@clive-hurren Happy travelling to the USA. Not the best place to live at the moment but always interesting place to visit. Enjoy yourselves!
I just watched the Kim Hellberg press conference. He said that Aidan Morris will definately play some part of the game but not perhaps the whole game.
David Strelec is 50:50 to be included in the squad at Blackburn. He is a bit behind Aidan in term of fitness.
So the players missing on Saturday will be Tommy Conway and Ashley Phillips. The latter will not be ready to play yet. He needs a week or two to get ready to play.
With the players we have available, it looks like a cracking match on Saturday. Up the Boro!
Not sure what the truth is, but I have just read that Blackburn have been charging Boro Adult tickets at between £39 and £41.
Allocation of 7.5K, 6000 sold apparently.
I guess Clive may know?
@pedro On the Boro website an adult ticket at Blackburn is £41.50 😱. No longer available on the website so maybe sold out 7,500.
Come on BORO.
Not sure about the prices. I only paid £32 for my ticket, but that’s because I’m a very old codger!
NE link and Boro transfer article from Kieran Scott interview on BBC Tees, for those without access
Km Hellberg confirmed in his press conference that he has heard that around 7 000 tickets sold for the Blackburn match. He did not remember the exact number, though.@pedro On the Boro website an adult ticket at Blackburn is £41.50 😱. No longer available on the website so maybe sold out 7,500.
Come on BORO.
It will be a cracking game on Saturday. Up the Boro!
Thanks for the intro Jarkko. Our record at Ewood is better than our record at the Riverside. We on a two match undefeated run there! As we are all too aware we haven't beaten them on Teesside since 2012.
Each of the two league games between Blackburn and Middlesbrough finished goalless last season, while the past five have witnessed just three goals in total.
Middlesbrough's Tommy Conway has netted four goals across seven league games against Blackburn, his joint-most against any team in his career. His four goals have come from just six shots on target. A pity he will be missing on Saturday. A nice article about him fron the Northern Echo
@mw-in-darwin Yes, that article in the Echo was really nice. The kind of interview they USED to publish in the local news papers before EPL and player control by the clubs.
Also, let's hope we keep the unbeaten run going at Ewood Park tomorrow. Up the Boro!
Tony Mowbray seems to have more injury issues than Kim Hellberg. Here are some thoughts from Lancastershire: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/26482046.blackburn-rovers-injury-boost-middlesbrough-team-news/?callback=in&code=M2MXMDI5YJMTMTFMNC0ZMTRILWEXYJGTMGY3YWQ5ZTY0MDM0&state=1e3bbac396ee4abfa8134db3c8a81846
As a reminder, we have just Conway missing (in light training on grass now) and Ashley Phillips still updating his fitness levels and ready in a fortnight at the latest.
Up the Boro!
This is it! The match day against Mogga's men at Ewood Park, Blackburn.
Really looking forward to an entertaining match. Mowbray said he would ultimately like his team to play like Boro under Hellberg. But he must be more pragmatic as it his first home match after his second coming. But it should be a good game to watch.
Up the Boro!
Yes, starting to look forward to the game now - given Mogga also likes to play football then it should in theory be more of an open game with lots of passing moves. It will be interesting to see who's fit and who's in favour with rumours of a few possible exits to come.
I would imagine McGree and Peart-Harris may have staked a claim to start and possibly Arfsten over Borges - Kante looked busy in Midfield last time out but maybe found it hard against the physicality of Lincoln - as did Whittaker.
Still, Boro have enough options to pick a decent team but need to ensure the midfield is not easily overrun and are able to deal better with a high press. Hopefully a week of training has sharpened everyone up!
Quick question: why do MFC leave it so late to open the Live Streaming option? It still says “coming soon” with less than 2 hours to kick off.
Do those of you with annual passes have to wait too?
From Stephen Killen, "Senior Football Writer" at the Gazette (what's happened to CJ?):
Four changes from the team that beat Lincoln City.
Team to face Blackburn: Vitek, Brittain, Berhalter, Lankshear, Morris, Whittaker, Ayling (c), Peart-Harris, Sarmiento, Arfsten, Malanda.
Subs: Brynn, Jones, McGree, Castledine, Joseph, Borges, Kante, Ibeh, Cartwright.
Good to see Aidan Morris back in the line-up. 🙂
@martin-bellamy. From the MFC website:
When will the live video/audio start before a match?
For weekend fixtures the live streams (video and/or audio) will begin around 60 minutes before kick off.
For midweek fixtures the live streams (video and/or audio) will begin around 45 minutes before kick off. 😎
Off topic, has MC reverted to type? ManU being beaten 2-0 by Hull with 10 minutes or so to go...
Whittaker/Sarmiento combination ... well, well, well
CoB
Dominated the first half and taken a deserved lead but we are still vulnerable to the counter especially when we give the ball away in our half.
Still all to play for and we need Riley McGree to open them up. 😎
For all our domination of possession, we are very lucky to be ahead. Rovers have caught us on the break several times and have missed 5 clear-cut chances. Two bad misses, 2 great Vitek saves and 1 tremendous goal line clearance by Ayling. We look very fragile at the back, and most better sides would have punished us. We must tighten up after the break.
A couple of good saves by Vítek in the first half.
Whitaker still looking a bit light weight and we’re always likely to concede a goal - we need to score again.
Totally dominant and deserving our lead but could be 3-1 down.
Fluent passing football- we have scarcely played better- but silly overplaying at the back have given them the best chances of the half.
Peart-Harris - what a player. Where did he come from? Relatively unheralded amongst our signings, but he looks like one of the best.
We have totally dominated this game , but it remains far from won. Let's hope like last week that the opposition will run out of steam after their first half exertions.
A first half full of paradoxes with Bill's absolute brilliance responsible for us still being in front.
I'll go for 0-3.
How we are still one nil up is beyond belief. Certainly Mr Mowbray will have some belief that his team can draw, possibly even win this match.
Some good football as ever from Boro, but the vulnerabilities are still lurking very much so in the background.
Morris, whilst looking for the ball, looks rusty, with too many loose balls, and too many times dwelling on the ball, only to lose it. Berhalter not it the game defensively.
Nor sure how Hellberg is going to tighten up the team, but tighten them up he must, otherwise we could lose it.
Wow, maybe I should go out & do some shopping during the first half. Delighted to come back & find the score standing at 0-1 at half-time, Sarmiento's maiden Boro goal to boot! 🙂 This is what SK had to say about him in the run-up to the kick-off:
A big opportunity for Jeremy Sarmiento
Jeremy Sarimento gets his first start of the season after replacing Kyle Joseph in the dying embers last week. The 24-year-old endured a difficult campaign at the Riverside last season, but in an interview with the Gazette, published this week, he outlined his desire to kickstart his Boro career.
He said:
"It was difficult. I spent my first half of the season in Italy, and over there in Italy, I basically didn't play much. When I did, I played out of position. So coming in here was tough and I was a bit slow to get ready fitness-wise, and to adapt again But the confidence was there from the staff, from the coach, from the players, which made me feel good.
The games I did play felt good. I'm really happy now that I've done my first pre-season here, and built that fitness. I feel good."
Bugger! Rovers equalise in the fifth minute of the second half! 🙁
SK's verdict on the Boro goal:
Composed finish from Sarmiento. What a goal from Boro.
Morris and Peart-Harris play triangles, Whittaker threads through Sarmiento, it looks for the world that it is a dead ball but the Ecuadorian races on and finishes low into the bottom right corner.
Bugger! Rovers equalise in the fifth minute of the second half! 🙁
And a second 10 minutes later! 🙁 Maybe I should go back to Waitrose...
Well you could easily have predicted this against a bogey team and Mr Mowbray pulling the strings.
Hellberg unfortunately has done nothing to improve the defensive vulnerabilities and it is now showing at 2 - 1
Two subs and Mr Anonymous is still on the pitch.
Two subs and Mr Anonymous is still on the pitch.
Kyle Joseph & Riley McGree on for Peart-Harris & Sarmiento in the 60th minute.