Anybody know what Anthony Vickers is up to these days etc
@malcolm He is working at Boro FC. He has written three books about our club. See club shop.
Also updates some some exhibitions like the wall at the entrance to the lauches upstairs. He writes to the match programme, too.
He has an office in the East Stand. I met AV two weeks ago when having a tour of the Riverside.
He is 58 now and still going strong. Up the Boro!
Djed Spence is not in the Tottenham match 20 squad against Liverpool tonight.
Is he injured or will he be loaned out to the Championship to gain more experience in January? Just asking, like.
Up the Boro!
I thought the best Boro players against Bristol City were Hackney, Howson and Fry.
I listened to some of the phone-in comments made to BBC Radio Tees after the game and nearly crashed the car. I know (as Maddo said) that football is a game of opinions and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but some of the comments were so wide of the mark. Like pretending it's warm and sunny outside when it's blowing a blizzard and the snow is starting to drift. I had to turn off.
I was disappointed with a draw but not with the performance. I take the point that we are not incisive up front and that we had a lot of possession but couldn't turn it into goals. As has been said before, the failure to score enough goals has long been a problem for Boro. But at least we are now having some shots, some attempts. You need to buy a ticket before you can win the lottery.
I don't think Bristol City is a BAD team. The stats show they score a lot of goals and concede a lot. Against Boro, City faced a lot of pressure for much of the game yet conceded only once and, when they did break forward, the break was usually speedy and worrying from a defensive point of view. Boro's attacks were slower in the build up. Yet, apart from the goal scored, Boro hit the woodwork and had to watch the opposition keeper make a few good saves.
For me, it was an encouraging game. It was certainly exciting to watch and it was a notch up on what we have seen in many of the games played so far this season. I think we may be moving in the right direction. I don't expect either of the two teams on display yesterday to be relegated at the end of the season but, in Boro's case, that assumes we carry on the improvement shown since CW left the club. I suspect we MAY have gone down had CW remained in post. Certainly Hackney didn't appear likely to get a look-in previously but now, under Leo and now under Michael Carrick, he has had some starts and looks a very good prospect.
However there is a lot of work to do this season before safety can be assured. I realise there are LOTS of clubs within a few points of each other at the bottom end of the table so it should only take a few wins for the world to look a much rosier place. Getting those wins might not be easy, though, as we saw yesterday.
@malcolm He is working at Boro FC. He has written three books about our club. See club shop.
Also updates some some exhibitions like the wall at the entrance to the lauches upstairs. He writes to the match programme, too.
He has an office in the East Stand. I met AV two weeks ago when having a tour of the Riverside.
He is 58 now and still going strong. Up the Boro!
Thanks Jarko, I didn't know he was working for the club.
The Radio Tees commentary and match reports and stats certainly suggest we put in an improved performance (particularly compared to the last 2 matches I had been to, 0 - 0 draws against Rotherham and Huddersfield) though our last home match before the break was when I was looking for 3 points. Apart from Huddersfield, the other teams around us seem to be matching us so we must get several wins at home and away if we want to pull away from the bottom three. Coventry have moved up and still have 2 games in hand.
72% possession, 23 shots including 9 on target but just 1 goal is clearly not good enough. When I see highlights of other teams, lots of players seem to put in shots/headers from so many positions that don't hit defenders or give goalies the chance to make great saves. I hope Forss hasn't yet been turned into a non-scoring striker. While I could understand that Crooks' experience and goal scoring meant he came on for the last 18 minutes, I would have preferred Hoppe to be given a longer run out than he has had as a sub so far. Having signed him, it would be better to see if shows the ability to cope in the Championship before we start looking for more strikers in January.
It's the hope that kills you but 6 points from Blackpool and Norwich will be a good start!