“Electric Yetis” versus “Gilded Rhombus”
Tuesday 4th November, 19.45 - King Power Stadium
Yes, it’s an Anagram special (albeit a shortish headliner due to time constraints) for our upcoming “Awed Keg Mime” against the “Electric Yetis”. Will “Cheeky Any-Hand” score with another header or will “Own My Toy Mac” finally hear the referee blow for a penalty?
Will “Dad Browser” find his perfect starting eleven and will “Celery Grime” get on to the pitch again, after his 20 minute cameo on Saturday?
Ok, that’s quite enough of that nonsense - onwards to Tuesday’s game. I’ve posted this starter earlier than I would normally, for two reasons: I’m pushed for time on Monday and I thought we might want to move on quickly from Saturday’s loss, before too much negativity entered our heads.
On to the game then, and despite Emile Heskey ruining my day at Wembley in 1997, I bear no grudge against Leicester City. Winning the Premier League against all the odds in 2016 gave hope to all the clubs outside the Big Four and a belief that it’s something they could finally aspire to achieve.
Since then, of course, The Foxes have slipped down into the Championship, but started this campaign as one of the pre-season favourites to bounce back into the EPL.
Things haven’t quite panned out how they’d planned - after a reasonable start (unbeaten in their first 8 games) they’re now outside the playoff spots in 14th position, having only won one of their last 9 Championship games, with
4 draws and 4 losses in that time. They’ve only won twice at home so far this season and appear to have a problem scoring goals - so what could possibly go wrong for us on Tuesday night?
Well, I guess a result like the one against Watford could be what goes wrong! That starting eleven looked light on goal scorers and so it proved. I know the result was poor, but I’ve seen fans calling for RE to go, which to me is crazy. Why we’d be suggesting that questions should be asked of our manager seems a trifle premature too - we’re 2nd in the league, albeit not looking like promotion contenders during the current phase of games. There’s a long way to go though and there’ll be plenty of twists and turns before the season ends.
So which Boro will we see on Tuesday? Will it be “Doh, Glum Debris” or “Imbed Gold Rush”? Let’s hear your thoughts.
Thanks Martin for an excellent opener, my thoughts (for what they are worth) are to give Strelec an extended run in the starting eleven, how do the coaching team expect him to come to terms with the Championship with 10/20 minutes here and there. Hopefully Riley McGree will be fit enough to start also on Tuesday on the left with Conway behind Strelec. The conundrum is who to start on the right Whittaker, Sene, Hansen, Nypan. Defence wise, will Fry be out for a while, is Edmundson fit enough to start also as I mentioned last week about yellow card suspension, Ayling picked up his fourth yellow card unnecessarily for “gobbling off” to the ref so potentially could pick up his fifth soon (1 match suspension) do we want him unavailable for Birmingham (H) Oxford (A) before Coventry (H) 🤔.
I am glad I am not Rob Edwards.
Come on BORO.
A plea for help from PNE Dave’s wife. She wants to book Dave a surprise weekend away at the end of January, incorporating watching the game at the Riverside. Can anyone recommend accommodation in Saltburn? She’d like to travel from Preston by train and I’ve suggested Saltburn because they’ll be able to get the train into Middlesbrough on match day. We’ll probably meet them for a meal at the Seaview Restaurant while they were over. Any thoughts?
@martin-bellamy Brockley Hall, five minutes from the station. Sometimes they have offers on, especially during low season.
Period Hotel with a quirky dining room.
@pedro Thanks for that - I saw it when I did a search and thought it looked good.
@martin-bellamy Now that was a different Headliner, although I am still working on the “anagrams”. 🤣
The big question is. Can Edwards stop the rot. OK, it is not quite as bad as that, though it does feel like it at times.
The “rot” being the scarcity of goals and any creativity to our front runners for real gilt edge opportunities in the box.
Leicester’s position just proves how quickly things and places can change in the Championship. From fourth to 14th in three games.
So with only one win in the last six, can Leicester pull out of their slide. Or can Boro take advantage. Truthfully, both teams cannot score goals, but would you bet on either.
Unfortunately, we may just get more throwing of the dice in the air from our Head Coach, hoping to get three sixes, but ending with nothing and a long drive back for our beleaguered Team. Not withstanding the Boro fans.
We are all very pleased with the points Boro have gained and being second in the Championship. None of us forecast this.
But we can’t get away from the major problem of creating and scoring goals.
It seems to me that the attacking players just don’t have a way of playing in unison. We don’t have a couple of players we’d say should be automatic starters with the others as options later in the game. They are all much the same in terms of effectiveness.
We don’t have a natural threat on the wings with players beating their opponent and putting crosses into the penalty area. Sorry to say, the only player to do this is Silvera and regrettably he isn’t good enough.
Too many of the attacking players appear to be players you bring on as substitutes and not capable of performing at a high level for 90 minutes. I agree with Exmill we should give Strelec an extended start in games.
The midfielders also need to be more supportive of the forwards.
So this is Edwards’ biggest challenge . We all hope he can get the attacking players to improve. Much to do.
Philip of Huddersfield
👎☹️
I see Rob Edwards is "a strong contender" for the newly vacant manager's chair at Wolves...
Somehow I can't see that.., just more lazy journalism.
I see Rob Edwards is "a strong contender" for the newly vacant manager's chair at Wolves...
Somehow I can't see that.., just more lazy journalism.
Crazy isn’t it?
I see Rob Edwards is "a strong contender" for the newly vacant manager's chair at Wolves...
Somehow I can't see that.., just more lazy journalism.
Crazy isn’t it?
Gary O'Neil also back in contention according to the same article! Definitely bonkers!!! Never mind. Will Still's been given the order of the boot by Saints as well...
Talking rumours, this one may have more legs.
https://the72.co.uk/2025/11/02/norwich-city-ben-kensell-kieran-scott-open-returns/
I've finally managed to come our from behind the coach.
The Watford game kicked off at 2.00am Sydney time and up until about 3.00 am I was pretty happy. We were playing fairly well and Watford looked pretty toothless despite two goals that came from their only two shots.
At half time I posted that a quick Boro goal could see things turning round. Well that didn't happen and I crawled into bed just before 4.00am wondering what had had hit me.
One question and three thoughts.
Q Did their third goal hit the guy standing offside?
Thought 1 Hackney is not a number 10. He needs to be the link between the back 6 and the forward three.
Thought 2 If we want to score goals we need two forwards in the penalty area with one other in the spaces to support them. That suggests to me a 3-4-1-2 for games against strong teams. I'd set it up with McGree as the 1 with Nypan as his sub and Srelec and Conway as the two up front with Sene/Whitaker/Hansen/Burgzorg as the potential subs. Hackney pairs up with Browne/Morris and we play with solid wingbacks in Targett and Brittain who could be replaced with more attacking options if we actually had anyone other than Silvera.
Thought 3 Buy wingbacks in January. Nothing else.
UTB