Werder
I have left you an e mail re-my posting the Palace preview. Could you please check your spam as I need to post it today. Many thanks
I received a mail from you yesterday morning, which I replied late yesterday evening but I have no other mail from you since then - I will be out today from 14:00 to around 20:00 if you send your preview and can post it when I'm back.
Quick observations from yesterday, where I was celebrating Will Lankshear’s goal while walking through Edinburgh Castle and later nervously refreshing my phone while my other half was browsing in a vintage shop…
MINUSES
It seemed like a familiar story of hanging on following an opening where we couldn’t put them to bed. One must be wondering when, or how often, we’ll get two good Kim Hellberg halves.
There also seemed to be a handful of injuries during the game - it looked like the win came at a price. I was having uncomfortable memories of the Sunderland home game from 2007 where we lost almost our entire front line to injury and conceded a late equaliser.
And seeing Burnley choke against Bristol City like they did made the midweek game feel like a real missed opportunity.
PLUSES
The primary pluses seem to be the contributions of Lankshear and Radek Vitek, echoing Manchester United’s own No 7 and No 1 in 1995-96, Eric Cantona and Peter Schmeichel. In that even if the team is spluttering the win can still be theirs if the main men produce the goods.
IN BETWEENS
Some might ask if a thickness of the upright was the only difference between this game and Burnley, with our gaps in midfield (I’ll address this at another time) still noted. In response to this I would suggest that I think Roy Keane was right when he said that you make your own luck but you still need a few breaks, the kind that Tommy Conway didn’t get when he hit the inside of the post against Southampton last season.
That, and one point off the top following a victory away to a rival and with more than one opportunity to go top ahead of us? One might think that we are being very nitpicky and unfair. But as I’ve learned, it’s only easy to go with the “so what, the numbers are the right ones” narrative when you’re not watching, or experiencing it in real time with our level of emotional investment.
As always, some very good reasoned posts, with Si's as ever.
However, along with the issues most have at the moment, defensive midfield and the defence at times, my big concern is still upfront.
Lankshear is on fire with respect of goals per games. But, all forwards have spells where they do not score.
Who is going to step up and fill in any gaps. We are probably creating sufficient chances to win games, but they are not being converted.
As KP mentioned, Conway needs to do more with 12+ even from the left. Will Strelec even get the chance to get on the pitch long enough. Will Joseph (who was bought to add goals) contribute 10+
At the moment we look short in that department. Hopefully Cozier-Duberry may make a difference.
Dael Fry in the bench at Birmingham (vs Wolves). Current score is 2-2. Chris Davies sent on three subs in the 82nd minute. None of them was Dael.
Does the tone of this BBC article ring any bells?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c17jr44d7kro
As a side point, does anyone remember Micah Hamilton anymore? He was a 3,5 million GBP purchase from Manchester City. So we paid much more for him than we paid for Morgan Rogers (about 1 million).
Micah has a contract running until June 2028.
Here is an article on him. https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/hes-clearly-doing-something-wrong-sadness-expressed-over-2-million-middlesbrough-flop-hamilton/
But there is no answer to his problems. There aren't any teams wanting to take him on loan or signing him permanately. I feel sorry for the 22-year-old lad.
Up the Boro!
@jarkko We paid £2m (probably spread over the length of his contract 4 years) not £3.5m, it is even stated in the article you included, according to capology he earns £7500 per week without bonuses (which he won’t earn) which equates to £390,000 per year, I think the only out for him and MFC is if they can mutually agree to terminate his contract, I don’t think his agent can find a club willing to take a chance on him.
Come on BORO.
@exmil I took the fee from Transfermarkt. They say the fee was €4.10m. I converted that to GBP.. Sorry if I made a mistake.
The same web site says he has a longer contract than the article, too. I prefer info on Transfermarkt, though.
https://www.transfermarkt.com/micah-hamilton/profil/spieler/652797
Up the Boro!