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Boro v Watford
 

Boro v Watford

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Best first half of football from boro for a while, some nice inter passing and archer looks a handful, we shouldn't forget they were 3rd at start of the day. Couple of heart in mouth moments from Stefan but you can't have everything......


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Posted by: @stircrazy

Vic's assessment of the first half:

HT: 2-0. Boro excellent. Lovely crisp passing, incisive forward movement, lots of bodies into the box plunging Watford into chaos. Well worked & deserved goals. One little wobble. Archer, Forss, Akpom all superb up top,

Forgive the gushing but that was as good a first 45 as I can remember for years. The calm & confident passing, inventive movement & instinctive interplay going forward has been an absolute delight. All front 3 ace but support from McGree, Hackney & Howson great too.

Sounds as though they've put the Sunderland match behind them!  🙂   👍

Couldn't have put it better myself


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That was one of the best performances of the season for me. Real zest, intensity and incision in the first half and thorough professionalism in the second, and all against good quality opposition.

Watford came to play and it suited us with spaces for Archer, Akpom, McGree and Fross to attack. They were all excellent though nobody had anything like a poor game.

Archer gave us a whole new dynamic up front. Running in behind and stretching the play but also able to drive us forward if there was little support. His was a tantalising glimpse of what the front line can achieve if given space, with his direct play not only terrifying opponents but drawing defenders towards him and leaving space for others. Akpom and Forss will feast on that extra freedom, meaning we are no longer reliant on Giles’ crossing.

The more difficult games could now be against the sides sitting in deep and playing for a point but we have the weapons to break them down and just need to ensure we’re sensible, patient and avoid over-commiting.

Barlaser in the stands and maybe another to come will add the depth we’re lacking.

It’s on.


jarkko
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Points per match gained by Boro under Michael Carrick: 2,15.

If that average is maintained for the reminding of the season, we will still gain about 37 points more (now at 45 points). So we could finish at 82 points. More or less finally, but the 82 points is realistic based on our form since Carrick started.

How it finished last season:

1. Fulham ...................46 played 90 points
2. Bournemouth ..46 ............... 88
3. Huddersfield ....46 ............... 82

Just thinking about the sping time. Up the Boro! 

This post was modified 1 year ago 5 times by jarkko

jarkko
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An interesting match coming up after our games at home to Blackpool and away at Cardiff.

On Wednesday 15th February it will be Sheffield United 20:00 Middlesbrough. A must win game if we want to catch them!

Up the Boro!


   
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Doesn't get much better than that. Two goals, rollicking performance, clean sheet and a win against a direct rival. Not a scrappy win but a statement win that says "we're better than you."

Although Crooks has never let us down up front, Akpom is a different man when he has a fast, powerful runner in front of him. I can't think of another striker quite like Akpom; he only scores ugly goals. He's like a junkyard dog in the penalty box, stealing scraps before they hit the floor. But when he's lying deep and receives the ball he's a beautiful swan with strength, perception and precision. When Akpom and Crooks are in the same team, they are both fighting to get into the same place in the penalty box. With Archer, Akpom gets him the ball, Archer terrorises the defenders and Akpom pouches the left-overs.

As far as I can see, we're lined up in a form of 4-2-2-2.

Steffen

Smith - McNair - Lenihan - Giles

Howson - Hackney

Akpom - McGree

Forss - Archer

However, rather than running up and down the pitch in straight lines, the front tend to cross-over in X's. E.g. Forss starts wide but attacks the box on a diagonal. Akpom starts central but drifts out. It's great to watch. For a brief period, Wilder's boro with the Diksteel-Crooks-Jones triangle was some of the best football I've seen at the Riverside. With Archer up front, this is looking a step up on that.

6 points from 9 against 3 direct play-off rivals, keeps up at 2 points per game. The playoff race is still as tight as a tight thing but we now have points in the bank, forcing the rest to keep up. 

Good times.


Selwynoz
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What a treat that was, I recorded it overnight as 2.00am kickoffs are getting a bit much these days. It was a great way to start the day watching the Boro put together a performance of genuine class. It was one of those team efforts that makes you wonder how someone loses their place. McNair looked back to his best. Smith is like a rock at right back. Always in the right place. The midfield three were superb with Hackney and McGree getting better all of the time and Howson marshalling the forces and Akpom, Archer and Forss are going to give some defences nightmares. 

Completely different to last week and it would be interesting to try and work out exactly why. 

UTB


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@selwynoz 

I said after the Sunderland affair that they were extremely lucky to get a complete and decisive gift thrown at them by a refereeing decision the like of which I have not seen, and I have seen a lot of matches. It was nothing less than a wrecking ball thrown into the match. Had it occurred in a televised premier match it would have been goodbye career for the ref. So I was not surprised at the result today. Which, by the way was superb. Loved the way he brought on about five subs in the last ten. Great for team spirit and togetherness. High hopes under his command.    


   
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Well that was most enjoyable. Like Selwynoz I record overnight and watch in the morning. I usually fast forward the boring bits but didn't need to today as the match was riveting. Was impressed by the workrate of all the team and there appears to have been a vast improvement in fitness levels. I think that Archer will be a real handful for the rest of the season. Looking at the who scored stats we have the leading goalscorer , the top two for assists, assuming Barlaser signs, and are in the top 5 for possession %, aerial duels won, passing accuracy (80.7%), and aggression (65 bookings). Johnny Howson is on 8 Yellows so two more for a suspension. Just seen that Mattie Pollock who came on for Watford is the son of Jaimie Pollock. 

To disappoint Plato the referee from last week was in charge of Hull v QPR yesterday. 


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Also game next Saturday is on here live so probably not available through MFC


   
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jarkko
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Posted by: @malcolm

Gazette Ratings

Zack Steffen - 6

A performance of good and bad from Steffen. He did well to close down Martins who missed Watford's best chance of the first half, and also made too important blocks early in the second half in an example of a keeper getting angles right and making themselves big. But in both halves there were more nervy and unconvincing moments with the ball at his feet.

I think Steffen was better than 6 yesterday. He made two excellent saves and I can only recall one nervy moment when he had the ball. His deliveries were miles better than those of the Watford keeper.

I would have given him 7 and 6 to his Watford counterpart. 

We have a good, even excellent team right now. And we still have players like Crooks, Jones and Roberts on the bench. Looking good. 

Up the Boro! 


Selwynoz
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Posted by: @mw-in-darwin

Also game next Saturday is on here live so probably not available through MFC

Should be another chance to record the game and watch it at a sensible time.


   
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Selwynoz
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@plato 

I agree that Sunderland were handed the game on a plate but we weren't very good even before the penalty. We looked quite different yesterday. 

UTB


   
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Ref to a player I have mentioned before on here Ryan Porteous. Hibs and Scotland Central defender who I suggested Boro should have had a look at,has now just signed for Watford!


   
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Powmill-Naemore
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Posted by: @malcolm

Ref to a player I have mentioned before on here Ryan Porteous. Hibs and Scotland Central defender who I suggested Boro should have had a look at,has now just signed for Watford!

☹️


   
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Just seen the Carrick interview on EFL show and I was impressed with his apparent calm level head. It was also nice to hear that there is a plan around recruitment and we won't buy for the sake of it.


   
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@malcolm - It was difficult to select an MoM because so many played well in the Boro team. There is an argument that any of 5 or 6 players could be selected as MoM.

I agree there were some good saves/blocks by the keeper but on at least 2 occasions I had my heart in my mouth.  There are times when you wish he'd get rid of the ball half a second earlier, in order to reduce the risk that it's all going to go horribly wrong. I get that, at times, it's good to have the keeper playing the ball coolly out to a colleague with a neat pass, so that the team can construct  good attacking positions by retaining possession. But there are also occasions where  the risk of conceding in a sticky situation outweighs the prospect of potentially building that attacking position at the other end of the pitch at some indeterminate time in the future and, when that defensively threatening situation arrives, the safest decision is to put boot to ball and clear the danger area.  In other words, it is fine to have a ball-playing keeper who can provide another outlet as an extra outfield defender, but he needs to have the initiative to take other (non ball-playing) decisions if the circumstances require it. He needs to make the right choices at the right time.

McNair played well but he is clearly lacking in pace. Howson was his own classy self.  Tommy Smith (especially) and Giles were fine. Hayden Hackney - I refuse to believe this lad suddenly became a very decent footballer 3 or 4 months ago so WHY was he ignored before then? It is difficult to imagine a Boro team without his presence in midfield and he'd be one of the first names on the team sheet so I cannot understand how he'd been left under wraps for so long under Chris Wilder (actually that might BE the explanation - Chris Wilder!).

Lenighan was the definition of rock solid.  Especially with Fry's suspension, it was really fortunate that Lenighan recovered from injury when he did.

As for the starting front four, if I can call them that, they ran Watford ragged.  Some class by McGree, another energetic perormance by Forss topped off by his goal, another goal by Akpom (his was somewhat fortunate as he appeared to slice a shot up into the air and was able to get his head on the ball as it came down to guide it into the net), and Cameron Archer has what the team lacked - real pace and menace - which seemed to put fear in the Watofrd defence.  He and Akpon could form a really threatening partnership up front and I guess they will score quite a few goals from here to the end of the season, fitness permitting.  Archer seemed to take a few knocks so hopefully he will be fine for the next game.

I'm not sure I agree with OFB's opinion of Matt Crooks.  Yes, he doesn't look the most skilful of ball players and his speed would be best decribed as adequate rather than rapid, but he gives something different (a bit of height for a start!) up front if he comes on as substitute and as experience has shown, his determination to get into a decent position often gets Boro a goal. I'd have him on the bench together with Watmore who fills the Forss role in the latter stages or could play it earlier if injuries/suspensions should require it. A useful couple of players in the matchday squad. (It was also good to see that Dijksteel is still breathing when he came on for the last few minutes).

A REALLY good performance.  One that should have left everyone wearing red and white happy as they left the stadium yesterday.  I suppose if we were nit-picking, we might say that Boro could and maybe should have translated dominance on the field into more goals.  It could easily have been 4-1 to Boro but I'm happy with 2-0.

All in all, this was completely different to the INdifferent performance against Sunderland last week (I agree we were poor before the penalty and red card decision). The better result was a by-product of the better perfomance and if we'd played like that against Sunderland we'd have won that game, too. I left the gound yesterday thinking there is more to come from this Boro team and that things can get even better from here. An optimistic note on which to end. I really don't want to have to nominate an MoM but, if made to do so, I might pick Hackney.  Then again I might pick Forss....

This post was modified 1 year ago by Forever Dormo

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As many have already said this was one of our most consistent and accomplished performances for many a season against a top Championship side.

It was a joy to watch the way in which the team went about dictating and controlling the game.  A complete performance from back to front and difficult to chose a man of the match as they all played their part. 

I have to agree with Andy that we will have more difficult games to come, starting on next Saturday, as teams are likely to park the bus and we will have to be patient and break them down, which we are now more capable of doing.

My only disappointment is that I have to wait until next weekend for the next game! 😎


jarkko
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@k-p-in-spain My only disappointment is that I have to wait until next weekend for the next game! 😎

Yes, I remember that during the Pulis (remember the quality??!) time we had even "three matches a week", according to Mr Pulis. 

I am surprised there are so few matches in January and February but it must be the FA Cup rounds, too.

Up the Boro!

This post was modified 1 year ago by jarkko

   
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Philip of Huddersfield
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“ I really love it “ when my forecasts are wrong !!
From all the excellently written comments on this site  Boro played really well and fully merited the win.

Looking at the League table reminds me of last season when Huddersfield were third in the table with a number of teams  with games in hand and capable of overtaking them. As we know “ points on the board” are better than games in hand and Huddersfield ended up finishing third.

 Boro are in a not dissimilar position. Although there are many games to be played could  this be an omen for Boro  ?!! …… or , am I getting carried away?

Philip of Huddersfield 

ps Couldn’t help noticing that Tony M. had 9 players under 22 years of age in his Sunderland team which finished the game against Fulham - he knows how to develop young players.

This post was modified 1 year ago by Philip of Huddersfield

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@forever-dormo 

Crooks is a squad player and yes his height does give us options perhaps I’m being a bit picky about his skills and ability. I support all players who wear the Boro shirt.

OFB


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Topic starter  

I notice that Sheff Utd now have an FA Cup replay to fit in. We’re not catching them but every little helps!

OFB - I think how you feel about Crooks is how I feel about McNair. That said he’s done pretty well in the last two games.


Clive Hurren
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I’ve enjoyed reading all your comments, playmates, and fully agree that we were absolutely superb, apart from a couple of defensive lapses that almost let Watford in. I’d give everyone 8 or 9 out of 10. Our attacking threat was such that on several occasions Boro had the ball ping-ponging around in the Watford box with panicking defenders just hoping for a lucky bounce. Bilic was very critical later of his side’s basic errors, but Boro forced that, putting them under enormous, sustained pressure. I felt we could have scored 6 or 7. Simply brilliant. 

Chuba’s goal has been described as ‘scruffy’. I suppose it was in the way it rebounded in the air from his attempted volley, but his header to score was brilliant. I was directly in line behind it. He carefully and deliberately placed it to defeat the retreating defender on the line. Very clever, and it topped off what was a terrific performance - his midfield and forward play were quite superb. He must be one of the best players in the Champo now. Let’s hope we can keep him when we’re back in the Prem next season.

 It’s great that Barlaser has joined us. He’s going to have to be at his very best to force his way into our current 11! 


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@clive-hurren 

I see that Assambalonga has joined WATFORD tonight 

OFB


   
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jarkko
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@original-fat-bob Sorry, I did not see this before I posted about Britt's move to his first club of Watford.  This was under RE: January Transfer window

Elsewhere, Aberdeen has interesting men in temporary charge following Jim Goodwin's sacking. Remember, too that Hayden Coulson playes there on loan from the Boro.

So Aberdeen has appointed ex-Boro player Barry Robson as an interim manager after Jim Goodwin sacking. Jim Goodwin was sacked as Aberdeen boss after 6-0 away defeat at Hibernian in Scottish Premiership; Robson will be assisted by Steve Agnew, with whom he worked with at Middlesbrough.

Up the Boro!

This post was modified 1 year ago 2 times by jarkko

   
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@original-fat-bob.  Shame he missed the game at the Riverside, as I am sure the crowd would have given him a warm welcome! 😉😎


   
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Comment from the Watford keeper after the game:

“It felt like every time they had the ball, they had a chance of scoring a goal which is just ­nowhere near good enough,” said keeper Daniel Bachmann.

“They went through us like a knife through butter. Fair play to Boro because they played some nice football but we couldn’t have made it any easier for them.”

Sums it up very nicely.  😎


   
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jarkko
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Watford shot-stopper Daniel Bachmann has revealed that his side aren’t going to give up on securing a top-two spot until it’s mathematically impossible for them to catch the top two, speaking to the Hornets’ media team.

I think the target for Boro must be the top two, too. If we aim high, we can succeed. And anyway, why aim only to play-offs now when we are already third now and a point above Watford? 

If we fail to reach an automatic promotion spot, there is still the play-offs and a possible visit to Wemblay to play for.

In Michael Carrick we trust. Up the Boro! 


   
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@jarkko 

To complete the Boro connection with Aberdeen, Chris Wilder has said he would like the job !

OFB


   
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jarkko
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Sheffield United still has a FA Cup replay to play before Boro will visit  Bramall Lane in February. 

The Blades sit second in the Championship, 12 points clear of Boro in third, and look bound for a return to the Premier League.

However, they were placed under a transfer embargo earlier this month over a failure to keep up with payments to another club.

Allied to that there is some uncertainty about the ownership of the Bramall Lane side and it is perhaps no surprise that teams in the Premier League are understood to be considering a late move for the 24-year-old playmaker, Norwegian Sander Berge, for example. 

So let's see how they go through the current transfer window and how they will play in the coming months. If we would be able to catch them, they need to have a dip in form for a month or two.

Up the Boro!


   
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