Well Boro continued where they left off against Hull with another performance that lacked any coherence or energy - though in many ways this was even more disjointed, which was hardly surprising given half the team were playing out of position with a left back in central defence, a central defender in midfield, a midfielder at right-back, a left-winger at full-back and a centre-forward playing wide left.
No surprise that the only Boro man who proved to be able to find the net was Jordan Hugill for QPR, who hit a sweet half-volley to make it 1-0 after half-an-hour - which was so unexpected that he pulled his hamstring and had to leave the pitch.
The game just drifted and drifted and even the arrival of fresh legs didn't provide many fresh ideas for Boro. It was a game Neil Warnock's men needed to win if they are going to escape the drop zone. On this evidence there was no sign that this is a team that has much of a chance of achieving.
Anyway, give your thoughts on the game - though deep breaths first...
Very disappointed in Warnock for his team selection and tactics and appalled at the apparent lack of interest and commitment shown by the players especially in the first half. They looked like a group of players who have given up and are just going through the motions. If the manager gets the team selection wrong and the players don’t care then the club is for sure going down and God knows what will become of MFC then.
Mr Warnock is a very experienced Manager, but has really surprised me with his selections and tactics.
OK, Neil Maddison defended him by saying he has only been here 10 days. But he and his team have all the videos to watch and the story they tell.
Roberts continues to flatter only to deceive, Morrison did absolutely nothing, yet no Tav. Yes he may have his limitations but he has pace and passion.
Our midfield did not exist, never winning the second ball and every game you see how we are outpaced there.
Millwall next and a certain defeat. Where we will pick up any points to save us, only god knows. I can only see a bottom three place. A miracle if we are third from bottom and very lucky if Wigan are docked 12 points.
Disjointed, demoralising, desperate debacle of a defeat.
Please Mr Warnock, do not try something so nonsensical again.
Friend and Fry are not a dominant enough pairing at centre back. Moukoudi is not a midfielder.
We have wingbacks with pace in the squad and some useful attacking midfielders/no. 10s in Roberts, Wing and Tav. Please use them in their best positions.
Agree with that summary, Werder. Warnock picked a team who were largely strangers to each other, many of them playing in unfamiliar positions. And didn't they perform like a team that has just been introduced to each other in the changing room? No synergy, no little combinations, no instinctive understanding of each other's play, no well-rehearsed moves, and with Tav who has shown some form, initiative, goal power, pace and who has a terrific engine, introduced on 80 minutes, and stuck out on the wing.
At this rate, with the manger as unfamiliar with the history and qualities of his players as they are with each other, it's hard to see where the next point is going to come from.
A miserable day all round, and an even more miserable future in prospect.
I’m afraid that was a performance that had relegation written all over it. Warnock might well have told a few more to go home, as he did with Gestede, given the lack of passion, effort and commitment on view today. Take Assombalonga, for instance - he barely got out of first gear. And he wasn't alone. We very largely let QPR dictate the game, and they were very comfortable.
I thought that NW had got them to turn a corner at Stoke, and that we would continue to see typical Warnockian drive with maximum effort. That certainly wasn’t evident today. Where was the high press? Where was the energy? Where were the get-stuck-in challenges? Apart from the bizarre team selection, that lack of drive for me was the most worrying aspect of today’s game. If we don’t fight till the last in the 5 remaining games, we are doomed.
Well the new manager bounce lasted one match and then back to business as usual. To me it looks as if some of the squad have decided that they will be relegated and are just going through the motions whilst their agents try to find new homes for them, as I can't see the likes of Fry, Assombalonga, Fletcher, Saville and McNair staying or that we can afford them in Division 1.
Very disappointed in NW's team selection and that he failed to put square pegs into square holes. The team was crying out for a back three of Shotton Fry and Moukoudi, with pace in midfield supplied by Coulson and Tavernier. Unfortunately there has not been any improvement over the three games that NW has been at the helm and it is beginning to look as if this is a challenge too far.
It also looks as if Jonny Howson could be captaining a team of kids next season, as the fat lady is beginning to warm up. Just how did we get into this situation!😎😲
Well in some ways that was as shambolic as the swansea game, hope has left the room and glued the door shut, will we score another goal before the end of the season? I have my doubts. I think we are certainties to go down now, the players are well I dont know.
A lot of fans are calling for Gibson to go again, but who would buy the club nobody with an ounce of common sense, it all looks very gloomy.....
That has relegation written all over it. If Woodgate had picked that team and formation we would all be shouting for him to be sacked. The performance was that of a team that goes out expecting to lose. I really have no idea how we get out of this now. Blind luck and ZWigan getting points deducted. I even wonder if we'll see 1 or 2 other clubs fold next week.
Well, where I am, the rain has stopped and the sun is shining! Back in Boro land the dark clouds have intensified and there is little sign of the sun returning anytime soon.
The only positive is that Hull lost so that the gap is still only 1 point. And yes I am clutching at straws but one has to in this situation.
A poor performance indeed and unless NW is truly a magician on a par with Houdini, then we will not escape the drop. I fear that even with Wigan being docked points, which may or may or not happen(typical Boro would see extenuating circumstances applying) then League 1 here we come.
I really hope that I am wrong but better to set expectations low and be pleasantly surprised rather than the other way round - years of supporting the Boro tends to help!
Luton v Barnsley needs to be a draw and everybody else to lose and for Boro to get a point at Millwall as a minimum - and even then........
Time to open that Malbec now!
UTB
We have good players but they do not know how to play as a team. I think the team has lost its self belief and they look like strangers to each other.
I think the performance was worse than at Hull. And nearly as bad as versus Swansea.
If it is a confidence thing, Warnock still has a chance. As he has said, everyting must be simplified now and confidence must be built. Easier to say than done.
I have been slightly disappointed with Tav most of the season, but at least he is trying and often demanding the others to press. We really lack a midfield general in there.
I think Luton, Barnsley and Wigan will be relagated. But we will be fourth from the bottom.
Up the Boro!
I might be losing my mind but I do think that NW will keep us up. He has been here only 10 days, had to get to know all the players quickly. He has used different line ups and a lot of players in different positions. I think his tinkering etc is over and he will know now who is going to go the extra mile for the club. In the last few games we will certainly see more aggression and fight than we have seen so far and less strange line ups.
@malcolm he desperately needs to know and understand his players and there aren't enough games left to do that.
I doubt anyone in the Club is brave enough to give him a warts and all appraisal on the squad and their strengths and weaknesses. Warnock would be better off looking on the social media fans sites to find out the truth about his charges.
Afraid I see the death wish when I see same old same old!
Just a few points.
We have the bottom of the league blues, why? Simple, we can't buy a goal.
Now let's see, we have as our means of scoring, one Britt. Has not scored for six months, and counting (forget the penalty, they do not count).
We pick him, even though he is too short, too fat, too slow, never puts others in (too Keen to reach his average number, that would be about 8,strangely, is very poor in the air, and that also puzzles the Manager.
We stand about when the ball is in the box(at both ends)
There is a solution to this problem, why not count up the goals and attempts plus thinking outside the box, plus running at the opposition, you know football that has been played this season.
Fortunately there are stats available, they show that Tav. Wing, and Fletcher are our best chance of knocking a few goals in, they are also entertaining, which might help.
It is time to play them and tell them that they are ever presents to the end. This would stop dead the clowning about such as leaving Britt on when going for bust at the last twenty. It isn't funny, never has been funny.
Oh! One more thing, out keeper has cost us dear the last two matches, the goal today was down to him, he saves that on his line.
The last match he stood to one side of his goal at the free kick. Three points down the chute.
I’m afraid Warnock’s selections have got worse each game so far. I can only assume that we have a number of players that are much better in training than they are in matches.
Friend is a great pro, has been fantastic for this club and a superb value for money signing, but his playing days finished some time ago (Shotton is a great pro as well by the way). Johnson is not up to it I’m afraid, certainly not in a back four (though I accept that we don’t have a true left back at all). McNair, I feel, has a strange quality of looking decent but somehow unsettling the midfield around him - we never look balanced when he plays and I’m not sure what kind of midfielder he is. Assombalonga doesn’t offer enough and, in truth, has been every bit as poor a value for money signing as Saville, for instance. Morrison and Nmecha have added nothing I’m afraid and could be told to go back to their parent clubs for me.
We do have some players to work with. Fry, Spence, Coulson, Wing, Tav, Roberts (whilst we have him) and Fletcher are enough to build a decent side around (Wing appears low on confidence just now though). We need some experience and leadership to guide them, and we need to make the most of their qualities by playing to their strengths. I would add Howson as the sort of experienced guy who can help there and is still plenty good enough to play (though not today).
Warnock needs to start making those ruthless decisions now. I think it starts with having a word with George and maybe Britt too.
Spot on from AV and echoes of Werder’s (and others) posts above.
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/no-urgency-no-tempo-no-18546692
Well most expected that the opposition would unsurprisingly play like Rangers but possibly even less surprising was that Boro yet again played like strangers. It wasn't the reaction from the Hull defeat that most were looking for and once again it was typical Boro that allowed another team their first win since the restart.
Still one man who is well acquainted with these kind of Boro displays is here to tell us how he witnessed another identikit performance that was for much of the 90 minutes almost criminal and I'm sure based on this evidence most judges will be tempted to send us down - it's Redcar Red and his match report...
Thanks to RR who yet again manages to write a report which is far better than the football on display.
i think the final paragraph sums it up, too many players who don’t give a damn and depending on what deal NW is on, that could include him. I hope that SG has built in onus for keeping us up, otherwise appointing him was pointless.
You would think that a manager with his experience would be able to see the issues and correct them although the indications are that NW may be last his sell by date. I had really thought that he could do the necessary although I am starting to question my faith.
Time will tell and let us hope that by Wednesday afternoon, NW manages to make a silk purse out of a sows ear with Boro taming the Lions in their den.
UTB
Thank you RR for another great report with warts and all about another poor performance, I enjoy your reporting and contributions which spell out the truth that we want to hear.
What good fortune that there are no fans in the ground, if they were that would have been a truly awful day at the office for everyone and the fans.
I don't understand the team selection, does everyone who selects a Boro team inhale something as they enter the club, a something that gives them a strange hallucinogenic insight into an unreality? Mystic Meg could do better. Square pegs, injuries, call it what you like but please put the best players that aren't injured in their best positions and do the fill-ins afterwards, it's like watching Danny Kaye's vessel with the pestle routine at the palace.
Mind you they play in a manner that shows their interest is at about the same level as mine and probably as that of a lot of supporters. Blunt talking needed with those players.
I don't share the optimism, if you can call it that of those who think Boro will stay up. The fat lady is gargling and doing her scales.
AV summed it up adequately.
UTB,
John
Well I got that wrong. I can’t see Boro staying up now unless they can somehow catch Hull. If Wigan maintain their pre-Brentford form I reckon they’ll make good the 12 points deduction as 3 of their matches are against Barnsley, Hull and Charlton, plus home matches against QPR and Fulham, the latter already having gained a playoff place by then but below Leeds, West Brom and dark horses Brentford. I can’t see Boro reaching 50 points now unless they win at a soulless Millwall and beat an out of form Bristol City. Incidentally I wouldn’t be averse to Boro appointing Lee Johnson as manager next season whichever Division Boro play in. At 39 years old he is a year younger than Jonathan Woodgate but with much more experience.
Thanks to RR who yet again manages to write a report which is far better than the football on display.
i think the final paragraph sums it up, too many players who don’t give a damn and depending on what deal NW is on, that could include him. I hope that SG has built in onus for keeping us up, otherwise appointing him was pointless.
You would think that a manager with his experience would be able to see the issues and correct them although the indications are that NW may be last his sell by date. I had really thought that he could do the necessary although I am starting to question my faith.
Time will tell and let us hope that by Wednesday afternoon, NW manages to make a silk purse out of a sows ear with Boro taming the Lions in their den.
UTB
yes, NW got it wrong today but whatever he does he is on a hiding to nothing. It’s difficult to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear when the problem is that the terrible decisions of the club management over recent years has turned a silk purse into the sow’s ear that NW has inherited.
yes, NW got it wrong today but whatever he does he is on a hiding to nothing. It’s difficult to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear when the problem is that the terrible decisions of the club management over recent years has turned a silk purse into the sow’s ear that NW has inherited.
Agree - there would appear to be a deep rooted problem within the club that has been developing for some time now. Goodness only knows where it stems from - answers on a postcard to Mr S Gibson............................. hang on a tick, he may be the problem?
As others have also said, I cannot believe that SG would allow the same issues to be prevalent in the running of BulkHaul - so why does it happen at the football club?
This may sound strange, but I would bring in Mogga after the season is over. He stabilised many things behind the scenes after Strachan had abondened the reqruitment department, for example. He did not have money but still bought wisely.
Bring him back as a manager or Director of Football. But he knows the club, the fans and the area. Look where he has taken Blackburn without spending a fortune (I know they haven't played well since lock-down, though).
Interestingly, NW said after the latest defeat that the club needs reconstruturing after the season ends. Wasn't that done as per Pulis wanted already last summer?
Something is wrong there now. We are changing the manager once a year and do not know where to go next. We need something but no one knows what. I am buzzled.
Up the Boro!
And finally, we need two wins from the last few matches.
Difficult to see where they are coming from.
So let's hope we improve and also get some luck due. Up the Boro!
Thankfully, yesterday's debacle didn't spoil my day too much as I was pretty much resigned to another Boro non-performance after seeing the surprise team selection on returning from a pre-match walk to blow away the cobwebs. Although, the benefits of the fresh air quickly wore off after 20 minutes of watching another aimless soporific display take shape and the fight to keep the eyelids open was briefly lost during the drinks interlude - though why anyone in a red shirt neeed to take on more fluids after barely breaking sweat was another mystery.
Anyway, many thanks to RR for another spot-on assessment in his match report and I'd have to agree with all his points that he made in his closing paragraphs - a set of players appearing seemingly not up for the fight with a manager displaying Strachanesque tendencies is not a good combination - especially not in a relegation battle.
Five games to go and with four teams above us that are still in touching distance, Boro quickly need another victory as should that gap increase to more than three points then I fear it may be all over - unless of course Wigan lose form and don't make good a 12-point gap.
It was my birthday on Friday too, two days before Sunday's game at the anaesthesia stadium, but I did say to the Boss I'd like three points for my birthday... silly me. Anyway I hope you a great day.
Right I'm taking the midfield for a walk, at least they've got pace, drive, energy, never give-up, never stop running and will tackle anything. They can even start a fight with their own shadows.
UTB,
John
Thanks RR for your excellant and detailed report. How you could write that after watching the dross served up is truly amazing. I had to retire to a darkened room.
As Jarkko pointed out, we are now changing our Managers on average once a year. Surely, but surely even Mr Gibson can see there is something seriously wrong within the club?
I think the vast majority are now resigned to League 1 and the completion of a full circle under the Owner. The exciting years will be forgotten and only the realisation of where we are at remembered.
No doubt this Summer will see another "Root and Branch" overhaul for MFC conducted by the Chairman to see where it has all gone wrong yet again!
We had the Rookie supposedly recommended by Venables, the Tartanisation, then the one after Mogga's post Christmas decline. We have had the Spanish inquisition, the Pulis report and the ridiculous and embarrassing Summer of spin where the first Rookie appointment error was repeated all over again but with an inferior edition.
Its looking very much like we are headed back to the third tier with the Chairman having taken us full circle, marching us back down the hill as it were. Perhaps if he listened to people who would provide open and objective warts and all feedback instead of the usual sycophantic Teessider nepotism it would appear that he cocoons himself with he might actually be able to formulate a plan based on reality and not what he wants to hear.
Its interesting that the local media which had been persuaded or cajoled into blindly backing everything now seem to be realising what many realised a long time ago that the club seems to be in a bit of a state. I'm wondering if perhaps Keith Lamb was a stronger and more opinionated individual than appreciated at the time and done a far better job than he was ever given credit for?
I'm wondering if perhaps Keith Lamb was a stronger and more opinionated individual than appreciated at the time and done a far better job than he was ever given credit for?
No doubt Keith Lamb was vilified but I would also say that he was around when Steve Gibson had financial muscle. In those days, the only strategic planning really needed was how best to spend the millions.
As the financials of the game have moved on and Gibson has become an also-ran in those terms, I feel that the lack of strategic thinking has been exposed, time and again.
We need that longer-term thinking and a plan that doesn’t bounce back and forth between different managers but I think in order to get there we’re going to have to get lucky with a good managerial appointment, and build from there. Somehow we’re going to have stumble across our Chris Wilder, get some momentum and then plan for the future.
In recent years, it’s just fire fighting and we’re not getting on top of the flames.