@stircrazy And our Eagle Owl is starting, too!
Up the Boro!
PS. A Finnish international in football is called an Eagle Owl.
McGree Howson Archer Hackney and Ramsey all showed signs of being leggy after 2 hard games in such a short period. Hopefully the break from Tuesday until today will mean refreshed players and a more lively performance.
I did think that Barlaser would have started today but we have to respect the Carrickature of the team selected.
OFB
At present I'm seeing a team in red that's well drilled in to the belief of Plan 'A', I'm not seeing a team that can also tune in to a Plan 'B' when 'A' is being neutralised, or is it my in built Typical Boro kicking in?
Chuba gives us the lead in the 22nd minute from a pass by Archer.
Okay, what do I know!
Had to smile at Vic's half-time assessment:
HT: 1-0. Chuba. Obviously. The goal aside, some beautiful, evocative, colourful, fluid football full of perfect lines, angles and vision. That 45 should be hanging in the Louvre.
Typical Middlesbrough3 would see us one in front of SheffU on GD, if not, sadly, on points. 😉
Howson still looks leggy and McGree not as athletic as usual.
Fry looks better at the back than Paddy.
72:8 % possession
OFB
We look so confident on the ball. Preston sitting deep but they need to think about scoring a goal in the second half.
We had a couple of chances to score. Chuba after a counter attack, then both Archer and Forss both missed the ball completely in the opposition goal kick area.
Boro in full control but let's see how the second half will go. Up the Boro!
After the pleasure mist of the goal dissipates, I still think that we're one dimensional in our approach, teams have sussed us out and can stifle our outlets from the back. As for the back I look through fingers when we're under the pump, now if Southgate and Big Ech were the mainstay, need I say more.
Archer makes it 2-0 in the 52nd minute, assisted by Giles. Middlesbrough3, here we come...
Zach booked in the 50th minute.
3-0: a second for Archer in the 58th minute, this time assisted by Chuba! 🙂
Bola on for McGree & Mowatt for Hackney in the 72nd minute. How about giving the old man, Jonny H, a bit of a breather?
Bola on for McGree & Mowatt for Hackney in the 72nd minute. How about giving the old man, Jonny H, a bit of a breather?
Finally! Barlaser on for Jonny H in the 83rd minute (!!!), along with Ramsey for Archer.
Forss puts it beyond all doubt ( 😉 ) in the dying seconds of the game, assisted (again) by Giles: 4-0! 🙂
Middlesbrough4. Up the boro!
Vic's verdict at full-time:
FT: 4-0. Excellent. Almost a perfect display. Creative, fluid, entertaining, industrious, exciting and, in the second half, clinical. Every man-jack of them was superb. Every one of them looks comfortable playing this style and tempo.
That was the perfect Saturday.
On the Plan A front, I disagree about the need for a Plan B. The coaching staff spend every hour of the week drilling the team in "Plan A": fast, accurate, pass and move football. What you can see though are ways to mix up plan A. I think Forss offers us a better balance and more variety because he can chase a ball down the channel on the right in the way Archer does on the left. This both gives us a different out ball when we're under pressure and stretches the other team. When we have Ramsey and McGree in the same team we end up lacking the ability to be more direct.
The bottom line is that Carrick has settled on making us more open which does mean that we can score goals for fun but if a team can press us we struggle. Thing is, no team is perfect and tactics are like a game of rock-paper-scissors: what is strong against one team is weak against another. Carrick has, sensibly, opted to focus on making us as good at our A-game as we can possibly be rather than getting us good with a variety of tactics.
Give him another 20 games and I'm sure we'll start seeing an increased variety in how we play. He has already evolved some common tactics like bringing on Bola as a defensive left sided attacker so that we can see-out games better.
Well 4-0 can't complain, and 10 pts above 7th hopefully the rainbow over the Riverside is an omen UTB!
So it shows what I know !
Howson MOM and had a great second half.
Middlesbrough3 now renamed Middlesbrough4
Archer had an ankle injury and was doubtful before the game !
OFB
Sunderland managed to get a goal too, so Luton only picked up one point. A good day all in all.
That fourth goal moved Boro to 69 goals for the season - their highest-scoring campaign since 1997-98 when Bryan Robson's side scored 77 on their way to promotion!
OFB
As a colour blind ref (honestly !)
Im watching Man City v Burnley and the Burnley keeper seems to have the same colours as the outfield players !
Also the referee is wearing the same colour shirt as the Man City keeper ! He couldn’t wear black as Burnley are !
Football gone mad !
I always wore black and the keepers had green shirts !
OFB
@original-fat-bob All refs are blind, mate. At least we as players think so. 😅 Up the Boro!
@john-richardson. I had one knitted for me by my gran. It had a footballer on it kicking a ball. 😎
Just seen the Carrick interview on efl highlights, so impressed, calm and level headed
That was impressive. 90mins where Boro were in complete control throughout.
With the way West Brom stifled us a few weeks ago, you could see that Preston’s plan was similar - sit deep and narrow and try to frustrate us - but, as we said at the time, not many sides will be able to make that plan work for the full game.
Preston certainly couldn’t and once we got in front their plan fell apart and we passed them off the park.
Howson and Hackney bounced back from a difficult game on Tuesday night with one of their best combined displays, utterly dominant in midfield, whilst the returning Fry and Forss were among our best (though everyone was very good).
I like Forss’ attitude. Every time he comes off the bench or starts as yesterday, he plays with a point to prove. You can see that being left out hurts him and he reacts in exactly the way you’d want him to. Goodness knows how he felt about being labelled a “development” player by Wilder - he clearly came to play.
Carrick has a real selection headache going forward because, Tuesday apart, Ramsey has been really good and his technical skill and movement benefits the team. But Forss’ drive and direct running is another excellent option and worked a treat yesterday. Nice problems to have.
With other results going for us as well, it really was an ideal afternoon.
What’s going on in the First Division of the Northern League at Penrith? Apparently our famous World Cup winners West Auckland (Woolwich Arsenal in disguise) turned up in Penrith but the Cumbrian side couldn’t field a team, so the famous team were awarded the win as 108-0 and their leading goalscorer was credited with 65 goals.
I’ve been unable to unravel the details, but did the match actually take place? Some reports suggest that West Auckland won the match 2-0 yet the league table suggest that 108-0 was in fact the final score which seems ridiculous in my opinion. Surely a points reduction would have been more appropriate as Penrith now face relegation anyway.
I spent about an hour last night trying to ascertain the actual scoreline on several websites, but was still unable to reach a conclusion as to whether the 108-0 scoreline actually took place. But if it did I guess it was an attempt to break the record score published in the Guinness Book of Records. If so then it ended in failure as in October 2002 ADAMA champions of Malagasy (formerly Madagascar) scored 149 goals all own goals, scored against Stade Olympique De L’Emryne who repeatedly put the ball in their own net in protest at a refereeing decision.
It sure is a funny old game as Greavesie used to say!
@ken. According to northernfootballleague.org West Auckland won the match 0-1. The 108 you refer to is given as the crowd attendance. 😎