@Chris from Barlby - Excellent read from you there, Chris. Nothing for you to be shy about at all. Now it's done and posted, you should feel good about any other Match Previews you may write in the future!
And we are all thinking of OFB and wishing him a very Healhy and Happy New Year. This blog's version of the BFG.
Lukas Engel will leave Middlesbrough after a fee was agreed with Real Salt Lake. The deal could pocket Boro almost £750,000.
Looks like he's been replaced with 20yr old Finley Munroe from Villa.
Munroe spent much of his youth career with Chelsea and may have played there with our other new signing, Leo Castledine.
@malcolm - There is a nice interview with Fin Munroe on the Boro website.
Btw When Andy put out a call for potential volunteers for the West Brom preview to cover OFB, I thought I'd better start preparing something - though thankfully Chris was on the case with his superb debut opener. However, since I'd already entered the zone and rattled off half-a-dozen paragraphs or so, I may as well post them now as throw them away - it may even add some useful information to the discussion (or not). Anway, here they are...
Good man, Werder!
Terrific work Chris. Informative and entertaining. Brilliant work from Werder, too - I smiled when I saw the new picture of KH on the site for the first time - and I continue to wish Bob the very best in his recovery.
A two part post from me tonight. The first part will focus on how I felt after the cup tie at Fulham, and what I think we learned from it. The second part will be what I pretty much always do in advance of a fixture - reflect on previous meetings with the opposition and see if I can find a pattern which hints at what we may well see tomorrow.
Firstly, Fulham... I was genuinely convinced that with the pressure of the promotion campaign off our shoulders, we would actually build on our half time lead, but my theory is that we exhausted ourselves in the first half and the opposition, aided by a home crowd and the quality they had on the bench, took full advantage.
It's a tale of class telling but not without a scare - I would align it with cup ties such as Belgium's 3-2 win over Japan in the 2018 World Cup, Boro's 1-0 win over Barnet in 1997 and Man U's 3-1 win over Boro in 1999. In that it feels like a cup final for the losing opposition and they aren't afraid to give it a go, but the winning team's strengths, namely physicality, experience, organisation, technique and firepower, ultimately shine through.
I've also pondered the question of what a cup triumph or elimination can do to our league form - and the answer to that remains varying and inconclusive, but always interesting. In 1996-97 we saw off not one, but two title challengers in the League Cup yet proceeded to lose the home league fixture that followed not even a week after each triumph (Boro 0-2 Leicester, Boro 0-1 Southampton - and both games felt rotten). The following season we were clearly inspired by our great two-legged triumph over Liverpool but Chelsea were just too good, and two defeats followed to put our promotion hopes in serious danger - thankfully, we pulled ourselves together and made it in the end. (Not unlike what happened post-Charlton in 2016 - what is it with Boro and historic parallels?)
Moving forward in time, we knocked out both halves of Manchester at their places in 2015 without conceding a goal but came a cropper against Arsenal and Everton, and while we continued to look imperious in the league - for a while - after the Toffees match, in the previous season we only won two matches out of eight on the road in between the visit to the Emirates and the play-offs. I've also often highlighted the significance of our 2-1 defeat at home to Burnley in the cup in early 2016 - it wasn't a league game, but it was the first time we'd conceded against second tier opposition in two months, and, more than that, it was the first time Karanka had conceded against - and lost to - Dyche's Burnley, after three straight 1-0 wins. It's like, the cat got out of the bag that day - Dyche could beat Karanka. And Karanka's Boro never beat Dyche's Burnley again. So we really have to hope that losing after taking the lead, as AKBoro did that day, isn't a bad omen for Hellberg...
Now for the Baggies. And, well... I'm looking back many years here. My last visit to the Riverside was actually a 1-0 home reverse to Mogga's Baggies in a game we dominated. Imagine that! And on the road that season against the same opposition, it was a lot worse - we were turned over 3-0 by a Baggies side that seemed hungrier, fitter and sharper, yet somehow finished behind us in the league that season. We'd one more season of the Baggies bestowing painful memories upon us, Chris Brunt netting the opener in a 5-0 reverse at the Riverside that looked just a tad too easy for them. Tie that in with James Morrison clearing off the line in the fixture I attended the year before, and you really feel the pain. But surely it couldn't be multiplied?
Wrong. The 2-0 defeat at the Hawthorns that finally killed off a flat and predictable Boro's slim play-off hopes in April 2010 was beyond dour. The moment the second goal went in, I ceased to care - apathy can really seem like the worst feeling of all. It was, thankfully, nowhere near as bad when we returned to the Hawthorns in 2016, this time in the Premier League - at least we were caring again, for sure - but Karanka's Boro, even though it wasn't entirely clear at the time, were on their last legs. At least the long goalless run against the Baggies ended later that season in a 1-1 draw, before Pulis gave us a pair of wins to enjoy in 2018-19. Dani Ayala's late winner in August filled us with hope in a season where we ultimately didn't make the play-offs.
I guess, since then, it's been mostly positive, with a run of three straight victories for United's new interim manager and one for the Wolves manager. The most recent game carries, for me, joy and pain - joy in watching REBoro, as I call them, click and win, pain in not realising that it would be the one and only time I would watch REBoro live. But on the basis of our current playing staff and how I know KHBoro can perform, I'd like to think we have the edge in this one. Though I am concerned that neither Strelec nor Sene, our scorers in the home fixture, seem to be available.
Here's hoping for a win... and that all this made sense.
Thanks Chris for the opener. Scoring first is the key tonight. Saturday was the first game we have lost when scoring first, and have only won once from a losing position, in KH's first game against Derby. WBA did play on Sunday and went to extra time and penalties so have had a day less to prepare. They have Daryl Dike back from long term injury and in Mikey Johnson have the league's top assister with 9. The referee is Josh Smith whose last Boro appointment was the 6-2 win at Oxford last season. A couple of stats from the BBC:
Middlesbrough have won each of their past four league games against West Brom, as many victories as across their prior 15 matches against the Baggies combined (D4 L7).
Middlesbrough have lost their past two away league matches, failing to score in both. They haven't lost three in a row without scoring since a run of four between April and August 2017.
I am a bit worried about the game with WBA having a new manager and our none scoring striker. I can see one change from Saturday Castledine in for either Silvera or Gilbert.
Thanks for that very interesting retrospective analysis of both post-cup exertions and our historical record against the Baggies. I wonder if the psychological effects of raising your game and confirmation of seeing it being successful inevitably lead to a physical drop in performance as you come down from the high. Perhaps the self-belief from the Fulham performance will make the players more determined that they can succeed this season and more urgently tonight, without having the emotional euphoria of victory to deal with.
There are some reports that Boro may be interested in taking Joel Piroe on loan from Leeds - he scored 19 and made 3 assists last season in their promotion season, where he played in all 46 games - he's also 6' 1", good in the air and is apparently known as a clinical finisher. On the downside he has only played 200 minutes this season and may not be match fit and reportedly lacks pace - however, he sounds like a different type of player to what we currently have and could be a focal point in attack.
@werdermouth A good shout about Piroe. He was the top scorer in the Championship last season.
Elsewhere, Sheffield United forward Patrick Bamford has been named the Sky Bet Championship Player of the Month for December.
The ex-Leeds United and Middlesbrough striker, 32, who signed an 18-month deal with the Blades earlier this month after signing a short-term contract last year, notched four goals in six games in the festive month for United, including a brilliant flicked volley in the Boxing Day game at Wrexham.
I know there have been many Bamford fans on this blog in earlier times.
Up the Boro!
And more importantly, Ex-Huddersfield Town midfielder Leo Castledine, now at Middlesbrough, scooped the player-of-the-month accolade for League One in December.
https://www.efl.com/news/2026/january/16/sky-bet-league-one-manager-and-player-of-the-month-winners/
Up the Boro!
I’m always a bit sceptical about bogey teams and past history between clubs. Why would the fact that we’ve struggled against certain teams affect players and/or managers who weren’t involved in previous games? On the other hand, there’s Bristol City, Blackburn, etc.
Who are the clubs that see the Boro as the team they habitually struggle against? And why do we rarely mention them as being afeared of us in our posts?
@werdermouth Sky sports today report that Celtic are in talks with Leeds about signing Joel Piroe.
Come on BORO.
Always seems to be Celtic interested in the same players that Boro are linked with 🙂
Apparently there could be a problem with Joel Piroe going to Celtic as Leeds and Rangers have the same owners.
Who is that? I guess it must be BlueSun, who purchased Daz from Proctor&Gamble in 2024.Apparently there could be a problem with Joel Piroe going to Celtic as Leeds and Rangers have the same owners.
You know,
Daz for blue whiteness 🙄
...grabs coat and exits, rapidly, stage left
- @powmillnaemore. - Daz/Proctor & Gamble = money laundering?
- Big game tonight in front of the watching millions and I understand Coventry v Boro in a few weeks is on ITV (ITV4 or ITV X ??) so free to view in the UK.
- If Boro could beat a WBA under its newly-appointed manager, it would signal a return to the good form seen in Hellberg's first four games, after turning the tide against Southampton last time out (in the league). Then supporters might well feel confident that the "dodgy patch" after those four Hellberg wins is well and truly over and that a race for the top 2 positions can be undertaken with confidence. And if Coventry or Ipswich show any wobbles, advantage can be taken by Boro .
- A defeat or a draw does not mean the end of the world but would give the other two some respite because a relentless Boro tracking those two teams would inevitably cause some nervousness.
- I hope for a win, any win. A draw would be OK. I will stick my neck out - WBA 1-2 BORO and three points to start the weekend off with a bang.
KH perseveres with TC. Castledine, Munroe & McCabe on the bench.
TC has got to score eventually hasn’t he? I’m really hoping tonight is the night.
To be fair he's getting closer - he at least hit the bar at Fulham...
First of, can just say thank to werder for his parallel Headliner. Excellent as always and a different take.
No predictions, hopefully just to score first, WBA scoring first becomes an uphill battle given our stats.
I would say the team pick shows a defensive line up.
Quote from someone called Pete in Keighley posted in the Beeb's live text commentary in the match:
I hope Boro get promotion, Steve Gibson deserves it.
🙂
After 25 minutes the game plan looks all wrong. Lots of slow possession Carrick style. Easy to defend against. Just put 11 behind the ball, wait for Boro to lose it and then attack at speed.
No chances created.
They look dangerous when breaking fast and at corners.
Need change of style of play
philip of Huddersfield
Boro in the lead: WBA OG in the 42nd minute!
That'll do nicely. West Brom will have to play a little less defensively in the secon half. That shouls make it easier for ua to create more in the way of clear cut chances. Jusy need to keepvthe lid on things for the first 10 mins after the break.
CoB