@jarkko " Malanda "- you are right, I got this wrong. Thank you for pointing this out, he deserves better - especially after today's goal 😁
Eventually we were lucky to get a draw from a game we should have won hands down. The Blues offered only effort. They are a team of little quality that we should be beating if we have top- two aspirations. Instead we would have been sent home with our tails between our legs had their keeper not contrived to drop the simplest of balls.
I thought our defence had improved in the first half. In the second, Malanda, yet again, let the ball slip under his feet to gift them an equaliser, and give the crowd something to get behind. And in short order two men left unmarked in the six yard box at the far post from a corner lead to the McGree own goal.
I have to say that our giant keeper becomes an invisible man when it comes to set pieces. He went down under very little pressure for their second goal,. He was beaten at the near post for the first, and soon after remained rooted to his line as a Birmingham forward headed the ball over only two feet out after another corner. Later he opted to punch away a long-range shot he could easily have caught. He also put our defence under pressure with a suicidal pass in the first half. If he continues to remain on his line from set-pieces then he is actually a downgrade on Sol Brynn.
Hard to pick out too many positives today, but Arfsten played very well in the first half, Phillips was solid, Britten showed some excellent footwork, C-B continued to show quality and Ayling remains a talismanic figure in spite of occasional nervy moments.
But the complete lack of cohesion we showed for twenty minutes in the second half and our caving in to the minimum of pressure were deeply concerning.
Both sets of fans will go home tonight disgruntled that their teams had thrown away a game they should have won through their own incompetence.
@clive-hurren Ultimately the buck stops with the Coach and his team. At the moment there appears to be little evidence that they know how to either solve the problem or Hellberg thinks that the stats are saying we are doing is OK.
The big stat is twelve goals against and there seems a reluctance to change the way we play to prevent them.
I also believe that a lack of physicality in the team does not help. We had two CB’s today that are 6’4”+ plus a keeper 6’6”. You would not have known.
@jarkko " Malanda "- you are right, I got this wrong. Thank you for pointing this out, he deserves better - especially after today's goal 😁
Chris, if it's any consolation, your spelling of Malanda's name is probably the commonest wrong version of it on here. Others include "Malandra" & "Milander". I'm so glad Jarkko mentioned it, as it's been driving me mad (it's my professional linguist's background! I was mortified when I accidentally stuck an "r" between the "C" & the "o" of Cozier-Duberry's surname a couple of weeks ago, but didn't notice until it was too late for me to edit it). Likewise the omission of the second "l" in Ashley Phillips' surname...
An interesting comparison of "Lanky Will" & Morgan Whittaker, with the former deemed an upgrade on the latter for Boro:
KH apparently thinks hid team "need[s] to understand game management"...
https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/football/middlesbrough-fc-kim-hellberg-birmingham-city-9106201
Having watched the highlights a case of the same old same old. Just think where we would be if we could defend. One clean sheet in 8 games tells it own story. The second goal was a carbon copy of Millwall's second on Tuesday night. Hopefully the next three weeks will be spent practicing far post corners. Hopefully I will see an improvement in person as I have booked my ticket for the Wolves game after the break.
@mw-in-darwin. Safe travelling and hopefully you have an enjoyable match to see live and they put on a more convincing display than they have of late. 😎