No change to the team from Wednesday
Surprised to see an unchanged team - will probably need some hour-mark subs given a few starters won't have played two games in a week for quite a few months at least. Though it seems Jones needed resting again. Bamba the only defensive option on the bench if one is needed.
By the way, 2-0 wins for both Boro and Pools today - Up the Boro, and up the Pools!
Tav gives Boro the lead in the 8th minute, assisted by Dael Fry. 👍
Comment by Vic 20 odd minutes ago:
Siliki and Sporar are working really well together with weighted passes picking out well timed runs.
Augurs well...
Jones on for Dijksteel in the 56th minute (injury).
Bugger! The Seasiders equalise from a set piece in the 63rd minute.
Double bugger! They take the lead through a Grant Hall OG in the 78th minute. 🙁
Forget all this talk about a top 6 finish. With this bunch of players and NW then the performances won’t even merit the top half of the table.
Has NW yet been on to say “ we played some good stuff “.
I have come to the conclusion that he’s a good talker who invariably says the same things usually designed to deflect any criticism from him. He’s been a successful manager over many years but sadly he’s past his sell by date.
Philip of Huddersfield
Before the game there was a lot of talk about breakfast - as it happens it ended up being something of a dog's breakfast tactically with too many players probably not playing in their best positions - or rather not have the best players in various positions.
Boro were the better team but only for the first ten minutes - after that Blackpool were allowed to have the ball and Boro didn't control the possession. Instead it was something of trial and error with the final ball missing.
OK, Boro hit the woodwork twice but like Sporar's goal on Wednesday, the team are reliant on a bit of magic rather than actual teamwork crafting the chances. It made for another scrappy game and three more dropped points as the work in progress failed to progress.
It must be a worry for Warnock that Boro lost at home to a bottom-three side and the win against bottom-club Forest was against a very poor side. It looks like being a long season as the manager tries to piece together his multitude of attacking options on the shaky foundations of a threadbare defence with seemingly few defence-minded midfielders that can control the game. He has had to drop our best player in Jones to find room for his new signings and I think Tav has now played in about six different position to fit the others in too and cover for lack of options defensively.
Another frustrating afternoon that started with promise but quickly fizzled out.
Ive said for a while that Warnock has to go.
Siliki was poor. Jones should have started. Crooks was poor. So if Dijksteel and Tavernier are injured where does that leave Boro?
Sorry I’m just too disappointed even to whinge!
OFB
So Forest sack their manager and then get a good result away to high flying Huddersfield. Time to sack the head chef at boro
Switched off again before the end, at this rate I might not be switching on at all.
Another inept performance against a bottom table club. Goodness knows what will happen against the top six sides.
Can’t wait to find out what this week’s excuse is! 😡😎
Ive said for a while that Warnock has to go.
Siliki was poor. Jones should have started. Crooks was poor. So if Dijksteel and Tavernier are injured where does that leave Boro?
Sorry I’m just too disappointed even to whinge!
OFB
OFB totally agree, he has to go and in my opinion Blackpool were the better team today and do we have a midfield, like you I'm totally fed up with it all
It has been the same ever since Warnock dropped Marvin Johnson and Co. when he brought his players in like NML, Kebano and Bolasie etc. It carried on all through the second half of last season ending with that crowning embarrassment at home to Wycombe on the final day of the season. Nothing has improved in 2021 despite two transfer windows and several new faces coming in.
Our defence is chaotic and porous, the midfield and the defence seem to be total strangers and it was just as poor when Morsy was here. The players keep changing but the tactics, lack of determination and belief stays the same. Warnock has brought in four Keepers and none of them have nailed down the shirt, yet Stojanovic seems persona non grata. Maybe he is poor but he at least comes out for crosses and gets a fist to them.
Once again it was all the right notes, just not in the right order. Peltier at LB and Tav at RB when Dijksteel went off seemed bizarre to me. Facing a side with pace on the width he had Jones on the bench until injury forced his hand and the youngster then ended up in front of Tav on the right. In the dying moments Jones was desperately switched to the left and only then started causing problems, what a surprise!
We had five shots on target and three of them came from Payero which sums the total ineffectiveness of the afternoon up. The win against Forest was far from a convincing performance despite the state they were in but a win is a win, clearly it done nothing for morale or belief and that can only be down to "the Manager" (sorry that should probably read "the Ref").
I resigned myself weeks ago that this season was a write off but it is now looking dangerously like the Woodgate season. All the signs are there that we are going to continue to struggle unless something fundamentally changes. We may scrape through the season but right now I wouldn't even be convinced that Derby couldn't overhaul us despite their likely points deduction. Are there three teams worse than us?
We weren't second to every ball today we weren't even third most of the time, our tackling and interceptions were third rate compared to Blackpool who like Coventry and Derby previously have much inferior squads but greater hearts and greater desire to win. Their passing and movement like Coventry was slick and progressive contrasted with our slow two touch football then pass. Tav's unfortunate injury at the end just highlighted our seeming want to hang onto the ball for far too long.
I think the answer has become abundantly clear but as usual it will take SG a bit longer to figure out what the question is.
The difference between the sides was Blackpool knew how they were supposed to play as a team, whereas Boro looked like a collection of players trying work out how they are supposed to play as a team. The likelihood is that we'll see plenty of chopping and changing as Warnock attempts to find out what his best team is.
It can’t be coincidence that Warnock was screaming at the officials for 3 fouls that never were and whilst the Boro players were wondering what was going on Blackpool got on with the game and scored.
So it will be the referees fault tonight not NW.
Its not funny being a referee and getting berated by a crazy old man from the sides for every decision made.
Doesn’t he realise it doesn’t help referees have a good game when they are constantly on guard. They are human and if any 50/50 decisions are to be made then usually the referee will err on the side of the team not causing him trouble.
OFB
The ref's probably just thankful he's not the fourth official getting his ear permanently damaged!
Frustrating game. Felt like watching a cheap knock-off version of England vs Italy. Couldn't ask for a better start but once Blackpool recovered we never looked like coming up with an answer.
I'm not ready to write off the season yet but clearly if we are not in or around the play-offs at Christmas then we have to change manager in order to give a new manager time to sort out the players he wants for next year. Think Mowbray and AK, if you like. Warnock's not daft: he knows that too.
Since the start of the year we have been bringing in more and more players but the team's been going slowly backwards. Now we're facing an improving Sheffield Utd and Reading; way things are going we could easily lose both those games. If we do, Warnock's position looks untenable and I could see us parting company over the next international break.
How did you guess what Neil Warnock would say? Here's his post-match view...
"It's disappointing. I thought we played some great football at times and then to concede two goals like that. You can look at Dijksteel's injury - we hadn't got anyone else to come on at right back and it changed the game really but we should still defend better than that."
we could easily lose both those games. If we do, Warnock's position looks untenable and I could see us parting company over the next international break.
October was when Southgate was dispensed with and he had us near the top! It was also the month that Strachan and Mowbray went.
As All Hallows Eve approaches it seems almost inevitable that SG will be forced to go trick or treating as the ghosts of Middlesbrough Managers return to haunt the Riverside.
Redcar Red, I owe you an apology - that was as bad as Strachan.
Too annoyed to bother commenting further at the moment.
RR, I hope that you are right and SG acts sooner rather than later but his track record is to wait until it becomes absolutely critical to do something. I can envisage a scenario where we get to early March next year, the team is languishing in or just above the relegation places, SG is forced to act, NW leaves and a new manager appointed who SG believes will keep us in the Championship.
It could then be deja vu with another dinosaur appointed as manager who is seen by SG as a safe bet. For example, Allardyce would fit that profile perfectly but someone like that would be another short term panic appointment that would do nothing to take the club forward in the future.
it would be infinitely preferable for SG to act soon and appoint a manager who is young, ambitious, talented and has demonstrated his management ability successfully in a lower league. It surely wouldn’t be any worse than one of the dinosaur brigade, would probably be much better and would at least be an investment in the future rather than a short term very expensive sticking plaster.
I have mentioned it before but I still find it very difficult to see any medium or longer term plan for the club that has a defined objective and a detailed action plan behind it setting out how the objective is going to be achieved. The actions taken by the senior management of the club seem to be driven almost entirely by events and are therefore reactive, short term and expedient. Unless this changes and the decisions taken are part of a cohesive plan to achieve an ambitious objective then we are all doomed to suffer more and more of the endless disappointment we have had to tolerate for the past few years.
The consequences of this display could surely be fatal for our undignified manager, what other manager bothers himself with a disputed throw in on the halfway line. They had a game plan for staying up, keep the ball in the air, we got in front, and proceeded to play them at head football. Big mistake, the manager knew this at halftime, and continued in the same style. The outcome was inevitable. Sorry to say this but our new hero, is it Sporak, no. Eleven? I watched him and he stationed himself precisely where the centre forward would stand in a Childs drawing of a football team at kick off, and he took no active part in play. He stood without moving as passes arrived to opposition players 6yards away, he did this a lot throughout the match. Until we know more about him there must be a question mark?
So once again NW says he enjoyed the game. Unbelievable.
Most of the blogs are calling for a change of manager and some of the comments are very blunt to say the least.
Ay least on Diasboro our criticism is kept to a civilised level with rational thought and constructive comment.
I must confess that I’m disappointed that it’s come to this but after the end of last season a lot of us felt that NW had run his course of time with the club. SG should have thanked NW and his staff for their efforts and had someone ready to step into the role.
One could argue that there are not many games played but after today Blackpool have turned it around from being in the bottom three to being only one point behind Boro. They are also playing better football as well.
Listening to Bernie Slaven tonight and he said that obviously there are a lot of new players to gel together and get to know each other’s style. He also said that this is the first time he has seen a NW Boro side trying to play football rather than long ball tactics.
I Started to read the match reports but gave up as I’m so disappointed as we seem to have been in a downward spiral for the last few years with no signs of any improvement or excitement.
At least on this blog we can share each other’s thoughts and hopes.
My hope is we get a new manager in ready for the next international break.
OFB
Very disappointing to wake up to that result. I was expecting a win. Haven't seen any of the game so will wait for the "highlights" later today.
A bit off topic but was wondering why we send players out on loan particularly the youngsters. I know NW says they need to play men's football but this weekend that was not the case , in the main. We have 10 players out on loan. Only two played 90 minutes Brynn and Hemming goalkeepers up in Scotland. Only 2 started Spence and Coulson they played 79 and 51 minutes respectively. Lewis wing got 16 minutes off the bench. Hayden Hackney and Robinson were on the bench and Burrell and Walker were not in the matchday squads.