It's been a first half of Boro not quite knowing how to play without Lankshear as a target but the passing has been too slow and there's not much movement by the Boro players in advanced positions. OK, Strelec may still not be 100% fit but surely if he's 80% fit then he's got to be a better option than Joseph playing centre-forward as he has shown little clue of how to play in that position. In fact I'd put him on at HT and tell him to make runs and hold the ball. Boro need more intensity in the second half as it looks like a nil-nil at the moment. Still West Ham 3-0 down at HT appears to show all is not well! Plus Wolves losing too!!
I would take a point if offered now. Are we going to be a one trick pony?
The Wrexham full back has got ACD in his pocket at the moment. We are also missing McGree and his creativity with the ball. We have been, as KP said, rather sloppy with our passing, Malander and even Morris.
We need to get back into this game because if they score, as they have done as I write this, I cannot us scoring one never mind two.
Thanks. I can usually get Sky + up here in the Lakes, but tonight it’s only showing Bristol City on my ipad. I’m having to listen instead. 🤬
O’Brien is what we are missing in midfield at times
Wrexham goal in the first minute of the second half disallowed for offside. Could've been a Vitek howler....
No changes of personnel yet.
No changes of personnel yet.
Scrub that: McGree, Peart-Harris & Arfsten on for Ayling, Berhalter & Joseph in the 60th minute.
Poor goal to concede and it traveled a long way and passed fairly close and low to Vitek - which seems to be a weak spot for him. a lot to do to get a point as Boro just haven't clicked today.
@stircrazy Vitelli makes up for the disallowed goal by letting another near body ball get past him. Is that about five’s goals he has been responsible for now.
Some familiar frailties on show tonight.
Time to go and put the kettle on.
Tea, Earl Grey, hot...
POOR PERFORMANCE
This was a game which if Boro had played as in recent weeks would have won. But tonight was poor.
Passing, control of the ball, movement off the ball, little goal threat and many more aspects of their performance was poor.
It’s not that Wrexham were exceptional or played really well. They played a steady controlled game. They worked harder.
The question which will be asked is Boro only a team when their star forward plays ? Time will tell.
It is essential to get at least a point in their next game before the international break.
Philip of Huddersfield 👎☹️👎
We have done nothing tonight to dispel the belief that we are over reliant on Lankshear. Bad night at the office.
Well nobody expected typical Boro to show up today with the chance of opening up a 5-point gap at the top. Boro never got going and Joseph exposed as not a viable option - thought Strelec did more in 15 minutes than he managed all game - Conway also had a poor game and even Cozier-Duberry was below par. Perhaps, even worse was Wrexham didn't play well either and just took advantage of poor defending. The other conclusion for me is that Brynn is better keeper than Vitek in my opinion and he's only getting the shirt because of the big fee paid - he doesn't command the box and stays on his line and nowhere near as good as Brynn at distribution.
Poor effort tonight. Big opportunity to create a bit of breathing space at the top of the table thrown away. Lankshear clearly a big miss. Sol Brynn should start at Watford.
I’m not sure that missing WL was the issue. We looked tired and sloppy on the ball. I don’t think we were set up to allow CB and AC-D to attack down the right which is often our must productive offensive area.
The players need to put it behind them and get back at on Saturday.
To make matters worse, Wolves have just scored 2 late goals to go a point behind Boro...
I didn't understand the logic of replacing McGree with Ayling in the starting eleven. It seemed to give Wrexham more respect than was warranted. It felt as though a more gung ho approach could have overrun them, especially in the first half. Instead we handed the initiative over too easily.
That has to one of the poorest performances of the season against a team that has its own injury issues and not in the best form. It will certainly give hope to the other teams knowing that without Lankshear we appear to be toothless.
Although to be fair, the majority of the players on the pitch tonight were really off the pace.
Vitek is not showing to be any better than Sol Bryan, which is a disappointment. Added to the 10 million spent on Strelec and Joseph and there looks at the moment to be not much value for money.
We have more depth than last season, but not in the attacking areas.
Lots for Hellbeg and his team to dwell on before Saturday, because with Lankshear looking more than likely to be missing, he has to solve this problem of being without him.
MotM Lewis O’Brien by a country mile.
Too dependent on Will Lankshear, or…. is overall mentality really more of a problem? Even when our totems have been fit and available in the past, be they Juninho in September 1996, Patrick Bamford in early 2015, Gaston Ramirez in March 2016, Will Lankshear now or more, we’ve tended to “hit the wall” at a point where we really could have pushed on. We have to find a way to stop “freezing” when the magnitude of what we suddenly look like we might be about to achieve starts becoming clearer.
We also have to find a way of properly building confidence amongst those who aren’t “definite starters”. I noted last season that Kim Hellberg relied primarily on a “core thirteen” and is it much different this time? Jeremy Sarmiento and David Strelec can make a difference, and we know it.
We can still say, after this gloomy outlook, that we are still top and that we were going to lose again sooner or later, like all teams do, but I have learned that this reassuring point-of-view tends to almost always follow moments where Boro have slipped up when presented with a golden opportunity. In other words, even if other teams are slipping up too, a setback like this can’t be ignored.
We were really terrible tonight and never put any pressure on an average Wrexham side which grew in confidence as they realised they had nothing to beat. M-0-M was Lewis O'Brien who covered every blade and moved the ball forward at every opportunity, something which we conspicuously failed to do.
The pattern was set in the first half with our attacks continually foundering on the rock of Joseph's inability to offer anything up front.
I was sad to see Berhalter subbed so soon after the interval and the only positive offerings from the second half subs were a couple of tempting balls from Arfsten and the fact that Strelec offered a bit more than Joseph, though that is faint praise. Peart-Harris and Sarmiento offered nothing.
The hope that we now have strength in depth is starting to seem a little threadbare
@martin-bellamy I am not criticising ACB, but tonight Doyle had the better of him. I guess it happens.
Manager of the Month curse taking hold before the announcement....
I refer the honourable gentleman to my previous response regarding Boro and my nervous disposition ………
Historical echoes…
Early November 1997. Boro are unbeaten on the road and have found real form, winning three and scoring nine in three matches. Away we go to a team beginning with W - Wolves - and despite being injury hit we are drawing 0-0 while rivals Sheffield United trail at home to Tranmere and Sunderland go 1-0 down at Stockport. Then in the last ten minutes, a seventeen-year-old Robbie Keane lobs a stranded Mark Schwarzer. We rally, with Craig Hignett coming on, but it’s too late. We lose 1-0, all while Sunderland grab an equaliser and the Blades come from behind to claim victory.
At least we went on a very good run after that though. Same again? We hope.
As many have said we were poor tonight, and most disappointingly lost to a one dimensional side who had up until tonight only won 3 games all season and we couldn't cope with their physicality. Wrexham often took players out after they had played the ball, which the referee ignored as we often retained possession. We created very little going forward, and I am still non plussed as why we pursued Joseph so vigorously in the transfer window. If Lankshear is not fit on Saturday Strelec must start as at least he can hold the ball up.
I’ve said a few times recently that there will be bumps along the way and one definitely came tonight. That was our worst performance of the season.
In every other game, we’ve been good for a half at least but there was nothing from us tonight.
I don’t quite know what happened. Was it the lack of Lankshear? The change in shape? Too many changes? Maybe all of the above combined.
Hopefully we can quickly get back at it at the weekend.
@andy-r I’ve been thinking lots about this, Andy. The lack of Will Lankshear wasn’t the problem but it was a problem - his success along with his absence can send a message to the opposition that we are there for the taking, especially if we don’t score by half time, which was the case tonight. Add in the expectations brought on by that burst of goals and wins, and you likely have the team carrying a weight on their shoulders that perhaps wasn’t there at Bolton. Part of the reason I was so happy that night was also because I was so surprised that we’d clicked the way we did.
The reason we’re feeling the pain right now is likely because this is as Typical Boro a moment as they come. Lest we forget that following that burst of seven goals and two wins in 2014, we went down 2-0 at Ipswich.
@mw-in-darwin We struggle against physical teams, and although O’Brien was my MotM, how he was not booked in remarkable. They only had one booking. Although Pearl - Harris may not of scored when it 2 nil, we should have had a penalty for a blatant push in his back. The Referee gave us nothing. Maybe we deserved nothing.