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Cardiff v Boro
 

Cardiff v Boro

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Following Boro’s comfortable 3-0 victory over relegation threatened Blackpool, Boro next face another struggling side in 21st placed Cardiff City down in south Wales on Saturday, kick-off 3pm.

Blackpool had their chances at The Riverside, particularly at 1-0, but Boro were never in any real danger of missing out on the three points. Carrick’s time has been filled with games in which Boro have come out on the right side of the fine margins but it’s happened so often now that it can no longer be coincidence. Boro are third. Boro are flying.

There are now so many avenues to goals. Long gone are the one dimensional days of Pulis and “give it to Adama”. Long gone are the one dimensional days of Warnock and simply putting the ball into the box and hoping something comes off. Long gone are the days of Wilderball and the Djiksteel-Crooks-Jones overload, none of which are regular starters under Carrick. Even gone are the early season days of working the ball to Giles for a cross from the left – that is now the back-up creative angle.

Now it’s a multifaceted creative approach centred around occupying awkward spaces. McGree and Akpom drift into the gaps between opposition defence and midfield, and between opposition centre-back and full back, posing the question of who should engage them. To mark us tightly is to lose your own shape.

Does a full back come out and inside to pick up McGree, leaving space for the advancing Giles? Does a centre-back leave his line to engage Akpom, offering a perforation for the pace of Archer or Forss to exploit? Does a midfielder drop in to pick either of them up, affording time and space to the forward thinking Hackney, Howson and now Barlaser?

Carrick’s Boro have become a side full of angles and options and the goals are flowing.

Boro may still give up chances, often from our own errors in possession, but that is the risk worth taking for Michael Carrick. The often maligned Zack Steffen may dwell on the ball at times and look too relaxed but in doing so he is inviting the opposition press and helping to create the spare man in defence or midfield from which we can build another dangerous attack. Sometimes it goes wrong and we look a bit daft, especially the keeper, but the points show that it is resulting in a Boro goal far more often than one conceded. That is also, of course, down to the cool-headed finishing of Chuba Akpom MkII, as well as the increasingly confident Marcus Forss. Happy days.

The gap to second placed Sheffield United still looks a chasm but they do have a stretched, transfer-embargoed squad, another Championship game and an FA Cup tie to fit in, as well as a late February run of Boro (H), Millwall (A) and Watford (H). It’s a long shot but stranger things have happened….

It’s one game at a time for Boro however, and next up are Sabri Lamouchi’s Cardiff City.

The much travelled Lamouchi took on the Cardiff job on 27th January following the short fling with Mark Hudson who managed just four wins from eighteen games. Lamouchi has overseen two 1-0 defeats so far away at Luton and then Hull City, and so this will be his home debut.

The 51-year-old Frenchman had a strong playing career including twelve caps for a national side that was winning World Cups and European Championships at the time, and has followed that up in management with successful spells in charge of the Ivory Coast and Qatari-based clubs. There is, however, a noticeable drop in his win percentage in the more competitive leagues of Ligue 1 (Rennes, 38%) and the Championship, where he largely failed at Nottingham Forest in 2019/20.

He finds his Cardiff side hovering dangerously above the relegation zone by just a single point, with a slightly inferior goal difference to third bottom Huddersfield. Without a win in eleven games, only Blackpool and Wigan can compete with the Bluebirds in terms of lack of form.

With just 21 goals scored all season, Cardiff are comfortably the division’s least potent attack though they do at least offer some defensive resistance, with their 33 conceded being two better than Boro despite our third consecutive Riverside clean sheet at the weekend.

Those statistics do not at all fit with the last encounter between the sides, which Cardiff won 3-2 back in September. Of course, both sides have changed managers since then – twice in Cardiff’s case – though only Boro have seen an upturn in fortunes thus far.

With just two games having been played under the new manager, it’s difficult to predict how Cardiff will approach the game but they’ve lined up in a 4-3-3 under Lamouchi so far. Whoscored.com considers Cardiff to be a strong counter attacking side who also defend well in terms of set pieces and turning over possession, though you’d think that will be a tougher task than usual against Carrick’s ball playing Boro.

The weaknesses are where the Bluebird’s story comes to life, with the hosts said to struggle against both wing play and central through balls whilst their finishing is considered worst of all.

If Boro are to somehow catch Sheffield Utd, games such as this need to be won. Other than the obligatory “typical Boro” factor, there’s little to suggest that we won’t and it’s a 2-0 Boro win for me. As for catching Sheffield Utd, we’ll have a better idea if that’s even possible by the end of the month.

So 2-0 for me. Over to you….

This topic was modified 1 year ago by Andy R

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Thanks Andy for an excellently researched article and one of the best analysis of what to expect from MC’s Boro side that I have read; a very enjoyable read.

I agree that if we are to maintain a spot in the top six, let alone catch Sheffield (it’s remotely possible but I don’t think we will), then these are the games we must win.

That being said it is sometimes more difficult to gain three points from these games than others.

I am still reeling from my visit to the Riverside for last Septembers encounter between the sides but reassured that we now have the right person in charge and a team capable of competing at the top end of the league.

A point is the minimum we should expect and given Cardiff’s relative defensive strength then I don’t expect a high scoring game with the potential of a ⚽️-⚽️, which must be on the cards sooner or later.

I am hoping for a solid and controlled performance from us and will be happy with a 0-1 result, with any bigger margin a bonus.😎


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Andy, thank you for a very well written opener and a great analysis of Carrick’s Boro, a very good read.

Come on Boro.


Philip of Huddersfield
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Obviously WBA didn’t want to lose Corboran to Leeds as I see that they’ve given him an improved extended contract to the end of 2027 season.

As a clear indication of Boro’s improvement I’d normally be thinking that Boro could lose to a team towards the bottom of the table. My mindset has changed- now I’m thinking I’d be surprised if Boro lost to Cardiff.

Meanwhile the locals here are becoming more convinced of relegation. Against Blackpool who lost their best defender through injury and had their best forward sent off , they still couldn’t win against 10 men. Leading 2-1 they conceded a goal in the last minute.

Philip of Huddersfield 

This post was modified 1 year ago by Philip of Huddersfield

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Andy

A great post and a fantastic appraisal of the Boro team and tactics.

I really enjoyed reading your analysis and thoughts.

OFB


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@exmil 

Yes, Great days for us boro fans, i would venture to say that it is more than just a run of Good form. Our method of play is noticeably clever, and I would venture to say it is thought out and practiced on the training ground. I notice that when it's time finish the contest we really turn on our party piece, which is very swift passing routines featuring passes at really acute angles at speed, four or five at once with the ball changing speed and direction, ending with a goal quite often. Good days!  


Powmill-Naemore
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Thanks AndyR. You have high-lighted well, the differences that make MC's Boro stand out head and shoulders above so many of the previous iterations over the last 5 years (or more).

A little like Philip of Huddersfield, I am finding it to be a pleasing change to have a genuine sense of expectation for every fixture now, rather than carrying an overbearing anxiety that Typical Boro are going to show up. I will be (unpleasantly) surprised if we do not win on Saturday to keep the Blades watching the rear view mirror. The Blades have still to play Boro (h), Millwall (a), Watford (h), Blackburn (a), Luton (h), Sunderland (a), WBA (h), Norwich (a) and Burnley (a). It is very easy to see them missing out on at least 12 points from those games, and possibly more.

 

We do still have to go to Sheffield, WBA and Luton and we also have to host Norwich and Burnley.

I know which set of fixtures I would rather have. I am convinced Sheffield will buckle under the pressure and even if we don't overhaul them, someone (WBA?, Luton?) will. So it is definitely all there to play for and a convincing victory on Saturday will continue to send the right signal to all those teams still in with a chance of automatic promotion this year.

This post was modified 1 year ago by Powmill-Naemore

Clive Hurren
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Again, many thanks for another terrific opener, Andy. 

I've got a ticket for Cardiff. Transport for Wales kindly ran a promotion recently which offered advance train tickets at 40% off, so I snapped their hands off! 

I’ve been once before, when Pulis was in charge. Was Warnock the Cardiff manager? Battle of the dinosaurs? Boro had one shot on goal all game, an own-goal by Ashley Fletcher. We lost 1-0. Neil Etheridge (if memory serves) in the Cardiff goal spent the afternoon on his deck-chair reading his paper. I finished reading the match programme after 10 minutes, and then found some fascinating wet paint to watch while it dried. I think Boro came out for the second half, but I can’t be sure, as nothing happened. There were 10 seagulls circling above the stadium and several feral pigeons. Even so, all these birds depositing their droppings all over the place could never match the heap of s*** that was already being played out on the pitch. 

How things have changed! As Andy says, we now have a team that plays exciting, fluent, fluid attacking football, scores loads of goals from all sorts of moves, often dominates possession and wins games! Of course, it didn’t quite click at Sunland, but on most occasions it does. Boro do turn up properly for most games now. I expect them to do so at Cardiff, as our confidence right now is obviously high, and we’re playing a side suffering the opposite and a club which appears in perpetual crisis. You never know, of course, but I’ll be very disappointed if Boro don’t win this one. 


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Andy,

A smart write-up and analysis, excellent work, thank you. You've summed it up nicely and I think bro will have too much for them. Cardiff were always a team that I feared in the days of John Toshack but I'll just say as I always do, 'Boro, don't concede'!

I hope to be smiling afterwards, it's becoming a worryingly permanent feature so Boro must be doing all of us good.

Meanwhile best wishes to Ken.

UTB,

John


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Very good analysis, Andy, and perceptive in pointing up the differences between Carrick and our previous managers.

As you say it's not simply a matter of a change in motivation or tactics but a radical development for the club through the way in which Carrick now conceptualises the game 

Both Pulis and Warnock talked incessantly about the number of crosses we were putting in (Pulis used to count them, as though sheer numbers were of some significance), about putting the ball in the mix, getting stuck in, and the importance of hard-earned experience.

For Carrick the game is all about spaces, how to think about them, create them, exploit them, and his achievement so far has been in inducting his players into this way of understanding both the game and their roles within it.

It's also about expression and enjoyment and this also seems to have had a transformative effect upon the team.

Of course, it helps that results have been favourable, and that recent matches have been highly entertaining.

Long may it continue. But when a string of poor results comes along, as it surely will, particularly if we are promoted, it will be important that some degree of continuity with the Carrick principles is maintained as the basis for the long-term development of the club

The temptation to revert to old-style methods in such a scenario is one that can be difficult to resist, as our recent history demonstrates and as Everton are currently proving.

 

 

 

 


Martin Bellamy
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A brilliant starter, Andy, exemplifying the talent on show in this Forum. 
I’m expecting a win at Cardiff (aren’t we all?) but can’t see us catching Sheffield United this season. There’s still a long way to go and teams below us with games in hand, but I’m really enjoying the ride this year. 


jarkko
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Sometimes I wonder if the local football reporters read this blog. At least I feel they ofter continue or talk the same things.

Like the Teesside Live has aswered my earlier question to Ken.

Carrick has won ten and drawn one of his 14 games in charge since taking over the reins at the Riverside at a points per game average of 2.21.

So now I know the average points colledted under Michael Carrick.  Up the Boro! 


Selwynoz
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Posted by: @jarkko

Sometimes I wonder if the local football reporters read this blog. At least I feel they ofter continue or talk the same things.

Like the Teesside Live has aswered my earlier question to Ken.

Carrick has won ten and drawn one of his 14 games in charge since taking over the reins at the Riverside at a points per game average of 2.21.

So now I know the average points colledted under Michael Carrick.  Up the Boro! 

Well said @jarkko. I often feel that they pick up our subjects and turn them into articles. I suppose that it’s not that surprising given that there’s only so many topics that we can all talk about.

One of these topics is clearly whether we can catch Sheffield United. It’s a bit of a long shot but I do sense that this coming week could be the turning point. If we beat Cardiff, them our momentum will be jacked up another notch ahead of the midweek game. At the same time Sheffield could lose points against Swansea who are very hard to predict. Even if they don’t, the Sheffield United v Boro game will be one of those great moments that every season throws up and being part of an occasion like that is what everyone wants. 

However, looking too far ahead is the biggest danger because you can trip over what is right under your feet. Having said that, we are playing well enough to beat Cardiff but even if we don’t, we can still then knock Sheffield United off course and, as said above, their fixture list is certainly tough and someone could benefit. If they start to drop points then the whole second promotion place opens up. In fact, everyone must drop points because every weekend throws up games between the contenders.

Personally, I can see Burnley winning the league by fifteen points - as Boro did in the famous Jack Charlton year - and the fight behind going all the way down to the wire.

it should be quite a season.

UTB


Ken Smith
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I’ve now looked at all the football league tables and don’t intend to view any of them again until Easter. I expect Boro to pick up a point at Cardiff on Saturday, but am not too concerned whether they do or not, as this team is destined to reach the playoffs anyway with a possible semifinal encounter with Hull City, yes you read that correctly, the other two protagonists likely to be West Brom and Norwich with the former likely to make the Grand Final. 

There is absolutely no way that Boro will catch the Blades and Boro are  likely to lose at least two more matches before the season’s end, maybe at Bramall Lane and the Hawthorns which will settle that equation. I do have some sympathy for Mogga and Sunderland, but their season seems to have run its course now.

Boro have done exceptionally well under Michael Carrick and as long as they keep on scoring goals are at least a match for any team in this league, so am quite confident that the Grand Final will be between Boro and West Brom with Boro gaining some revenge for the oncoming defeat at the Hawthorns. 

Incidentally I expected Everton to beat Arsenal last weekend and hope that they avoid relegation - would much prefer Liverpool to be relegated instead, but that is living in the World of Fantasy. 

So far so good in my fight against sleep deprivation as I usually manage 4 or 5  nights of sleep in bed, but tiredness returns every afternoon and I lack concentration over any programme lasting over a hour. Yesterday though I managed to watch part of ‘Atlantic Crossing’ but found ‘Winter Watch’ about how our featured friends survive the winter months -  very therapeutic with no commentary, magnificent coloured birds looking for food. 

The Rugby Super League starts this week, a nice diversion before the cricket season opens, but first the ladies world championship skiing slalom from the French resort of Courchevel/Merivel. I’d almost forgotten ‘Ski Sunday’ introduced by the late David Vine from 1978 with that exhilarating signature tune, arguably the best sports tune at the time. Far more technical today, but still beautiful landscapewith clear blue skies, but far more stress-free than other sports for the fact that the winners are generally unknown to most of us.  

Watching any sport for me tends to send me to sleep as I now lack the concentration to see a broadcast or programme through. Life has become a bore   ,but I may hang around for a few more months yet to see if  my circumstances change for the better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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@ken.  Keep fighting Ken, still much to look forward to.  We are also watching and thoroughly enjoying Atlantic Crossing.  😎


   
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Your starter was a really excellent and enjoyable read, Andy.

Jarkko & Selwynoz -  I think both local sport journos AND the Boro should be showing an interest in the content of blogs like Diasboro. The articles and the posts on here are sent by people who follow the club so, from the Club's point of view, its customers and people who have the interests of the Club at heart. Large commercial companies pay big money on market research, to find out what its customers think or want. The posts on here are often well-reasoned and sensible and are almost invariably respectful and polite rather than offensive or insulting.  That isn't to say that all comments are agreed by all the contributors, but disagreement can be made in a civil manner.  A local sports journo and the Club itself would be almost failing in their duty if they did NOT pay an interest in the debates and comments set out in this blog as they offer, for free, an insight into the thoughts and feelings of the supporters/customers of MFC.

I hope, Ken, that the Boro will give you and the rest of us something big to cheer about as the season comes to its end. At the time Michael Carrick was appointed I guess the aim was to stabilise the club in the league (at that time relegation was looming as a very real threat) for this season, and then to make a reasonable stab at promotion in the next season. To that extent we might be thought to be "ahead of the clock" in the progress that has been made.

Nobody had any right to expect promotion this season.  Most of us would have been very grateful for a steady climb up the league towards mid-table mediocrity. Instead, and at lightning speed, the Club has been tranformed.  The players look better players than they were.  They have confidence.  The style of football and the tactics have completely changed. If Boro concedes a goal it is obvious that the players feel capable of getting that goal back and then going on to win the game. What was a chore to watch is now a joy. Whilst automatic promotion cannot be ruled out until the mythical Fat Lady has started to sing, a place in the Play-offs now looks a very real probability instead of the relegation place which appeared to have been hunting the team down only a few months ago.  Somebody has clearly waved a wand over MFC, and I like the effect it has had.

 


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Thanks Andy for the starter. It must be a lot nicer to write about the good points of the Boro play rather than the way we were playing at the start of this season. I am now looking hopefully at the fixtures as matches being winnable rather than whether we will lose though the Sunderland match showed we can inexplicably fail to put in our new "normal" performance. I am still limiting myself to accepting 1 - 0 wins though if the opposition score there doesn't seem to be any reason why we shouldn't now be able to score more. It does however seem to be a very big ask to take second place. We still have to play once against most of the teams that are in the tight fight for the playoff places and most of the teams just below us have a least one game in hand on us so there is no room for thinking we have achieved success yet.  


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@malcolm - Thanks for that link.


   
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Powmill-Naemore
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Good result at Birmingham tonight....


   
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Good start to the weekend, Birmingham 2-0 West Brom.  West Brom have now played the same number of games but are 4 points adrift of us. 

Cardiff have only scored 21 goals in 30 games and conceded 33, giving them the third worst goal difference in the Championship.  

Hope I haven’t jinxed it! CoB 😎

This post was modified 1 year ago 2 times by K P in Spain

   
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@powmillnaemore - So this would be the perfect time for Boro to get three points and therefore extend the lead over WBA to 7 points, so that even though they'd have a game in hand over Boro, it would require a couple of duff results from Boro and WBA would need to win two and draw the other of their next three games to catch us (or to win all three whilst hoping we lose our games). Let's put some space between us!


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Excellent start to the weekend for us with the Brummies beating the Baggies. Seems like the game was much like us against Sunderland with WBA simply not getting started in an away match against a local "definitely is a derby" rival. So I had a quick look; WBA under Corberan are played 14, won 10, lost 4, draw 0.

There are 4 losses are 1 at home (first match under Corberan vs Sheffield Utd), 3 away: Burnley, Coventry & Birmingham. Notable that two of those are local derbies which implies to me that there might be a slight weakness when playing against a team that are emotionally invested in a game. On the other hand, they haven't conceded a goal at home since October and we play them at the Hawthorns at the end of the month; they'll have that in mind as a chance to claw back 3 points of the gap to us. The Baggies are looking like the kind of team AK dreamt of us being: almost impregnable defensively with enough 

Back to the Bluebirds and the game at hand, WBA's slip up is exactly the kind of thing we have to be wary of at Cardiff especially now when, suddenly, we find ourselves at the front of the play-off pack with a lead to protect. This is the best position we've been in since 1st December 2018 when a 3-0 loss at home to Villa saw Pulis's Boro start our long slump into Championship mediocrity. (Who remembers that we were top of the league in October 2018?)

This is a new kind of test for Carrick but it is the kind of position he will have experienced a lot at Man Utd: how do you ensure you beat the teams at the bottom while preparing for a potentially season-defining match 4 days later? He has shown that he isn't one who rotates for the sake of it but will he rest a couple of players against Cardiff and risk it backfiring (you could imagine Fry and Barlaser starting) or does he keep with the same team and check fitness levels on Tuesday? I tend to think he might stick with the same 11. Archer still won't be completely match sharp so will benefit from another full match. Maybe Barlaser might come in for Howson or Hackney. Maybe Jones might get a start though Forss strikes me as the kind of player with great recovery who gets fitter the more he plays.

In some ways it feels like win this today and the final phase of the season starts on Wednesday with us looking to chase Sheffield Utd hard for 2nd. Draw or lose and the final phase of the season will be us focusing on keeping 3rd to 4th place in the playoffs.

I'm going to go for a nervy 2-1 win to us with Archer hitting the target for the first time this season.

 


jarkko
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I am afraid that I will miss the match today  for a family reason. It could be the first Boro match I do not see live on TV or RiversideLive for a few months. Pity.

When do you think the full match will be available at mfc.co.uk?

Usually the highlights are available quite soon - I think early in the following morning. But when can I expect to see the full match, then?

I hope for a win. If we can play at our normal level and not like at Sunderland,  we will do fine. 

Up the Boro! 


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@jarkko.  I don’t think the full match is available until sometime on Monday. ☹️😎


   
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@jarkko 

You may not want to watch the full match ….think about it !

OFB


   
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At Cardiff this afternoon any Boro win will do. 

I will probably say the same next mid-week against Sheffield United and if offered the proverbial "One - Nil, with the ball going into the net off the ref's bum", I'd be delighted to take it.  Then again, I think we now restart the game if the ball touches the ref, so I'd be content with an own-goal. A Sharp contribution from the Blades towards Boro's promotion drive would do nicely, Sir!


   
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Today's starting XI:

Image

McNair retains his place, with Fry again on the bench.


   
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I was not expecting any changes after the last two performances.

Come on BORO.


   
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Goal Boro Forss


   
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