With our season effectively over Xisco Munoz’s in form Hornets arrive at the Riverside determined to cement their automatic return to the Premiership. It is hard to predict anything other than a resounding win for the visitors especially as Boro hardly looked up for the fight on an anything but “good” Friday down on the South Coast.
Morally NW should put out his strongest side but assuming the eleven which took to the pitch on Friday was our best eleven then it is doubtful if throwing in a few of the fringe players like Spence, Coulson and Johnson could be any worse. The visitors have won nine of their last ten games while Boro have lost their last two in a rather disappointing fashion. We have of course won our last two Home games against Preston and Stoke and Typical Boro of course would decree that against all the odds we win this one. Personally, I’d happily lose if it meant keeping the diving Swans out of an automatic spot while we give some of the fringe lads an opportunity to stake a claim in NW’s 21/22 squad plans.
Neil Warnock doesn’t have a particularly good record against the Hornets losing 17 league matches against them over his managerial career, his joint worst along with Reading who we do seem to have a hex over at the minute so I guess that anything can happen with this one especially with the pressure off. Despite Watford’s nine point gap to the South Wales side in third place they were less than convincing last time out against a struggling Owls plus Swansea also have a game in hand so they must be feeling some pressure and cannot take anything for granted just yet. The uncomfortable truth is that Boro have not won any of our last eight league games against the Hornets, worse still failing to register a single goal in the last four.
Tav and Fry along with Browne and Dijksteel will all definitely be missing for this one and I would hazard a guess that Britt won’t be around either. Ideally Paddy McNair must be rested after a hectic International schedule but the problem then is who would we play at CB so I’d expect the N Ireland man to start again and just keep our fingers crossed that he doesn’t end up paying the cost with a long term injury. There is a possibility of maybe playing Howson at CB but with the comical state of our defending of late and a catch shy Bettinelli behind them I think Paddy will be wrapped in cotton wool and sent out again.
As to who we start at the sharp end, it doesn’t really matter a lot as none are exactly prolific, but I’d go with those who are going to be here next season Akpom, Johnson and Watmore for definite bolstered by Kebano who at least adds something with his ability to beat a man and hold play up. If Saville is fit I would put him in to rest the aforementioned Howson who has looked a bit leggy of late. For Boro the result is largely irrelevant with only pride to play for and there wasn’t much of that on show against the Cherries so I can’t see anything other than a comfortable away win.
I suspect I will be watching this from behind the sofa or through my fingers, like ken I didnt see yesterdays match, just the highlights and reports, sounds like we couldnt be ars$ d which is a sad state of affairs. In all honesty the team needs rebuilding, keeper, strikers ( remember those players who can score ), creativity etc etc. The problem is we have been saying this for years and with each passing year it gets harder. It's the hope that kills you........
Thanks RR for the pre match article which was interesting and informative.
I agree that if we play like we did against Millwall and Bournemouth then we will be badly stung by the Hornets and NW's losing record and our own will be maintained.
I am becoming disillusioned and disinterested and will be playing golf instead of watching the game; I shall record it but may not watch it! 😎
Thanks RR for the preview. I expect Watford to stroll to victory as we look like we are strolling to the end of the season and they will be better strollers than us!
The Bournemouth defeat was a big anticlimax to our going all out for wins to get into the playoffs. It left me feeling deflated like after the second leg of the Aston Villa playoff when we were determined to force a 0 - 0 draw even though we were a goal down from the first leg.
I have seen Clive Hurren's comment after the Bournemouth game about passing free kicks back to Bettinelli and I had also come to the conclusion that this is practised(!!!) on the training ground. Around 35 minutes into the match we got a free kick about 5 yards into the Bournemouth half. After 2 short sideways passes the ball went back to Bettinelli for his usual kick to no one in particular (though usually to the opposition as we don't win much in the air). I had been pleased to see Watmore starting but thought we then needed Johnson as he more often puts in low crosses but unfortunately the tactics used were high crosses. Watmore got his goal from a rare ball along the ground and he took it well.
For the sake my own health I am relieved that I have so far been able to limit myself to 1/2 bottle of wine per match rather than the whole bottle I sometimes needed last season!
Many thanks RR a difficult post to write in the circumstances now that hope of the playoffs has disappeared over the horizon for another season
well done
OFB
Maybe the Gazette or BBC Tees journalists might like to ask NW in the Watford pre match presser what the heck his tactical plan was on Friday considering that it was dire to watch and laughable in its execution. After Pulis and Villa this one was right up there which is very worrying considering that he will be here for another full season and is starting to look like he has lost the plot.
Sorry to say it but the honeymoon period is now over and much more of pointless hoofing will have the fans turning before we even get back into the Riverside. I'm not a lover of hoofball but I wasn't a lover of Karanka's windscreen wiper football either but at least it achieved his intended objective. I can tolerate hoofball if it fitted with the skill sets at the club but it definitely doesn't.
@redcarred totally agree with your comment that the honeymoon is over, just watched highlights on Quest, how can NW say we played "some good stuff" all three goals were bad but the last one, slap ball into middle of box, defenders stand and watch, Bournemouth players ambles into box and scores, absolute sh$%e
The attached image makes sobering reading
@redcarred. Agree totally. We did debate at the end of last season my view that another year might be too long albeit probably deserved after keeping us up. I felt that SG needed to be planning longer term and you pointed out that 2/3 years is a long term in football.
I am now more than convinced that another year is a year too long and by the end of next season we will be saying farewell to NW, if not before, because with crowds back they will not accept what has been served up in the last two games and the excuses and spin that NW has served up.
The results since Christmas have been poor, despite the recruitment that NM has made, and we are not progressing W6 D2 L10.
At the end of next season it will be back to square one, new manager with a lot of players who don't fit his style and no money to make changes, back to the days of Mogga's arrival! 😎
@redcarred. Agree totally. We did debate at the end of last season my view that another year might be too long albeit probably deserved after keeping us up. I felt that SG needed to be planning longer term and you pointed out that 2/3 years is a long term in football.
I am now more than convinced that another year is a year too long and by the end of next season we will be saying farewell to NW, if not before, because with crowds back they will not accept what has been served up in the last two games and the excuses and spin that NW has served up.
The results since Christmas have been poor, despite the recruitment that NM has made, and we are not progressing W6 D2 L10.
At the end of next season it will be back to square one, new manager with a lot of players who don't fit his style and no money to make changes, back to the days of Mogga's arrival! 😎
Unless Warnock wakes up and smells the coffee it could be a very uncomfortable twelve months ahead. That said when Guardiola is saying times are tough and finances are tight and that he doesn't think there will be funds available at City to sign a new Striker then what that means for clubs like Boro is anyone's guess.
For SG, NW will be seen as a safe pair of hands in that we won't get relegated and he knows the reality of the situation and won't throw a strop because we can't afford his preferred striker target or we won't agree to agents demands. There is a genuine fear that many clubs could go to the wall just as many businesses have during the pandemic. Ruthless and savage cost cutting will be the order of the day for many clubs and their owners.
Fans always lead with their heart and emotions. Hoofball up to a big unit knocking it down to say Watmore and Johnson to score for fun will keep the fans onboard. Hoofball up to a diminutive strike force getting out jumped repeatedly losing possession in the process will just frustrate the fans. Bettinelli trying to push, palm and punch rather than catch will inflame their angst even more in those circumstances.
Whatever tactics he employs it has to fit who he brings into the club and hopefully not a useless lump like Ched Evans.
Recar Red,
Thanks for the preview and the home truths.
I suspect that tomorrow the criticism will be about the manner in which we lost the game, not why we lost the game. Home advantage? What's that? fortress Riverside? What's that? Hoofball? We all know what that is. As for a striker we might sign one who says he is, and his agent will probably say it too but talk is cheap. We need someone who can just get on with it and do it. Just like we need referees who can do it not jut dress up like one.
Trying hard to find some positives, well, why don't we try our other keeper and see if he can catch and distribute the ball? That would be a breakthrough in itself. Didn't Mr Clough say something along the lines of 'a good keeper is worth fifteen points a season'? Well, obtusely, that would solve the striker problem for Mr Warnock.
I don't think the Peterborough man that we were once after has found a club yet, can't remember his name but then that was the recruitment department who were after him, although he did score goals and perhaps the threat of going to Boro caused his goals to dry up. A sort of striker's version of being sent to Coventry.
Anyway I'm not filled with optimism for tomorrow and it could easily end up 0-3 or 1-4. We are talking about Boro though... No, I can't see us winning and a draw would be a triumph for me.
There that's cheered me up.
Stay safe everyone.
UTB,
John
It feels depressingly mediocre at the moment. To an extent that's a huge improvement on the worryingly shambolic when Warnock took over. It also feels that a lot of the loanees and short-term contract players may have checked out their deckchairs. I can't see them putting a shift in and risking a major injury with just a few weeks on their contact.
Thing is, it's not as though there's a bright young hope knocking at the door for a game. No reason to play Coulson over Bola or Spence over Fisher and neither of them have shown anything when played up front. It would be nice to see Coburn get a game but if he's going to get the same service as Akpom and Fletcher then he may as well not be on the pitch.
It's a shame that Wood's on loan because a few games alongside Fry or Hall at the end of the season might help bring him on.
It does feel as though the pace of the game has finally overtaken Howson. Every year the game gets faster and Howson may still have good stamina but now it is trivially easy to knock the ball past him. With Howson and Morsy in front of Hall and Fry we're not exactly blessed for pace.
Bettinelli hasn't done enough to inspire confidence so Archer or even Brynn ought to get a run of games.
Fundamentally though it seems to me to be about attitude and tactics. If our only form of attack is for Bettinelli to launch it long and hope the opposition screw up then it's just going to be depressing no matter what.
@redcarred. Ched Evans, have we really sunk that far! I have seen the newspaper reports and truly hope it is just paper talk.
It's not just about getting into the top six or winning promotion for me, it's also about building a sustainable club and business which unfortunately has in my view not been in evidence for a number of years; this despite a so called root and branch review by TP and NW also supposedly advising SG what needed to changed.
If CE is NW's choice then it must be that the out of contract market is the only place he can go shopping and we are now a club resigned to having to scrape the bottom of the barrel. 😎
@k-p-in-spain agree that ched Evan's would be an odd choice, hopefully just paper talk, but to use a term used when discussing our illustrious govt how much money have we spaffed on strikers for zero return. I also agree that the much vaunted plan for establishing a sustainable club appear to be little more than hot air.
Re. Bettinelli
I’ve just written an article about Jim Platt. He’s 69 and still around as an ambassador for the club. Perhaps OFB could give him a call.💁
At home, but only Watmore and Kebano as genuine forwards?
I can't remember anything so defeatist on our own track in all of my years of supporting the Boro.
Seems like the height of our ambition is to keep the score down.
We'll certainly not be doing much to add to the nation's entertainment on a Bank Holiday. Or anything to enhance our image as anything other than a spoiling, uncreative outfit whose relationship to the beautiful game is a long-forgotten memory.
@lenmasterman totally agree, predict us getting beat 3-0. It is very disheartening
I’m regularly in touch with Jim and his Lovely wife Sharon. Jim is now a local councillor for Middlesbrough and if there is anything specific you would like to ask then let me know
OFB
I couldn’t believe Boro were actually wasting time at the end when it was 1 1 when although it’s a slim chance it’s still possible to get into the playoffs and every point counts !
OFB
Watched Neil's interview on the MFC website. They still after all this time, haven't sorted out the microphone situation.
You can hear Neil loud and clear but very hard to hear what the reporters are asking. Very amateurish.
I know the club have to be careful with cash but surely they can afford some decent microphones or get someone who knows how to set them up properly. 🙄
Hardly an exciting game despite the commentators doing their best to talk it up. Watford, despite likely to be promoted were nothing special - more solid than sensational.
Boro were their usual self - lacking in creativity whether in midfield or out wide and failed to have any sustained pressure with only a couple of shots in 90 minutes. Watmore did his usual marathon run.
The team just aren’t talented enough for a serious promotion challenge next season . A big clear out is needed but it carries the risk that a lot of new faces can’t all be successful.
Perhaps the bones of the team should be players such as Fry, Bola, Armisteel( spelt wrong), Grant, McNair, Tavernier, Watmore, Morsy and possibly Fletcher ( although he may get a better deal elsewhere) . Even if a few more are retained as squad players then it requires a lot of new signings -probably free or cheap signings.
Back to today’s game- at least they tried and managed a worthless point!!
Philip of Huddersfield
It’s a small thing in the overall picture but why can’t we be better at throw ins? We use them to edge slowly down the touchline but run out of ideas and urgency when we get into the last third. Other teams seem to use them much better.
Some of the players seem to have regressed over this season. Spence looks lightweight and lacking in confidence and I’m yet to be convinced that Coulson can play at this level. Betenelli isn’t really up to it either and Howson is looking very average. We’ll definitely need some key players before next season. I’d be making Morsy captain (he did it at Wigan) unless we sign someone better qualified.
I totally forgot about the 12.30 kick off which probably sums up the season and how it has petered out with a bit of a whimper.
From what I have read it was probably a good thing that I missed it as it would appear that it was far from a classic and that tactically we were less than adventurous. A one all draw I suppose is a decent result considering Watford's winning streak contrasting with our dismal underwhelming streak.
Got back from golf after the match had finished and decided to watch the recording without knowledge of the result.
I was shocked by the attacking line up and totally agree with Len and others at the lack of ambition. Looks as if Fletcher is getting the Assombalonga treatment by NW for not signing a new contract.
Watford were like Bournemouth, no great shakes but we contrived to let in another goal due too poor defending (poor clearance and then Spence/Fisher failed to push out and claimed off side when they in fact played the opposition forward on side and a shot deflected off him past Betinnelli).
We lacked creativity, failed to threaten their keeper and at times it seemed like a pre season game. Spence and Coulson did nothing to enhance their claims for a regular spot in the side.
An excellent free kick from PM from out wide on the right was played into the far post with pace and was met with a diving header by YB. The result was probably deserved in the end due to the fact that the team kept battling.
If NW thinks that the return of those with injuries and the addition of a couple of forwards is reason to be very optimistic about next season then I think he has become delusional! 😎
I totally forgot about the 12.30 kick off which probably sums up the season and how it has petered out with a bit of a whimper.
From what I have read it was probably a good thing that I missed it as it would appear that it was far from a classic and that tactically we were less than adventurous. A one all draw I suppose is a decent result considering Watford's winning streak contrasting with our dismal underwhelming streak.
I did nearly the same until my daughter reminded me two hours before the actual kick-off time. One advantage of the lock-down is that I have been able convert my 32-year-old daughter to finally become a Boro fan. We watch the matches together now.
Her favourite players are Tavarnier and Saville.
Up to Boro!
I didn't even get to follow this one on Twitter as I usually do, so hugely disappointed on reading the comments here after the game to hear that we really have packed in for Summer already.
I know that like many, I would have been pleased with a safe mid table finish if offered it in August. However, we got ourselves into a position where we were in with chance of breaking into the end of term party, so as we are now fading into that mid table position it is hugely disappointing and feels like a big let down.
The next half dozen or so games now have to be used to help the youngsters develop and should exclude anyone that will not be here next season.
@powmillnaemore agree with you in that most of us would have expected mid table at start of the season, but we were given a taste of honey for it to turn to ash.
Anybody know anything about this player?
"Peterborough United's star striker Jonson Clarke-Harris has been urged to join Rangers in the upcoming transfer window. The clinical forward, who's also been linked with Bournemouth, has netted 28 goals so far this season"
@malcolm. An impressive scoring record. If he has any sense and wants to keep scoring then he won't come anywhere near us! 😎😀
@david-in-cumbria: I guess that if the keeper hoofs the ball 50 feet into the air and 50 or so yards upfield, it can only be 50/50 whether the ball ends up with one of our players, and less than 50/50 that the recipient will have the opportunity to do anything with it before his opponent interevenes. AND we will have been a lot further back than we'd have been if the ball had been played forwards in the first place. I wonder whether anyone has done the stats on the percentage of times anything positive comes out of a hoof upfield from the keeper compared with putting the ball into our opponents' penalty area from the free kick in the scenario you mentioned.