@philip-of-huddersfield A good summary of the game. Up the Boro!
Rest in peace Pele.
He was truly the greatest player of my lifetime at least.
Did he invent the over-head bicycle kick? I remember him from that and numerous other stories while playing in the garden with other kids. I never felt good enough to think I am Pelé. I was more often Jairzinho. Pelé was too good.
I really don't remember much about the matches where he played, I think I was too young for that. But he was definately the best ever sports person.
I hope to hear some memories from Ken as he must have seen all the World Cups Pelé ever took part from 1958 to 1970.
RIP Pelé. Up the Boro!
That was a game that I think we won despite Carrick's changes, not because of them. Bottom line though is that we won. It also means that we now have more players proving they are good enough for the first team than can play at once. In particular, Watmore and McGree. Also, Forss is starting to show why he was so highly regarded as a finisher. His last two goals have been Premier league finishes; he know has 3 goals and 3 assists in the 8 games he's started for Carrick.
Crooks "did a job" up front without convincing. I suspect that if we had bought Muniz rather than loaned him, that he would be getting game time but clearly Carrick has no desire to develop him and would rather have Crooks playing that role.
Forss struggled with the wide position. Carrick is clearly keen to see which of his forwards can play wide. Forss seems quite adaptable but, like Crooks, he didn't take up his positions instinctively.
I know we seem nailed on for Barlaser but I think what we miss is the more defensively minded midfield destroyer. Both Howson and Hackney are more forward thinking and we will occasionally let the other team simply run through us.
But 19 points from 9 games. Carrick is equalling Wilder's start. Let's hope that's where the similarity ends.
Since Carrick started, it has been 2,1 points per match. If - and a BIG if - we would keep that average for the rest of the season, it would give us 44 points in the reminding 21 matches. That WOULD make 80 points in May (=44+36). But of course there will be blibs and downhills before the end of the season.
The 80 points is not enough for automatic promotion, but should be enough for the 3rd or 4th position in May.
We might need cover for Hackney and Howson in midfield and solve the Muniz situation during the January transfer window. Before the end of January, I think our best eleven could look like follows:
Forss
McGree - Akpom - Watmore
Hackney - Howson
Giles - Lenihan- Fry - Dijksteel
Steffen
Subs: Jones, Crooks, Bola, Smith, Roberts, Mowatt, Muniz
Up the Boro!
Surely the sending off was a joke! When will referees and linesmen use a bit of common sense? By the letter of the law, the dismissal of John Bickley might have been correct, but although Bickley made a stupid mistake, it was hardly a sending-off offence and full marks to the Blackburn manager for making light of the situation. In my opinion even a yellow card would have been harsh. Boro have been unfortunate in the past when referee’s decisions have gone against them, so I suppose it was a change in fortune that this decision went Boro’s way.
It is hard to say whether the sending-off was a game changing moment, but 1 have to agree with Philip that Boro were lucky to win. I’m fairly certain that if a Boro player had committed a similar offence, the coaching staff and the Boro supporters would have had a lot to say about such a dreadful decision.
Nevertheless the win has given Boro some leeway in the league table, and at this stage I have to admit that a playoff place against Sunderland or West Brom offers an exciting playoff final at Wembley in May. But let’s not get carried away yet as we’re only half way through the season.
My thoughts on Pele I shall share later today.
Sorry Ken I don’t agree with you on this one. Whilst it may have been only a soft hit in the back of the head the laws of the game are quite clear.
Strike or attempt to strike an opponent carries a mandatory Red Card and all players, managers and officials are aware of this.
Perhaps if it hadn’t been the back of McGree’s head the incident may have warranted a yellow card but the objective of the laws of the game is to administer and ensure the safety of players. If other players had watched the incident and no action had been taken then they would have been encouraged to perhaps carry out a similar act with more serious injury and consequence to a players well being.
I saw the incident happen and thought it was quite a thuggish thing for a player to do and McGree could have reacted quite violently which may have resulted in his sending off. I was quite pleased that the fourth official had seen the incident and reported this to the referee who in my opinion took the appropriate action.
Let’s face it we won’t see any more incidents like this and it’s proven to be a warning to all players.
OFB
Sorry Ken I don’t agree with you on this one. Whilst it may have been only a soft hit in the back of the head the laws of the game are quite clear.
Strike or attempt to strike an opponent carries a mandatory Red Card and all players, managers and officials are aware of this.
Perhaps if it hadn’t been the back of McGree’s head the incident may have warranted a yellow card but the objective of the laws of the game is to administer and ensure the safety of players. If other players had watched the incident and no action had been taken then they would have been encouraged to perhaps carry out a similar act with more serious injury and consequence to a players well being.
I saw the incident happen and thought it was quite a thuggish thing for a player to do and McGree could have reacted quite violently which may have resulted in his sending off. I was quite pleased that the fourth official had seen the incident and reported this to the referee who in my opinion took the appropriate action.
Let’s face it we won’t see any more incidents like this and it’s proven to be a warning to all players.
OFB
The most dangerous thing any referee can do is allow any physical contact between players when the game is stopped, there are players out there who would happily go up to an opposition player and give him a painfull blow on any part of his body, knee, foot, face, and smile as he was doing it. The very act of holding the ball looking him in the eye, then throwing it with force is very likely to cause the victim to retaliate, and of course get sent off.
@original-fat-bob I agree with Ken. A yellow would have been enough. Or a strong word or two. Not a red card. Too hard I would say. Up the Boro!
I am with OFB and Plato on the sending off. Yes a soft dismissal but justified in my view given the concerns about head injuries within the sport.
To allow a player to get away with such behaviour is tantamount to condoning it and what could that lead to.
Just glad the fourth official spotted it, reported it and the referee took the correct action.
I am not so sure that we would have got the win without the sending off as we did make hard work of it in the last half hour.
Never the less we managed a win against a bogey team and promotion contender. All in all an excellent result and hopefully one we can further build on. 😎
Ken, it was a deliberate blow to the head and worse still while there was no play in progress. The referee had no option but to dismiss the player. If Blackburn consider it unjust they will appeal and we will see what the panel has to say. If it does get appealed I would be disappointed if the panel did not agree with OFB.
Sorry Jarkko the laws of the game must be upheld especially with blows to the head no matter how slight the damage
It would set a precedent for other petty incidents and potential flashpoints and discipline has to be maintained especially when play has been stopped.
OFB
From the laws of the game...law 12 states:
...
OFFENCES WHERE AN OBJECT (OR THE BALL) IS THROWN
In all cases, the referee takes the appropriate disciplinary action:
- reckless – caution the offender for unsporting behaviour
- using excessive force – send off the offender for violent conduct.
...
Given there was no reason to throw the ball at the back of McGree's head, any effort to do so has to be considered "excessive" and certainly qualifies as violent conduct for me.
I am not aware that Blackburn has appealed the red card, so I would presume they agree the decision was correct.
I was surprised that a red card was shown but agree with the majority that it was justified. I’ve no idea what the Rovers player was thinking when he threw it - I can only assume he was trying to wind up RM. As someone else has said, if our player had reacted he’d almost certainly have got a yellow card as a minimum.
On another topic, I was very disappointed with Jones’ performance. I was keen for him to come on once they were down to 10 men and I thought he’d stretch them on the right. He seemed incapable of even hanging on to simple passes and didn’t help at all as far as I could see.
Has anyone seen the Blackburn goal from the linesman’s view? It certainly appeared the forward was well ahead of our back line and either executed an incredibly well timed run or was more likely offside.
That being said we failed to get a block in prior to the forward shooting and scoring. 😎
@martin-bellamy. Excellent point about Jones, he is presently failing to do the basics and has not moved forward and built on last seasons performances. This is akin to Djed Spence.
I wonder if OFB is correct and his head has been turned by all the paper talk of PL interest. At present I agree with MC not starting with him, he needs to fight to get his place back. 😎
@k-p-in-spain I watched the goal in stop start on the mfc site highlights. There wasn't a great a gle to see it from, but on one angle it does look like the Blackburn player is just level with our last man at the point of contact with the ball as it is passed forward. So, arguably the linesman made a good call.
PEDRO EDSON ARANTES NASCIMENTO born on the 23rd of October in 1940 in Tres Coracoes, Minas Gerais, Brasilia, and known the world over as PELE with an acute accent over the terminal E). Without that acute accent the Portuguese translation would be ‘skin’ which would make no sense at all. The literal translation for ‘arantes nascimento’ is ‘family surname’ or more colloquially ‘nickname’ and was given to young Pedro as a child because he had difficulty in pronouncing his favourite Vasco da Gama goalkeeper’s name, and was teased about it at school. I’m not certain, but the name Luiz (pronounced Luish in Portuguese) and a very popular name in Brazil at the time could be the reason of his becoming known as PELE. That seems to be a logical explanation at the time, unless anyone knows anything different.
His career record of scoring sets him apart from any other player in my lifetime. He is reputed to have scored 1,283 times in 1,357 matches, but even though several of them were scored in friendly matches, his tally of 643 in 659 first class fixtures for Santos sets him apart from any other player in the history of the game. He also scored 77 times for Brazil in 92 international matches too.
It is my belief that he was also the greatest black athlete ever, transcending cricket’s Learie Constantine and Gary Sobers, tennis’s Arthur Ashe, boxing’s Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali, and golf’s Tiger Woods or any other black athlete one cares to mention. Pele played in four successive FIFA World Cup Finals, the only one in which he failed to win was in 1966 which of course England won. It was fitting that he should be remembered by all Premier League and Championship clubs this weekend.
When one reaches my age, I’ve often said that there’s no fun in getting old, but it’s better than the alternative. Now having been a widower for almost 14 years with no children I no longer can agree with that statement. I hope that I’m not being controversial but in my circumstances I would welcome euthanasia at this point in time, but not suicide. We all have to die sometime and when I wrote my eulogy several years ago I was healthy at the time. I finished that eulogy with the words “Don’t mourn my passing but remember me as I was, and let me die in peace.” A statement we generally make after someone’s demise.
Ive never been prone to melancholia, but now realise that the time has come to meet my maker! Is there a better life after death? We shall never know until it happens. But I still ask the ultimate question “ Death, where is thy sting?”
As to the fact that the laws of football state that the sending off was justified, we all know that sometimes the laws are an ass. How many times does one see a try scorer in Rugby League kick the ball into the crowd indiscriminately? If a Boro player had done what Bickley did, I would suggest that many Boro fans would have been up in arms about the decision
The laws of the game look about right to me but it’s how you interpret them.
I didn’t think what Buckley did was reckless or of excessive force. It was just daft. I think if the ref had seen it it might have been a yellow and a stern warning.
What he did gave the officials a decision to make however and he’s a silly boy for doing it. I’m glad it was McGree he targeted and not someone more hot headed. I’m also glad Warnock wasn’t in our dugout as things might have quickly gotten out of hand, especially after the dodgy Blackburn goal.
So I say we were a bit fortunate to see Buckley sent off but he only has himself to blame and well done to McGree for not reacting to the provocation.
Scoring the winner was then a nice piece of poetic justice.
Blackburn Rovers have confirmed that an appeal was made following John Buckley's sending-off against Middlesbrough. It has been rejected by an independent Regulatory Commission.
The midfielder was shown a straight red card for throwing the ball at Boro midfielder Riley McGree and will now serve a three-match ban.
if you look the replay of the accident, you will see that McGree collided with the Blackburn player into his back. May be accidental, and the young Rovers midfielder was stupid to react.
But still I think a three-match ban is a bit harsh, though. Up the Boro!
To my mind, it doesn’t matter what the laws of the game say, if you give the Referee a decision to make then you run the risk of being on the wrong side of the decision.
What Buckley did was reckless in my view and irrespective of the amount of force used was akin to assault, for which the penalty is a red card.
The Referee’s decision has been upheld so clearly that is the governing bodies view of the incident and penalty applied deemed appropriate. 😎
Good results for us tonight, so ending the year in the play off position sixth... 🙂
Good results for us tonight, so ending the year in the play off position sixth... 🙂
I cannot remember the last time when we had the best goal difference of the teams on level points with us. Now five teams including us, have 36 points. And we are top of them all!
For example our goal difference is +12 goals better than Reading have, even we have the same amount of points.
Happy days. Up the Boro!
Good results for us tonight, so ending the year in the play off position sixth... 🙂
Could've been seventh, had not a late penalty by Andy Carroll cancelled out a goal for Norwich by Idah in the 53rd minute. 😉
All teams bar Luton (36 points, GD +4), Millwall (36 points, GD +3), Coventry & Huddersfield have now played 25 games. Boro's opponents next Monday, Birmingham, lost by 0-1 to Hull, this evening, which puts them on 32 points & 30 respectively.
Jarkko was wondering whether Ken might have seen Pele play in every one of his World Cups in 1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970. I don’t think I am quite as old as Ken but I am certainly old enough to have watched the 1966 and 1970 tournaments and I can offer a few observations on them and Pele’s part in them in case anyone is interested.
Great post which refreshed many of my own memories, some brilliant, some traumatic. I still haven't fully recovered from that Germany defeat in 1970.
Great post which refreshed many of my own memories, some brilliant, some traumatic. I still haven't fully recovered from that Germany defeat in 1970.
The 1970 world cup is the first that I have proper memories of. I don't recall, but why was Bonetti in goal for the match against Germany?
@boroexile Thanks for sharing. I only remember the Mexico final. I was about nine years old back then.
But I was able to see Pele in his last finals but always regretted tthat I did not see his earlier World Cup appearances. There were no video recorders nor YouTube back when I was young.
Thanks again. Up the Boro!