Possible XI
Stojanovic
Howson - Fry - Friend - Johnson
Tavernier - Clayton - Saville
Roberts - Fletcher - Coulson
I would change Coulson to the left back and move Fletcher to the left in attack. And I prefer Assombalonga in the number nine slot. On paper, he is the best striker in the division. But he needs Fletcher in there beside him. And Britt must be fully fit.
And if Spence fit, Howson in place of Clayton. But I think you were thinking that perhaps he is not fit just yet 😉.
Up the Boro!
Many happy returns, Werder. Let's hope we can all join your celebration after cruising to a home win. However, I'm going for 1-1.
I left Spence out of my team on the assumption that he won't be fit. If he is fir, he definitely plays for me.
I would play 4-3-3 / 4-5-1
Stojanovic
Howson Fry Friend Johnson
Saville McNair
Roberts Tav Coulson
Fletcher
I suspect he will push Howson to RB and bring Wing into the middle.
Thanks for the intro Werder and many happy returns - let’s hope Boro reward you and the rest of us with a victory!
so yet another must win game is upon us and after the results yesterday, even more so. Have to hope that Hull lose to give us a tad more breathing space.
I would go for
Stojanovic
Howson Fry Friend Coulson
Saville McNair
Roberts Tav Johnson
Fletcher
As for the result - I am hopeful Sosa scrappy 1 0 victory
UTB
Managers consistently said that playing so many games in such a short time would be a big problem for players. I tended to think it was the same for all teams so it didn’t matter.
Perhaps the test is the game after today. Boro have only 2 days rest before a long journey to Millwall whereas Millwall will have had 4 days rest and are playing at home.
So today is a must win as I don’t expect anything from the Millwall game
Belated Happy Birthday Werder.
I won't pretend to have a clue about today's game.
A case of hoping for the best and fearing the worst.
Have tipped us for a win on the exmil challenge, but wouldn't be even mildly surprised to see us get well beaten.
Just hope Tav is in from the off. It would be a pity to see him brought on when the game is already lost.
Now come on Bob, you’re itching to go 🥇🥅o
Belated birthday greetings Werder, alles Gute zum Geburtstag or feliz cumpleaños. Let's hope the Boro give you something to celebrate after the game! 😎🎂
K P, whichever way you cut it, at the end of the season Wigan will have 12 points deducted and that will put them below Boro.
They're not going to finish in the bottom three without the deduction so the League one scenario to me is irrelevant.
All that said I still believe we'll finish outside the bottom three.
well, Morrison and Mokoudi in, no-one predicted that.
back 3 with Howson and Johnson wing backs?
back 4 with Friend LB and Johnson LW?
Not quite sure where Morrison fits in, centre midfield?
@grovehillwallah One thing we can be certain of is that they won’t line-up like that!
Looks like either wingbacks or 442 but I think the former.
Dael Fry can also play at RB so maybe that is it. Howson in the middle
Possibly 5-2-3 With Moukoudi in at CB?
Belated birthday greetings Werder, hope you have now recovered, although it may be useful to keep a beer or three handy to deaden any pain from a poor result this afternoon.
Happy-ish with the line up with the option to change the system from 442 to 532. QPR have a couple of useful players upfront to bother the Boro defence and cannot see us keeping a clean sheet, so we need to score goals.
Defeat, probably more likely than a win, would really put us in the sh*/.
I cannot wait for the season to over in all honesty.
Same old, same old... And you'd have put the proverbial daft quid on Hugill being the scorer! 🙁
Awful first 45. No fight, no urgency. Not a lot of anything really. Odd selection and it hasn’t got any better.
Warnock needs to deliver an outstanding half-time team talk and make one or two changes.
Go to wingbacks and get Coulson on as a minimum.
I suppose that you have to say NW picked an attacking side, but it just is not working, wrong set up.
Morrison anonymous, Roberts his usual wasteful self. Howson having amare, Johnson not much better. We need more pace and support to the front two. We need Tav on at least now and possibly Coulson. Five the back.
Quote from Maddo included in the BBC text commentary:
I can see the intent in what Boro are trying to do, but they're missing a few players to give them that bit of spark or that pass.
The half-time stats according Bet365 (Boro first):
Possession: 41% to 59%
Attacks: 42 to 52
Dangerous attacks: 22 apiece
Shots on target: 4 to 6
Shorts off target: 4-3
Stojanovic apparently made a "superb save" low to his right from a dangerous free kick taken by Ryan Manning in the 38th minute.
Well that was a tactical shambles. How long will it take Warnock to realise that with this squad we need three at the back and play with wing backs. Everything seems to be based around "give it to Roberts". Very poor from Warnock and four of five out on the pitch from Players who look disinterested.
Vic's half-time assessment:
Well that was rubbish. Next to nothing up front. No urgency. No sense of jeopardy. No spark. No tempo. No creativity. No ideas. Boro need a quick and marked improvement
this is so poor and it is just drifting away.
why aren't McNair, Coulson, Tavernier on the pitch?
K P, whichever way you cut it, at the end of the season Wigan will have 12 points deducted and that will put them below Boro.
They're not going to finish in the bottom three without the deduction so the League one scenario to me is irrelevant.
All that said I still believe we'll finish outside the bottom three.
Not necessarily. Wigan have still to play QPR at home, Barnsley away, Hull at home, Charlton way, and Fulham at home. They’re quite capable of winning 4 of those matches and possibly all 5 which would give them at least 62 points less the 12 for going into administration which equals 50 points, and their goal difference is minus 8 compared to Boro’s minus 13 at the moment. So even if Boro reach 50 points, which seems unlikely at the moment, they may well finish above Boro on goal difference at least.
So, back in the bottom three, before tomorrow’s next must-win game. Barnsley and Luton have goal differences significantly worse than ours, but that’s little consolation. We might end up relying on Wigan being docked 12 points.
As for the QPR game, I can’t see us losing. But I said that about the Hull game. I’d like to see Assombalonga and Fletcher playing together up front. And I hope the groundsman removes all bottle tops from the goalmouths before kick-off.