didnt we take off some of our first choice kind of in the same time frame they brought their substitutes on. In other words we were arguably weaker as they became stronger.I accept that Fulham brought on 3 “Big Guns” and turned the match but don’t forget that Boro had at least 3 “Big Guns” we couldn’t bring on, namely McGree, Jones and Brittain to name a few.
Come on BORO.
So did they, Exmil. I’m not sure of their injuries other than Muniz but they were also missing 2/3 to AFCON.
No shame in the defeat whatsoever, however.
It was a good performance and an excellent learning experience for players and management yesterday. Pleasingly there were quite a few positive comments about the way Boro played from Fulham supporters on various blogs I dipped into after the game. Even more pleasing was the number of complimentary comments about the huge Boro support at the game and the travelling fans are getting a reputation as top class representatives of the club. The manager and players certainly value them highly and the racket they made throughout the match yesterday was magnificent.
This what happens here in Australia, a streaming service called Stan has the rights to the FA Cup. All games are available live and on demand and with a variety of highlights packages. So after watching the whole of the Boro game at a reasonable time in the morning was then able to watch highlights of all the other games. However, I wonder about the actual demand from fans in England. K Looking at the highlights there were some low attendances only 6000 at Hull and Burnley, 9000 at Swansea and there were swathes of empty seats at Stoke. To counter that Ipswich got 27000 for a game against Blackpool, although it was only 10 pound a ticket, although this was probably because getting a regular ticket is hard as they have a 6000 season ticket waiting list and you have to be a member to buy a home ticket normally.
Looks like other clubs have injury problems, too. Like Pompey.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cqxy0pelrpqo
Up the Boro!
I see Josh Sargent ruled himself out of Norwich's cup tie over the possibility of getting a move in the January window - however, it seems he wants a move back to the MLS with Toronto FC apparently interested. Norwich have said he's going nowhere in January but as I seem to recall Latte Lath was able to leave in February to the MLS...
Michael Carrick is expected to be appointed manager of Manchester United until the end of the season.
I'll be watching that one with interest, and also to see who is appointed to be his Assistant.
I'm fairly certain Man Utd won't want either his brother or Woodgate - probably someone with experience of the PL - what's Mike Phelan up to these days...
@andy-r it will indeed be intetesting to see what he does with (allegedly) superior players.
I think he could do really well at Man Utd as he has players with all the attributes suited to his style of play including plenty of pace and players comfortable on the ball - when he did have those type of players at Boro they always looked dangerous and capable of scoring but his problems came during spells where he lacked the 'right' players and opted not to adjust tactically.
Though his problem is that he only has 17 games in charge and he'll be judged on whether Man Utd finish in the top 5 - hopefully he won't ponder a bid for Hayden Hackney once he assesses that Casemiro legs have gone...
Another addition
Under 21 so not counted in the 25. I wonder if George Mccormick will go out on loan now.
I see that Woodgate is assisting Carrick at United.
I didn't expect Woodgate would get the gig at United but I guess they've worked together for quite a long time now - though he is also having Steve Holland (Southgate's England assistant) in his coaching team too - perhaps that was an Old Trafford pick?
It says Finley Munroe is the cousin of Declan Rice in the article and you can definitely see the resemblance - hopefully on the pitch too!
@werdermouth - It also surprised me that Woodgate will be joining the gaggle of trainers/coaches/assistants at Manchester United, to support newly-appointed "interim" Michael Carrick. I suspect the chants of "Boro reject" might be heard at Old Trafford if results there don't improve, even if that is from the away fans.
I also suspect that Carrick will show his trademark inflexibility at Manchester United. Good if things are going well, but no significant changes likely on those occasions when things go awry. Maybe a return to the practice of putting on a subsitute or two after 70-78 minutes, whether things are going well or not. And maybe another couple on 88 minutes (as if even putting on a young Maradona or Messi would make a splash in the brief time left in the game).
Interestingly and despite a season which until now has been far from satisfactory in Manchester United terms - sufficiently UNsatisfactory to result in the manager being sacked - the team lies only ONE win from a top four place in the table. That is at a time when there is no distraction from the league programme, as all cups have been exited at the earliest opportunity, and when there have been no European games to play. In some ways that is an ideal position for a new manager/coach to take over. At 7th in the table the club is below its "natural" position and there can be no problem with fixture congestion. Why SHOULDN'T a well-run Manchester United team, with only league games to play, be able to catch up three points on the teams ahead? If a Champions League place is then secured for next season, this season may appear to have been slavaged from its current wreckage.
I have a friend who has followed Manchester United most of his life, and he used regularly to attend games at OT. For him, finishing 2nd was a poor season - a bit like a supporter of Celtic or Rangers in Scotland; in their case winning the league mattered so much because, if they failed to do so, the winners would inevitably be their "hated rivals".
Manchester United's Premier League record since the first EPL season in 1992-93 has been a record of unalloyed success under Sir Alex Ferguson and then a record of being less-than-successful under a list of his successors. In 1992-93 the team finished 1st, followed by 1st again, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st, 3rd, 1st, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 2nd and then 1st for the last time. Since Sir Alex: 7th, 4th, 5th, 6th, 2nd, 6th, 3rd, 2nd, 6th, 3rd, 8th, 15th and the team currently lies in 7th place.
In Boro terms that record would be beyond the dreams of anyone not taking illegal substances. This season will be Manchester United's 13th successive season without a league title after an aeon when winning league titles was the usual state of affairs. Like Liverpool - a team which won 11 titles in the 1970s and 1980s but then spent the next 30 years after 1989-90 without a title until Klopp's first in 2019-20.
Perhaps Manchester United supporters will have to get used to the fact that there are other Big Fish in the sea. If Manchester United should go THIRTY years without winning a league title, which at one stage would haver seemed as unrealistic a possibility as all-conquering Liverpool doing the same, then Manchester United's default position, its expected natural place in the football universe, will have changed. A generation or more will have then grown up not expecting success but hoping for it, like most supporters of most other clubs in England. Whether Michael Carrick can change that future possibility, or keep the seat sufficiently warm for a successor who can, is the big question.
Plenty of mentions of Woodgate in this live Beeb report on the impending appointment of Carrick, with Simon Stone suggesting that the recruitment of Steve Holland will be the key to the success of the venture:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/cx2xq0p0w5pt
a wise head that MC didn't have during his time at Boro.
So Carrick appointed and Woodgate with him, though not as his official Assistant.
I suspect Woodgate’s outgoing personality gels well with Carrick’s more reserved approach. It’s a shame at Boro that we didn’t have a sound tactician and experienced head between them (like Adi Viveash) for a fuller complement of skillsets.
I agree with everything Werder said above and, rightly or wrongly, still put the major blame for his downfall on recruitment. As I’ve said before, I think the squad got worse with every passing season under Carrick and we continued to go after “projects” without enough balance of Championship experience and leadership.
All in the (recent) past now and we move on but I’m really hoping they make a big success of it and I wish them well.
Carrick problem was coaching players in a Premiership/European style, and the majority were just too inferior, on making subs on games, did people look at the bench, what chance did he have, I've always been disappointed with the vitriol against Woodgate, a local man who came back to help both as a player and coach, the same people I'm sure will cheer the likes of Ramirez and Yakubo ,really
On another note , are Boro asking too much for Hackney, how a big club haven't come in is unbelievable, he's probably played around 120 games and been mom on 110, it's more likely a club at the bottom of the Prem will come in for Morris.
Friday starts the real season, W. Brom have decent players so you can't expect an easy win
The Beeb’s running blog on the Carrick appointment has just given us this gem:
Carrick’s Boro blueprintpublished at 12:55 GMT
Chris Adams
BBC Sport journalist
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGESMuch has been written in recent weeks about Manchester United’s so-called DNA and whether or not it matters as the club look to appoint a seventh permanent successor to Sir Alex Ferguson.
The Red Devils have struggled to replicate the trademark attacking flair of Ferguson’s title-winning teams in recent years, but what style of play will new interim boss Michael Carrick employ?
His Middlesbrough team won admirers for their possession-based, attacking football, leading the way in terms of goals scored, shots on target and successful passes among the ever-present Championship clubs during his two-and-a-half year Riverside reign.
But for all those encouraging metrics, a Championship play-off semi-final defeat to Coventry City in 2022-23 was as good as it got for the former England midfielder.
Striker Chuba Akpom’s form in that first season – 29 league goals saw him crowned the division’s top scorer and PFA player of the year – is something Carrick would love to see United new boy Benjamin Sesko emulate.
Successive finishes of 8th and 10th saw Carrick depart Teesside last summer with a win percentage of 46.32%.
It is believed he will play a 4-2-3-1 formation now he is back in the Old Trafford hotseat, where he won two of his three games as caretaker boss in 2021.
Those statistics are incredible. Surely they must be skewed by our performance in MC’s first season? Am I alone in thinking performances were nowhere near as strong in seasons 2 and 3, though I guess Latte Lath and Doak must have contributed significantly? But in his first seven games in season 2 we only picked up 2 points, and I’m sure much of the football we saw in season 3 was predictable and ineffective.
Oh sorry. My cut and paste has omitted the vital table, even though it originally appeared. I’ll try to summarise it.
This is the table I should have included. Pretty incredible, I’m sure you’ll agree? Of course, what it doesn’t say is what happened at the other end of the pitch and our infuriating propensity to give away stupid goals!
Attack, attack, attack - Carrick's bustling Boro
Championship games (29 Oct 2022 - 3 May 2025)
|
Metric |
Total |
Champ rank |
|
Big chances created |
281 |
1st |
|
Expected goals |
189.6 |
1st |
|
Goals |
200 |
1st |
|
Shots on target |
584 |
1st |
|
Successful passes |
53,735 |
1st |
|
Total shots |
1668 |
1st |
|
Touches in opposition box |
3218 |
1st |
@clive-hurren - You can't argue with those figures. Unless you look at other statistics which might have been included. Opposition chances allowed. Goals conceded, anyone? Possession lost in dangerous areas like the Boro penalty area? Turnarounds (coming from behind to win) compared to winning positions surrendered? With all those first positions listed, you'd have expected promotion to follow unless there were many 15th, 18th, 21sts and 23rds also there to be found in other lists.
I guess that's the nature of statistics - those rankings are probably mainly because Boro were one of the few teams to be around the play-offs for three seasons under Carrick without getting promoted - thus it won't include teams who did better and got promoted as they wouldn't be having any shots in the Championship for at least a season. But yes as you mention we knew Carrick's teams were more attack-focused than on defence.
It was quite entertaining reading all the comments on the BBC article - though my favourite was: You say interim, I say Amorim - let's call the whole thing off...
Just reading that Newcastle have exended the deadline (yesterday) that was agreed to allow them to recall Matt Targett - which begs the question on what was the point in having a deadline at all?
Plenty of mentions of Woodgate in this live Beeb report on the impending appointment of Carrick, with Simon Stone suggesting that the recruitment of Steve Holland will be the key to the success of the venture:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/cx2xq0p0w5pt
a wise head that MC didn't have during his time at Boro.
A thought occurs to me: could it be that MC actually learned something in his time at Boro, viz. that he didn't know it all & needed a more seasoned individual to whom he could turn when things weren't working out as he intended/expected or simply use as a sounding board for ideas?
Just thinking about Newcastle extending the Targett recall deadline - I suppose it could be to Boro's advantage if Newcastle were uncertain on one of their players fitness or were looking to sign a left-back and then would've had to recall him before the deadline but maybe now they have extra time to avoid doing it.
I'm a bit sceptical that Holland was Carrick's idea and possibly more likely a Jason Wilcox one as I don't know if they've ever had any working connection previously. I also suspect Woodgate was a club pick when he got the job at Boro too.
Morning all,
Just checking if anyone volunteered to cover OFB for the West Brom preview (Friday) or whether we need to quickly knock something together?
Thanks.
Actually, I was just wondering about that this morning - I could probably put something together if nobody has been allocated as cover.
Maybe Newcastle have given Boro time to get a replacement for Target , strange
Is it me or does the. Strelec situation seem strange, since he's been signed ,his body language to me hasn't been id call positive, are there things going on in the background,were you might see him leaving , I wouldn't be surprised.
COB