Boro v Barnsley
Wednesday 10/08 ko 19:45
Typical Boro have started the season full of hope and expectancy. The loyal fans have paid their season tickets expecting to see a great Boro team pushing for promotion after being in the doldrums for a few years. Instead to their dismay, the fans have seen the sales of Tavernier and Spence bringing in substantial monies into the Boro coffers. The last few years have been difficult for most clubs with COVID impacting revenue and Financial Fair Play restrictions. It is therefore accepted that the club needs money to survive and not go the bankrupt way of other championship clubs. Boro however, have so far this season, wheeled and dealed without sourcing suitable replacements for those players released or sold. They are also using strikers who were not good enough last season to generate and score goals to ensure wins. Our strike force also now includes AKPOM who was out on loan and at first told to find another club! I thought he had a decent game on Saturday and seemed to put a shift in. It has also been rumoured that Sunderland have made an approach for their former striker Watmore who is keen to run about but doesn’t seem fit enough to do it for 90 minutes.
Why not also play Ikpeazu who is training on his own at the moment with no prospect of being sold? We are still paying his wages. This is the type of bustling game that would suit his style of play. Has he been banished for some club misdemeanour? He always seemed to give a 100% effort on the pitch and also caused problems for opposing defences.
A solitary point from two games is not the form expected of a team pushing for a top six place, never mind a side expected by many to be in the top two promotion contenders. So currently we sit in 20th place, whilst our noisy neighbours up the road, Sunderland are in an automatic promotion place at number 2!
It will be interesting to see if Wilder accepts the low key, low budget purchase of players using free transfer and loan players to supplement the journeymen of the Boro team. If he does not agree with the budgetary restrictions imposed by the Boro management, I would not be surprised if he actually walked out with his coaching staff and left the Boro further in the Wilder ness.
It is grudgingly acknowledged by most loyal fans, that it is a difficult market place at the moment to source strikers. But, but, but, other clubs like WBA picked up two players on free transfers who made a significant difference to their team when they played the Boro at the Riverside this season.
So the roller coaster goes on after a dreadful first half performance at QPR. Over 2,600 Boro fans were at the stadium to hopefully cheer them on and witnessed what many have described as the poorest play by Boro in recent years.
We now turn to our next opponents at home, this time in the EFL Cup. Barnsley who last season were flirting with relegation all season in the championship, eventually succumbed and finished bottom of the league with only 30 points.
It is of course difficult to see what players will be involved on Wednesday and if Wilder is prepared to blood some youngsters who are on the fringes at Boro. Josh Coburn is injured and is not fit, Lenihan is of course suspended and I think players like Howson need a rest. Tommy Smith who came onto the pitch on Saturday did his selection chances no harm and I particularly liked his aggression and leadership at the back.
It is possible that Paddy McNair will play and be appointed captain on the night, that is if Howson doesn’t play. Paddy made a big difference when he arrived on the pitch for the second half of the game on Saturday and hopefully he will not be another player who is snapped up by others during this transfer period.
Watmore is another player apparently coveted by his former club Sunderland and it is rumoured that a bid for his services have been tabled.
I expect to see Marcus Forss start the game as he needs to get familiar with his teammates and the Boro coaching style of play.
In midfield the likes of players the bench warmer Boyd-Munce can stake a claim for the first team, if not why sign him and not play him in these type of games? Other candidates include Walker, Hackney and young Finch who is highly regarded by the coaching team.
In conclusion, we have all seen Barnsley and other lowly teams take Boro down in previous games that we have been expecting to win. I don’t think Wilder is that kind of manager who would accept defeat gracefully. Whatever team he puts out on the pitch on Wednesday, I expect them not to be unprepared and up for the fight.
So Diasborians it’s make your mind up time. What’s your forecast for this game?
Me? I’m going for a 4 0 win for Boro because I’ve just found an unused pair of foam hands in my wardrobe and I intend to wave them !
OFB
Thanks for this OFB.
Which team, not literally, but actually will step out at 7.45 on Wednesday. It will probably be too early for Hoppe even if he get his International Permit.
I assume Roberts in goal will get a run out, especially after the not very convincing display by Steffen.
There are virtually no choices available to make in the back three, apart from Smith, and is Lenihan suspended for this cup game? If so Dijksteel may have to play. McNair if not suffering any after effects could play at LCB and Bola LWB. Giles rested.
We have no midfield choices having sold Tav and loaning Payero, unless CW uses the under 23’s.
Up front, is it Akpom to lead the line again along with Forss and hope we score enough goals to manage the latter or even the former. May be Crooks will have to play upfront.
Or maybe Mr Wilder may just use the younger players to prove his point once more.
Thanks OFB for a foam-powered opener. I think that we need as much of the first team to play as makes sense because we need to start building some momentum. I also doubt we'll have any new signings ready by then. Barnsley are going to be well up for this and are going to get in our faces from the off.
Personally I would go
Roberts
Dijksteel - Fry - McNair
Smith - Crooks - Howson - Boyd Munce - Giles
Forss - Akpom
I might be tempted to give Bilongo a run out in which case the defence could be McNair - Fry - Bilongo
I do think that Wilder and Knill need to rethink our shape and style of play but I don't see that happening.
I'll keep with the optimism though and go for 3-1 to us.
Thanks OFB.
A game we could well do without given the lack of squad depth.
My understanding of the rules are that Lenihan will serve a one match ban and that means this game; that being said, I have not been enamoured with his performance to date.
Fry will no doubt come back into the side unless he is not fit enough to do so. CW was not pleased with Dijksteel on Saturday so I expect to see him benched with McNair, Fry and Bola making up the back three. Howson might be rested but it’s difficult to see who could replace him unless you play Smith at the back and McNair in midfield. Forss and Akpom to start up front.
We should be able to beat Barnsley but I expected us to win at their place last season and we all know what happened!
What we are still seeing from this team, which has endured now through 4/5 managers, is a lack of consistency and while that prevails then promotion/top six is a pipe dream. 1-0. 😎
My understanding of the rules are that Lenihan will serve a one match ban and that means this game; that being said, I have not been enamoured with his performance to date.
I hope you are right as I was thinking a straight red card would mean a three-match ban. I understand that two yellows will give one-match ban and a red then three-match ban.
Perhaps OFB can tell more?
Up the Boro!
My understanding of the rules are that Lenihan will serve a one match ban and that means this game; that being said, I have not been enamoured with his performance to date.
I hope you are right as I was thinking a straight red card would mean a three-match ban. I understand that two yellows will give one-match ban and a red then three-match ban.
Perhaps OFB can tell more?
Up the Boro!
Jarkko it was a professional foul so only one match ban. Serious foul play or threatening behaviour is three and dissent is two. 😎
Thanks for the opener OFB. I will be at the match but I wonder what team we will put out. I expect Forss, Akpom and possibly Watmore will play for part of the game but with Sheffield United coming up we cannot risk them getting injured as 1 or 2 points from 9 would would mean a big gap for us to recover later in the season. Finch may get a runout when Wilder decides he has to make a substitution. As the Barnsley match must be considered less important than league games there may be some young players brought into midfield and defence from the start. Points dropped early in the season damage our promotion push as much as those lost later.
Unless Barnsley turn out to be a very poor team I think it will be a tight game and we will struggle to score/win. It could go to penalties!
Your review of where we stand with filling in the gaps in our squad is rather worrying. When I was listening to the QPR match and the commentators were saying our defenders were just kicking clearances upfield and the ball was coming straight back , I was thinking that Ikpeazu could have helped. I suspect that Wilder would rather leave than have to admit to a mistake and recall him even if we can't bring in any other strikers.
Loved your opener, OFB!
Reading all the possible team permutations Diasborans have written above makes it abundantly clear how thinly the squad is stretched and how urgently we need new recruits.
i expect us to beat Barnsley, if CW goes with a strong eleven. I’ll go for 2-0.
OFB,
Thank you for your headliner, you must have written it while doing a Tontine shift or at the Rockcliff gates.
4 - 0? Please return my lost bottle of optimism elixir so I can hide it behind the brushwood killer and two-stroke mix in the garden shed. If you can't find it, well, that means a visit to some kind of psychologist to straighten out your thought processes!
I'm with you on Uche, something must be going on there but I don't understand after all he is still a club asset. Is it a mix of pride, stubbornness and misplaced 'plain speaking'? Meanwhile what about the news on Dael Fry?
OK, back to the darkness of the shed and no predictions, my two previous predictions have fairly well knackered the season and the prospects.
Oops, I forgot, it's our fifty-second wedding anniversary today... last minute cunning plan needed.
UTB,
John
Thanks for the good opener, OFB. Well played, mate.
Now that Tavarnier is gone, the closest we have had an academy player is Jones. And we all know he was "bought" from Tooting & Mitcham in May 2019.
So we need to bring in more graduates from the academy next. Especially so that we missing some depth in our squad with the very difficult transfer window.
OK, Dael Fry will be back on Wednesday, but there isn't many academy players about to be used on the first team level. Finch was there on the bench but he was just 17 years old last week.
Now that Coburn is injured and only back in two months' time, we need to get more players through. There is Gibson in midfield, but I have difficulties to remembe who else we can play. Perhaps Hackney?
I am not so sure if Wilder would be keen on using young players. At least Woodgate knew the academy lads and gave several debuts to many of them like Spence.
Cannot remember many young players to play in the pre-season matches. Do you?
So I hope to see a young Boro team with Fry and a few more experienced lads at the home match versus Barnsley. Up the Boro!
My understanding of the rules are that Lenihan will serve a one match ban and that means this game; that being said, I have not been enamoured with his performance to date.
I hope you are right as I was thinking a straight red card would mean a three-match ban. I understand that two yellows will give one-match ban and a red then three-match ban.
Perhaps OFB can tell more?
Up the Boro!
Jarkko it was a professional foul so only one match ban. Serious foul play or threatening behaviour is three and dissent is two. 😎
@KP You were spot on. And your reasoning was correct, too.
Middlesbrough have been boosted by the news that Darragh Lenihan will only miss their Carabao Cup clash with Barnsley on Wednesday evening after being sent off against QPR on Saturday. https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/darragh-lenihan-suspension-confirmed-middlesbrough-24699265
Up the Boro!
As Wednesday’s game is a Carabao Cup game, there is no streaming service for domestic or overseas viewers.
Audio-only passes are available on Middlesbrough’s website.
Up the Boro!
Thinking about the youngsters that could be used in the Barnsley match, Teesside Live has listed the following players.
With options limited, the other capability Wilder has is to mix it up with some youngsters too, much like he did throughout a lot of pre-season. Players like Bryant Bilongo, Hayden Hackney, Joe Gibson, Caolan Boyd-Munce, Sonny Finch and Cal Kavanagh all impressed over the summer and could do a job.
Left-sided defender Jack Robinson was with the club in Portugal too, and along with players like Jeremy Sivi and Sam Folarin, has prior first-team experience.
Would have been nice to see some of the youngters above, but there is no stream available.
Anyway, I would have missed the streaming as my son bought us tickets to the UEFA Super Cup Final between Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt. The match will start 15 min after the Boro match at the old Olympic Stadium in Helsinki.
Up the Boro!
Thinking more about it, we have no one to play Howson's role and no sign of anyone being trained to do it. You don't rely want to be experimenting in cup matches but it seems a matter of urgency to give either Hackney or Conteh a match there. I had thought that Hackney's loan at Scunthorpe had been poor and that he was on the way out but he seems to have been pretty good in pre-season and for the U23s. Maybe though Conteh has done well enough for a run out.
However, what I don't want us to do is what Warnock did last year: completely change the team and hang the players out to dry when it failed. At the time, I thought that was Warnock trying to make a point at the expense of the club.
I do get the impression that of all the managers we have had since Karanka that Wilder is the one who has the least faith in young players and developing them. Thing is, we have set the club up so that we have a gold standard academy and, in theory, a first class U21 team so that we can feed the best of them into the first team squad.
Anyway, I have no idea what team Wilder will put out. If I had to guess, I think Wilder and Knill may be working on a modification of their system behind closed doors because it feels as though the clarity of wilder's first matches has been lost somewhere along the way.
Deleriad,
I'm not sure about Wilder and not using youngsters. Last season we regularly had Fry, Tav, Jones, Balogun and Connolly on the field - all under 25 - whilst a number of the signings have been younger players.
Perhaps it comes down to what you consider a "young player" but then how many 20yr olds feature regularly for any club?
I would have thought Wilder would have to play a few tonight. We can't be risking too many with such a small squad, particularly in midfield where I wouldn't be against three from Conteh, Hackney, Boyd-Munce and Gibson.
Deleriad,
I'm not sure about Wilder and not using youngsters. Last season we regularly had Fry, Tav, Jones, Balogun and Connolly on the field - all under 25 - whilst a number of the signings have been younger players.
Perhaps it comes down to what you consider a "young player" but then how many 20yr olds feature regularly for any club?
I would have thought Wilder would have to play a few tonight. We can't be risking too many with such a small squad, particularly in midfield where I wouldn't be against three from Conteh, Hackney, Boyd-Munce and Gibson.
To be precise, I was thinking more of our academy players like Boyd Munce, Gibson, Brynn and so on. Fry and Tav are massively experienced Championship players while Warnock had bought Jones through and he was pretty much the only option we had for RWB. Balogun and Connolly were out of the team once Sporar and Watmore were back though Connolly was reasonably experienced.
At the weekend he could have brought Finch on but chose to put Crooks up front instead. Finch had nothing to lose and would have been reasonably like-for-like for Forss. In general, if he has a young player on the bench he will always choose an experienced one instead.
Fair enough.
Regards going with experience from the bench, to be fair I think most managers do unless you're comfortably in front. Not too many are keen on throwing such an inexperienced player into a pressure situation.
Fair enough.
Regards going with experience from the bench, to be fair I think most managers do unless you're comfortably in front. Not too many are keen on throwing such an inexperienced player into a pressure situation.
This is exactly what CW has said today in his press conference when talking about Saturday’s game and the options he had; generally most managers in any walk of life tend to err more on the side of experience over youth and particularly so in a results driven environment. 😎
It is worrying when everyone, including the Manager, is discussing our problems. What is worse is the fact that everyone (and that is a lot of people) unhesitatingly point to 10/11 problems, worse!, they are right, we are in that much of a mess. It points to total incompetence, because our problems cover in order, Senior team players, reserve players, junior players, and the problems cover, injuries, mystery ailments, lack of fitness, lack of ability, lack of game time. We have done what we do, stumbled into the season, unfit, unready, unwilling. Our game management is shameful, our response to problems on the field, non existent, our excuses in the aftermath pitiful, or of course funny, depending on your level of tolerance. Oh for a Manager who has ambitions to manage at a higher level.
I’ll go the other way and say that, if he’s here long enough, I think Chris Wilder will turn out to be our best manager since Bruce Rioch.
A word of caution pre-Barnsley: 11 Championship sides were knocked out of the Carabao tonight, only two of them in all-Championship ties! Nine went out to lower division teams! So, no room for complacency tomorrow night, whatever team CW selects. I’m sure he’ll be expecting a reaction after QPR, but let’s hope he hammers home the warnings from tonight’s games.
In addition, MFC has confirmed the signing of Matthew Hoppe.
Looks like Bola at LWB. Not sure if it will be Djiksteel or Smith at RWB - possibly the latter to save Djijsteel’s legs but Smith being captain feels more like a centre-back role.
Young midfield as expected. Big night for them.
Come on Boro.
With my usual seering insight there'll definitely be a result of some kind
The Diasboro will be pleased to hear that the crystal ball is in its velvet bag. The runes are on the gravel path. The goose is still running around not having had any entrail examinations and the loose tea and tea bags are in the cupboard. What can possibly go wrong?
Did somebody say something?
UTB,
John
After our poor performance in the league. Our lack of imagination in signing players and serving up dross tonight I’m going for sneering insight
OFB
KP
Now be careful you just stay away from streams it’s only the start of the season! I hope you’re a good swimmer.
Well, the only way is up.
or, is it ?
Sounds as though it was an uninspiring game by both teams.
Philip of Huddersfield
Well, I did warn them ……..
Sunderland and Hartlepool made it a terrible North-East trio of defeats, but our loss is bitterly disappointing.