I loved that P-N - it’s hard to come up with something new as a starter and I’m kicking myself that I’ve never used your cooking analogy. Chef’s kiss to you! 

Thanks Powmill for that Michelin-style treat. Less a starter, more a sumptuous main course.

I saw the Norwich - Birmingham match and the Canaries were outplayed for almost the whole of the first half, but went in 2-0 up, courtesy of two excellent strikes. The pattern of the game was similar to the Boro-Palace game which surprised me since I expected Norwich to be very much on the front foot as they had been when they demolished Burnley in the first half of their previous home game. 

My pre-season expectations were that Norwich would continue their fine form from the end of last season when they pulled themselves up from being possible relegation candidates to just missing out on the play-off places.

However, there was little evidence of free-flowing football from Norwich as they spluttered their way through most of the first half with a succession of misplaced passes and poor control. But they did score two excellent goals via a long-range strike and a well-worked pull-back from the right wing.

Birmingham came back with a goal in the second half but the Canaries held on.

So I expect Boro to be on the front foot for much of Saturday's game but Norwich can be lethal on the break.

Boro really do need to turn their territorial advantage into goals. So no change there then.

We have to shoot on sight rather than endlessly recycling the ball and play with two wingers who are interested in getting to the bye-line .If we don't, we may be looking at a similar outcome to the Palace game.

Still I'm hoping for a reasonably comfortable 3-1.

 I have deliberated, cogitated and digested and judge that Powmill has delivered a very tasty entree  indeed and I am now hoping that Boro can find the recipe for a main course to match that quality! A great piece of work, thank you.

I will be going to the match and I don’t want to hear the Canaries singing and that the lions in red will be able to keep them quiet and knock the stuffing out of them. That said, I am sure that hot off their win midweek they will want to carry on carving their way up the table and Boro will have to be on the boil from the start and get at them without leaving ourselves open at the back.

Let’s hope that KH has worked out what his best starting eleven and formation is now that all the new players should be fit and integrated into his way of playing. 

Looks like it will be a full house again and I am hopeful of seeing another Boro victory although I don’t want it to in the dying minutes as in the Lincoln game so for me it’s 3 0.

Thanks for a tasty opener Powmill. I think that this will be a good test against a good Norwich side that has a number of pacy players. Apart from Mo Toure they also have Andre Brooks who played really well against us last season for Sheffield United. Mo Toure and Slimane were both rested for the Birmingham game. Toure has scored more goals in the Championship since his debut in February than any other player. He has 12 goals in 16 matches. He is one of Australia's refugee footballers. Born in a refugee camp in Guinea, family displaced by the Liberian Civil war, and moved to Australia with his siblings. Referee is Adam Herczeg, whose last Boro game was the last home game of last season when we won 5-1 against Watford. Any chance of a repeat on Saturday? I doubt it we possibly may have to settle for a draw.

I'm trying to decide if I would happily take 7 points from the three games before the break? 

Haven't quite decided yet but three points against Norwich would be a great start.

UTB

Many thanks Powmill for that beautifully prepared delicious starter - we can only hope Boro are cooking on Saturday and Norwich get their just desserts...

If Hellberg's team play anything like the first half against Palace then it should be a feast to savour!

@Exmil Further to our depate about the transfee fee of Hamilton from Man City to Boro

According to FLW, he joined  Middlesbrough in the summer of 2024 for an initial fee of £2 million, potentially rising to £3.7 million with add-ons.

so I think this explains the two different fees mentioned recently.

Up the Boro!

Many thanks Powmill for a feast of a starter.

I don’t know why but for some reason I have an uneasy feeling about this one; I think the palace result has dented my confidence and fear another season of trying and at times failing to beat teams who defend in numbers and then catch us on the break.

Fingers crossed that I will be proven wrong. 😎

A recipe P- N, worthy of a tasting on Master Chef the Celebrities.

Well, what a week. It started with a nervous win at QPR, followed by a lesson in finishing against CP and will end (yes I know that will be 8 days) with a flying visit by our opposition from the South East. Let’s hope that they return against a head wind.

Thanks for the heads up from MW on their players to watch. 

My continuing concern is our failure to play well over the majority of the game, and not literally a game of two halves. Dispite the better in depth squad this season, we are still struggling to press for say 60/70 minutes. We are creating chances, are high in the shots league, but unfortunately not in the quality standings. Goals count.

Can we keep a clean sheet? I very much doubt it, given MW’s post.

Can we score more than them, given they are defensively vulnerable

I have just enjoyed five days in Prague seeing their delightful city. We also sampled their own food, filling but tasty. However will P - N’s recipe be as tasty as the Czech food or will we be still spitting feathers at the end of meal.

So all teams know how Boro play by keeping possession, having lots of passes and attacking predominantly through the middle of the pitch.

For their part, teams need to have 10 players behind the ball, keep their concentration and formation and wait for opportunities to catch Boro on the break.

When Boro play well and win they deserve the credit. When it’s not working  we need an alternative way of playing preferably with wingers and moving the ball much quicker. So far this hasn’t happened and I feel if the coaches don’t have this  plan B and other plans then Boro won’t be successful.

 We saw this play out against Crystal Palace.

if Boro can’t adapt then I feel supporters  will become frustrated  and the success they crave will not happen.

Obviously , it is early days and these comments can be interpreted as too pessimistic so let’s hope tomorrow is the start of a new era.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow 

Philip of Huddersfield 🤔🤔🤔

In all my time supporting Boro, Tony Mowbray is the only manager I can recall that wasn’t accused of not having a Plan B. Even the relatively successful ones like Karanka were charged with it.

Of course in Mowbray’s case he was accused of overthinking, not knowing his best tactics and worrying too much about the opposition.

A quirky taster, Powmill, but very different from Len's.  Thank you.

The Hammers back on top of the table after thrashing Wrexham by 6-0 at the London Stadium:  SIX different scorers, the first of them Jarrod Bowen, who also assisted Mavropanos' goal.   

Powmill, was that you by any chance sending bonny pictures in to BBC Breakfast weather broadcast the other day?

Thank you Werder for resetting my password, I can finally join in again.

Morning from Bergen. I’m still negotiating with Mrs B to allow me back to the hotel to watch the game at 4pm. Heavy rain is forecast later which may work in my favour! 🤞🏻

@peasepudinperth 

Welcome back and glad you found my belated email sorting out your password!

@stircrazy 

Yes West Ham certainly look like they're starting to get their attacking prowess together in the Championship - still if Boro win their next two games in hand they will be 2 points ahead of them so it will be a big four days ahead.

@andy-r 

It's a bit annoying that Mogga's only win this season at Blackburn was against Boro - so I'd put that down as 3 points dropped by Hellberg in a game that they should have won by half time.

@werdermouth    Yes a big three points dropped. Let us hope that we do not replicate last season in dropping points against teams we should of been home and dry by HT.

Hellberg still has to convince me on certain aspects of his game management. 

@pedro 

I echo your sentiments about two good halves. Since KH took over we have only won both halves three times and none of those this season, except Donny in the cup. That's 38 league games. I think that the pace of the Canaries forwards might be too much for us to cope with particularly if Brittain and Borges go forward and there is little cover.

Thank you to all the Diasboro food critics for the kind comments on my quirky openner. Needless to say, now I have had the time to sleep on it a couple of nights, I have thought of several refinements, but too late was the cry, those canaries have now flown.

Peasepud, glad to see you back in harness and no, that was not a weather picture from me on the BBC. Was it someone adopting the same monicker, or just someone from Powmill?

That was a serious shot across the bow for all the Championship teams last night, not just a lesson for Hollywood. Clear to see why most entries to COTS this season have West Ham right up there.

Re Boro and the Jekyll and Hyde approach to the two halves in a game. I agree it is clearly something to call out and to be addressed. However, I am still patient enough and hopeful enough, this will be fixed as the large number of incomings continue to get to know each other's games and how KH likes to play. Remember the Hammarby supporters reassuring us that the great first half performances would, in time, be backed up with great second half performances. To stick with my cooking theme, I believe he has all the right ingredients now, and under him it should be a recipe for success. Let us see how things stand in another couple of months.

I am sticking with my 3-2 prediction for what I hope is an enertaining game all around.

CoB

@mw-in-darwin - personally I wouldn’t play Borges today, I think we need to be a bit more defensively minded and stop standing off so much to give the opposition space.

Anyway, that’s me hitting the road now to get to the Riverside in time for kick off.

UTB

@mw-in-darwin   I wonder if three at the back would help contain Norwich a little. Phillips, Malander and Borges

Brittain and Joseph as wing backs, certainly to assist the former who has been exposed at times and has had the tendency to back off his player.

I think McGree will be in the line up, obviously Lankshear, Morris and Berhalter and one place left? 
Cozier-Duberry?

Of course against most wishes on here, a back four with a midfield three including Malander.

We certainly need to be focused, no messing around in-front of our “D” and we need the midfield to be on their game.

Today’s team. 

Three changes in the starting XI from the last league game - Cozier-Duberry & TC start:

I tried accessing the site a few minutes ago and it wasn't working - though it seems to be now - could've been a temporary problem at the hosting end as they often work on servers at the weekend.

So if anyone else has problems then I'd suggest waiting 5 minutes and then do a hard refresh of your browser (i.e. holding ctrl and pressing either refresh button or F5 on a windows machine - on mobile phones it's a bit more complicated so the easiest way is to restart the phone)

Flat back four it looks like.

So can Brittain and Borges cope?

Can Morris (who had a fitness test an hour ago) and Berhalter win the middle.

Up front we have to score more then them.🤣🤣

@stircrazy 

That may well be Hellberg's first-choice XI but I notice Sarmiento is back on the bench should Conway prove to be too predictable on the left.

Posted by: @werdermouth

↑

I tried accessing the site a few minutes ago and it wasn't working - though it seems to be now - could've been a temporary problem at the hosting end as they often work on servers at the weekend.

So if anyone else has problems then I'd suggest waiting 5 minutes and then do a hard refresh of your browser (i.e. holding ctrl and pressing either refresh button or F5 on a windows machine - on mobile phones it's a bit more complicated so the easiest way is to restart the phone)

I had that problem when I tried to post the starting XI, Werder.  Firefox kept telling me the server was taking too long to respond, so the attempted connection timed out.  I think I must have waited good ten minutes before I succeeded.  Thanks for the tip.