Gazette ratings different from the Echo!
Zack Steffen - 6
Nothing he could do with either goal.
Tommy Smith - 6
Tough evening against Burnley's pacey wingers but stuck to task and provided a couple of dangerous crosses at the other end too.
Paddy McNair - 5
Caught too deep playing people onside a couple of times, including what proved to be the Burnley winning goal.
Darragh Lenihan - 5
Off night for the usually-commanding defender. Barnes gave him a contest and he had a couple of lapse moments in and out of possession.
Ryan Giles - 5
Burnley's winner came from his flank and he also got caught too deep for Nathan Tella's big chance in the first half that could have easily seen Lenihan red carded too.
Jonny Howson - 5
The game somewhat passed him by in the middle of the park as he struggled to get Boro going against a well-organised Burnley side.
Hayden Hackney - 6
Full of energy in the middle of the park and tried to be bold in possession. To Burnley's credit, they were so well-organised and Boro just couldn't break them down, with Hackney struggling to influence that.
Riley McGree - 5
Ian Maatsen at left-back for Burnley looked their weak link, but McGree just didn't get into the game enough and didn't target him enough as he ought to have done.
Aaron Ramsey - 6
Boro's brightest attacking player. Almost everything Boro did from an attacking sense came through him. It just didn't quite click for Boro in possession to break the league's best defence down. Was part of an exuberant first-half press that almost yielded success.
Chuba Akpom - 6
Netted his 26th league goal of the season with an excellent penalty and worked hard throughout without much success. Wasted a glorious early opening and will feel he should have headed home a late equaliser too.
Cameron Archer - 6
Won the Boro penalty early in the second half and worked hard up top as Boro looked to press Burnley hard.
Substitutes
Matt Crooks (For Archer, 69') - 5 - Couldn't help spark any life into his side from the bench.
Have we not got a ‘no swearing’ attitude on this forum? Surely no need for it especially on the day that Jesus Christ was crucified!
Silver medal tonight. Will reflect on things and maybe make some comment tomorrow, though it might be a busy day.
Sorry, Ken. I learned the word from our former blog master. I remember AV to use it - at least he still uses it in Twitter when Boro concede a goal.
I do not know how strong word the b****r is - I always thought is it not so bad. But I am sorry.
BTW, on a positive note, Chuba scored again. He has netted 26 times this season - and we still six matches to go. I hope he will get to the 30 goal mark as that will sement him as a club legend. Think about it - after Ravanelli, Van Hassebaink, Viduka, Bokšić, etc. - we finally have found a successor to Bernie Slaven. Chuba could end up as an England international if he will have another season like this.
Just wanted to bring up some positivity. Up the Boro!
It is a funny one, Jarkko. As with many words it has a long history and evolution in its meaning.
It originated in Middle English to identify people from Bulgaria. These were invariably people of Orthodox (rather than Catholic) Christian persuasion and so were considered to be heretics. Over time all sorts of "unorthodox" behaviours were attributed to these people and the word came to be associated with abusive, especially sexual, behaviours towards men.
This remained as the word's almost exclusive association until during the early-ish 20th century when it began to be used to describe something that has been spoilt. The sentiment in this sense is much less, or even not, offensive, even if using might still be described as a lazy or vulgar way to express ruination.
Another benign usage of the word that has developed colloquially is to refer to people or animals that might otherwise be described as little rascals.
Interestingly, use of the word has grown almost exponentially during the last 30 or 40 years. Similar to other expletives when usage becomes ever more common, the veracity of its original meaning is progressively eroded. Where once it was considered a truly offensive thing to say, it is so widely used in the modern world that it has even been used in a commercial advertisement for a Toyota car in Australia or New Zealand in the late 90s. Despite a small number of complaints about it, the advertising authorities in NZ considered that taking account of the context and medium, the advertisement was unlikely to cause widespread offence.
Ken and many of us grew up in an era when the word really was offensive to use. However, as with many things in a living language, ever more widespread use has diluted the impact of the word in so many contexts. Sometimes using it, especially with venom, will turn some heads, other times (maybe even most times in the 2020s), no one would bat an eyelid. Truly, there are far worse expressions to have used than AV's traditional expression of dismay that the Boro has conceded a goal.
Confession time. While I might not consider myself to be foul mouthed, it is a word I am prone to use myself when I've ruined something 🙄
I can’t believe the love fest from Michael Carrick last night! Boro were never in the same class as Burnley and at no time did I think that Boro would even get a draw. The defence is so inept that half the clubs in the Championship have conceded fewer goals than Boro. Nowhere near as bad as during the period when Brian Clough needed to score 40 goals a season to keep Boro in the top half of the league, but Jack Charlton initially based his side on a strong defence and once he had instilled that into his team, goalscoring became easier.
One wonders why Dael Fry can’t get a place in the current side as the rest of the defence is not fit for purpose. Boro’s playoff place is now in jeopardy and unless Carrick can strengthen his defence for next season, I doubt that Boro will get promotion next season either. If Boro do by some chance gain promotion this season they’re likely to be cannon fodder in the Premier League next season.
Well t,hat was all very disappointing, don't get me wrong Burnley are the best team in the division look at the stats, 2 defeats, only conceding 4 goals in 8 matches, but what is worrying is that the wheels appear to come off at the wrong time of the season, will we make the playoffs, we should but I have my doubts given the way we are performing at the moment, grumpy and despondent of Ormesby.......
Have we not got a ‘no swearing’ attitude on this forum? Surely no need for it especially on the day that Jesus Christ was crucified!
I certain think swearing should be avoided on here, but I’m afraid the significance of any particular religious event should have no bearing on this Forum. There are plenty of places to declare your faith, but this isn’t one of them, unless you’re prepared to engage with others who have a counter view. I won’t impose my Humanism on members as my beliefs aren’t relevant in a football forum.
What is it with football supporters, Boro fans in particular. It is either all, or nothing. So, just now, "We're doooomed!" as Private Frazer was wont to say.
So, we have just lost two games In a row for the first time since...well for the first time can anyone remember without looking it up? Let us not forget just how many games we have won since MC took charge.
Burnley were worthy winners on the night, but there wasn't really that much between the teams. We can argue about some of the selections ...Fry over McNair, Forest over Ramsey. Whatever..
If there is one thing I would pick out, it is confidence. I have seen it in a couple of our high profile games. We try to play our usual fairly rapid passing game, (a style of play which we mustn't forget has lifted us from a possible relegation to a possible promotion in under 6 months), but it doesn't go right for us. Our passes are just short on pace and don't make their target, or are intercepted easily in the opposition's press. That is what made Burnley appear to be so much better than we were on the night.
Why is that?
I suspect that our players are intimidated by the occasion of the high profile game. That translates to a reduced confidence in moving the ball quickly and that ever so slight apprehension leads to the pass being ever so slightly too slow. Very fine margins, but against a team as sharp as Burnley last night, it shows. Then, when one and then two passes are intercepted, the belief drains a little more and all of a sudden the passes are behind the target, oe too far in front. Fine margins that perhaps mark the difference between us and Burnley.
We will not meet another Burnley this season, so I am confident we will go on to win most if not all our remaining fixtures. Even I have to consider 9 points and Sheff having a game spare, makes 2nd place highly unlikely for us now, barring an absolute nightmare of results for the Blades. But talk of us dropping out of the playoffs is more than a little alarmist.
Promotion or not, the defence needs to be sorted out before next season.
For now, roll on Monday and 3 points with 3 goals against the Robins.
@ Martin
But there should be NO counter view. Yesterday was called Good Friday for the good of mankind whether you like it or not. Although we quite rightly abhor any acts of racism, it is strange that the greatest act of racism occurred almost 2,000 years ago yet is not recognised by many!
@ Martin
But there should be NO counter view. Yesterday was called Good Friday for the good of mankind whether you like it or not. Although we quite rightly abhor any acts of racism, it is strange that the greatest act of racism occurred almost 2,000 years ago yet is not recognised by many!
OK, and I’m perfectly entitled to say that it’s nonsense, whether you like it or not. You stick to your myths based on an out of date book full of contradictions but don’t expect me to believe them.
"But there should be NO counter view. Yesterday was called Good Friday for the good of mankind whether you like it or not. Although we quite rightly abhor any acts of racism, it is strange that the greatest act of racism occurred almost 2,000 years ago yet is not recognised by many!"
I think that looks like falling into the category of "Lights blue touchpaper and stands well back."
Jarkko had the good grace to immediately apologise when someone expressed an offence to his choice of language, which language very few people in 2023 would really have any objection to.
In immediately apologising, whether he needed to or not, he deflated a potentially incendiary position.
We could all learn from Jarkko how positive it is for everyone to share that good grace and not to insist on having the final word to justify some comment. Final words have a dreadful habit of becoming not only the accelerant, but also the flash point.
Congratulations to Burnley on their return to the PL which is clearly deserved and on what was generally a comfortable win last night.
We were second best for most of the game in my view and it highlighted how much of a gap there is between the 21st team in the PL and those with longstanding Championship pedigrees.
Last nights match was akin to when Wolves were promoted, they came to the riverside and gave us a footballing lesson on how to win and manage tense affairs.
So two PL teams have won comfortably at the Riverside this season so what does it mean for us if we are able to win the play offs? A big rebuild I imagine and we all know what that can result in, ie AK's disastrous PL season.
I have always been of the view that if the opportunity for promotion presents itself then it should be taken but part of me is now beginning to wonder if we would be better off having another season under MC in the Championship and to build a squad capable of competing with the demoted teams for automatic promotion next season and then holding our own if promoted; I expect an immediate relegation if we succeed this season.
Confidence is a fragile thing and after two defeats on the bounce I can't imagine going into Monday's game the team will be on a high, against another wily old boy of a manager; another defeat and it could all unravel.
I posted a few weeks back that Burnley and Boro apart, all the other top sides had had their sticky patches and I hoped that when our's came it was not at the wrong time!
Fingers crossed that we can get back on track on Monday but my prediction of a win is looking highly suspect given I expected four points from our last two games rather than no points.
CoB please don't turn into another "Typical Boro" team. 😎
Now that the dust has settled a little and a fair number of posters have given their view, I have to say, I am alongside KP.
We were second best to Burnley for the majority of the match, and for me got lucky with a penalty decision that favoured us.
You cannot as a team continue to try and out score your opponent as your defence and midfield continue to make poor decisions.
Malcolm’s postings of the Gazette and Echo performances marks made for interesting reading on peoples judgements, so I searched for the answer to them. 5 is the starting point apparently, which is average. 6 is supposed to be good, 7 very good. Well I do not think I saw one 7 and may be Ramsey was a 6. The rest no better than average. I do appreciate of course that Burnley were far better than the Boro.
Although Len may have been a little harsh over our defence, generally they are poor in the context of the Team as a whole. Whilst I agree that McNair can divide opinion, probably MC see’s him as a better ball player than Fry, who is very limited in his passing.
But however you personally see it, there is no getting away from the fact that the defensive five and the midfield cost us too many goals.
I really hope we get promoted and bag the 100 million or whatever it is these days. If we stay in the Championship, well the defence and midfield have to be MC’s first priorities.
Next up though is Bristol. Can we turn the tide or will we get washed away. Bristol are no Burnley, but then neither are Huddersfield.
@ KP in Spain
I agree that for Boro to gain promotion this season would be disastrous. Far better to rebuild our defence in the close season and play a full season under Michael Carrick’s stewardship would seem more practical even though I’m unlikely to be around to witness it. The only problem I forsee is to be able to hang on to our best players. That is why Vincent Kompany is to be so admired as Burnley was on its knees a year ago playing such unattractive football under Shaun Dyche that the Belgian’s expectations of promotion this season seemed to be far off beam.
To lose only 2 league matches this season so far is quite remarkable, and I’d be confident that Michael Carrick could almost emulate Kompany’s staggering season if given the resources to do so.
As for the swearing I was surprised that Jarkko should use such language, but it wasn’t he whose language I objected to, but someone else who habitually uses the similar language. Whether it’s appropriate to discuss religion on a football forum is a moot point, though I don’t refer to Rugby League on the football sub section as Martin did yesterday. There are other sub-sections already available on Diasboro for other sports, etc if people kept categorising non- football items in the correct subsections.
In the meantime during a few hours spare time I reread the blogs on Diasboro World Press which I wrote several years ago and hadn’t realised that Werder had amalgamated recollections of Boro’s seasons up to the end of Stan Anderson’s management. I now wish to thank Werdermouth for his diligent work in collating these seasons in the history of our great football club, as at the time I thought I’d taken Boro’s football history as far as possible.
I disagree about promotion this season being a disaster. I strongly suspect that no team, these days, is ready for promotion to the Premier league. Facing 38 games and knowing that you'll do well to win even a quarter of them is not exactly a fun thing to look forwards to.
That said, clubs like Wolves, Fulham, Brighton, Brentford have shown that if you hold your nerve and do the right thing, that you can just about embed yourself there. The TV money is such a leveller that almost every team with gates less than 40K are roughly getting the same income.
We would undoubtedly need a huge overhaul if we are promoted and I wouldn't fancy our chances of staying up but, if we keep the faith then I think we can follow the likes of Fulham and go back up stronger if we get relegated.
For us, the defence is our weakest point but that's as much to do with the system as the players. Although McNair gets stick, I'm seeing it mentioned that Fry is carrying multiple injuries and not fit enough to start. With Clarke out we are down to our last two fit central defenders. I also get the impression that Carrick needs to bite the bullet and stick with Forss on the right because he seems to provide better defensive protection for Smith.
Looks to me like Hackney's feeling the pace now. I think he's played something like 25 games on the trot. This is his first season at this level and I think he needs a breather.
The thing I keep coming back to is that we recruited this season with an eye on making the play-offs and, hopefully, promotion. We do have a team with a good mix of experience and youth and all of our players are comfortably on the ball. For all of the problems, over multiple windows, we have focused on recruiting players with good technical skills who can play possession-based football.
I’ve just come back from a super day out at Bolton Abbey with family. The sun shone, ice creams were eaten and everyone went home happy, after a beautiful spring day which has gladdened my heart.
I’m going to take a break from posting for a while, in any effort to a) maintain my upbeat demeanour and b) to avoid causing any controversy or reacting in a negative way. Many apologies if this post isn’t football related - I hope to see you all on the other side (of promotion).
Sorry you won’t be posting for a while, Martin. I hope you’ll come back soon. I’ve always valued your comments.
Burnley were really good last night, defending and attacking as a team. They closed us down really effectively all game and the team was so well drilled that they all moved in unison together, squeezing the space between midfield and defence superbly. It was very hard to play against. No wonder they concede so few goals. No wonder they’re already promoted.
Having said all that, I don’t think we were hammered last night. We restricted Burnley to few shots and chances and we had a few good spells ourselves. In the end, one silly defensive mistake cost us a point. And their first goal has been shown to be marginally offside.
One consequence of Burnley’s brilliant marking was that Steffen dawdled and dithered in clearing the ball the great majority of times he received the ball. He and the 2 central defenders continually passed the ball between themselves. They obviously found no movement in front of them or nobody in sufficient space to pass to safely. Eventually, the crowd started to get on Steffen’s back, with the result that he kicked long, but usually to a waiting Burnley head. To be fair, this has been a feature of Steffen’s play more recently. It is deeply frustrating. We’ve seen how he can throw the ball out quickly to set up attacks. The net effect last night was to slow our play down to a crawl, when what we needed was pace to break down Burnley. MC clearly needs to address this.
I hope you will reconsider, Martin, as I always enjoy your contributions, and the blog will be much the poorer without them, even for a few months.
I’ve just come back from a super day out at Bolton Abbey with family. The sun shone, ice creams were eaten and everyone went home happy, after a beautiful spring day which has gladdened my heart.
I’m going to take a break from posting for a while, in any effort to a) maintain my upbeat demeanour and b) to avoid causing any controversy or reacting in a negative way. Many apologies if this post isn’t football related - I hope to see you all on the other side (of promotion).
Bolton Abbey is one of my favourite spots and I thank you for introducing a very welcome memory of happy days spent there. I also admire your control in the face of some comments that are probably best seen on another forum. Anything that comes down to belief is a personal matter and nothing is to be gained by bringing it onto diasboro.
enjoy yourself and I look forward to seeing you back as we drive towards the play-offs and promotion.
utb
Undoubtedly the better side won on Friday. A couple of things I noticed about Burnley was that they appeared to be a very big side much more so than us, their keeper was nearly touching the tunnel cover, and with the TV coverage. It appeared that the cameras were more interested in Vincent Company than the game. When we won the ball off them early in the first half and Chuba should have shot and not passed they had to show a replay as they were focusing on Company.
I went to the Burnley match without any real hope that we would avoid defeat as they had shown that they were, by a long way, the best team in the Championship so my disappointment with the Huddersfield defeat remains the reason for my current low mood. Burnley kept pressurising our players whenever we had the ball which limited our play and apart from a short period at the start of the second half we never really looked like causing them problems. If Akpom had taken a shot early in the match instead of passing it would have been interesting to see whether we could have managed the game better if we had taken the lead but I suspect Burnley's attack versus our our defence was always likely to be a losing battle. It was unfortunate that Akpom's late header went wide as a draw would have been a good, if underserved, result and a boost for the last 6 games instead of leaving us with Carrick's two defeats for the first time.
I went to Whitby on the Friday morning. It was freezing! The strong cold wind meant that all we needed was a bit of snow and it would have been normal mid-winter weather. Still, it was nice to wander around Whitby again. I think my knees would have shown their displeasure if I had tried walking up the steps so I got the tour bus. £11.40 admission charge to the abbey! I walked around the very crowded narrow streets and out on to both piers. On the bus back to Middlesbrough the sun was shining and there were people sitting out in a busy Saltburn with their food/drinks.
I was sorry to see you were going to take a break Martin. However, in my opinion, one poster with more than a hint of malevolence, has deliberately and provocatively crossed a rubicon.
I am finding it uncomfortable this weekend to even scan the latest posts as a couple of the recent posts have left me saddened to the pit of my stomach. So, having reflected on it all day, I too have decided to take a break from visiting and posting, at least until I feel I can control my urge to respond and maybe not until a most unecessary thread has been removed.
sorry to hear that Powmill I’ve just had a quick look at the blog as still suffering from Covid aftermath
OFB
@powmillnaemore Forgive him, for he knows not what he’s doing.
Only just looked at the blog since getting back and I'm willing to risk being damned for all eternity as I'm most definitely not interested in providing a platform for anyone wanting to espouse the virtues of god or religion. Besides, no doubt there are plenty of platforms out there for those who want to do so or get involved in theological discussions.
So I've decided to remove the thread on religion. Besides, it's a topic for debate it's never going to end well as atheists are just as convinced of their view as those who believe in man upstairs - the existence of God has as yet not been proved and likewise the counter argument is impossible as you can't prove a negative.
So talk of miracles should be reserved for Boro's chances of making automatic promotion.
One further point that has arose - For Jarkko's benefit, Bugger is no longer regarded as anything but a mild cuss word with the British Board of Film Censors now classifying its use as suitable for children's films along with words like Bloody, Damn and Crap - which sound like the worst group of solicitors to set up practice. Besides, Bugger has been the traditional exclamation of the blog since AV days and I wouldn't want to see that end.
Thanks, Werder. I did say I was sorry as I wasn't sure about the word. But you conformed what I thought about the word AV is using often. And I was not the only one to use it in here, too.
I try to be as polite to anyone as possible. I just want to enjoy the Boro as we might go up (to EPL).
Up the Boro!
@martin-bellamy Hi, man.
I have always enjoyed your postings. So I will be missing you, too as Len and Clive said above. so hope to see you back asap.
Let's just enjoy the ride with Boro. Up the Boro!
@werdermouth Firstly, thank you for deleting those posts. I don’t wish to add anything to what you’ve already said in your post above and hopefully we can all get back to respecting each other again.
We’re so close to seeing our team achieve success at last, after years in the wilderness, that now should be a time for solidarity and circling the wagons of our support.
We’ve had a couple of recent setbacks, but earlier in the season we’d have taken our current position in a heartbeat. A win today gets us back on track and looking forward to the maelstrom of the play-offs.
All aboard the good ship, Boro…
@jarkko Thanks mate. Following the actions of Werder this morning, I’m fully back on board and I’d like to thank other posters who expressed their support.