwards could not solve them, and I doubt Hellberg will be able to either.
The issue we have is with the midfield and the forwards, just not could enough on a consistent basis. As many have said, if you don’t score goals you don’t win points, not enough for promotion.
So why are we in this position. Recruitment, that is the issue and failure. Yes, Scott has gained some credit, but overall he has failed with this part of his recruitment.
I won’t go through the the full purchases and loans, but the against are more than the for’s
I wonder what Mr Gibson thinks. He hold the keys to success and failure. At the moment the latter is looming large.
Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d type: I’d take Josh Coburn up front right now - that’s how bad things are.
TC seemed to spend a lot of the game on the left wing and his “air shot” in the first half won’t have helped his confidence.
Everyone in the ground knows what Burgzorg will do when he’s anywhere near goal, which would be fine if he could hit the target more often. To be fair he did force a save from their GK but it looked like a routine save to me.
HH doesn’t look like he’ll ever get a shot on goal from outside the box - I did expect him to put away his chance early in the first half but it wasn’t to be.
Our set pieces are hopeless, players don’t show early enough for throw ins and there’s no quality on the bench.
I usually try not to be negative and I’m definitely not blaming the manager yet - a win on Saturday could get us back on track.
Unfortunately, our own Josh (now permanent at Millwall) has only scored one goal this season and has missed the last 15 games with a thigh injury.
I agree that it's hard to see how Burgzorg will ever be a consistent enough player to warrant being anything other than a squad player - he has the strength to play up top but perhaps not the footballing brain to see the best option - though it seems most of Boro players are choosing the wrong options and once again they moved the ball too slowly to trouble an organised side who were set up to defend.
It's fair to say that the recent recruitment successes have been with players who were already accomplished Championship players like Brittain and Jones but most of the overseas players have not yet adjusted to the pace and physicality of the Championship after half a season.
@martin-bellamy. “a win on Saturday could get us back on track.” Then if we also win on Sunday against Southampton we will be definitely back on track. 😉😎
@k-p-in-spain Oops. Who knows what day it is at this time of year? You don’t happen to know which bin day it is do you? 😉
@werdermouth I’m not sure that JC would be any worse injured that the current incumbents!
I am not sure that the relatively high level of despondency is entirely justified at the moment. Yes the recent results have been poor but the level of performance excluding finishing has been good. The team is in the main playing well and creating plenty of good scoring opportunities which offers hope that resolving the finishing problems will see results improve.
So maybe the current poor run is a blip and, if so, now is a good point in the season to have it for three main reasons. First having a blip now is much better than having one during the run in at the end of the season as there is no time to recover then. Second with the January window imminent it provides an opportunity to address the causes of the blip by striving to recruit a striker and a winger. Third it offers time to get the key cog in the team Riley McGree back in harness for the last third of the season. So in my view yes we can all be very disappointed (non more so than KH) but we should be confident that there is still all to play for.
@werdermouth But will they ever Werder. We cannot wait for them to click, the season could be over by then, if ever they do.
Sunderland signed plenty without EPL experience and have succeeded, surely Scott could have found at least one or two that would be up to speed by now.
Strelec, Hansen, Sene, Nypan, not one has shown anything or anything like. And that does not even include all the other “not good enough” players.
As for Sargent, he would be an upgrade for sure, however could we provide the necessary ammunition. Then at around 15million plus big wages, I don’t think we could really afford him. He could end up as another Assombalonga.
@martin-bellamy Next Monday for our large box of empty bottles. Quite embarrassing given the number in the blue box.
@boroexile Good post, apart from the probable forlorn hope of McGree returning any time soon. When do Australia play next?
Werder - your starter deserved a much better response from Middlesbrough than today's performance at Derby. You gave us a Premier League Match Preview but Boro provided a Northern League show on the pitch by the team. I will read the other responses later (sorry, busy...) but I hope there isn't much of the nature of: "They tried very hard and played good football but were unlucky in front of goal and they didn't get the rub of the green from the referee's decisions".
Putting the ball in the opponents' net every so often is an essential part of the game. You can't play well as a team yet repeatedly fail to score goals. That doesn't count as "playing well". If a surgeon cut a great incision, cleaned up the mess inside and put the bones into alignment but then left the operating theatre rather than ensuring the muscles and the blood dupply were in good order before closing the wound neatly, then he would have failed to operate properly. Nobody would give him praise for his skill in starting the operation well if he was never afterwards able to put in the finishing touches. The patient would instead bleed to death or die of infection - much like Boro's promotion hopes.
When we stay in Fuerteventura, we have to empty our own bins into the large containers at various places!
Anyway, I think our recycling day is Monday which means putting out 4 different containers= big bin day means 5!
Yes it's hard to see many of the new forwards being up to speed anytime soon - though most of them have never really had decent run in the team as of yet so not sure how it will happen.
Thanks and as for your surgeon analogy... well Boro have been far from clinical 😉
Raheem Sterling on a loan ?
@powmillnaemore. He has stated he wishes to remain in the London area so as not to disturb his family. 😎
@k-p-in-spain I didnt realise that. All the same, I am sure he will have said that not thinking Boro could be an option 😉
I was just trying to think we could do with experience in a creator, but also taker of chances.
Sorry guys but I am not giving up hope on Boro or KH, yes we are going through a very tough period, 1 point from 12 but in those 4 matches we have conceded 4 goals, so it’s not as though we are getting slaughtered. We have made 80+ chances in those 4 games, admittedly only 16 on target, yes I know someone will say conceding an a average of a goal per game means we need to score 2 to win and at the moment we can’t buy a goal.
I firmly believe we will overcome this problem, it will take time and some movement in the transfer windows, I noticed in a few of KH interviews, especially during the 4 winning spell with 11 goals, he stated that his and the clubs aim was promotion to the premiership, but he also stated “not necessarily this season”, that was when we were second and catching Coventry, so maybe from early doors he realised our present squad/players were not strong/good enough to maintain the run.
As many on here have pointed out there are a number of players they wouldn’t mind moving on but it won’t be done in one transfer window. Unless we uncover a free scoring diamond and a change of luck in front of the opposition goal it’s going to be a roller coaster ride through to the end of the season.
Come on BORO.
It's like walking through a desert. You remember setting off with water bladders which provided what you needed. But then the heat and the sand continued and you became unsure of the route ahead. You carefully eked out the few drips left in the hope they would be enough to keep you going. You were SURE there'd been an oasis on the route. If only you hadn't lost that map! If only there was some mobile signal in the middle of the desert!
And then, suddenly beyond that group of sand dunes to your left, you have a glimpse of water, of green and trees. Spirits unplfted, you stride in that direction with increased enthusiasm. However after ANOTHER hour of walking towards the oasis, the truth gradually dawns on you: it was a mirage. There is no water there and continuing to walk along that diverted route will not get you out of this situation. There's a CHANCE there might be water in that wadi or at the foot of that rise, but when you check it out, those hopes were dashed, too.
You begin to feel that, even if you came across an opened bottle of Malvern Water standing on a table on the sand ahead, you'd probably knock it off the table as you anxiously grabbed at it in front of you. You'd then watch in horror as the water poured out of the open bottle into the sand. Another chance missed!
I suppose it's possible that, having gone for more than half a season with only 3 goals to his credit, Conway might suddenly hit a rich vein of form. He might come across his version of a mountain stream with clear bright water pouring into an inviting pool. He might start on a course of unexpected success, maybe scoring 20 goals in the remaining 21 league games. But let's face it, that possibility is so remote as to be laughable. His confidence is so low that even an open goal in front of him would terrify him. The reality is that if you played a full back up front, you might expect him to pop up in the right place to poke a goal in from 2 yards at a corner, or for a ball to deflect from his knee past the keeper from someone else's shot every once in a while. Take away the penalty-taking and the position is even worse for Conway.
We could always carry on in the same direction, marching across the sand and hoping that, somehow, the few drops of water remaining will sustain life for the rest of the journey. Or that a water tanker will miraculously turn up behind the next sand dune. But you wouldn't put money on it!
There’s no doubt TC has some ability, although I doubt he’ll ever be Premier League standard. I’m not sure he’s got a massive footballing brain as his positional play looks suspect to me but it’s hard to judge right now because his confidence must be at an all time low.
As I’ve said before, if he was a goalkeeper and not a striker we’d all have been calling for his replacement if his failure to do the basics of his job had been as bad as it’s been so far this season.
I can’t fault his effort, but I’m not sure that’s helping. I’d prefer that he strolled around for 80 minutes then popped up in the right place to score when he was needed.
Like Exmil, I’m not giving up on the team nor the manager (which of the forum members would ever do that?) but we’re so close to having our best chance of promotion that the last few results have been so frustrating.
I liked your desert analogy, FD - maybe we need to be Ice Cold (and believe) in Alex (Gilbert).
Regarding Tommy Conway, he is getting some stick from pundits including Bernie Slaven.
I feel for him. He is a no 9 and therefore his position is a centre forward.
Should be stuck up front at all times. Not on the wing, not in midfield, not all over the place.
When a striker like Tommy Conway is asked to drift wide, drop deep, or constantly press in midfield, you’re basically taking him away from the one area where he’s most dangerous — the penalty box. And then, ironically, the same pundits criticise him for not scoring. It’s a bit of a setup.
I'm not giving up on them either, Martin. Mind you, there's more chance of seeing a goal here at the Viennese Concert at M'bro Town Hall by the Royal Northern Sinfonia. Half-time interval and no goals yet. But we live in hope....
I agree with that. That’s where Tommy should be for most of his time on the pitch. But I would just point out that one H Kane frequently drifts all over the pitch and often gets back into midfield to launch attacks. However, I am not in any sense trying to compare Harry to Tommy. England’s best is clearly in a different league (quite literally). But I suppose if a striker has other strengths away from the box and can help sustain or build attacks, then the side might as well benefit from them. Sometimes.
I also feel that Tommy has probably only kept his place in the side during this barren spell because of his terrific work-rate and the other efforts he contributes to the team. And currently, with Strelec out, there’s nobody else. Nonetheless, if we’re creating chances, he needs to be on the end of them.
@martin-bellamy He did in his synopsis of the Derby defeat, when he also moved Whittaker into the number 10 slot.
That is not a criticism on KH, he at least he is trying different options. Unfortunately it is with the same players, as those others available are not good enough it appears. Neither are the starters at the moment.
Go back to Karanka and Leadbitter. Ran the show, scored goals including the penalties. Hackney as good as he can be, is not at that level when he gets goal scoring opportunities. Like his one on one. His shooting is poor, and his corners, well what can one say.
However, Conway is getting serious criticism now, for playing to orders out wide and NOT just strolling around the box. I think some of the criticism is wrong.
@pedro Fair enough - I hadn’t seen KH’s comments. Let’s hope TC turns things round on Sunday.