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Boro v Swansea
 

Boro v Swansea

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jarkko
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Preston and Rotherham are the only unbeaten teams in the Championship at the moment.

It will be an interesting season 😄. Up the Boro!


   
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@jarkko 

Plus Preston achieved their fifth nil-nil draw of the season today and have only scored one goal so far - if only they had a decent striker...

Also can't believe Reading are top of the table as Boro should have beaten them easily last week. Looks like promotion is there for any team who can find some consistency (other than nil-nil draws of course).

If Boro sign Ampadu and Larsen then it should be as strong a squad as anyone else and with Boro only three points off the play-offs then it's still early days with everything still to play for with 40 games left.


   
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Liverpool 9-0 Bournemouth.  I wonder if Tav is enjoying being in the PL? 😎


   
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Posted by: @k-p-in-spain

Liverpool 9-0 Bournemouth.  I wonder if Tav is enjoying being in the PL? 😎

To be honest we don't miss him KP


   
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Pedro de Espana
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Well a poor Swansea team that Boro made look good at times.

Disappointingly, Wilder set up as though we were away from home, with only one up front and a hard job for Watmore. With the signing of Muniz, the injury to Chuba, and CW insisting he wants another striker, which will mean either a sale or loan of somebody, or sadly Hoppe being relegated to the under 23’s.

I know I will sound like a stuck record to some, but this team will go nowhere with the midfield we have. Pedestrian, lacking in pace and creativity. Yes Crooks has improved things but it is not enough. Mowatt has disappointed, Howson does not have the pace in his position and to make his point CW did not have midfield player on the bench.

I agree with Werder, McNair has not reached anywhere the near the level he has been n the past. Infact I wonder if he thought he may have been subject to interest from another club

Clarke looked good being left footed in a left footed position. 

However we only had seven shots (3 on target) so just not good enough. 

Tuesday will be a big test. Watford not unbeatable, but will be smarting after their defeat to QPR.


   
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Selwynoz
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Watched the game from here in Oz. It seemed to me to be be a solid tactical set-up by Wilder that let Swansea run into dead ends whilst we looked bright on the counter. It's good to see that we have more than one string to our tactical bow because we were possibly getting a bit predictable. 

I thought that Clarke was extremely good - probably my Boro MOTM - and am still a little astonshed that we were able to get such a competent player for a slightly tricky position at such a low cost. 

The whole feel of the game probably turned on Munoz smashing his first touch against the post. Had that gone on we would have been out of sight at 3-0. As it was, there was the inevitable Boro hiccup although, to be fair, it was a very strange penalty. I watched the game live and, like the commentators, had no idea exactly what the penalty was for. The consensus was a tackle by Howson.

I think that we all have to remember that the team is completely changed from last year and with so many new players it would be impossible to expect a seamless transition. What the recruitment team have done successfully is to acquire quality across the board and I fully expect us to get steadily better as the season goes by and, as has already been pointed out, this looks to be the most open Championship in years. That suggests that all teams will be losing points and anyone who can put together a solid run of wins and draws will climb the table vey quickly.

My only concern is that too much reliance on loan players could be a short term solution. Wilder is still talking about three more acquisitions and I hope that we will finally see the cheque book come out to use a chunk of the Spence/Tav proceeds to permanently strengthen the squad.

Looking further ahead, we already have a pretty good squad with plenty of improvement potential and a supporting supply of quality academy players. I certainly wont be baying for Wilder's blood if this season doesn't quite see us promoted because the club seems to have a solid base for a few years and we can only get stronger both on the pitch and financially.

UTB

 


jarkko
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Posted by: @paulinboro

Looks like Mogga might be next blunderland manager

I hope Woodgate applies, too. 😉 UBT!

This post was modified 2 years ago by jarkko

   
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jarkko
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Posted by: @malcolm
Posted by: @k-p-in-spain

Liverpool 9-0 Bournemouth.  I wonder if Tav is enjoying being in the PL? 😎

To be honest we don't miss him KP

Well, he saw and learned hopefully. He played the full 90 min. UBT!


   
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Topic starter  

@malcolm 

Apparently Mogga favourite for Sunderland job. They heard that he was a neighbour of Ken’s and they wouldn’t have to pay removal costs if he took the job as he could drive to work every day.

OFB


   
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That's a relief. It started as two poor sides with no self-confidence but the early goal settled us. The second goal was a classic Wilderball goal and gave us breathing space. Ultimately though that game hinged on just how bad Swansea are right now rather than the quality of our performance. 

Interesting that having bought a load of strikers, Wilder seems to be experimenting with playing just one at a time. McGree does a decent job as a #10 but Watmore really isn't a lone striker. I get the impression that Wilder is trying to find a less vulnerable form of his shape. As far as I can see, when Bola and Smith came on we switched to something like 3-4-3 with Giles and Jones playing wide up front but often dropping back to make a 5-4-1. Muniz did look pretty isolated at times because of it.

Looks like McNair, Lenihan and Clarke is Wilder's first choice back three. You can't argue with that. Clarke had an exceptional debut and showed how much it helps having a left footer playing on the left. However, I think the extra protection from midfield with Howson and Mowatt playing closer to the defence was a bigger factor yesterday. (The biggest factor being Swansea's total lack of conviction when attacking.)

Onwards now to Watford. They're currently on a bit of an indifferent run having drawn 2 and lost 1 of their last 3 games. Recently relegated teams can take a while to get to grips with the Championship so this could be not a bad time to play them.  

 


   
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I agree about about Mcnair, been off the boil for some time.


   
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Ken Smith
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I think that we must give Chris Wilder credit for his tactics yesterday. Maybe not the most fluent of performances, but this team is a work in progress. As I recall the football played under Jack Charlton was more functional than exciting in the initial start to the promotion season with only 14 goals scored in the first 14 matches though only 7 conceded, and eventually an unbeaten run of 24 matches ensued until the one blip away to Nottm Forest 1-5 at the beginning of February. Then came those two 4-0 away wins against West Brom and Fulham within 3 days of each other and promotion sealed at Luton before the end of March. 

What was as impressive was those three 3-0 home wins in 7 days in the following December against Ipswich, Leicester and Birmingham as Boro finished the year in 2nd position, and if only they could have hung on to that half time lead at home to Derby with only 4 more matches remaining it is possible that Boro could have won the League title instead of the Rams.

I’m not suggesting that the current squad is any way comparable to Jack’s side, but from little acorns a mighty oak tree is born and although however unlikely this season Boro could still earn promotion through the playoffs, just ask Steve Cooper and Nottm Forest.


   
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Pedro de Espana
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Here is a link to Swansea’s interesting  perspective of the game yesterday. 

https://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1142576459?-11183:811


   
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@pedro.  Some fair comments and assessment of both teams/Managers.

I have to agree with some previous commentators that this league appears to be wide open and despite our poor start we have not yet met a team who we couldn’t beat.

Tuesday will be a good test on the back of our first win and against a relegated side.  We appear to be getting our act together and CW’s squad is beginning to take shape but we don’t want one step forward followed by one back.  Steady progression is the order of the day.

I find it somewhat astounding that Reading are top of the league having played 6 games, won 4 but only scored 7 and conceded 6!  

As poor as we were against them (bad day at the office) they were just as bad, showed little attacking intent, scored a dubious goal in my view, whilst we were denied a penalty.

Hopefully all our bad luck/decisions are behind us and we can build on yesterday’s win which proved that it is not how much of the ball you have but what you do with it when you have it.😎


   
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Pedro de Espana
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Well this maybe one rumour ended.

 

Spezia are set to sign Wales midfielder Ethan Ampadu, 21, from Chelsea on a loan deal with an option to buy worth around 15m euros (£12.7m). (Fabrizio Romano)


   
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