It's another player with exactly the same name.
utb
Thanks, Selwyn. I tried to find out when I first noticed that an Adama Traoré was playing for Hull, but couldn't find any conclusive evidence that it wasn't our AT! Odd that there should be two players in this country with exactly the same name!
Brilliant burst of pace and quality at the start of the second half that deflated Hull and effectively killed the game. Boro could have had several more in truth.
Absolutely delighted for Jones and Djiksteel after rough seasons for the pair. Both looked somewhere near their best in that 45mins.
It was probably more luck than judgement that got them into the field but along with Mowatt, Carrick has now found three new options.
A word for the much maligned recruitment team. To be subbing on Jones, Djiksteel, Crooks and Barlaser in the second half is some step up from the depth (or lack of) we’ve had in recent years - the first three were mainstays last season.
Hackney is enjoying playing further up the field it seems. I don’t think he quite has the footwork of Ramsey or McGree but he certainly has the intelligent movement, passing, composure and technique to play there. A very nice option to have with the current injuries.
Playoffs in the bag. Nice.
@werdermouth I think Millwall can overtake us only if they win a game or two by 10-0. Our goal difference is superior. Boro GD + 30 and Millwall + 8. Yes, mathematically possible, put practically impossible. We are safe.
A cracking second half. Up the Boro!
@stircrazy Hull's A. Taore was much, much slower and a bigger unit.
Up the Boro!
Well, no time now for detailed analysis but that was certainly the proverbial game of two halves. In the first Hull City was the team playing the possession football and although Boro had some chances to score, including Hackney (?) hitting the foot of the post and Forss extracting a really good save to divert the ball around the post that would otherwise have been a goal, it was Hull playing the slowly-slowly ball back to the keeper and across to another team-mate, AND Hull should have scored early on after a lovely move opened Boro's defence. So when Hull DID score from an unmarked glancing header, that was probably a deserved half-time lead from our Yorkshire coast neighbours.
Dijksteel and Jones changed the game when they came on at half-time (forced by injuries to McNair and Forss) and Howson looked very comfortable when moved back to the centre of defence. But what marked the change was a sense of urgency, the finding of the 4th and 5th gears and a willingness to move the ball quickly forward - to attack.
Boro's quick posession and attacking moves mean that, once a goal is scored, more often follow. And so it proved with a blitz of 3 goals in about 6 minutes to turn the game on its head. There really could have been, maybe should have been, another 2 or 3 goals to complete the rout, but that may be the result of watching whilst wearing greedy Boro rose-tinted sunglasses.
This current Boro team is exciting to watch but sometimes we have to put up with a less-than-captivating 45 minutes, or so. But the end result today was a very entertaining evening, 3 points in the bag, and a play-off place virtually guaranteed. The issue is whether the team finishes 3rd or 4th but, either way, any team drawn to play against Boro will not be rubbing its collective hands in glee at the prospect. Playing at its best, no the team in this league bar possibly Burnley, can play so effectively. I have a good feeling about this and will go to bed a happy man tonight.
3-1, so OFB will be delighted (again).
Now that I have updated all 4 divisions of the English Football League I have now discovered that only Ipswich Town have scored more goals than Boro so far this season. Moreover the Adama Traore playing for Hull City tonight was born in Mali whilst the former Boro player was born in Spain.
Sixty years I've been watching this team, and I've seen the odd game when we've come back, I was at the QPR game 6-2 , other times I can't remember, but this lot , it's like we'll give you a goal or two to start, we don't care , nervracking in thee sense one minute you want to sell them all , next it's brilliant, biting nails to Wembley, COB
@ken Hartlepool United face their biggest game since winning promotion to the EFL when they host Crawley Town on Saturday.
The away team are three points, and two goals better off than Pools. Hartlepool, however, have scored more goals meaning victory for them would get them out of the drop zone.
Victory for Town would give them a six point cushion with two to play and leave Pools facing the brink.
Pools will be backed by a huge home crowd on Saturday for the classic six-pointer.
So the Pools are indeep trouble - unlike Boro! I hope some Boro fans will support Hartlepool on Saturday as we play at Luton on Monday. Up the Boro!
@werdermouth Without criticising MC, I and others have been advocating the return of Dijksteel for sometime. Smith and McNair both on the right leave us vunerable.
I appreciate it was only 45 minutes and no disrespect to Smith, but I hope that Dijksteel gets a run in the team.
HH, when we had our hiccup, was playing too deep in my opinion, to cover somewhat for Howson’s lack of pace. Moving him further forward gives us another dimension playing through the middle. He is always trying to play the ball forward and has the ability to score goals.
Why would Boro fans want their side to get automatic promotion (not that it was ever likely to happen anyway), and deprive themselves of another Wembley appearance? Surely there is more excitement and glory in winning the playoff final! It might be a more risky approach to promotion, but come on you Boro fans and show more confidence in your team!
Well that was a game of two halves, first indifferent second we blew them away. 8 goals in two matches, when was the last time we scored so many goals? ( a question for Ken). Jones and Dijksteel made a big difference, Jones had the defender on toast. In the words of the Spaniard " Are you not entertained"
@paulinboro. Probably under JC. We won 0-4 at West Brom, followed by 0-4 at Fulham and then 8-0 at home but can’t remember who we beat! 😎
Whatever the number of goals Millwall or Blackburn score in their remaining games, since they have to play each other only one can finish above Boro even if we lose the next three games. Mathematically, Boro can't finish below sixth place.
Abosuletly delighted for Jones. After being left out for whatever reason, to come back and play like he did last night was outstanding!! Well deseserved to get a rating of 9.
We beat Sheffield Wednesday 8-0 but that was a month after the back to back 4-0, I saw all three, and the week after the 8-0 we won 4-2 at Preston.
I think that many previous incarnations of MFC would have lost last night, but MC has made them the great entertainers a total of 135 goals in 43 matches played, Boro and opponents, and there was also the six goals in the FA Cup. As others have said no need to rush the injured back get them ready for the playoffs which will probably start in just under three weeks.
Whilst our strategy of playing out from the back may leave us with very short finger nails, it definitely seems to work. I’ve got major doubts about Paddy M being able to play quickly enough in that system but we generally get away with it.
Hull coped very well in the first half but trying to keep up the press for two halves takes a lot of concentration and stamina, which I think is the reason why we score so many second half goals. It reminds me of Rugby League where a team can keep the attacking opposition out with strong defence for 40 minutes, only to run out of steam in the second half leaving gaps that good teams exploit.
Long may it continue.
Why would Boro fans want their side to get automatic promotion (not that it was ever likely to happen anyway), and deprive themselves of another Wembley appearance? Surely there is more excitement and glory in winning the playoff final! It might be a more risky approach to promotion, but come on you Boro fans and show more confidence in your team!
You said it yourself, Sir Ken: "It might be a more risky approach to promotion." Only for that reason. Up the Boro!
@martin-bellamy I have played as a sweeper or left back for well over 25 years now. Not on a very high level, of course, but still as an older chap. And I have always wondered why most goalkeepers want to kick the ball out as soon as possible. They do not take part in playing when their team have possession.
So I love to watch Boro now when we have a keeper that is part of the team also when we have possesion. I have always thought a team miss one player if the goalkeeper is inactive while the team has the ball. I have often thought that the keepers are not clever enough to take part when his team is possesion (sorry, not meaning all).
So Steffen playes exactly I would like a keeper to play. As a defender you have one extra direction to pass the ball to (and not hoofing it aimlessly up field if you see a striker near you). And not like Pulis or Warnock used to instruct their keepers.
So I love to watch when Steffen comes slowly upfield and waits for a opening. He invites the opposition to over commit himfelf and then we pass the ball quickly up field from a player to a player. And he is always available when McNair or Leninhan need to pass the ball backlwards.
Absolutely wondeful. I love CarrickBall to bits, me. Up the Boro!
[...]
Absolutely delighted for Jones and Djiksteel after rough seasons for the pair. Both looked somewhere near their best in that 45mins.
It was probably more luck than judgement that got them into the field but along with Mowatt, Carrick has now found three new options.
[...]
Some interesting thoughts from MC on Jones & Dijksteel:
Yesterday evening's match from Liam Rosenior's perspective, including his thoughts on Chuba:
It is a bit of a cliche but the fringe players are stepping up just when we need them. Mowatt, Dijksteel and Jones have all played a full part in the last 2 victories with the team not looking any weaker.
Hackney has also shown he can play the attacking midfield role to a similar standard as McGree and Ramsey and scored twice as well. The longer the season has gone on, the more Hackney has impressed me. His ability to carry the ball and pick a pass is striking.
One thing that amused me. For Chuba's goal he was fighting with Archer for the same tiny spot of space. Both of them knew exactly where they needed to be and made a beeline for there. Archer bounced away from Chuba and peeled off in case a rebound came out.
Akpom is a genuine phenomenon at this level. He really is like having 2 players in one. Time after time, he picks the ball up in midfield before driving forward then playing an inch-perfect pass. He does all that and then scores goals like a #9.
I know I've said it before, but this really is the best football we've seen at the Riverside. Robbo's galacticos could turn it on when they felt like it. McClaren's best teams were compact and industrious with lethal finishers but they often felt workmanlike rather than inspired. AK's best footballing team could knock the ball around well but their primary focus was always to avoid conceding.
I don't know if anyone remembered but Woodgate managed a couple of league cup games under Pulis. We won them both (I think) something like 4-3. A certain amount of our current style definitely comes from Woody but he lacked the support and experience to pull it off.
Surprisingly Boro ONLY scored 77 goals in Jack Charlton’s promotion season of 1973/74, the main reason being that although they were top of the league from practically all of the season they only scored 48 goals from their first 32 matches prior to the 4-0 wins at West Brom and Fulham they only scored two more 4 goal wins at home to Notts County and away to Preston plus the 8-0 home win against Sheffield Wednesday. Boro’s strength was their defence as they finished with 77 goals scored but only 30 conceded in their 42 matches. Also although topping the league Boro only scored 14 goals in their first 14 matches 4 of which were goalless draws.
One has to go back to the 1966/67 season when they scored 87 goals in the 3rd Division, and to the 1959/60 season when they scored 90 goals although they conceded 64 in that season and finished in 5th position. Also of course Boro only played 42 league matches in those days.
There is a myth about the Jack Charlton season, as the matches were usually low scoring affairs and no way as exciting as the current season, nor the Brian Clough years either. Of course the real excitement was that Jack got Boro promoted, but I recall that some of the home matches were fairly boring.
Nevertheless Boro still hold the record of the highest number of league goals scored in the Second Division - 122 in the 1926/27 season when George Camsell scored 59 and Billy Pease 23.
@mw-in-darwin. Yes it was SW that we beat 8-0, thanks for jogging the memory. I too was at that game and also at Fulham but missed the Preston game. Happy days and nearly as good as now. 😎
An interesting article below by Andy Dunn in the Daily Mirror on the pitfalls of young managers moving to PL clubs too quickly which MC would do well to consider:
“There Are Plenty Of Excuses
THERE are plenty of excuses, plenty of mitigating circumstances, but there is no disguising Frank Lampard’s struggles as the manager of a Premier League football club.
He is on one horrendous run, losing 15 and drawing two of his last 18 matches.
Yes, he walked back into a basket case of a club when accepting the bizarre invitation to keep the bench warm for Julian Nagelsmann, or whoever is next, but it does not excuse the performances of his team so far.
Todd Boehly’s buffoonery is, understandably, being highlighted as the root cause of Chelsea’s problems, but Graham Potter did not perform well and Lampard is faring no better.
In his second stint as Chelsea manager, Lampard has lost four out of four and his side have managed 11 shots on target.
The only goal they scored came from an outlandish deflection. It is dismal stuff.
Lampard might wonder what he let himself in for when he answered Chelsea’s call, not just a couple of weeks ago, but, more pertinently, just under four years ago when he made the jump from Derby County.
However, the lure of a big Premier League club is often irresistibly strong, not to mention lucrative.
It is a lure that might well be dangled in front of Michael Carrick this summer, whether or not he takes Middlesbrough into the top flight via the play-offs.
There are strong suggestions David Moyes will leave West Ham United at the end of this season and Carrick would surely be on the shortlist for that gig.
But he has only been a permanent manager in his own right for six months.
They have been six very impressive months, granted, his transformation of Chuba Akpom a testimony to Carrick’s coaching nous.
Akpom is the leading scorer in a team that tops the Championship goal charts – a team that averages more than two goals and two points per match under Carrick.
He has quickly developed a high-energy style and the plaudits are coming thick and fast.
Carrick clearly has the long-term potential to be an excellent English manager at the highest level, but we said that about two men whose playing careers distracted many from Carrick’s fantastic talent.
And Lampard has crashed and burned at Chelsea and Everton, while Steven Gerrard has done the same at Aston Villa.
Lampard has very little to gain from his final seven games in charge at Stamford Bridge – and a lot to lose.
Win them all and he still won’t get the permanent gig, lose them all and his reputation will take another clean, painful blow.
A lot of great managers begin their careers by establishing a body of work and a style over a decent period of time.
Lampard did not do that.
Carrick can do it at Middlesbrough, even if promotion does not happen this time around. He has good boardroom support, a good fan base, a good staff.
The foundation he would get from at least a couple of seasons at Middlesbrough would be ideal for a long career in the top echelons of management.
Of course, we know how it can go. Carrick could take Middlesbrough up, they could be bottom after a dozen or so matches and he could get the boot.
But you would like to think he and owner Steve Gibson already have a mutual trust and admiration, which would ensure that does not happen.
Within the game, there is a widespread expectation that Carrick will, indeed, make it to the very top.
But if he wants to know the dangers of making too big a leap too soon, then he only needs to look at Lampard.” 😎
Thanks for posting this KP. It's a very interesting piece.
I suppose it's in the nature of supporters- and especially Boro supporters- to worry, even in the midst of an unprecedentedly successful high-scoring run, about what will happen if we do get promoted and then go on a string of Premier League losses.
It's a probable scenario. You do not need much of a crystal ball to predict what might easily happen when we try to play open attacking football against teams who have far more talent and money at their disposal than we have.
It's the point made recently by exmil in reverse. He said that Norwich's mistake was to try and attack us, leaving themselves wide open to counter attacks which we, as the more talented team, comfortably exploited.
How long would it be- two or three games?- before there would be widespread calls to fix the defence, to stop the other team from playing, to change the style and philosophy that has so far been so liberating and successful.
How long before the team's unity and spirit, after how many heavy losses, starts to fray?
How long before all of Carrick's qualities which we so admire, come to be seen as liabilities? His calmness under pressure interpreted as passivity and inaction?
As ever, it is results that will dictate supporters' moods and feelings rather than rational thinking.
As I mentioned in relation to Chris Wilder, few of his supposed crimes and misdemeanours would have weighed heavily in the balance had he continued as he started by winning games with the Boro playing attractive progressive football.
It was only when we stopped winning that the ceiling fell in.
My point is not to be a Jonah. There are few Daisborians who will not have had some of these thoughts fall like a shadow on this sunlit season.
It is, rather, to make the positive point that we should keep faith in a young coach of remarkable qualities if and when we hit more difficult times perhaps only a few months from now.
@lenmasterman That’s one of the best posts I’ve ever read on this Blog.
Apparently there were boos from some supporters at halftime during the Hull game which is so depressing - I wonder how the players and management team feel when they hear that response.
This season has been astonishing and we should all be enjoying the ride, whatever the ultimate outcome. Next season could be difficult but let’s celebrate what we’ve got before worrying about what might happen.
Can Boro win at Luton, or does it really matter in the great scheme of things? As long as Boro finish 3rd or 4th they will have home advantage in the second leg of the playoff semi final. Boro are in the habit of scoring late goals and will also have the further advantage of an extra 30 minutes extra time if needed.
Luton are unbeaten in their last eleven matches having won 8 of them albeit by a single goal in all but three of them, but having scored 15 goals and conceded only 5. They spent 5 seasons in the Conference (now the National League) from 2009/14 but to their credit have spent the last 5 seasons in the Championship with arguably one of the lowest budgets in this league. It probably seems unlikely that they will face Boro in the playoff semifinals, but if any club is worthy of the title of “Raising like Phoenix from the Ashes” it is Luton Town whom you might remember was the last club Boro played at Ayresome Park in 1995.
I’ve never visited Luton, but it was in 1958 that I started my National Service at nearby RAF Cardington so I have some knowledge as to how passionate their fans are, and ex-manager David Pleat was my next door neighbour in a short break in Majorca in the distant past and we naturally talked about the clubs he managed and of course the Boro.
Archer makes it 2-1 three minutes later. The Beeb says he was assisted by Steffen, so it must have been one helluva punt upfield!
Daily Fail article, which includes a brief clip of the kick in quesion:
Unai Emery's thoughts on the respective futures of Cameron Archer & Aaron Ramsey, as reported by the Gazette:
As Len has commented, KP, a very interesting article. I came across this article on the Boro page of the News Now site last week which suggested that Crystal Palace would be a better fit for MC, should he choose to move on at the end of the season - not that I'd want him to!