“Carrigan’s”? I think the spellchecker has done for you there! 

A great starter OFB, and I’d take a draw from this one, I think. MC has certainly given the team a big boost - like so much of elite sport, it’s what’s happening in a player’s head that can make the difference. 

Thanks OFB for your festive and foam handed starter.  I think most of us would take a draw if we were offered it and regard it as a very good point.

This game against the top side will really give us an indication of how much progress we have made under MC and if we are really top six contenders.

Given Burnley are scoring nearly two goals every game and only conceding one then I fear they may just shade it. 

So whilst I would like a draw, I think it will be Burnley 2-0 Boro but hoping I am wrong. 😎☹️

A festive feast Bob - thank you.

Let's hope we make Burnley look like turkeys and give them a good stuffing in a cracker of a game.

It will be a tough contest for us as Burnley look the league's best so far even without looking at the table. However, I don't think they're hitting the heights that Fulham did last season and our form should give us some hope that we can compete with the Championship's best.

I can't see any reason to change the team or adopt any special tactics. We just need to keep going and see how far it will take us. Getting anything out of the season after the start we had would be a massive bonus but not to be expected I think - at least not unless we do some very good business in January.

I'd take a point now for sure but can't rule out any result. I don't see us getting well beaten but that's about as far as I can predict for this one.

What the hell... Burnley 1-2 Boro.

I'll have whatever OFB's having.

Not much to say about this really. We know what Carrick's 1st team is and we know who his back-ups are. We know what our strengths and weaknesses are. We're no longer a surprise package; Burnley will know how we'll line up and will be taking us seriously.

Like Southgate, Carrick has sorted out the main problems with a minimum of fuss and got players looking like they actually look forward to playing again. It doesn't mean we're suddenly world-beaters but we are now capable of beating anyone in the league.

Burnley are clearly the favourites and are on a great run: second in the form table. Their only loss has been to Sheff Utd who are 1st in the form table. Although it's not over 'til it's over, it's really looking as though Sheff utd and Burnley are capable of pulling away from the pack.

I must admit that I thought Burnley would struggle this season. It's really difficult for any manager to change the DNA of a team when it is so thoroughly moulded by a previous manager but Kompany has vastly exceeded my expectations. 

Although I would like to predict a result for us, I suspect this is a step too far. Looking at Cooper with Notts Forest last year, had a stellar start but after a few games went on a 7 game run in which Forest won only once. They made it through and I can see a similar thing happen with us. We could easily get just 2 points from the next 3 games and it would look as though the Carrick evolution had stalled. I think though, it will be how we respond to a sticky set of results that will tell us whether Carrick is the real deal.

With last nights result again demonstrating how open the Championship can be, I thought that it would be interesting to list the form teams - last five games - along with their position in the table. 

13 points         MIDDLESBROUGH (12th)

12 points         BURNLEY (1st)

                      SHEFFIELD UNITED (2nd)

                      PRESTON (6th)

                      COVENTRY (15th)

                      WEST BROM (17th) 

looking at the other end we have

1  point           BLACKPOOL (23rd)

                      QPR (9th)

3  points          SWANSEA (10th)

4  points          HUDDERSFIELD (24th)

                      CARDIFF (20th)

                      ROTHERHAM (18th)

5   points        WIGAN (22nd)

                      HULL (21st)

                      LUTON (13th)

It's also worth pointing out that only 10 points separates Watford in fifth (play-offs) from Wigan in 22nd (relegation). All of this suggests to me that the bottom of the table is a reasonable statement of teams who have had a poor run but the play-off spots are massively open because so many points are being dropped by a whole range of teams. As an example, both BLACKBURN in 3rd and MILLWALL in 7th have each only taken  6/15. All of this is a long way of saying that there is a long way to go and everybody must expect to lose some games. However, it is a fascinating time to play in-form Burnley. We would appear to have almost nothing to lose, particularly with WIGAN and BLACKBURN to follow.

UTB

@ofb Thank you for starting a new thread. And a positive one, too.

Also, thank you and Marie for the Christmas card I received yesterday by post. Greatly appreciated!

It will be a tough match on Saturday. I hope we have got rid of the rustiness we had after the WC break. At least we started to play well in the second half versus Luton.

Anything can happen on Saturday. Burnley are top of the league and in good form. But so are Boro, too. So it is one of the top matches.

It will be a lot depending on how McGree, Akpom and Jones are playing on the day. As always, small margins and an individual moment of class can give the points to either side.

So a draw is a start. But anything can happen. A 1-1 draw is the likely prediction from me. But hoping for all three points.

Up the Boro! 

@selwynoz 

Thanks for posting those stats it makes for interesting reading.

I had started to look at them and considered including them in my post but as everyone knows it’s a busy time of the year and I was side tracked !

Im pleased you’ve taken the trouble to get them many thanks

OFB

The referee for Saturday at Burnley is David Webb and his stats for this season in the championship are 14 games 39 yellow 4 red (3 in one match).

Come on BORO.

Thanks for a brilliant and seasonal opener for the Burnley game OFB.

Here's my festive take on it: (sorry I can't work out how to make the attached picture display automatically 😥 , but if you click on it, hopefully you can read it ...)

The Boro match will be available worldwide via Riverside Live.  So I think this applies to the UK, too.

https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2022/december/13/watch-burnley-match-with-boro-live/

Up the Boro!

Nice starter, Bob (Old Father Boro), and the stats Selwynoz. I'd also like a drop of whatever AndyR has been drinking.

On the face of it Burnley are top of the league and on a decent run so it would be a brave man to put money on Boro coming away from Turf Moor with any points at all.  But, football being football, and Boro's form also being VERY good at present, anything is possible.  A point would be good but 3 points are not impossible. If we DID get 3 points, ambitions for the season will hit the sky....

But even a defeat would not derail our season as it is clear Boro, as a team, is performing at a level which would have been unrecognisable 3 months ago. Even the best teams lose sometimes (Manchester City against Brentford, anybody?) and it is how you bounce back after the odd reverse that counts. As to the season generally, I am optimistic.  I couldn't have spelt the word 3 months ago.

@jarkko Typical (Boro) because I rearranged a pre Xmas meal with a daughter and her partner that had been booked for Sunday. None of us wanted to miss the World Cup Final so we switched it to Saturday at 2pm. If I’d known Boro Live was available for the Burnley game I’d have picked a different time.

@forever-dormo 

Great post I’m opomisytic as well about the season. 

I still can’t spell it right !

Merry xmas

OFB

@powmillnaemore

Snowman brilliant 🤩

Snow joke if we lose !

Of course we all know the difference between a snowman and a snow woman don’t we ?

❄️❄️ 

OFB

Posted by: @martin-bellamy

@jarkko Typical (Boro) because I rearranged a pre Xmas meal with a daughter and her partner that had been booked for Sunday. None of us wanted to miss the World Cup Final so we switched it to Saturday at 2pm. If I’d known Boro Live was available for the Burnley game I’d have picked a different time.

But you could always go to Riverside for the home matches now you live on right side of the Pennines. I envy you - I must fly over to Manchester and drive two to three hours to get to a home maatch. Up the Boro!

@jarkko We don’t move over until 12th Jan so we’re still in South Shropshire. Even when we move I’ll be 90 minutes away from the Riverside, but I’m sure I’ll be able to get to some games.

Looking at Boro’s bench of coaches there was no sign of Leo. Is he still with the club and if so, in what role? The various age group teams all have coaches plus the first team have MC, Woody and the new coach from Aston Villa. So I wonder if there’s a clear role for him

Philip of Huddersfield 

@philip-of-huddersfield.  Taken from the club website on the announcement of MC's appointment: "Leo will now become the club’s Head of Player Pathway and Development." 😎

“I’m just wild about Harry, and Harry’s wild about me”.

Although written over a century ago (1921 in fact) and made popular by the inimitable Judy Garland is a song that surely everyone has heard of even after all those years, but is really appropriate today for different reasons. I guess many England football fans are ‘wild’ about Harry Kane for missing that penalty against France last Saturday, although I’m quite circumspect about that not having any interest about this year’s World Cup.

Now ‘wild’ can mean annoyed with Harry Kane from football fans, though it’s one of those words that can have opposite meanings. In contrast I’m ‘wild’ about Harry Brook, England’s new batting kid on the block who has just completed successive centuries as England’s cricket batting sensation (the new Joe Root or even Don Bradman?) who let’s hope will lighten up our Ashes series next summer, although I’m not going so far as the second line of the song which continues thus “the heavenly blisses of his kisses fill me with ecstasy, he’s just as sweet as chocolate candy, or just like honey from the bee —————-“ 

For one thing I actually detest chocolate, and honey’s far too sweet for my taste, but nevertheless what contrasting thoughts about the name Harry. Are there any diasborians called Harry out there?

Ken - It's very early days into his Test Cricket career but I have very high hopes for Harry Brook.  Even before he first played for England I predicted to my mate who sits next to me at the Riverside that Harry Brook would be even better than Joe Root.  Now, that's a VERY big thing to say bearing in mind that former England captain Root has been the world's No 1 ranked batsman, he is such a graceful player who times the ball so well when at his best, and who seems likely to re-write all the England scoring records before he finally puts his bat away. But I could see in the last couple of years that, coming up behind him, was a player who seemed to have it all.

I heard someone on TMS or maybe read an article (can't remember by whom) suggesting that Bairstow had the power and brutality to take a bowling attack apart, and that Root has the grace, the timing and the beauty to score runs at a very busy pace against any bowlers even when the pitch is difficult (and there have been times when it seemed he was the ONLY batsman holding the team up). But Harry Brook has a combination of all those attributes. He is at the part of the Venn diagram where the circles for Bairstow and Root overlap.

Obviously there will be times when form dips though, as they say, form is temporary but class is permanent. Brook certainly has the class. If he can stay clear of serious injury problems and with a bit of luck, Brook seems set for a very long international career.  I wouldn't go so far as to compare him with Sir Don Bradman (who could aim that high?) but I guess he might have Sir Jack Hobbs, Herbert Sutcliffe, Wally Hammond, Sir Len Hutton and Joe Root in his sights.  I repeat my prediction - he will score more heavily in Test cricket than any previous English batsman, and will also grace the white ball game like a giant.  He is good on the eye and scores at such a pace.  He is perfect for the Stokes/Bazball revolution.  It is going to be fun to watch.

Obviously it is difficult to compare players over the ages.  In football terms, di Stefano, John Charles, Puskas, Pele, Sir Bobby Charlton, Beckenbauer, George Best, Maradona, one of the Ronaldos or maybe both, Messi .... are all in the conversation but it's difficult to compare players from different eras or even different decades. It doesn't stop us discussing these things though, does it?  I am VERY hopeful about Harry Brook but I hope I am being realistic - he seems to be a very rare talent.  It would be good to see a fit-again Bairstow back in the team when his broken leg is mended, to bat with Root and Brook.  It would be even better to see all three bat in the same Yorkshire team but, I guess, that is not going to be allowed by the powers that be.

It is often said that football league tables never lie. But that’s a fallacy as this season has proved with Boro, West Brom and Coventry all rising, whist Watford and QPR on the slide. The only time that tables never lie is when every club has finished their fixtures. Similarly there are no such things as dropping points. One starts every match on zero points, and was ever thus. It’s all about gaining and accumulating points. I realise that the expression ‘dropped points’ is used by the media, but one can never drop points or even gain points until the final whistle has blown. I have never seen a league table yet that shows every team starting with 138 points at the beginning of a season, and until there becomes a time when additional points are awarded for goals and tries scored which Rugby Union has,adopted for several seasons now, and cricket which has always adopted bonus points for runs scored and wickets taken, we are left with an archaic system which needs addressing pronto. 

Bristol Rovers beat Scunthorpe 7-0 in the final match of last season to gain promotion, and surely there is more merit in winning that way of gaining promotion than settling for a draw, avoiding defeat, or even winning a match by a single goal. In other words shouldn’t football be more proactive instead of being reactive? After all we’re now in the 21st century.

Of course, you are right @ken

Talk of "dropped points" and "six-pointers" etc. is not really literal, but as with a lot of things in the English Language (other languages are available and equally recommended) little phrases or expressions, idioms, such as these evolve and when given in context are generally properly understood. That said, it would be interesting to see the league table pan out over a season if it was worked in reverse. So every team starts equally on 138 points, with no goals scored and no goals conceded. After each match, 3 points get deducted if you lose, or 1 point each gets deducted for a draw. Goals scored/conceded accrue to enable differentiation of position based of goal difference.

I wonder if the table would look any different to the way it does now, or if there would be any impact on how teams perform.

@ken I don’t recall it actually raining cats and dogs either, but surely our language is nuanced enough for idioms to extend to football. Everyone knows what “dropped points” means and that it’s not meant to be taken literally.

As a matter of interest Burnley v Boro will be available on the Sky Red button in UK so no need to purchase a match pass.

Come on BORO.

Someone on Twitter* was suggesting the Burnley v Boro match on Satyurday at 3pm was being shown live on Sky as the main game and not only on the Red Button - despite the day and time.

 *Paul Richards on @guvpaul1

Others have suggested it will be on Sky Sports Red Button as indeed all games apart from Coventry's will be shown live (maybe because it was uncertain whether or where Coventry would play in light of their "stadium difficulties") but @ebineezer1979 also insists Boro's is the main match....

@forever-dormo 

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/middlesbrough-championship-burnley-sky-sports-25750398 UTB!

@jarkko - Well that seems to be clear, Jarkko.  The Red Button it is....

@forever-dormo.  Sky sports website shows us as being on the red button.  The Norwich late kick off (17:30) appears to be the main match. 😎

Whether they can show the Red Button in the Stabbed Stoat I will find out in about 40 minutes.  I will ask the landlord when I walk there tonight.