With the early rounds of the Carabao Cup usually treated as an opportunity to field a second-string team and give the youngsters some pitch-time, it has now seemingly evolved into a proper pseudo pre-season friendly.
At least it gives Neil Warnock an opportunity to fine-tune his team in preparation for the Championship kick-off next Friday and should provide a much sterner test than having to play against team of local amateurs - or Newcastle United as they're also known. Incidentally, the Boro strikers should get another opportunity to fill their boots next week against the generous Geordies - though it just been announced that apparently Newcastle have chickened out and the game has been cancelled!
Like many clubs, Boro have not progressed much in strengthening their squad during the shortened summer break and despite a whole raft of players leaving through expired contracts and returned loans, it's still just the arrival of defender Grant Hall that has in theory strengthened the squad.
OK, some of Boro's own returning loanees are now part of the squad with perhaps Marcus Browne almost appearing like a new signing after he's been in good pre-season form. In addition, Sam Stubbs has returned from his brief spell in Holland after first getting some game-time with Hamilton - plus Nathan Wood is still awaiting his chance to shine.
Other than that it's more or less as you were with Marc Bola and young striker Stephen Walker perhaps making up the numbers. On paper, Boro still have quite a competitive squad, which could potentially over-achieve under Warnock rather than managing the complete opposite under Woodgate.
We saw glimpses of possibilities towards the back-end of last season's post-lockdown resumption with the likes of Spence and Tavernier looking to be now moving beyond the good prospects point into game-changing players. Warnock still has some good experienced midfielders to call on with Howson, Saville and McNair - plus he'd hope to see players like Assombalonga, Fry and Johnson continue to improve under his guidance. Perhaps he'd also like to see Fletcher, Wing and Dijksteel impose themselves more on the game and develop into good consistent players too.
As for the game tomorrow evening, it will be interesting to see what the starting line-up is and whether it is indeed the strong selection we seldom see these days for the early rounds of the EFL Cup. Sam Ricketts side finished 15th in last season's League One curtailed campaign and haven't played a competitive game since a 3-2 defeat against Oxford way back on 7 March - though they did narrowly lose just 1-0 to Liverpool in an FA Cup replay in February after drawing 2-2 at the New Meadow.
So hopefully Boro will continue their winning pre-season ways in this next not-quite-a-friendly fixture and successfully tame the Shrews rather than leave us feeling tricked after a less than noble defeat. Anyway, it's time once again to make some predictions over scores and team selection - though never an easy proposition in the Caraboa Cup...
Got my online pass to watch the Shrewsbury game tomorrow and I am looking forward to it.
Come on BORO.
It won’t be easy against Shrewsbury but as you say it’s more than a pre-season friendly match. Just hoping for a win by any margin, but more important an impressive display from Boro.
Werder,
Lovely 'it could cause a fight with a Newcastle supporter in a pub' in your second paragraph. that made me smile.
I'm with Ken's predictive skills on this one, it certainly won't be an OFB although we'll have to see what the Marton Oracle predicts. He's probably checking his tea leaves now.
It feels strange talking about predicting a football score again.
UTB,
JohM
Thanks Werder for your match preview; a good read as always.
I am going for a 2-0 win for the Boro but have no idea about the side that will play. I am not sure if McNair and Saville will be available as they have been selected for international duty.
Grant Hall will no doubt feature and perhaps Nathan Wood who has impressed NW during preseason i beleive. Hayden Coulson is apparently not well (not covid) and will not feature. Dael Fry has only just returned to training so again his appearance is questionable. Given their good form I expect BA & AF to feature.
I gather the return "friendly" against Newcastle is now off - Geordies could not risk another thrashing before the start of the PL!
Squad numbers just been announced:
2 Anfernee Dijksteel,
3 Marvin Johnson
4 Grant Hall
6 Dael Fry
7 Marcus Tavernier
8 Lewis Wing
9 Britt Assombalonga
11 Ashley Fletcher
12 Marcus Browne
15 Nathan Wood
16 Jonny Howson
17 Paddy McNair
22 George Saville
24 Sam Folarin
27 Marc Bola
28 Sam Stubbs
29 Djed Spence
31 Sol Brynn
32 Dejan Stojanovic
33 Hayden Coulson
36 Stephen Walker
37 Ben Liddle
42 Aynsley Pears
I also have a match pass - video!! CoB 😎
Shrews Tamed
In a match that won’t have much ado about it, Boro should win as they like it.
Captain Brit 2 Sergeant Wing 1 Corporal Fletcher 1
4-0
@grovehillwallah. Do we know if Wing is available following his Red Card earlier in the week?😎🤞
Just seen an article in the EG which confirms that Wing will not serve a cup or league suspension so that is good news. 😎
Thanks Werder for your match preview; a good read as always.
I am going for a 2-0 win for the Boro but have no idea about the side that will play. I am not sure if McNair and Saville will be available as they have been selected for international duty.
Neither will be available as they are with the NI squad.
Come on BORO.
@original-fat-bob. Fits in with NW's recruitment plan, Keeper, Centre Back and Forward. 😎
Saving 10 for Messi.........
In a shock move today Boro swooped for Nigerian striker Emmanuel N’Tidi.
Unfortunately the recruitment dept seemed to have their wires crossed as an irate Neil Warnock could be heard shouting, “ I said, Messi, not N’Tidi!”
Somewhat exciting OFB, in fact, unbelievable.
Right, I'm off to a cool, dark place already and the season hasn't started.
UTB,
John
Is optimism going to kill us again? Of course not we're Boro.
Thanks Werder. I enjoyed your usual elegant, funny and intelligent piece of the kind that we have become used to on this blog.
I was especially struck by these qualities because I had just read a piece on the Gazette website by AV's successor, Craig Johns, on Grant Leadbitter, which conspicuously lacked them, or indeed any form of imagination or even thought.
This "article", carrying John's by-line, consisted almost entirely of the repetition of a message of thanks from Grant to his fans.
It's bad enough when journalists simply reproduce a press release or a bit of PR fluff with little or no comment under their own by-lines.
But this was considerably worse than even that particular form of all-too-common lazy journalism.
In this case Grant's original lengthy message was actually included in its entirety as an insert to the article. It made the article itself entirely redundant.
It was not an auspicious debut for Mr Johns.
The headline to the article should really have read "Journo Writes Copy Easily".
Thanks Werder. No close-season rustiness in your preview. Match fit and ready to go.
On the Geordies chickening out, I did notice that all reference to the 5-1 mauling seemed to be pulled mid-match. I saw RR’s post that we were 4-1 up and went searching for updates, found a live match story in the Newcastle Chronicle only to click through to an “Oops, this page is missing” link with comments below asking why the live feed had been pulled. Other links also went nowhere and it was only on the MFC website sometime later that the scoreline was confirmed. There seems to be some real concern on Tyneside!
Interested to see that NeyMarv has taken the no. 3 shirt. Is he now the first choice left-back?
Finally, I think I read that Shrewsbury beat a strong Burnley side last week so not a game we should take for granted. With a week still to go until we face Watford, I think NW should consider a strong Boro XI to build on an excellent pre-season and develop synergies between his preferred team.
@lenmasterman. Len I couldn't agree more. There was no input from the journalist and it was a copy and paste article which, as you say, made no sense given that Grant's original post had been included. I hope this is not a foretaste of things to come. 😎
Thanks Werder for getting us all up and running for the start of another long haul. It's good to be able to smile confidently about the bar codes embarrassment.
As for Boro, I am confident we will over achieve this season as much as we under achieved last.
I imagine life will be truly wunderbar for Boro as Shrewsbury will find us just too darn hot to handle.
A hat trick for Britt, as Boro follow up 5 against the Magpies with another 5 against the Shrews.
CoB
Lots of positive noises coming out of the club. It’s extraordinary how well NW is able to manage the whole atmosphere around the team. Given the lack of new signings for the moment, there are a few points that occur to me.
1. This season will be a perfect comparison of NWs skill in teaching a group of players how to reach theIr potential.
2. Maybe the recent recruitment will turn out to have been quite positive. Good reports on both Dijksteel and Browne and Bola is having a go.
3. We have some exciting young players coming through.
Isn’t it a pleasure to feel that the future of the club is in the hands of the grownups.
I think that a solid win is on the cards. 3-1 would seem possible with Assombalonga keeping up his goal record.
It’s a shame that kick off is 2.30 am here in Sydney. I’ll have to give this one a miss.
utb
Thanks Len and your point on 'press release journalism' reminds me of how copy was produced in one of my earlier jobs in publishing nearly 30 years ago. It was a business-2-business publishers in London who produced newsletters for the financial industry and charged quite a premium subscription rate - however, they only employed a couple of keen graduates who basically typed-up faxed press releases almost word for word and the only original copy was a one-page editorial written by a rather vain eccentric and somewhat deluded middle-aged oxford graduate, who rather amusingly wore a black wig that obviously didn't fit the greying complexion of his haunted face and he also deludedly thought he was Oscar Wilde and was forever quoting him at every parting moment - "I've nothing to declare but my genius" does begin to grate after a dozen times!
Incidentally, the company went bust not long after I left following yet another bounced salary cheque and another unbelievable excuse from the owner who I discovered over time was a compulsive liar. It turned out he was a smooth-talking South African who had perfected a fake upper-class English accent and moved in the high-society circles of once famous movie stars and conservative cabinet ministers - I often picked up calls from them who I presume he'd borrowed money from as we were never allowed to let anyone in the office.
He lived way beyond his means and frequented some top gentleman's clubs and expensive restaurants but essentially had a string of bankruptcies behind him - in other words was a chancer who sucked the cash out of businesses and borrowed money until the banks eventually pulled the plug. However, none of them were fooling a lad brought up on Teesside who isn't easily impressed by name-dropping and after my twice-bounced salary cheque (from a now obscure Middle-eastern bank) was now over a month late I ran out of patience as the next month was already due.
Anyway, I stayed late one evening and fixed all the computers so that they appeared that they couldn't start - though I only basically set the screens to show black text on on a black background and made them make a couple of ominous beeps. The next morning my irate boss rang as I didn't turn up and I said I'd tell him how to fix the computers once he'd transferred my two months salary he owed me - he called me back 20 minutes later to say the money was now in my account and once I'd confirmed that with my bank I gave him the simple line of DOS code that would restored the computers.
I'd conned the con-artist and thankfully with the company shortly after going bust it saved the problem of asking for a reference 🙂
Werder
A brilliant tale, very well told.
Never mess with a Boro lad, eh.
And did he also wear red trousers Werder?
That was before the red-trouser gentry fashion statement days - though I seemed to recall he favoured mustard cords...
Doesn't look like I'll see today's game unless there is an unofficial stream - though £10 (€11) seems a bit steep anyway. Still no news on a season pass either so not sure I'll be opting to pay anything from €55 upwards a month if it is only on a game by game basis.
And is Fry available? From all accounts he was quarantining.
LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!
(or)
Stumble
Bumble
Crumble
Fumble
Mumble
Which “ Boro” will turn up tonight?