Terrible result. Bolasie scored one but he must be gutted not to have had a hat-trick. At least Watmore looked like sorry not to see Bolasie score.
Not much look forward to. Sad. Up the Boro!
To play Assombalonga in this game was an insult to every single person who supports Middlesbrough. That has to be the lowest of the low and truly unforgivable.
@malcolm got to agree he's not going to be here next season so why play him, so disappointed with the way we have played recently. In my opinion if players dont want to be here why play them.
It's probably just the weird season and nothing to play for but it feels like what happens when a manager has lost part of the dressing room. Most of the players seem to be going through the motions.
At this point I almost feel that maybe it would have been better if Warnock had decided to call it a day. His strength is getting players to believe and if he can't do that, he's got nothing. The again, if he did leave we would probably be in for another year of aimless flailing.
Only good bit of news today
Happy Birthday 🎂 Jarkko hope you have a great day !
OFB
Only good bit of news today
Happy Birthday 🎂 Jarkko hope you have a great day !
OFB
Yes. Many happy returns Jarkko
Jarkko is in good company as he shared his birthday with Former MFC striker and my good friend Andy Campbell
OFB
Have a great Birthday Jarkko, pity the Boro spoiled the celebrations!
Andy you did such a great job do you want to do the next topic starter for Rotherham?
if you can’t find time that’s fine
OFB
Jarkko,
Happy Birthday, I know you follow my print blog so let me know which one you'd like and I'll send it to you. A Boro print? It'll probably get you in time for next years birthday! That'll be about when Boro win again...
On the topic of football, why didn't our young striker get some time instead of the roll of Lino?
Have a great day,
All the best,
John
@derleiad Yes, it is a weard season and I am a bit sceptical about Warnock staying, too. But I try look positively to next season.
Bolasie, Kabano and Watmore are good players and we were quite good in attacking yesterday. I hope the two loanees will stay with us for next season. At least so that we do not have to sign too many (totally) new players again in one window.
Looks like we need Fry back. I have a feeling that McNair is too often missing from defence nowadays. Perhaps the opponents have found that weakness out. Perhaps it is time to move Paddy back to midfield for next season.
But even I will see that the centre forward position is is the most difficult one. I see it is a system problem rather than individual problem. Before yesterday, we were not creating chances. He did not shoot or had a chance going missing - we were usually lost when entering the final third.
Something was different yesterday, Archer kicked the ball more often to his defenders than Bettenelli did all season. A test for next seaspon by Warnock?
Up the Boro!
Jarkko,
Happy Birthday, I know you follow my print blog so let me know which one you'd like and I'll send it to you. A Boro print? It'll probably get you in time for next years birthday! That'll be about when Boro win again...
On the topic of football, why didn't our young striker get some time instead of the roll of Lino?
Have a great day,
All the best,
John
On behalf of rolls of Lino (and planks of wood) everywhere I feel your pain being compared to the Boro Striker as you have a multitude of uses.
Thanks for the good wishess. It is 60 today. No party as per covid though. We will have a take away and just my daughter visiting. Up the Boro!
I am happy Woody is doing well at Bournemouth. Excellent second-half strikes from Arnaut Danjuma and Lloyd Kelly helped Bournemouth come from behind to beat promoted Norwich and close in on a Championship play-off place. A very good 1-3 away win at Norwich.
I think Mr Gibson and Boro have been at best when hiring a new up coming manager. The list is quite long and good also recently. From Big Jack to Bruce Rioch, from Robbo to McClaren and more recently Southgate and Woodgate. The latter two were raw and perhaps Gibson must give more time to the up-coming managers than he has recently.
The young ones are definately better than Pulis. The jury is still out for Warnock, though. Up the Boro!
I can’t comment on Jack Charlton but of the others, only Bruce Rioch could succeed with the current squad and circumstances. Robson and McClaren could not have done much without Gibson’s relative spending power in my view.
If we want to go down the younger route then I would suggest someone who has already had one or two jobs and learned the hardest lessons already. There will be some out there.
Happy birthday Jarkko, hope you have a great day and you receive a belated birthday present from the Boro on Wednesday! 🎂🍾😎
@deleriad. "If he did leave we would probably be in for another year of aimless flailing".
He has to leave sometime and given he is now talking of the need for major rebuilding rather than tweaking the squad then I think this would be best undertaken by a manager with a potential longer shelf life.
NW has had two transfer windows in which to operate and has hardly made a rip roaring success with either permanent or loan signings so I am not sure he will have any better luck during the summer.
I just wonder how much adverse impact the agreement to renewing contracts for some players and the loan recruitments have had on squad unity and loyalty.
Regrettably, I think even if he stays we are not going to see much in the way of improvement. NW talks about the team being work in progress when, in fact since January, it has regressed. 😎
Happy Birthday Jarkko. Have a great day.
I’m far from calling for Warnock’s head but I do agree that it might be best for everyone if we have a fresh start in the summer. That, however, is entirely dependent on their being a good replacement out there for us.
As KP says, the Warnock move was always a short term one and I really worry that we’re going to build a squad that suits his methods and then be back to square one when he leaves next summer. The only way it can work is if he gets us promoted next season, then leaves. At least that way we have Premier League money.
I just wonder what the end game is here. We’re playing a brand of football that has no long term benefits and we don’t look like threatening to go up with it next year barring a significant upturn. I wonder what the point is, really.
We’re back to where we were under Pulis and coming to a moment, sooner or later, where we’ll have to change tack. It feels to me like it would make more sense to do that sooner.
That could make next season a write-off (many would say it is already) but seems like the best way forward in the medium/longer term.
Who is out there to replace Warnock though? We need someone who can work with Championship level players and knows where to recruit on limited funds and ideally someone who can get a team to play some football so we can mover forward in future. Has Gerhard Struber had enough of New York yet?
Good post Andy. I was always of the view that NW was a good appointment but it should have been of a short term nature i.e. Do the job he was recruited for which was to keep us in the Championship and then hand over to a younger man.
We seem to be, yet again, drifting along without any clear ideas or strategy and if this continues I can only see it ending in tears.
I agree that finding a replacement is not going to be easy but that is why people take on the role of Chief Executive and Chairman/Owner and it's about time they started getting the right appointment. 😎
While we all stress about how poor we are and what "players" are staying and should Colin remain as manager, I see the premier league "big 6" have signed up to the idea of a European super league. I assume they would be expelled from domestic league if this happened
While we all stress about how poor we are and what "players" are staying and should Colin remain as manager, I see the premier league "big 6" have signed up to the idea of a European super league. I assume they would be expelled from domestic league if this happened
I saw that too Paulinboro.
The Premier League could hardly objective the big six do do a moonlight flit as the Premier League itself was a breakaway of the top clubs from the Football League.
I rather hope they do leave.
I certainly hope they do NOT leave, though I am happy for them to face sanctions (10pts and a season-long transfer ban seems a nice conclusion).
Mush as we love to hate these clubs, they are the draw of English football. Can you imagine what would happen to the SKY money if those clubs weren’t in it?
Sure, it could help to level things up a bit but winning the EPL would be pretty meaningless and the standard of football would be lowered considerably.
I’m in favour or making all divisions as competitive as possible but not by lopping the head of the division off.
Happy Birthday, @jarkko. Hope you’ve had a fantastic day.
The perfect summing up of our situation, well done. No team can be run by an absentee manager. Anyone who follows football must be aware that the successful ones live in the pockets of their players. It cannot be any other way if success is the aim. We have struggled for two seasons whilst watching the worst striker in this or any other league, at the same time being fed reasons why Tav. Was not on the field. At the same time we actually had on the field a player we got for nothing, the best dead ball merchant we have witnessed since I can remember, the best shooter at goal from range, check, good in the box when things are going crazy, clever little touches, check. Play him after a long time on the bench, two great goals one a great dead ball, the other a bit of interplay with his mate Tav. Lots of shouting that both were own goals because the keeper got his hands on the ball, so they didn't count, so there! By the way this shouting was by boro supporters. Back to the bench, and a loaning he will go, oops! Player of the week in the champ. He must have some show reel by now, moving the ball in the air, rocket shots, scoring goals, myself, I would have given him all dead ball duties, but what do I know. I'm guessing he will go for, oh, nothing? Yea, that would be about right. Britt will be kept on because he is a 15 million player.
Good post Andy. I was always of the view that NW was a good appointment but it should have been of a short term nature i.e. Do the job he was recruited for which was to keep us in the Championship and then hand over to a younger man.
We seem to be, yet again, drifting along without any clear ideas or strategy and if this continues I can only see it ending in tears.
I agree that finding a replacement is not going to be easy but that is why people take on the role of Chief Executive and Chairman/Owner and it's about time they started getting the right appointment. 😎
Football Managers in the main don't last for very long and especially so in the Championship which is why a DOF has become crucial in the Managerial merry go round. It works if you stick with a Manager because you have consistency and a clear identity, heck it even works if you are trigger happy and keep switching Managers to get to where you want to be. Stuart Webber and Scott Duxbury come to mind but we have a bloke who writes the theme tune, sings the theme tune so why would we need such a role?
@redcarred. My answer to that question would be just look at what has happened since our promotion to and relegation from the PL.
It has been getting worse not better and our chances of getting back to the PL, if that truly is the aim, is becoming less and less as each season passes. 😎