Thanks for your detailed response, much appreciated.
I too am at a loss as to what to believe with regard to MFC and HMG! 😎
Now that the Speedway season has to all intents and purposes finished with Redcar Bears losing to Poole Pirates 100-79 over two legs in the Championship knockout final and the Grand Prix decided a week ago with Polish riders taking the main positions we now start today with the first of three World Cups in my favourite sports.
England begin the commencement of the Rugby League World Cup at St James Park, Newcastle this afternoon at 2.30 pm causing me with a bit of a dilemma though I think I’ll watch this on the BBC whilst keeping an eye on the Boro’s progress on Flash Scores on my iPad. We then have the Cricket T20 World Cup now well underway but England’s first match against Afghanistan is scheduled next Saturday at the WACA in Perth. Then of course the FIFA World Cup starting next month with England’s first match being against Iran on the 21st. Here’s hoping for a hat trick of opening wins for England in these 3 competitions, but perhaps today’s event on Tyneside will be the closest to predict as the Samoans might be slight favourites this afternoon.
Meanwhile of course Boro’s search for a new coach continues at a snail’s pace. However if Boro win this afternoon it won’t do Leo’s chances of becoming the permanent head coach any harm at all with the possibility of Lee Cattermole as his assistant.
By the way I had to Google who this Liz Truss was as I’d never heard of her. Just goes to show how much interest I have in politics at my time of life.
I noticed the coaching ability of Leo was being talked up in some of the local press this morning - I wonder if a win today and another on Wednesday may well see him become a 'viable option' if the club are still scratching their heads in deciding who to appoint. OK, he needs to win those games first, which is no easy task given the season so far and that performance last week.
Team News...
Jones is back on the bench again but Giles starts - so could be Dijksteel as wing-back again and McNair as right centre-back - unless there is a shape change then who can say. Watmore starts with Muniz up top as Akpom also returns to the bench. Hackney also gets another start, as does Crooks!
Well being pessimistic, it does not matter what team is picked the result will be the same. Just as well Huddersfield lost.
Blackburn 1 - 0. Man free at far post after corner. I've heard that before.
Reaches for Rioja!
Here's an unofficial link for anyone who needs one...
Though they'll be watching a comeback now after Rovers scored 😒
Did anyone mention that the wing-back system is not working - nearly 3-0 - could be a long afternoon...
Blackburn 1 - 0. Man free at far post after corner. I've heard that before.
Reaches for Rioja!
Does Lenihan think he's still playing for Blackburn? That goal was an OG & he scored it! Grrr....
I think I will go and do the ironing - OooooH boro have pulled one back.
Boro have scored. That wouldn't have been in the plan. Must win to get out of relegation places. (We could be bottom of table next week.)
Strange game. For half an hour, Blackburn were in total control and it was only Steffen that kept us alive with three point black saves including one worldy to a header. Then Boro started to realise that they needed more players forward. First Watmore got into the box after a Muniz flick and put one over the bar and then Howson gave him a pin-point pass into the inside left channel and somehow we are back to 2-1.
This would be daylight robbery but ......
UTB
Somehow Boro are still in this game thanks to a well-worked goal in injury time goal by Duncan Watmore - in truth it could have been 5-0 if Steffen hadn't have been on his game. I've no idea what the interim coaching team have been working on during the week but it probably didn't include much defensive work. Dijksteel and Giles have added nothing defensively as wing-backs and surely it's time Boro switched to a back four with full-backs who can defend. Dijksteel is neither one thing or the other as a win-back - most of the time he's been defending on the left for some reason.
One thing is clear neither Leo or Cattermole should be considered in the role of head coach - I hope this performance on top of the Millwall one will convince Steve Gibson to make a decision asap.
Watch free on
hesgoal.com
Only if you think Boro might perform better. A shambles in the first half - could and should have been losing 3-0 or 4-0 before Watmore scored.
Philip of Huddersfield
Agree with every syllable of Werder's report. The worst first half display I can remember, the only one to emerge with any credit being Watmore, whose runs contained our single threat. Muniz lucky not to get a red after standing on the keeper. Defending woeful, attitude and body language terrible, energy levels and motivation unacceptable. 2nd half has to be better with the fillip of that late goal
Thanks to Philip btw for the tip on a great stream a few weeks ago which works perfectly for the UK at HesGoal.com
This is down there with the out takes that you'd prefer not to look at again and again, but you just know that someone, somewhere, will put the clips out there for their enjoyment and our pain. Thing is, people are singing Stephan's merits at keeping us in the game, but if I'm honest if any keeper that was between the sticks in my team that didn't make those saves, then I'm sorry but he'd be training with the under 16's, they were pretty much routine, a tad like the outfield players really.
I actually clapped my hands when we scored, I suppose more out of shock than enjoyment, here's hoping I get shocked a few more times in the second half.
Sounded like a better performance in the 2nd half. Leo's half time talk (shout?) seemed to bring more fight but all that matters is we lost again.
Even last night I was tempted to travel over but I'm glad I didn't waste £130.
We are still only 9 points from the playoffs, if there are any optimists left.
A much better second half performance from Boro, which took only them from up from poor to average - not many clear chances created but a couple that should have hit the net - notably from Akpom where the keeper somehow brilliantly saved from one yard out. In truth Blackburn were in game management mode in the second half - Boro really can't afford to give the opposition a two-goal start as they're simply not good enough!
Hard to see why Jones was left on the bench to allow Dijksteel to play wing-back but while the defensive frailties were evident in the first half, the lack of a goalscorer were equally evident in the second half. Much work needed on coaching this team into something that is better than the sum of its parts - clearly not a job for a novice coach if that was an option still on the table.
Steve Gibson take note that Boro are in the relegation zone and struggling to win points let alone win games - we need fresh a eye in place like yesterday!
A more spirited display in the second half- how could it not be?- with Howson at the heart of most of the Boro's best moves.
But in spite of all of the huffing and puffing and some near misses we didn't have enough quality to turn our pressure into goals.
Fresh legs they may have been, but neither Forss nor Akpom really made the slightest impression as strikers.
We may feel unlucky that we did not eventually scrape a point, but after that first half performance who could credibly claim that we deserved to?
The ghost of possible relegation still well and truly haunts us. I wouldn't back us to get anything against Wigan in mid-week.
That final sentence demonstrates how far we have truly fallen.
Against Wigan!
Having watched the second half it would be easy to say Boro were worth a draw.
But were they?
What we saw was, despite being almost camped in the Blackburn half of the field, we witnessed-
Inaccurate final balls. Lack of clear chances - when they did get a gilt edged chance Akpom has the miss of the season. Still too many long balls in the air.
Lack of free flowing football. Signs of panic play as the final whistle approached.
And this followed the first half pattern of conceding a goal early in the game.
Stand back and consider Steffen’s saves and it should have been a bigger defeat.
The team, on recent performances are just not good enough to win matches and move up the table.
What next ? we’ll, that’s ruled out any chance of Leo becoming the top man- if indeed it was ever on the cards and potential new managers may be having second thoughts of coming to the Boro.
The season is turning out to be a disaster to what we expected but I’ll not let it spoil a nice bottle of Chardonnay.
Philip of Huddersfield
Welcome back Peaspudinperth. You have been much missed.
Not much to add except that I fear we need to steel ourselves for Division 1. I reckon it will need a miracle worker to save this team from the drop and I don’t see one in the list of candidates touted for the job.
As things stand, the most optimism I can muster is that hopefully we can get it together to avoid relegation - it's a long way about placing Boro and the play-offs in the same sentence!
If the boro were a political party it would be the Tory party, broken, pointless, rudderless and without leadership. I will probably be in a minority but that was a mess, we could have been 4 down before whatmore scored, if he hadn't imagine the dogs abuse the team would have got at half time.
Radio tees saying Leo will feel in charge on Wednesday, well if that is the case we will probably be bottom of the table, no way should Leo, cattermole, tickler be in charge.
Disgusted, fed up, disappointed, disillusioned.
Just to i add 8f Steve Gibson does appoint cattermole as manager I'm not sure the fans will get behind him
Wonder what Chris Wilder is thinking tonight as he has a pint! Just saying 😉
Sounded like a better performance in the 2nd half. Leo's half time talk (shout?) seemed to bring more fight but all that matters is we lost again.
Even last night I was tempted to travel over but I'm glad I didn't waste £130.
We are still only 9 points from the playoffs, if there are any optimists left.
9 points we might as well be 90 we would have the same chance of bridging the gap
From the Northern Echo
How did the players fare in Middlesbrough's 2-1 defeat to Blackburn?
MIDDLESBROUGH (3-5-2):
8 STEFFEN: Produced three brilliant first-half saves to keep Boro in the game, with the pick seeing him keep out Gallagher’s header
5 McNair: Looked shaky defensively and wasn’t able to make a positive impact when he strode out of defence with the ball
5 Fry: Won a couple of important headers, but wasn’t able to deal with the movement of Gallagher and Brereton
4 Lenihan: Hardly enjoyed the reunion he would have been hoping for as he put the ball into his own net against his former side
4 Dijskteel: Never looked comfortable as Blackburn attacked down their left and was withdrawn at the half-time break
5 Crooks: Covered a lot of ground, but hasn’t come close to hitting the levels he was displaying last season so far this term
6 Howson: Tried to hold things together at the heart of midfield, and at least displayed some fight in the second half
5 Hackney: Was restored to the starting side ahead of McGree, but while his technical ability is evident, he wasn’t a factor in the final third
5 Giles: Got into some decent positions down the left, but his delivery into the box was patchy at best
7 Watmore: The one Boro player to make any kind of impact in the first half – took his goal with a clinical finish
4 Muniz: Seemed to want to spend most of the game niggling at the opposition rather than looking to find the back of the net
Subs:
7 Jones (for Dijksteel, 46): Made a difference as he looked to break forward down the right – surely should have started
5 Forss (for Muniz, 67): Offered very little during his time on the field – is yet to prove himself in a Boro shirt
4 Akpom (for Watmore, 67): Goodness only knows how he failed to claim an equaliser from just two yards out
5 Bola (for Giles, 67): Saw plenty of the ball down the left, but couldn’t produce a telling cross
McGree (for Hackney, 75)
(not used): Roberts (gk), Smith.
Watching Bernie Slaven on Facebook Live he quoted that Kieran Scott as a nodding dog 🤣