Well Boro needed a draw but couldn't manage it themselves so were relying on Hull and Luton to oblige - which they also failed to achieve. Still at least Charlton and Wigan did supply a draw that in theory should keep Boro safe from the drop but some are not confident that the Lactics 12-point penalty won't be overturned on appeal - though hopefully it won't come to that.
Well, the game against Cardiff started badly and got worse after the break as the visitors got their usual three goals at the Riverside in a repeat of the same team selected different outcome scenario.
Personally, I'd only kept an eye on the score as once Boro had fallen behind I suspected it wouldn't end well and had other pressing issues to attend to - sounded like a good choice but at least technically Boro have avoided relegation. Whether that remains the case off the pitch is another matter!
Anyway, give your thoughts on yet another home defeat...
I've emerged from the darkness to the bad news. I think I should have stayed behind the couch. An utterly predictable result the cynics amongst the Boro fans would say. OH, sorry, that's all of them. Meanwhile the Gazette crow that Boro are safe. Watch this EFL space.
UTB,
John
Lack of the defensive basics meant that we were soundly beaten in spite of playing much better football than for much of the season.
Only Tav, yet again, emerged with much credit, though Coulsen did well as sub.
The cruel fact is that the likes of Johnson, Dijksteel, Spence and even Coulsen in spite of their attacking qualities appear to lack what it takes to do what they have been required to do for much of this season and that is to defend effectively.
Warnock can easily cure this, but for me the priority has to be to keep hold of Tav when the big boys come knocking , as they surely will.
That was Boro back to their worst defensively. OK short on numbers at the back, but Sunday League defending especially their second, scored from our poor, poor free kick. The others you could argue where not down to lack of defenders, but just poor judgement by players just doing their job.
We are now left praying that the EFL do not capitulate sadly in docking Wigan the 12 points or that one of Luton, Charlton or Birmingham do not win their last match. All have a good chance of winning and Birmingham only need a draw.
Why because the Boro, more than likely will come away from Hillsborough with nothing. Just how has it come to this. It is enough to make you cry.
We are not safe.
i think the Gazette have called that totally wrong - Wigan have not yet had their 12 points deducted, and I would definitely count on the EFL to shaft us if the possibility exists. I fully expect the deduction to be reduced to 9 points, conveniently keeping Wigan safe, if it’s a choice between us and them.
Conspiracy theory, sure. But come on - who isn’t thinking a little bit the same? I’d be much happier if we get the point we need next week and preferably Charlton/Luton/Birmingham don’t overhaul us.
Of course Boro are safe even if Wigan lose their appeal. Cardiff will beat Hull next week, Barnsley will lose at Brentford even if they beat Forest, and Charlton won’t win at Leeds, but will Birmingham get the point they need at home to Derby? I hope Wigan beat Fulham but West Brom losing last night makes it harder for them as the Cottagers still have an outside chance of gaining automatic promotion. What could possibly go wrong? 🤫
Of course Boro are safe even if Wigan lose their appeal. Cardiff will beat Hull next week, Barnsley will lose at Brentford even if they beat Forest, and Charlton won’t win at Leeds, but will Birmingham get the point they need at home to Derby? I hope Wigan beat Fulham but West Brom losing last night makes it harder for them as the Cottagers still have an outside chance of gaining automatic promotion. What could possibly go wrong? 🤫
What could possibly go wrong? This is Boro so everything!
If it was Boro, the EFL would have docked the points by now. So another nail biting finish on Wednesday. Well, I have no nails left!
Well it is what it is and what I expected. Another dismal result at home albeit in between the nightmare defending we pressed and attacked but as so often with little end product and in the end were between by a better side.
Cardiff showed exactly what this league is all about and we are light years away from even remotely looking like we could challenge for a top six position next season.
t would take a Perfect Storm of results and a backtracking of EFL rules to be relegated now. If it’s at the expense of Wigan that would be sad for them, but there’s no room for sentiment in football.
However, a point or better against Wednesday on Wednesday would be enough. Thankfully it’s still in our hands. Although butter fingers coated in ermm, butter, means its not beyond Boro to leave themselves wide open.
Well it was another familiar story on Teesside as Boro once again opened the gates of fortress Riverside and made their opponents feel at home as they left with all the treasured three points. Technically, Neil Warnock only wanted one point to feel super safe that his job was done for this season but of course he's now well accustomed to feeding the local paranoia that the suits will ultimately contrive to find a reason not to dock Wigan 12 points to snatch our safety away. Anyway, one man who always makes a point is here to give the story of another home from home - it's Redcar Red with his match report...
Excellent report, as ever, RR. Agree entirely. Many thanks.
Can anyone explain to me why the FA Cup semi finals are being played at Wembley? Why not a neutral venue equidistant for the clubs involved.
Thanks to RR and having endured the game, nothing I could disagree with. Our defence was Missing in Action and Johnson is not and, in my mind, never will be a defender.
I have doubts that we can pick up a point at Wednesday and are thus reliant on Luton or Charlton not winning. I can actually see both of them winning to be honest.
Why o why is it always like this, I keep on asking myself?
After that display, I am not sure NW will want to stay which would put SG back to square minus 1.
Anyway I am sure we will discuss the options after Wednesday when our fate is finally decided after a season that I am sure we would wish hadn’t happened!
Never mind A Bridge Too Far or The Longest Day, this has been A Season Too Far and The Longest Season.
Only Luton, Charlton and Birmingham can catch us. Hull and Barnsley and their results are now irrelevant for Boro. Of course if Wigan do actually get docked their points (and maybe even Wednesday) it may already be sorted from a Boro perspective but I wouldn't like to depend on the EFL for anything Boro related.
Birmingham are at home to middling, nothing to play for Derby. Champions Leeds will be focused on their open top bus and trophy presentation so we all know how that one could work out. Luton are at home to spluttering hot and cold Blackburn with absolutely nothing to play for with our only hope being Mogga.
That suddenly doesn't read so well any more. There is of course the hope that Warnock continues the lose at home, win away pattern but when was the last time we won five out of six away games? I know we only need a draw but we know what will happen if we go down to Hillsborough with that mentality!
It is strange to me, but after watching us as a team us the tactic of allowing the opposition to stand on the half and bomb us with High balls throughout the match, and sink as a club down the leagues and in reputation as a club.
Then today I watched a very moderate club allow us to get to the halfway line(that would be all of us) lob the ball gently over our heads, and have a runner ready to run up field for an easy score, they got another by the same route, and made a mess of a third. This is frightening, larn yerself football.
Tav. Wasted his time attempting to inspire this lot.
our defence wanted to dally on the ball, and paid the price.
Our forwards will only shoot after taking three touches, hhhm!
Our defenders thought that defending a corner with the keeper on the near post and an empty goal line was a Good idea, hhhm!
They always challenged, always, we only challenged when we thought it was required, remind me again where we are in the league?
Our little dribbler was back to his dribbling worst today.
The last time we scored a goal supplied by one of our players using acknowledged football skills, it was Wing, inside the box, who invited Britt to help himself. Is there a hint in there somewhere.
@grovehillwallah the reason is purely financial and in the main for the FA to make Wembley pay for itself. Of course the gate money is now stuffed thanks to Covid but I guess playing it at say Villa Park would make too much sense.
Many thanks RR for another spot on report with which I concur entirely. 😎
Only Luton, Charlton and Birmingham can catch us. Hull and Barnsley and their results are now irrelevant for Boro. Of course if Wigan do actually get docked their points (and maybe even Wednesday) it may already be sorted from a Boro perspective but I wouldn't like to depend on the EFL for anything Boro related.
Birmingham are at home to middling, nothing to play for Derby. Champions Leeds will be focused on their open top bus and trophy presentation so we all know how that one could work out. Luton are at home to spluttering hot and cold Blackburn with absolutely nothing to play for with our only hope being Mogga.
That suddenly doesn't read so well any more. There is of course the hope that Warnock continues the lose at home, win away pattern but when was the last time we won five out of six away games? I know we only need a draw but we know what will happen if we go down to Hillsborough with that mentality!
RR, the EFL will be well aware that Steve Gibson is not someone to mess with as he forced them to do something about clubs selling their stadiums and leasing them back to get round the FFP rules and regs. If they bottle the Wigan decision I expect the proverbial to hit the fan, and not only from SG but other EFL clubs too.
It is perhaps no surprise to Boro fans to read that this is the worst home league run in the history of our club. The 1984/85 season included a run of 10 winless matches of 5 draws and 5 defeats, but this year the run of 10 winless matches has included only 4 draws and 6 defeats. That is not only an appalling statistic, but a disgraceful one. Boro were always known as a difficult team to beat on Teesside, in fact from 1968 to 1974 they lost only 10 matches at home in 126 matches 3 times only losing one match at home in those 6 seasons. I foresee a large drop in season ticket sales as the football has been dire. Winning away does not compensate for so many defeats at home, and doesn’t paper over the cracks in what has been a poor season in a League that in the main has been devoid of quality.
I despair. Yet another hopeless home performance. Ten home games without a win, dreadful football and a complete paucity of goals and goalmouth action must be having an impact on the numbers of those willing to renew season cards for next season. It’s going to be difficult enough financially, given Covid and no crowds till goodness knows when, without a further loss of income through reduced crowds, but that seems very likely at this juncture, whichever league we are in.
Today’s only mitigations are that we have only one recognised central defender at present and that NW has had very little time in which to train this lot. If he stays next season, he has a hell of a job on his hands. He somehow has to recruit six or seven good players across the team and turn the existing squad into a competitive and effective team.
Sorry! I’ve just made the same point as you about crowds. Not plagiarism - I just posted before your post had appeared.
Whilst I’m on a roll another damning statistic to peruse. The 20 goals scored at home by Boro is the lowest ever in the 47 seasons that Boro have been a second tier club, and in the 110 year history of the club in only as a Premier League club in seasons 2000/01, 2008/09 and 2016/17 have Boro scored fewer than 20 goals at home, and furthermore in only 3 of their seasons as a Second tier club have Boro scored a goal a game or less than a goal a game in a season which will occur if Boro fail to score at Hillsborough on Wednesday. Those were the seasons of 1924/25, 1983/84 and 1984/85. One might deduce from these statistics that this is the worst Boro team ever certainly when Jonathan Woodgate was manager, and bearing in mind that twice this season that Boro have gone on 10 match winless runs, that they have been very fortunate not to be relegated this season.
One can be thankful that today’s match was played behind closed doors, as it spared the fans a celebratory end of season run around the stadium for just avoiding relegation.
@redcarred
Couldn’t agree more, Luton are in great form so would pick them to beat Blackburn, Charlton have hit some form and Leeds have now sown up the league title, Bowyer is also an old Leeds player, so which Leeds team will come out to play.
Birmingham v Derby is the one I am pinning my hopes on, they are similar in form to us, so hoe Derby will win there.
Sheff Wed v Boro, the worry with this one is that when NW was Sheff Utd boss he caused a lot of antagonism with Wednesday and I am sure they have long memories and would take great pleasure in relegating him.
We want to get out of this under our own steam, not because a team is deducted 12 points, so I hope our sequence continues away from home and we get the point we need.
Maybe grasping at straws but I think I see glimmers of hope in our last 2 home defeats: we scored consolation goals. I'm not sure but I can't remember us scoring a single consolation goal under Woodgate. Even in the matches under Pulis, I don't remember us scoring one.
It may not sound like much but if you get into a habit of scoring goals, even when the match is gone, that habit is something you can build on.
Also, saw a really evocative photo on twitter. After the match, George Friend was sitting by the pitch side by himself. Friend's had a poor few years but he's never stopped trying. Yesterday was probably his last match at the Riverside. A while back he would have hoped his last match at the Riverside would end well, with the team doing well and he could go and say goodbye to the fans. He would never have imagined playing badly for a team that almost get relegated in an empty stadium. It's easy to forget players are human too. Yes he's earned more money than most of us well ever see in a life time but most players still start out kicking a ball around on a park and dreaming about the glory.
I only watched the game until the first-half drinks interval as my thirst to see more had already waned as I couldn't imagine anything other than defeat and decided to return to my project, which thankfully is progressing better than the current Boro project.
Many thanks to RR for his match report, which more than described the sorry state of games at the Riverside this season - indeed, I just watched the highlights on the MFC website and it was at times schoolboy defending. Tav looked lively again but Boro simply still look just a collection of players and it will need quite a major rebuild in the summer - or early autumn depending on the new schedule.
I'm in agreement with BoroExiles very good post on the Wigan points deduction and can't see any grounds for a successful appeal - the new owners simply chose to go into administration as a means of not wanting to pump anymore money into the club and didn't need to do it at that precise moment but seemed a pre-planned move after acquisition. The EFL would face anarchy if they allowed them to get away with it.
As for that rebuild? Well if OFB is right then it turns out Woodgate is that unknown second man and most will be sceptical that he can be a success as head of recruitment - perhaps he gave Steve Gibson a very good presentation again.
Anyway, hopefully Boro can avoid the embarrassment of only staying up due to others misfortune and it would be nice to end the season on a high on Wednesday - albeit from a very very low bar! A season to forget and as Ken pointed out earlier a dismal low-scoring season that included two ten-game runs without a win - which is especially poor given the squandered resources at our disposal that should have made us comfortably mid-table at least.
Redcar Red,
As always an excellent report and the only people who should be taking a lap of the Riverside are yourself and Werder. What a shambles of a season at the Boro, as Blackadder would say 'it's more shambolic than a shambling shambles'.
I hope Mr Woodgate is out on his electric bike hunting for talent around the North East right now. Does Mr Gill stay. The unbalance and crazy recruitment policy is a culpable as any part of the organisation.
As far as decisions go Mr Warnock should have been here in January to give him a real chance but as the new Boro motto says, 'it is was it is', that phrase should be in Latin under the badge. As far as the EFL goes they're another crew who can't be trusted to make a decision and keep it so let's wait and see on that one.
At least on next week it will be all over. One way or the other. I wonder how many season tickets have been sold? I could go on but it's all been said before, well it has on DiasBoro.
UTB,
John
Redcar Red,
As always an excellent report and the only people who should be taking a lap of the Riverside are yourself and Werder. What a shambles of a season at the Boro, as Blackadder would say 'it's more shambolic than a shambling shambles'.
I hope Mr Woodgate is out on his electric bike hunting for talent around the North East right now. Does Mr Gill stay. The unbalance and crazy recruitment policy is a culpable as any part of the organisation.
As far as decisions go Mr Warnock should have been here in January to give him a real chance but as the new Boro motto says, 'it is was it is', that phrase should be in Latin under the badge. As far as the EFL goes they're another crew who can't be trusted to make a decision and keep it so let's wait and see on that one.
At least on next week it will be all over. One way or the other. I wonder how many season tickets have been sold? I could go on but it's all been said before, well it has on DiasBoro.
UTB,
John
The motto under Middlesbrough’s coat of arms is Erimus, which translated means ‘We shall be’ . Inappropriate for the Football Club though as it doesn’t specify WHAT we shall be.
@john-richardson it doesn’t look like I’ll be back at the Riverside for some considerable time and not only due to the pandemic crisis ! It’s the pandemonium crisis or pantomime crisis that I’m sick of !
OFB