Been studying the goals of David Strelec from last season in light of Werder's point and - it's a very valid point indeed. The guy's positional sense and physical presence is underrated and I see no reason why he can't be a second choice to Will Lankshear.
My guess is that Kyle Joseph was intended perhaps as a David Nugent type - not renowned for being a great goalscorer but a definite presence and a proven promotion winner.
As a side note, I calculated that wing back Borges had five chances to score against Cardiff. The first one - during the first 15 min - was a sitter, too. I am not blaming him for the dropped two points but just wanted to say we still had chances in the first half, too.
The expected goals (xG) was Boro 2.71, Cardiff 0.85. So, we should have won the whole game by 3-1 in a way!
Shots: Middlesbrough 36, Cardiff City 7
Shots on target: Middlesbrough 12, Cardiff City 3
Shots on target: Boro 12, Cardiff 3
Total touches inside the opposition box: Middlesbrough 51, Cardiff City 13
Goalkeeper saves: Middlesbrough 1, Cardiff City 8
So, there is no denial, that we should have won. But let's move on, these things happen in football and the better team does NOT win always, even if they should have.
We still have two points per a game avererage. So a lot to look forward to. As Werder said, we would have needed Strelec yesterday. As per his appearances at International stage, he is not a bad striker. We will need him when we have three matches per eight days like this week.
I am sure we will be above Swansea in the coming month. Up the Boro!
Last season we could not score sufficient goals and we also made too many individual mistakes.
This season we have improved the goals and could have had more. However what Hellberg has not been able to do is improve the defensive end of the team.
Considerng the money spent in the summer, there are still too many mistakes being made at the back, starting in goal, defenders, and into the midfield.
I won't complain about missed goals we are doing OK. It is up to Hellberg to improve the mistakes at the back, that is what is costing points and ultimately a slide down the table if it is not fixed and we fail to score more than the opposition.
Malanda in midfield is not the answer. One can only ask then, are those possible replacements sat on the bench just not good enough.
@original-fat-bob - If Boro can't keep players in the winter Transfer Window, there will be no promotion!
@werdermouth - I, too, would like to see what Barron and Law McCabe can do. Unless they are given a chance we will never find out!
@werdermouth - My mate suggested that loan deal attempt as we were walking out of the stadium. HH would certainly get into the starting XI but that would be the cheekiest of all cheeky requests.
Re HH cheeky request.
Everton can only say no and we are no worse off. But imagine they say yes...
On the other hand. We would still be left with the problem of finding a full time replacement for next season, so maybe not the best thing to do.
It would have been better to be in the Top Two. But it is within Boro's abilities to get into the Top two on Friday.
I doubt over the longer term that will be achieved by using Malanda in midfield in matches against good opposition. Hopefully the coaching team can spend some time looking at the video of that game and ones before it, and to discuss the best way to use the personnel on the club's books. I have not lost hope that this will still be Boro's season but with teams like West Ham, Swansea and Southampton about, there is not much wriggle room. The coaching staff and the players HAVE to get it right.
@powmillnaemore - No - the important thing is to ensure the team goes up. If that is achieved we can worry about next season in May!
@werdermouth - I, too, would like to see what Barron and Law McCabe can do. Unless they are given a chance we will never find out!
Given that we have had a much better run with injuries than has been the case in other seasons, it is ironic that we have been hit in exactly the two areas that have caused problems.
Strelec when fully fit is an international level player and, in my mind, would be the first choice to replace a resting Lankshear.
In midfield , the perfect reinforcement may well be the injured Pustkas who was brought in to play exactly as the box to box midfielder plus a few goals that we need to reinforce Morris and rotate with Berhalter. Morris can then go back to playing ten yards deeper.
Having said that, if Pustkas remains unfit, I would like to see Barron given a go instead of the Malanda experiment.
Bolton are an all out attacking team and so we have the chance to go into full counter-attacking mood. A win on Friday and we will all be laughing.
UTB
I never realised that Malanda palyed in midfield versus Cardiff. This is what Dom Shaw wrote in the Echo yesterday:
"Sebastian Berhalter looked against Stoke like a player who needed a breather. Fair enough. But rather than a midfield swap, Hellberg started with a back five and had both Adilson Malanda and Luke Ayling stepping up and out. Morris was doing the work of two men and the balance wasn't right. It was particularly strange considering Hellberg had two midfielders on the bench in Myles Peart-Harris and Connor Barron. Without Lankshear in the side, it didn't stick up top."
I admit that the midfield was not correctly set up. And my favourite, Riley McGree was not having his best game either. But I think we played with back three until Berhalter was introdused at half time.
Perhaps we were missing Pukstas and should have tried Barron in midfield from the start.
But that is history now. We need to use the whole squad and I agree with Hellberg, that you need to rotate players all season to be able to use the full squad in April and May, too. The "fringe" players cannot sit on the bench for six months and only then start to play. They would be rusty.
Anyway, we are well positioned and I am already looking forward to Friday. It is a trip to Bolton. Let's hope we continue to play well (or good as many say nowadays). As Dormo said, we could go top or second in the table, if we stay unbeaten.
Up the Boro! The Boro are going up.
Well we have agreed on here with Hellberg that he got is first pick wrong on Saturday.
As I posted earlier, one wonders if he does not really think Barron or Pearl-Harris are good enough to start a game (yet?) The latter has had his chances but not made much of them for an athletic looking lad. And if P-H is starting before Barron, then?
Putskas considering he was match fit he joined us, was not given a chance in the earlier games, and now is injured and is out until after the next International. Is there already a question mark there.
Strelec played four games for Slovakia so must having being doing something right, but we have not seen much of him doing good things with MFC. He comes back with just a “small” injury according to Hellberg, but still no sign of him.
Joseph does not look like a number 9 although he believes that’s his best position. He looked useful though playing on the left, but as long as Conway is fit, has no chance of playing there.
Yes a difficult conundrum for Hellberg. The “reserves” don’t look good enough to start, but need sufficient match minutes to be effective when they play.
"Yes a difficult conundrum for Hellberg. The “reserves” don’t look good enough to start, but need sufficient match minutes to be effective when they play."
Pedro, that's the situation in a nutshell
@lenmasterman And it is not as though we have not paid decent money for some of the new lads, never mind what we paid for Strelec.
Joseph - 4 million, Arfsten - was it around four? At least Berhalter came relatively cheap, but still has to be better. Then of course Sarmiento, looking to offer more this season, but not enough for 3 million. I won’t mention the goalkeeper. Oops, sorry. 🤣
Despite my thinking, I suspect there's very little chance of getting Hackney on loan from Everton - I think they have one of the smaller squads in the PL and Hackney is probably only one injury away from being a starter.
Still, Malanda is not a midfielder, it's not his game and doesn't have the hussle or bussle to compete there - he's the type of player who has a a laid-back style where he looks like he has more time than it seems because he reads the game from a deeper position. We need a busy midfielder to pair with Morris - preferably someone who can break the lines like Hackney could.
@werdermouth - I agree with the points you made in both paragraphs above.
I watched Match of the Day this morning and saw Sunderland play in what looks like the most barbie-esque away kit I can recall - almost entirely pink except for a black front yoke that only seems to highlight the pink collar.
Now I'm not one for buying club shirts but you'd have to be a die-hard black cat to walk around in this number - especially if you don't want being greeted with "Hello Kitty".
But wait, this kit is actually a collaboration between Sunderland and Elvis Presley's estate and is supposed to be a nod to the Sunderland anthem 'Can’t Help Falling in Love' - which he sang 49 years ago (is that a particularly common anniversary?) and the title is written inside the shirt along with Elvis's signature - so nobody knows why you're wearing this pink shirt unless you take it off.
btw the pink and black colour scheme is supposed to be a reference to Elvis's early career - I guess something else you need to explain when asked why an overweight slightly balding man in his sixties thinks he can pull the look off - maybe Sunderland missed a trick not going for a white sequined number with a large collar that most associated Elvis with.
Anyway, Sunderland could end up bottom this evening if Spurs get a point against Coventry - maybe they should change their anthem to 'Way Down'...
It took me all of ten minutes of watching Vitek to see that this was a lad who, in spite of his 6'7'' stature, could not command his box from set-pieces and preferred staying on his line. That was 20 minutes or so into our first home game against Lincoln. And I foolishly and prematurely expressed that view on this forum immediately after the game. A few months on, and that now seems to be the general view. Which raises the question, was he actually scouted, or was he bought on the strength of his stats: the number or percentage of shots saved, clean sheets etc.?
Much the same can be said of Joseph. Even in his brief appearances as a sub it became immediately apparent that he was seriously deficient in the basic skills of ball control. It stares you in the face. Personally, I wouldn't have signed him in a month of Sundays, and I doubt whether the likes of Mowbray, Warnock, Wilder or Carrick would have either.
But he probably has amazing stats in terms of distances run, percentage of shots on target, successful tackles etc. I'm afraid that Cloughie would have cruelly summed him up in three words: "He can't play"
Kieran Scott, Chris Jones and Kim Hellberg are all numbers men. It is an essential aspect of today's game and has served them well. They have all had successes and built solid reputations on that basis. But none of them has played the game at a professional level and they lack the experience and know-how of the five managers i have mentioned above.
I greatly admire Hellberg at both a personal and professional level. He is dedicated and has producing a consistent standard of quality football since his arrival.
When things are not going to plan, however, he can look lost. On the touchline, he scurries around his staff seeking solutions and in post- match interviews his "tell" is a blowing out of the cheeks and an exhalation before any words will come. And when they do they are generally a verbal salad interspersed with some statistics and the promise that the team will learn and aim to improve.
Compare this with the post-match comments of Adi Viveash, when he was briefly in charge. They were models of analysis of the games as they developed and as the tactics evolved phase by phase. With not a statistic in sight.
So I am greatly re-assured by the presence of Adi as the voice of experience behind the scenes. I would be even happier if he and Kim were asked to watch and give the final nod to any stats -supported prospects we are thinking of signing.
It might only take ten minutes.
It took me all of ten minutes of watching Vitek to see that this was a lad who, in spite of his 6'7'' stature, could not command his box from set-pieces and preferred staying on his line. That was 20 minutes or so into our first home game against Lincoln. And I foolishly and prematurely expressed that view on this forum immediately after the game. A few months on, and that now seems to be the general view. Which raises the question, was he actually scouted, or was he bought on the strength of his stats: the number or percentage of shots saved, clean sheets etc.?
Len, Vitek has not shined but has not made many mistakes, either. So a decent keeper, me thinks. But I expected a bit more, too.
About scouting, you should ask the Bristol City fans. I think he was chosen as the player of the season by both his fellow players as well as the fans last season. So he must have played quite well there, I suppose.
Generally we have defended very well recently, but there have been one or two individual errors in defence OR midfield that have costed us goals. I cannot remember any big mistakes by Vitek. Perhaps the only one was the first goal against Cardiff on Saturday.
So, let's just enjoy the ride. We have had the best start to a season this centenay this and last year (first ten matches). So we cannot be too upset.
Up the Boro!
And Vitek is only a kid, and trying to make a name for himself a long way from home. The psychological stresses of a young man in that situation and one in which any error of misjudgement will come under the microscope cannot be over-estimated. So the young man will need a lot of support from us as fans as he develops his craft. Over the longer term I suspect he will turn out to be a really good keeper. But at the moment it isn't easy to discern why we paid so much money for one who currently gives his defenders much less security than they enjoyed with the local lad between the sticks.