No Pulis ball! A good result and seven goals (7). Drop Britt, he didn't score. Buy four defenders etc.
A good work out, to be honest. And missing Saville and McNair. A winning start. Happy. Up the Boro!
Didn't see or hear the game but appears to have been a typical Warnock one goal victory...
Watched the game and Not impressed with our centre halves until young Nathan Wood came on.
our new signing has no pace and our keeper extremely poor
OFB
Like OFB I watched the game and was not impressed. After a bright start we lost our grip on the game, the defence leaked like a sieve and our new CB is not an upgrade. Certainly Nathan Wood impressed for the short time he played and was as good as anyone in the back line. We were flattered by the four goals we scored with two being gifts.
At times, we lacked structure, it was scrappy and a lot of the familiar faults were still present, such as giving the ball away too easily, making wrong decisions or poor execution.
To concede three against a lower league 1 side does not bode well; I saw nothing that convinces me we are not in for another season of struggle at the lower end of the table even with the return of Saville and McNair. 😎
Well, not what we expected but we won. As, and I paraphrase Mr Clough, if they score three we'll score four. I bet Newcastle were pleased they weren't playing Shrewsbury Town. They came, they gave it a good go, and they narrowly lost but Boro won. I retire happy. With a glass of The Singleton 12 year old.
UTB,
John
I didn't think we were too bad, shaky at the back but Dijksteel and Hall have never played CB for us before so give them some time. The front three looked bright at times and Johnson was very good. Thought Wing did well too.
A decent start against tricky opposition.
Banana Skin avoided. What’s not to like after last season’s abysmal showing?
That puts an end to the Ben Gibson saga.
https://www.canaries.co.uk/News/2020/september/ben-gibson-joins-norwich-city-from-burnley-on-loan/
Well we beat the team that last week beat Premiership Burnley, was 4-1, shocking we should be ashamed of ourselves, yes there were faults but in this part of season are we really that eager to criticise, I am happy we are in the draw for the next round and depending who we get, plus the next round, will depend on the team which NW puts out.
I watch the game and to be honest, even after the wonder strike in the 13th minute, I was not worried. To be honest there were a couple of their players I thought were good, the lad on loan from Huddersfield and Cummings.
Overall I thought that we were comfortable, although according to “Sods law” it could have went wrong but with the amount of Caraboa Cup matches in Sept, would it have been a disaster.
Come on BORO.
As his greatest critic could I say that the two stone he has lost is showing a great dividend in goals, plus of course making openings for others.
I have the feeling that our keeper will let in plenty of goals because of his faulty positioning, he seems to be coming of his line and wandering about at the same time. Just a thought.
So, there we have it. At the end of another opening, another show, we finally tamed the shrews and came away with the victory we all anticipated. However, this is the Boro we are talking about and all evening they remained firmly true to us in their fashion. It could have been any old Tom, Dick or Harry in defence, and Stojanovic in goal... why cant he behave?
As for us all, well we can't help being so in love them as we are. From this moment on, with the experience of Saville and McNair to come back in, and Fry to get up to speed after quarantine and (hopefully) Pears in goal, life will be truly wunderbar this season and never mind kissing Kate, we will be dancing and hugging everyone we meet come season end.
Having other pressing matters I forgot it was such an early kickoff. From the highlights I didn’t think the whole of the ball was over the line for Boro’s equaliser and I can’t believe that any Championship goalkeeper would be so naive to almost play like a fullback to concede Boro’s 3rd goal. Not impressed with Boro’s defence in the second half either. Similar start to the start of last season when conceding 3 goals at Luton. On this showing looks like another difficult season, but hoping for some reinforcements soon.
However I accept it’s not always fair to judge a game after only 9 minutes of highlights. But as for Shrewsbury beating Burnley recently does anyone know the strength of Burnley’s team for that match. I recall 12 years ago that Hartlepool beat Manchester United 6-0 in a pre-season friendly match but United went on to be Premier League Champions whilst Pools avoided relegation to League 2 by a single point at the end of that season.
So, there we have it. At the end of another opening, another show, we finally tamed the shrews and came away with the victory we all anticipated. However, this is the Boro we are talking about and all evening they remained firmly true to us in their fashion. It could have been any old Tom, Dick or Harry in defence, and Stojanovic in goal... why cant he behave?
As for us all, well we can't help being so in love them as we are. From this moment on, with the experience of Saville and McNair to come back in, and Fry to get up to speed after quarantine and (hopefully) Pears in goal, life will be truly wunderbar this season and never mind kissing Kate, we will be dancing and hugging everyone we meet come season end.
One of my favourite musicals is ‘Kiss me Kate’ based on Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ as three of the songs were ‘Any Tom, Dick or Harry’,‘Why can’t you behave’ and ‘Wunderbar’. I wonder who else picked up on that. Well done!
So, there we have it. At the end of another opening, another show, we finally tamed the shrews and came away with the victory we all anticipated. However, this is the Boro we are talking about and all evening they remained firmly true to us in their fashion. It could have been any old Tom, Dick or Harry in defence, and Stojanovic in goal... why cant he behave?
As for us all, well we can't help being so in love them as we are. From this moment on, with the experience of Saville and McNair to come back in, and Fry to get up to speed after quarantine and (hopefully) Pears in goal, life will be truly wunderbar this season and never mind kissing Kate, we will be dancing and hugging everyone we meet come season end.
One of my favourite musicals was ‘Kiss me Kate’ based on Shakespeare’s ‘The taming of the Shrew’. Very clever of you to include 8 songs from the show in your blog. Well done!
I agree with the consensus that there was more cause for concern than optimism in this performance, albeit that it was a winning one.
The familiar weaknesses at full back were augmented by a worrying colander at the centre of our defence, where Hall, looked anything but the experienced stalwart we were all expecting. Fry perhaps could be excused as being still in recovery.
In short, we looked weaker defensively than we did last season, and we were pretty shocking then.
We are still in desperate need of two proper full-backs. The time for make-weights in surely now over. The one defensive positive was young Wood who possessed an authority and confidence that Hall seemingly lacked.
Most alarming for me, however, was to see Shrewsbury showing more passing ability in midfield and more creativity around our box than we could muster. Shades of our chasing shadows against the likes of Bristol City, Swansea and QPR at home at the end of last season. More of that to come in the coming months, I fear.
For the rest, Tav was played too deep to be as effective as he has been, Fletcher scored a great goal but faded as the game went on, and there was little to sustain the hope that we might be witnessing a Britt renaissance.
Johnson's crossing was spectacularly good, but he cannot in all conscience be left, as he too often was, as the last line of defence down our left.
And where is the replacement for the Clayton-shaped hole in front of our back three or four. It's a hole that will need to be filled, especially away from home.
Early days yet, of course, but what I'm seeing at the moment is a team more likely to be looking down again rather than up this season.
Much the same as last year. Even less talented in some respects, but somewhat better organised.
Watford will be a real test if they show even half of the qualities they were sometimes able to demonstrate last season.
Indeed the opening three tough fixtures will provide a stern test of our pre-season optimism. Has it any substance, or has it been mere froth?
There's a few more songs than that from the show in my text as well Ken...
Yes I’ve counted eight, but with poetic licence you maybe could have increased it to ten if on Friday we ‘opened in Watford’ instead of Venice, but we might find that to be ‘too darned hot’.
Boro may have just squeaked home against the Shrews, but at least it was in normal time & that's a damn sight better than the Rams' effort. They had to rely on a penalty shoot-out to get past League Two Barrow (3-2) after the match finished goalless, while QPR contrived to lose by 2-3 to League One Plymouth (away)! 😉
I watched the N. Ireland game with interest last night, considering they were down to ten men for a long time it was an excellent result....but.... Saville was totally anonymous and I hope NW watches a rerun of the game and doesn’t allow McNair to take the dead ball kicking role. However, if indeed he is looking for a GK, the one between the sticks last night was outstanding.
Judging by a brief look at the highlights from last nights cup game we are totally bereft of a dominant midfield playmaker and that needs to be address immediately ( although if Johnson were played more centrally perhaps he might fit the bill).
We still need a defensive midfielder who has the stamina and ability to play right across the front of the back four, and don’t get me started about FB’s.
Watched the highlights in which Shrewsbury did appear to look the better side in midfield and going forward. Indeed, two of Boro's goals were gifts from their keeper - with the first essentially an own-goal following a fumble, a juggle and kick into his own net.
Boro looked uncertain at the back and Grant Hall looked off the pace to me - perhaps we'll see McNair return to defence and no doubt Fry will need a couple of games under his belt too.
On the positive sidel, at least Boro came from behind to win and are through to the next round but possibly not a game they will gain much confidence from - though more importantly the Riverside curse has been lifted with the first home win of 2020!
We're being regularly linked at the moment with the Wigan N° 5 (& club captain & Egypt international), Samy Sayed ("Sam") Morsy. He was left out of the Latics' team currently leading Fleetwood Town by 2-1 in the Carabao Cup today. Does anybody rate him?
And mine too.... must be said the defence need a collective kick up their Corialanus
Shrews attack certainly had the measure for measure of our defence
a wonderful and slightly more rude version, worth it for the 12th Night joke alone. Both actors are English, I believe the shorter one is from Hull or thereabouts
Watched the full 90 this morning on a Youtube link. Have to say unimpressed in the main with a few exceptions especially Wood who looked head and shoulders over the rest of our defenders. Fry isn't a left sided CB then having Johnson on the left as an attacking Wing Back is an accident waiting to happen. In fairness I thought Johnson done OK but defensively he still looks suspect. We need a solid left sided CB as cover to allow for his swashbuckling runs. He provided plenty of ammo for our strikers and even getting one albeit fortuitously himself but they all count. A threat and a weakness at the same time.
Hall started comfortably but quickly looked rusty and struggled with a slick passing Shrewsbury side who should take credit for playing good football. Dijksteel like Wood looked to show something that possibly augurs well for his and our future. Spence unfortunately looked lost for large parts of the game and apart from his goal Tav didn't impress much either. Wing was the best of a very weak and tepid midfield who collectively gave Warnock, Bausor and Gibson a clear indication that they need to recruit and quickly.
Perhaps Sam Morsy if he arrives will be the defensive midfield solution adding some experience, leadership and importantly bite. Morsy usually wears No.5 and the No.5 shirt is up for grabs, perhaps it hasn't been reserved for a CB after all plus Morsy wasn't with the Wigan squad toady.
Britt didn't get much service but that aside he didn't pull up any tree stumps. Fletcher looked the better of the front two but again it screamed out that a Plan "B" is required if the front two aren't working, again its over to the guys with the cheque book. At the other end Stojanovic didn't look convincing although his clearances down field do noticeably turn defence into instant attack with the ball landing near the opposition 18 yard box. I'm in agreement however with OFB above that none of our Keepers look to be the solution which probably explains the reasoning for the vacant No.1 shirt.
I thought Browne added a bit of zest when he came on and is worth a run out especially with nobody really making a strong claim for the shirt. Its early days and this game was seemingly regarded as more of a Friendly by both Managers and it did have that feel at times. Hopefully things have been learned about the squad last night. Its better for us to get a strong nudge if not a wake up call while there is still time to put things right.
if Britt and Fletcher don’t work together, and I’m the absence of a cheque book, why not Fletcher and Wing, which has the bonus of relieving Wing of all defensive duties.
if Britt and Fletcher don’t work together, and I’m the absence of a cheque book, why not Fletcher and Wing, which has the bonus of relieving Wing of all defensive duties.
I think I'd be more inclined to go with Fletch and Tav or Browne rather than Wing.