Despite being given a golden start courtesy of a gifted goal we huffed and puffed and never looked like winning. Our pedestrian build up play, lack of understanding and intuitive runs made us look like part timers against a side full of confidence and belief.
Static Red shirts waiting to receive a pass that was invariably hit with too much on it and consequently skidding off shins did not hide the fact that balls should have been hit into spaces with eager Red shirts running to collect. Some of our passing was so easily read and predictable I swear I read about it in yesterday’s Gazette.
This constant passing back to Bettinelli offers nothing in terms of either setting up attacking momentum or retaining possession. A long aimless hoof from the Goalkeeper to no one or no where in particular seems to be an utterly pointless and increasingly costly exercise. That it is a repeated tactic game after uninspiring game is a serious concern. Dijksteel passing back when 4-1 down was criminal, McNair endeavouring to do the same and slipping (another recurring Boro theme this season) cost us any forlorn hope of even earning some credibility out of this game.
I have absolutely no idea why Warnock picks Assombalonga. He is an irrelevance such are his tactics and the limited ability from Britt to do anything other than stay up top hoping for a change in the weather is futile. His body language when leaving the pitch said as much. Our tactics and Assombalonga are as compatible as Donald Trump addressing a BLM assembly, the futility of it is almost comical if it wasn’t so predictably painful to watch.
Boro’s defending was poor, general marking was poor and our failure to cut out crosses even poorer. Our midfield repeatedly failed to effectively track back and pick up runners with Howson’s lapses now becoming a regular theme. Our inability to bring in a CB during the window may turn out to be our Achilles heel, McNair looked poor alongside Dijksteel who left Toney for his first goal.
On a positive we won’t be playing Brentford every week and there were some nice moves from Bolasie and Kebano both of whom offer optimism in an otherwise underwhelming afternoon.
Disappointing, but I was encouraged by Bolassie’s performance. Is it just me who thinks Spence has gone backwards quite a bit?
@redcarred. Spot on RR and particularly regarding BA. The only contribution he made was to miss when he should have scored - again! 😎
This is getting boring, we do not unload Britt. Then we pick him! This is crazy, he is the most unlikely striker you will ever see, which is bad, but worse is his all round play. On the surface he missed two utter sitters, in reality he stood still after failing to touch the ball into the net, the ball was still in play, and free in the box, about two yards away, the keeper out of it, nearest defender still had ground to make up, but Britt was frozen to the spot. That made it three sitters. We are playing with ten men until this is put right, and will keep on losing. That is three teams that have come here and made sure that the ball was either in the air or in our box, they had a method and a Good method it was too. I notice that they had a policy of never letting anybody get away if beaten, flinging themselves on the floor together with the player who had beaten them. They wore the Ref. down by ignoring him, so it works. Leaving your own half empty is not a Good plan, passing to feet is suicidal, has any of our players heard of passing into space? Do not worry if your team mates isn't interested, that is not your problem
@redcarred. Spot on RR and particularly regarding BA. The only contribution he made was to miss when he should have scored - again! 😎
Not strictly accurate. He did force Raya into a wonder save, when the keeper touched his shot on to the post. Saville inexcusably missed the easy rebound.
But I agree that Britt’s overall contribution was very poor, and he should certainly have scored early second half. It begs the question:- with Akpom not generally offering much more than Britt, why did NW not give Fletcher a few minutes? We know he’s still coming back from injury, but he has made one brief appearance since and he WAS on the bench, so must be considered fit enough. He would surely have offered more than the other two passengers? Failing that, why not bring Watmore on earlier or switch it around with Johnson wide left and Bolasie up front.
Boro’s tactics in the first half really concerned me. We played with one (useless) man up front, who spent virtually the entire half chasing shadows as Brentford played it out from the back and amongst themselves. Only Britt was pressing. And as Britt was up front on his own, we had no out ball. When Bolasie flung across some great crosses, there was no-one in the box. What was the point? Effectively, we played it as if we were the away side. I suppose you could argue that it worked better than the utter chaos of the second half, but it showed precious little ambition.
I mentioned Saville. I’m still aghast that he managed to miss three absolute sitters. If he’d scored one of those 2 at the start of the second half, the game might have been different. Add his stupid booking for petulance to the charge sheet. Basically, he had a terrible game. But he wasn’t alone, of course.
I can’t recall Boro ever losing four successive home games. No doubt Ken will research that for us. Bournemouth have now pulled five points clear and our goal difference is something like 13 goals worse than theirs. In effect, we are now 6 points behind 6th place. Not insurmountable, obviously, especially as we still have to play at Bournemouth, but I don’t think we can afford many more shoddy (or even unfortunate) defeats.
Ah, Britt he who can hit a slender post but not the goal. That was a rude awakening, the trouble is why can't we see it coming until after the crash? Perhaps arguments and excuses about players are being set up? I'm afraid with Britt bro always seem to be playing with ten men.
Sad, yes. Depressing, yes. Predictable yes. I thought we'd draw though. To take nothing away from Brentford they played well, Toney scores but so do a lot of their other players, unlike Boro.
Please sort it out Mr Warnock.
Stay safe everyone.
UTB,
John
I do not know if Saville had a terrible day, but he should have scored a hat trick. But I am also thinking he was in the right places so I cannot say he was useless. Unlucky or not quite good enough.
And please play Britt rather than Akpom. So Britt AND Fletcher there TOGETHER. At least against other teams than Brentford.
I am so glad to hear Fry is back versus Derby. Our man marking system causes too big holes when the opposition team is good like yesterday.
But generally, I think we have a better squad than before the January window. Let's hope the results star to pick up soon. Up the Boro!
I've said it a few times recently, we are not good enough for the playoffs, yesterday was a wakeup call, as somebody said before we are too inconsistent. I know their goalie made some very good saves but we are not clinical enough and we have been saying that for years.
Our overriding problem is this utter inability to face the fact that we have a 'striker' who is a liability, who is going nowhere, who, unbelievably, is Captain, yes I know, shocking, but there it is. Until we face that fact, tell him he is going and make it happen, then these disasters will be on permanent replay. Four straight home defeats is shocking, three of which were bog standard home wins, no praise, no medals, just take three points and move past go. That was twelve points, there for the taking. Brentford were a decent side, but we were given a gift, and a sitter to make it two nil. ( thanks Britt!) Any side with any sense of gamesmanship would then have packed their box and had a happy afternoon, with, no doubt, at least one breakaway goal, and saved some energy.
Bettinelli is not going to get us anywhere, he has no sense of where he is at any given moment, example, their First goal could and should have been saved had he been on his line, but he had wandered two metres from it, so it crept inside the post, just! A fingertip job. He is a wanderer, any ball in the box pinging around from boot to boot finds him drawn out as though magnetised, then any weak shot creeps in at the post. Match of the day showed at least four identical goals scored with the same error from the Keeper.
There was no one in here on the blog for nearly 24 h on Sunday. And Boro lost by 4 -1! Come on, the manager must get sacked and Britt sent to Timbuktu. He did not score (never mind the world class save).
You must have had nice wheather in the UK if everyone was out walking and enjoying the fress air.
Mind, we had about -10 degrees and half a meter of snow. Wondeful weather - I was out cross country ski-ing with my wife. For about 1,5 hours. Nice exercise and very popular during COVID, too 😆.
Up the Boro!
Still sore after the game on Saturday when the Norwich performance gave us all hope Jarkko.
My youngest son who had fallen out of love with the Boro for past two seasons had sent me a message before the game saying how much he was now looking forward to the game. So Boro didn’t disappoint as per usual the same old Boro turned up.
Yes we missed Fry at the back and it shows that Paddy is not the same player without his partner next to him.
I didn’t enjoy it so we love on to the next one.
Playoffs?
Yerjokinarnyer!
OFB
I know that we’re all Boro fans, but might I respectfully suggest that we all lighten up a little. It’s been a terrific weekend in other sports with England on the brink of beating India in Chennai with Joe Root again proving he’s arguably the best batsman against spin in the world. Also an exciting end to the golf in Saudi with Justin Rose regaining his form and finishing only one shot behind Dustin Johnson. However I’ll pass on England’s rugby team, the worst performance for many a year.
We’ll be alright shortly Ken it just hits us hard when we seem to be making progress and get our hopes dashed again and again!
So It’s up to Neil Warnock to gee up the players and fans as we’ve got 18 games left to get into the playoffs!
OFB
... I’ll pass on England’s rugby team, the worst performance for many a year.
On the other hand, the best Scottish rugby performance for many a year. Worthy winners and on that form genuine candidates for the 6 nations title this year 😉
We’ll be alright shortly Ken it just hits us hard when we seem to be making progress and get our hopes dashed again and again!
So It’s up to Neil Warnock to gee up the players and fans as we’ve got 18 games left to get into the playoffs!
OFB
Right you are Bob. It really wouldn't be Boro if they didn't take us right down to the wire with 100% consistent inconsistency.
We are still in this, but how you wish they would make it all a little less stressful for the fans
Funny but we are still the 7th from the top in the league. So there are a few worse teams.
I trust the football will improve though. Feels like we have a proper squad now in the final third. I like Bolasie and Neeskens (sorry for not yet remembering his last name) already now.
Are Bola and Bolasie related to others? Or bola just means one can play on the left?
Anyway, we still have a chance even Bournemouth and Woody are five points above us now. This in the Championship, though.
Up the Boro!
I think the absence of 24 hours is indicative of apathy amongst fans fed up with Boro of recent years, fed up with Covid and not particularly enamoured or engaged with games that are being played in a surreal atmosphere. Nobody has been able to witness first hand the renaissance of Fry, Bola and Dijksteel. Nobody can express their frustration and annoyance at passing back to a suspect Keeper with atrocious distribution. Heck, nobody has been able to even welcome NW to the Club. The longer it continues the greater the disenfranchisement will be amongst fans. Live match day passion is replaced by inactive remote viewing often through dodgy links with poor sound quality. Defeats don't add to the "enjoyment".
I would guess that there is a caveat for fans of Norwich, Brentford, Swansea and even Reading who have genuine reason for hope but if it wasn't for the prize in their sights their fans would probably have equal disillusionment especially after the passive performance of Saturday. Shoulder shrugging resignation is replacing passion.
The current form table doesn't make for pleasant reading.
https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/middlesbrough/form-guide
Injuries to Dael Fry, Tav and others hasn't helped but many of those defeats were very poor and if we want to blame Covid then it doesn't seem to have done Rotherham much harm?
This is the word that defines Boro supporters, enjoy! Other clubs seem to 'enjoy' far more than us. We think the reason for this is what seems deliberate 'mistakes' by the overall management such as buying a striker for a way out of line price, then applying 'business' rules to a sporting decision i.e. Whether to play him? He is not even near good enough, yet has seen off better strikers Simply because he is unsalable, we have parked at least three on the bench until they caught varnish fever, one was outstanding (still is!) the other is a very good player who finally got away this week and of course made two goals for his side. To fail to move him on this last week was a failure of management, even a loan out could and should have been managed, and we suffered the consequences on Saturday. It is fine for our Manager to get players for peanuts (very good) but not fine to select a striker who is a disaster. I have not even checked the stats, but rest assured someone will have. Our win ratio when he is axed, as opposed to when he is playing. I am guessing that it is revealing. Note. Do not even think of including his appearances as a sub, because the dreaded last ten minutes when we are cruising is not what we are talking about.
As frustrating as many of the aspects of Saturday's defeat was our former Captain puts things into stark perspective with his actions:
https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/legend-leadbitter-raising-money-for-boro-coachs-family
@redcarred. If you look at the last 6, 8 and 10 matches then it shows our stark decline and puts into perspective NW's comments about the season starts now!
Sadly it could be all too late. Whilst it is still possible to make the top six it is looking less likely than more likely and even were we to win all the games (highly unlikely) we would not be guaranteed a top six slot as it depends on the results of others, so already to a degree it is not in our control. The team needs to win as many as possible and hope others slip up.
Our results against the top six (7 games played) are not good in the first half of the season as by my reckoning we have W1 D3 L3 = 4 points from a possible 21! Let alone our recent losses against lower league sides.
Whilst NW was making positive noises in his post-match interview about how excited he is, how far we have come, how we are creating so many chances and we just need something to turn for us, a lot of this I think was spin and to deflect the focus away from a performance that exposed many of our deficiencies. He seems to overlook the good fortune at the start of the match, the fact that few of the opposition players slip over, yet ours do so regularly on a pitch that they play on more frequently and where they should be more aware of the need to not take risks.
The last two games have revealed how far away from the top sides we are in terms of ability, quality and methodology.
NW and TP have both shown the ability to put together sides who are well organised, disciplined, difficult to beat and are able, at times, to grind out a result; we lack however a cutting edge and a quick passing and movement style of play in the mode of Norwich/Brentford. Once we have to chase a game, as we did on Saturday, then our game plan falls apart and our limitations become exposed. NW is seeking to overcome these limitations by the recruitment of some seasoned campaigners but it remains to be seen if they will be able to produce what is required in the coming weeks. NW talks about giving it a go but it is giving it a go which has, to a degree, seen us lose games in the past.
Sadly the Championship, to me, is becoming more like the PL in that only a few clubs are able to win the league and a few others able to make up the top six, most having and benefiting from recent PL experience, squads and cash. Sadly we no longer fall into that category and are more of one of the also rans.
Three of four more defeats in the next few weeks may see our chances of a top six position this season have gone, attention will then be on what happens next! 😎
@k-p-in-spain agree with your comments and the only reposte I have is Brentford
I’ve been so busy having now completed my review of 73 classical composers that I missed this post. Maybe Covid has since eradicated recent events from your memory as it certainly has with mine. But it was only last year that Boro ended the season with four successive home defeats:-20th June Swansea 0-35th July QPR 0-111th July Bristol City 1-318th July Cardiff 1-3Let’s hope that this is not to become a bad habit!
I’ve been so busy having now completed my review of 73 classical composers that I missed this post. Maybe Covid has since eradicated recent events from your memory as it certainly has with mine. But it was only last year that Boro ended the season with four successive home defeats:-20th June Swansea 0-35th July QPR 0-111th July Bristol City 1-318th July Cardiff 1-3Let’s hope that this is not to become a bad habit!
So it has happened before and it was Neil Warnock again!
Sack the Manager, out, out out!
🙂