Love this comment from Vic on Twitter:
Collectors item: Bettinelli in rare "saves and clutches the ball" incident. 😀
Someone replied wondering whether Quest would highlight it in this evening's EFL programme. 😉
Boro still alive & kicking at 0-0.
Love this comment from Vic on Twitter:
Collectors item: Bettinelli in rare "saves and clutches the ball" incident. 😀
Someone replied wondering whether Quest would highlight it in this evening's EFL programme. 😉
Boro still alive & kicking at 0-0.
Not any longer - Vic again:
Another soft goal. Mowatt in-swinging corner. Went through porous Bettinelli (1-0, 62 mins)
No wonder Fulham wanted shot of him! 🙁
Akpom replaced by Fletcher, Kebano by Bolasie & Watmore by Britt in the 69th minute.
If Britt's on so we're technically down to ten men. That should make him equalise.
UTB,
John
Vic again:
Daryl Dike cracks home from close range after delightful ball in by Brittain. (2-0, 76mins)
Game over! 😥
At least is shows what a bad keeper we have on loan form Fulham and should dispel any ideas of trying to sign him on a permanent basis ! Betinelli is one of the worst keepers we’ve had for a long time.
OFB
Bloody Bournemouth leading Coventry by 4-1 & they're playing 12 minutes of injury time ... 🙁
Well that was an appalling game and not a game of football as I know it!
How Barnsley have got into the top six playing like that is beyond me. That being said they at least appeared to know what they were looking to do which says a lot more than the Boro did.
Another game where we were poor defending in the second half and clueless going forward all match and got sucked into trying to play Barnsley at there own game.
That was as bad as anything we saw under JW and we were completely without shape, identity or intent. It was more like watching a school kids game of kick and run and all chase after the ball.
I truly fear for next season having seen what has happened since Christmas and it is no good saying it will be fine when the injured players are back as we were hardly setting the league alight when they were in the side.
I truly am beginning to wonder why I bother watching! 😨😎
Since Christmas we've played like a relegation team. We are going backwards at a hell of a rate. The only bright spot has been Hall. I don't see anything that makes me feel positive for next season.
Wish we could afford Darren Randolph back from West Ham I rated him as a keeper
OFB
Wish we could afford Darren Randolph back from West Ham I rated him as a keeper
OFB
I'd be happy with Darren Day in goal at the minute!
I’m not sure where to start with that but I will start off by saying it looked like the beginning of the end for quite a few players and the Manager himself.
One thing I can say with confidence is that I have to give full marks to Bettinelli for somehow managing to earn a living as a Goalkeeper. Based on his performances for Boro a few tassles and a bit of strategic tinsel and I could earn a fortune in Las Vegas as a Burlesque dancer complete with hairy legs, chest and belly button fluff. At Rockliffe it’s seemingly very easy to get away with gross incompetence and fool those around you into believing that you are actually very good at what you do. There again I guess that depends on the senility of who you are kidding.
That was hoofball taken to a level that I have never witnessed before. It was like a cross between a sixth form College game and a Sunday Pub team. I can’t even define it as terrible; it was worse than that and an afront not only to my eyes but also the fans intelligence.
The players were not buying into it and simply looked to be going through the motions with little conviction and no interest. Still, with a contract running out I suppose if you are getting away from this footballing nightmare then it’s easier to just hoof it and play head tennis knowing that next season you will have moved on to pastures new, hopefully with teammates and a Manager that actually play football.
NW is getting away with things at the minute because the fans are absent. If he is still around next season and attempts to play like that, in the process selecting individuals who are unfit to wear the shirt, then the twilight of his retirement after a long career will be an incredibly sad one. The abuse that will be directed at the Riverside dug out for a showing like that next season will make the hurtful end to Mogga’s tenure (ironically at Barnsley) look like a Disney production. I would rather have Pulis back and Bad Guzan in goal than ever witness that farce again.
I have no idea what complaint Warnock was making to the Officials this time as they left the pitch other than arguing that they should have finished it on the ninety-minute mark rather than putting us through those additional minutes of misery. At this stage I think SG and NW need to seriously rethink their plans, shake hands and go their separate ways in the Summer.
Like a fool, I paid my £10 to watch that shambles.
That’s it for me as far as paying is concerned. I think we’ve got a game on Sky sometime so I’ll probably watch that but I’m not paying again.
We were awful today and a lot of players didn’t look interested (again). I’ve no idea why BA played any part, unless it was a punishment from NW, in which case I approve, and Akpom can’t cut it in the Championship.
Today was definitely typical Boro.
I’m watching Hartlepools United who are unbeaten in 13 matches and have the best home record in the division, at home to Notts County who are unbeaten in 10 away matches, on BT Sport and Pools have just taken the lead 1-0. A win will put them top of the National League although they’ve played more matches than the rest of the teams. Still 1-0 after 57 minutes.
Like a fool, I paid my £10 to watch that shambles.
That’s it for me as far as paying is concerned. I think we’ve got a game on Sky sometime so I’ll probably watch that but I’m not paying again.
We were awful today and a lot of players didn’t look interested (again). I’ve no idea why BA played any part, unless it was a punishment from NW, in which case I approve, and Akpom can’t cut it in the Championship.Today was definitely typical Boro.
To me the whole point of giving Warnock another season was so he could build on what he had achieved last season in keeping us up and the progress made earlier this season.
After the January window he now looks like an ageing Garry Monk, no clue on what tactics to employ or who to start and where. The tactics that he has reverted to have effectively alienated him from the fans and I suspect his players.
With a huge exodus impending the big fear now is that we appear to be in a worse state than the mess left after the Woodgate experiment. An even bigger fear is that SG has the reactions of an ageing pugilist and instead of biting the bullet now he will wait until another fortune has been wasted on a new squad assembled by one manager and totally unfit for the next.
Finished Pools 2 Notts 0.
On your earlier recommendation Ken I found a link and watched the remaining half hour of the Pools game and enjoyed watching football actually played on grass and not in mid air.
The standard of Football was a pleasant surprise and Richie Bennett looked a real handful and maybe worth a punt from Boro, he certainly looked more composed and capable than what we currently have. He is thirty years old and on loan from Stockport but I'd pick him ahead of Assombalonga and Fletcher every time. Big and strong and put himself about a bit, chased everything and took the Pools second goal very calm and very accurately.
The problem with unattractive football is that it’s only acceptable if you’re getting good results. We’re not.
That wasn’t unattractive football though - it wasn’t football.
By the way, how have Barnsley gone from one of the most footballing teams under Struber to what we saw today in less than a season?
By the way, how have Barnsley gone from one of the most footballing teams under Struber to what we saw today in less than a season?
In fairness to Barnsley they were dragged down to our level.
RR - Before I read your posts I put a comment on AV’s Untypical Boro blog to the effect that our crowd will rapidly turn - perhaps after a brief honeymoon for Warnock - if we continue to play this dire, turgid stuff and continue creating and scoring so few chances. So I absolutely agree with you. AV himself commented that Boro must get the recruitment right this summer. If we don’t, we could face a major revolt from the fans and, heaven forbid, a serious reduction in attendances.
I’m starting to agree, too, that Warnock’s own position will be in jeopardy, and deservedly, if he doesn’t get us up there and challenging within about 10 games early next season. Like many of you, I have been very disappointed with results and performances since Christmas. This has not been good enough, and any kind of a repeat of this stretch of form next season will obviously also not be good enough, in which case, he’ll have to go. Only Grant Hall has made a real improvement since Christmas, it seems to me, and the 3 loan signings have had little impact. I fear, as someone else wrote, that the gaffer has run out of ideas. I also fear increasingly that we need 5 or 6 new players, not the 2 or 3 that have been mooted so often.
And don’t get me started on Bettinelli. How the hell is he still getting his game? As OFB said, he’s the worst keeper we’ve had for many seasons. Even Guzan was better!
By the way, I didn’t watch the game today, so happily saved myself £10 and 2 hours of tedium and frustration. I did watch it unfold via social media and Sky’s coverage of the 2 goals we gifted Barnsley. Seems like I didn’t miss much.
I think huge questions have been growing since January and the influx of players that should have propelled us have spectacularly underwhelmed and correspondingly seemingly split the squad. Imagine how Johnson as just one example feels after losing his place after his contributions and watching the dross that has replaced him.
The morale and belief within the squad seems to be dropping faster than a Swansea forward in the 93rd minute. That a Manager has seemingly failed to recognise it and at the same time exacerbates it by signing a back up Keeper whose reputation prior to arriving made Bettinelli look more like Bonetti by comparison is very concerning. All Managers fall from grace at some point, unexpectedly Warnock seems to be doing his utmost to lose the fanbase through both his selections and tactics far quicker than most of us had ever envisaged.
Unfortunately the local Paper is doing it's usual spineless smoke blowing rather than calling it as it is to curry favour with the Club. No doubt this garbage will continue until the full vitriol of the fans is felt at a level where it is impossible to ignore and past experience tells us it will be far too late. Warnock joked about fans yelling for his head when he first arrived, all joking aside but he is fast approaching that stage and that's before the fans can even be heard in the flesh.
I can't think of anything worse than the new season starting with a team full of mercenaries and players who are unfit for purpose allied to the current mood of concern unless of course they are all on three year contracts and we know how that pans out.
NW needs to get his head out of whatever dark place it is currently in and start showing that he has a future plan. SG must be under no illusions that what is currently being served up is just dragging us back to the Woodgate/Pulis/Monk twilight zones. We currently have too many players with no future at the club and being honest not many of us would want them anywhere near the club next season anyway. The honeymoon period is over and a repeat of today with mercenaries will not cut it any longer.
Damming report RR of the current situation but agree totally with every word you said.
I watched the game and it was total dirge. Very hard to keep awake.
Listened to Bernie Slavens podcast after the game and he also did not hold back on his opinions. One thing he did say was the lack of serious questions made by the local reporters to NW. One of many examples he cited was the reporters should be asking questions like 'why do you keep on playing Bettineli week after week'
Something seriously wrong at the club in my opinion. After every manager over the past few seasons we end up once again having a big clear out. Apart from players I think there needs to be a massive overhaul behind the scenes. Too many jobs for the boys and yes men.
I don't think we hoofed the ball up field as much as in the previous games. In fact I think we matched them until the howler first goal. That was unbelievable.
And during the second goal Hall stopped playing and was just watching while his man was not and gambled for the goal.
I think Hawson and even Spence played better than recently. Spence won at least four (!) aerial duels was lively.
So actually I enjoyed watching the match until the first goal. Perhaps it helped that we had nothing to lose. No must win attitude from my side.
But of course we lost that was bad. The miss by Saville was costly early on. But the footy was not as bad as in recent matches - or I am becoming used to it 😉.
Up the Boro!
Wish we could afford Darren Randolph back from West Ham I rated him as a keeper
OFB
I'd be happy with Darren Day in goal at the minute!
Think if we had someone like Jim Platt or Steven Pears in goal this season. With Platt, we would be in the top six now.
But the bigger if is if we could attack. It is about 1.2 goals a game now. A bit more than during Woodgate's time but still very, very low. As Malcolm said, this is a constant problem.
Why cannot we find a manager to put creating chances a top priority? Because we are not creating chances, not just missing to score. I am not blaming the strikers only. The chances are missing and we have become a grave yeard for strikers in recent seasons.
Difficult, but up the Boro!
Sorry Jarkko, I thought that was one of the worst games I’ve ever seen. It’s rare that you see both teams playing hoof ball thank goodness but that’s what we got yesterday. Barely any skill or passing on show.
I do agree that we matched them until Bettinelli fluffed his lines. After that they seemed to remember that they had something to play for just as we remembered we didn’t.
I will never get on board with such classless tactics as we have but at the same time I do feel some sympathy for Warnock. Within the financial constraints we have, he’s tried to bring in some width, pace and technical skill in attacking areas but it’s completely backfired and somehow we’ve become more route one than ever and managed to lose some solidity in the process, though the loss of Fry has a reasonable amount to do with that.
I’ve not been convinced with us when playing a back four for most of the season and even less so with Fry out. I think we need a reset and I’d go back to the wingbacks with Johnson restored on the left.
I appreciate that NW doesn’t like it and has brought in wide players but the results speak for themselves.
Just watched goals on quest, the question is how bad must Archer be if he cant dislodge betenelli. In my mind the most concerning thing is we appear to be stuck in some form if ground hog day, at the end of the season for a number of years we have been saying we need a clear out and a total rethink. There is something rotten in the kingdom of Boro I tell yeh. Apologies to any Shakespearean scholars.