We are having a dip in form for the past few games now. We have signed so many new players up-front that it takes time to gel. So patience is needed.
I cannot see us playing this bad (especially at Watford) for long time anymore. It is just a dip in form and we will come back. We will have a tough match on Saturday. But they are all tough in the Championship.
As PJ said, we are near clicking. I cannot see us playing any worse than last Saturday. We have good enough team. Just a few successful strikes on goal, and we might see a better Boor again.
Up the Boro!
I definitely think it's a combination of confidence and new players still trying to adjust to the pace of the Championship - they have quality but need minutes on the pitch!
More worrying is that Boro have just 14 points from their last ten games, which is probably pretty close to the general consensus of what everyone was predicting as our points total for the first ten games.
@pedro. I agree and felt for much of last night I was watching a MC team performance.
Deserved a point for effort but RE is still struggling to solve the problems we have had for a couple of seasons.
Whittaker, Burgzorg and Silvera are failing to produce and for me we should be looking to try and move on in January; easier said than done.
Saturday is a must win game to stop the downward drift. 😎
@philip-of-huddersfield thanks Philip, always optimistic lol.
Yes debatable about the other defender with the red but I arent sure their player would have got the ball anyway as after his touch it was moving at some pace.
I certainly wouldn't be classing a game as must win until well post Christmas.@pedro. I agree and felt for much of last night I was watching a MC team performance.
Deserved a point for effort but RE is still struggling to solve the problems we have had for a couple of seasons.
Whittaker, Burgzorg and Silvera are failing to produce and for me we should be looking to try and move on in January; easier said than done.
Saturday is a must win game to stop the downward drift. 😎
I dont think RE is struggling to solve problems, its just the fine margins which he has no control over, penalty/no penalty goes against us ( Again ), Strelec decides to try to go over the keeper which is the usual thing to do, however, the gap is underneath the keeper, Whittaker hits a lovely effort that just goes over the top which if he hadn't caught it as well as he did it goes under the bar, I could go on for ever.
I could understand concerns if we were really not turning up in games but in every game I have seen, even in the last month or so it has been the fine margins not particularly going our way, that will change.
At least thats what I tell my optimistic self.
The bigger worry is the ongoing saga with Wolves, a rumour I heard yesterday was that Edwards has a release clause in his contract.
Scott Wilson of the Echo told yesterday, that there is NO release clause in Edwards' contract according to his top Boro sources. And that the club is confident of him staying.
Let's not see the most terrible scenario. Also form wise. We will finnish in the top six or top two in May. Up the Boro!
This is a crazy league. A few wins can make a huge difference - we really need three points on Saturday.
Can anybody see us scoring enough goals to win any game we huff and puff but at the moment we could not blow a straw house down. Burgzorg offers nothing and don't know why he was on the pitch.
@jarkko thanks for clarifying that jarkko, I heard that rumour yesterday.
Let's hope he stays but I wouldn't hold it against him if he was offered and accepted, I try to relate it to my own circumstances and if I am working away from my family and get offered a job ten miles away from my family and probably treble salary I would have to consider it.
@paulinboro the difference this season to last when we weren't scoring goals is that our defence is holding firm.
It is about getting the balance between them both.
Stoke took 6pts from 18 in Sept/Oct, dropped to sixth in the league after their good start, had one of the worst goal scoring records in the league, no panic from Robins, keep doing the right things, it will click, now scoring goals, now winning football matches again, now sitting second in the league.
No i dont see us being one of the top scorers in the league but that doesnt stop us winning games.
Some thoughts on the way clubs are run today by Tony Pulis. I found his thoughts interesting and perhaps he was not so old school as we thought. Worth a read, me thinks.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c781v7zz0w2o
Up the Boro!
You are quite correct about fine margins and doesn’t that just prove my point.I certainly wouldn't be classing a game as must win until well post Christmas.@pedro. I agree and felt for much of last night I was watching a MC team performance.
Deserved a point for effort but RE is still struggling to solve the problems we have had for a couple of seasons.
Whittaker, Burgzorg and Silvera are failing to produce and for me we should be looking to try and move on in January; easier said than done.
Saturday is a must win game to stop the downward drift. 😎
I dont think RE is struggling to solve problems, its just the fine margins which he has no control over, penalty/no penalty goes against us ( Again ), Strelec decides to try to go over the keeper which is the usual thing to do, however, the gap is underneath the keeper, Whittaker hits a lovely effort that just goes over the top which if he hadn't caught it as well as he did it goes under the bar, I could go on for ever.
I could understand concerns if we were really not turning up in games but in every game I have seen, even in the last month or so it has been the fine margins not particularly going our way, that will change.
At least thats what I tell my optimistic self.
The bigger worry is the ongoing saga with Wolves, a rumour I heard yesterday was that Edwards has a release clause in his contract.
MC often talked about them but we are still on the wrong side of them and last night was very much in the MC mould, so RE still has a lot of work to do if this team is the real deal.
As Werder has pointed out, our form has dropped off significantly. If we fail to pick up three points on Saturday then I think many of us will feel that it’s going to be another season of promise but failure to deliver. 😎
@jarkko its a good piece jarkko, very interesting, I like his philosophy about the two beds in the injury room, exactly right he is as well.
It makes you wonder doesnt it how much money is being spent on salary's in all of these new departments surrounding a football club.
Since you put it in those terms then the amount of time to consider such an offer would probably be in the region of a a few seconds to several minutes.
In the end, a release clause doesn't really matter, nor do contracts as it's all a matter of money and how much compensation Boro would agree to - plus I suspect the amount of money we're talking about is peanuts to a PL club given they're paying several players close to £5m a year just to sit on the bench.
If Wolves decide Edwards is their man he's gone - he'll be offered a three-year contract on at least double what Boro are paying so the worst-case scenario is he's looking for a new job while being paid handsomely to do a bit of gardening - plus he's going to play the family card to brush off any lack of loyalty criticism.
The question for Wolves is whether he is capable of turning their season around? Though it's hard to see them being in a better position come New Year's day given their fixtures. Not to mention the clubs outside the relegation zone are all averaging at least a point per game with no obvious candidates to implode. So they'll all be on 20 points or more come January and Wolves only have 2 points as it stands. So it's perhaps a job about winning promotion next season in reality.
@k-p-in-spain I’ve got to say those won’t be my thoughts if we don’t win on Saturday. I’m with PJump on this - a different rub of the green and we’d all be smiling still.
Had we started badly this season and pulled things back to where we are now, we’d all be looking ahead to a great season. Just because it’s gone the other way round doesn’t mean we should write the season off.
Football is very much a confidence game - almost all players have skill and ability at this level but those who succeed are often the ones with a belief that they’re going to win. Teams who play well and score goals build that belief but the opposite is true too and I’m not sure where our players heads are at currently - did Conway believe he’d score when through on goal last night? I’ll bet he’d score 8 times out of 10 in training but when we’re producing so few chances the pressure ramps up.
If Strelec could find a scrappy goal from somewhere, if Hackney could get a shot on target, if Conway wins a penalty, then maybe our fortunes will turn.
The Tony Pulis philosophy is now back in fashion - though I think Riley McGree has a bed with his name on it at Rockcliffe...
@presidentjump An interesting article but this quote made me think:
”I worked with some fantastic doctors and medical teams, but they always knew they were working for the benefit of the club and not for the comfort of injured players.”
I think I know what he means but I’m a bit conflicted as, for me, the safety and welfare of (especially) young players must surely be a priority.
Boro popped in the (possibly?) souled out King Power and got wet, wet, wet, but, picture this! Somewhere, somehow, angel eyes shone on (wishing I was?) lucky Luke and love was all around us while there were tears on Marti's pellow. Though quite how was a sweet little mystery.
@werdermouth got to agree. Yes the release clause isnt a biggie is it but guess it just makes negotiations between the two clubs easier, I am thinking Wolves won't want to get involved in any drawn out negotiations.
Time will tell on this one.
yes it is interesting Martin, I guess the PFA also has a much bigger say these days in the welfare of their members.@presidentjump An interesting article but this quote made me think:
”I worked with some fantastic doctors and medical teams, but they always knew they were working for the benefit of the club and not for the comfort of injured players.”
I think I know what he means but I’m a bit conflicted as, for me, the safety and welfare of (especially) young players must surely be a priority.
Some will say though that is has gone too far in the players favour now, well gone are the days when cortisone injections were handed out on the pitch in bigger quantities than lucozade !!
Who would envy RE if a Wolves offer did arise? The thought of leaving a club in the lurch a mere matter of days after one has started working there, especially after said club has given them a tremendous opportunity, a real sense of belonging and the feeling of something developing, has got to eat away at that person. But so too does the possibility of being reunited with one's family, a club they know, the Premier League challenge, greater sums of money and, if I may hypothesise it, a kind of win-win situation - if they keep the PL club up, they succeed, but if not, there's a combination of the parachute payments and room for an explanation that it was expected anyway.
It's never nice to have seeds of doubt sown so heavily but they are part and parcel of the footballing world.
Last night has also given me a chance to consider what I'd call the present reality of REBoro.
That is, we're near the top of the division and we are frequently showing signs of promise individually and as a unit despite apparent incoherence on the pitch, an equally apparent instability in our line-ups and a visible lack of fluidity in our approach.
It's as if I like where we are because we seem to have that repeated sense of something really good being about to happen while something good is already happening. There is something there and I want to see where it goes, despite that frustrating feeling of incompleteness.
I can understand Edwards’ interest in a club near to where he lives but if he is approached and if he did move then he would plummet in my opinion of him.
A person with principles whilst fancying the job would say to himself Boro have given me the opportunity of a job when I was unemployed, I’ve only been here ‘ 2 minutes’ and so I’d be letting them down.
Some will say this is an old fashioned view but it is one I would take.
It seems to me that this country would be far better if people in positions of authority kept to their principles and did what they instinctively know to be right.
Hopefully this is all hypothetical and Edwards will continue as Boro manager and bring glory to the club.
philip of Huddersfield
👍🤔
I like your thinking about the principles Philip. I just hope RE shares it.
@simonfallaha yes, the doubts that arises from potential situations such as these are awful and can be corrosive way beyond a few days if they're not nipped in the bud.
Really, rather than faffing about with his answer, RE should have denied any interest and pledged his allegiance to Boro. That way it won't run on as per Chris Wilder.
And if in a few days, he is appointed the Wolves coach, then what he has said now won't matter as he will be gone. We'll all hate him but it will be cut and dried and history.
That said, I very much hope, but also think, he will stay. It may be too, that Wolves do not have a firm interest in him.
Speculation in the short term can often be as bad as the reality, particularly when we have a run of lots of games in a short period of time. Hence, make a strong statement now to protect the team, regardless of what the club knows.
We know all about "fine margins" at Boro on this blog.
The truth is that "fine margins" are for the teams that are close to being good enough but not quite there. When you are the real deal, the fine margins don't come into the equation often enough to matter.
Boro are a work in progress. That is obvious when you've got a new manager, new coaching staff and a host of new players. Our league position has us comfortably ahead of the curve at this stage.
The trend is down though, with our rapid start now appearing to be the classic "honeymoon period" rather than the new dawn we hoped it might be. Werder's stat from the last ten games shows that our generally wildly pessimistic predictions for the first ten games were not so far out after all, had we taken that honeymoon period into account.
The question is whether the front end will gel over time and then those early season points can really help us in the latter part of the campaign, or whether the current squad and/or tactics will leave us close to being good enough but not quite there. Fine margins.
@rich-llewelyn-evans Memories couldn't help but arise of the McClaren-to-England speculation, frenzy and ultimate appointment that arose during Boro's cup runs in 2005-06. Those were our moments and we should have been able to focus on and enjoy them fully - instead, attention was directed elsewhere when we didn't need it to be.
Other moments? Gazza's arrival in the run up to the 1998 League Cup Final and beyond. Post-Wembley we proceeded to lose our next two league games and it took a combination of an incredible winning run and Sunderland choking at Ipswich to hand promotion back to us. No, we didn't fail on that occasion. But it was a near miss.
@andy-r Fine margins, Andy. One of my favourite topics!
It may sound bizarre but we were only one absolutely needless penalty concession away from what may have been a third Premier League win in five in that dreadful 2016-17 campaign. I recall reading a suggestion somewhere that had Victor Valdes simply hoofed the ball down the pitch in the last minute rather than time wasting, the whistle might have been blown. Instead, he was booked (for something that may well have worked at Barcelona but not at Boro) and Leicester were given a little extra time for one more attack, winning the penalty that need not have been.
Unfortunately, this was pretty much the story of Karanka's reign. "One mistake away", at either end, from the right result. So often. The margins really were fine, but what I really ought to have considered is how low the margin for error was. As it kind of is right now for REBoro.
Absolutely right Si, that last sentence is very meaningful "I really ought to have considered is how low the margin for error was"@andy-r Fine margins, Andy. One of my favourite topics!
It may sound bizarre but we were only one absolutely needless penalty concession away from what may have been a third Premier League win in five in that dreadful 2016-17 campaign. I recall reading a suggestion somewhere that had Victor Valdes simply hoofed the ball down the pitch in the last minute rather than time wasting, the whistle might have been blown. Instead, he was booked (for something that may well have worked at Barcelona but not at Boro) and Leicester were given a little extra time for one more attack, winning the penalty that need not have been.
Unfortunately, this was pretty much the story of Karanka's reign. "One mistake away", at either end, from the right result. So often. The margins really were fine, but what I really ought to have considered is how low the margin for error was. As it kind of is right now for REBoro.
We, me included, all talk about them fine margins, and see it has a potential positive to think about, however, the other side of that is the negative when they dont fall our way which we are now witnessing.
I can understand Edwards’ interest in a club near to where he lives but if he is approached and if he did move then he would plummet in my opinion of him.
A person with principles whilst fancying the job would say to himself Boro have given me the opportunity of a job when I was unemployed, I’ve only been here ‘ 2 minutes’ and so I’d be letting them down.Some will say this is an old fashioned view but it is one I would take.
It seems to me that this country would be far better if people in positions of authority kept to their principles and did what they instinctively know to be right.Hopefully this is all hypothetical and Edwards will continue as Boro manager and bring glory to the club.
philip of Huddersfield
👍🤔
The trouble is, loyalty is a two way street. All managers (and politicians) know that their jobs will ultimately end in failure - no matter how good they’ve been in the role, as soon as results start to go against them, they’ll be sacked.
Personally, I’d be disappointed to see RE leave to go to Wolves but I wouldn’t blame him for taking the opportunity if offered. He’d earn more, be operating in a higher division (albeit maybe temporarily) and be nearer his family. Reading social media (often a mistake) might make him conclude that his honeymoon period with Boro’s fans is over and it’s an opportunity not to be missed.