Warnock quotes are now embarrassing. For example to say " I enjoyed the game really" when his team were deservedly beaten is an insult to the club and supporters. Can you imagine the great managers like Stein,Busby,Shankly,Clough and others making that comment. No chance.
Looks like Bola won't be available for Wednesday's game so yet again we will have to make do rather than have a ready made replacement.
It is unbelievable the number of years where we have not had adequate cover for either of our full backs. This is entirely down to poor management/recruitment. 😎
I think comparing current performances to Strachan is way over the top. We are nowhere near as bad as that or the chaotic performances under Woodgate. Although Pulis got results for a while, the football was so sterile and so joyless that your eyes could bleed. Probably the nearest equivalent is the Monk months when he simply had no idea how to make a team out of the players he had. Some of the football under Warnock has been as entertaining as any since we had Bamford, Tomlin and Adomah.
Anyone thinking Lampard is the answer is living in a parallel universe. He had similar support at Derby as Monk did with us and failed to get promotion there. He then failed at Chelsea; soon as you put a half-way decent manager in at Chelsea it turns out they can win matches after all. He's a name, not a manager.
I'm sure there are managers out there who could take the current players and get us into the play-offs. I doubt any of them could do it this year though. To be honest, I would have gone for Lee Johnson but that's partly due to growing up in Yeovil and seeing just how good a manager his dad was as well.
Will we get into the top six this season under Warnock? I don't know but if the season is to take off it has to do so soon because we're running out of runaway. If we don't get 3 wins out of the remaining games before the break, the season is basically going to end up treading water.
Certainly, since January we've gone backwards. We've bought in 17(!) first team players since then and still haven't managed to find a way to marry an organised defence to a decent attack. Some of that failure has to be laid at Warnock's door but I'm not sure any manager could deal with that amount of churn.
@malcolm. I agree. He is not there to enjoy the game he is there to produce a team that gets results and at the moment his record is looking decidedly poor.
He did a good job in keeping us up but I said at that point he should have gone and the club should then have looked to start a new era and appointed the recruitment director and new manager. Well one is in place we just need the other to be appointed.
In my view it is either Lampard, Howe or a foreign appointment if the club is determined to get back to the PL. 😎
@deleriad I agree. The first half was better to watch yesterday than half a season of Pulis.
And I hated watching the press conferences under him, too. Warnock is more fun.
As I said before, we had too many changes for my liking during the tranfer window. We were well into the game until we put the two new players on. Both were making their debuts after training once or twice with their new team mates. We lost the game after the substitutions, but also defending was horrible.
Small margins. Keep faith, mates. We will still finnish in top six 😇.
Up the Boro!
@jarkko. I don't think it is fair to suggest that the reason for losing yesterday was down to two new players being introduced late in the second half.
The majority of the team that started yesterday had played together both pre season and during the first five matches and apart from the first 15 mins they were outplayed by Coventry who were worthy of their win.
The reason we lost was down to our same old failings of not being able to score, a number of players having really bad games and yet again some poor defending.
I admire your optimism but so far this season what I have observed is far from that expected of a top six side; sadly I don't see that changing anytime soon. 😎
@k-p-in-spain Yes, you are right. But the change did not help at all. We looked unbalanced.
Not correct to blame Dijksteel, either. We lost as a team. Up the Boro!
On this performance, and a few others this season too, Boro will be lucky to finish out of the relegation places. They'll do well to get to low mid-table. There seems to be a malaise that hangs about the club like a strange fog, the team never seems to click as a unit and with this strange malaise we seem to frighten nobody.
We have good players as individuals but as team we seem to be unable to dilute the effect of, say, two players having a bad game and we only seem to highlight the problems. Psychologically something isn't right. Belief in the manager? Belief within the team itself. Crucially Boro can't score goals.
One thing's for sure, displays like Coventry won't attract fans and the majority of those that do come will scent blood and then it will start all aver again. Perhaps a Chairman needs to read the Riot Act sooner rather than later.
I always thought Mr Warnock had a system but I'm trying to see it
UTB,
John
Been chatting by message with Hodgy this afternoon. He reckons Warnock didn’t sign most of the current crop of players and at least 3 were identified by the Kieran the new Director of Football.
We both agreed that we need a more forward looking manager, ideally someone who knows the club understands what makes us tick and is progressive whilst commanding respect.
Hodgy came up with JFH!
I agrees with him what do others think ?
OFB
@original-fat-bob. JFH has a potential longer shelf life than NW given his age. He has gained managerial experience by managing at lower than Championship level (something that Woodgate did not have on his CV). He has played at the highest of club and country levels and is well known in both U.K. and Europe so with his reputation it should be easier to attract players when dealing in the transfer market. Knows the club well from his time as a former player.
He appears to be a strong candidate albeit there has to be a question mark over his time at QPR where he only lasted 11 months and was dismissed.
The question has to be does he have all the qualities needed to manage a Championship side and take us to the PL? In my view worthy of a shot if we couldn't get my preferred choice of Eddie Howe. 😎
@original-fat-bob that is the million dollar question, I would like eddie Howe but I dont think he would join us and I do not think he would like it in the grim north. JFK may be ok what about the wycombe manager, I wouldn't be against a non british manager who us used to play with a director of football but would our chairman go for it. All I know is that I think Warnock time has run its course and it is time for a change.
I think JFH would be a terrible case of stunt casting. His track record in management is dire.
Assuming that we are neither promoted or relegated we will remain one of the biggest clubs in the Chamionship and we need to appoint someone who has the start of a track record but hasn't, yet, been picked up by a top tier team. The one thing we don't want to do is to appoint yet another big-name ex-player who "can learn on the job."
Admittedly I don't follow managerial ins and outs that closely. I strongly suspect that Chris Wilder was a one-club wonder. Eddie Howe certainly looks like a good call. In England, the likes of Paul Warne or Gareth Ainsworth might cut it. Probably though we are looking for someone young and ambitious from overseas who has managed at least 1-2 clubs so far and who can take on what is a big and complicated club that has under-achieved for a long time.
I think JFH would be a terrible case of stunt casting. His track record in management is dire.
A bit of a harsh assessment given he took Burton up from Div2 to Div1 as Champions.
I appreciate this is not Championship football but at least he has managed and succeeded at a lower level which was more than Woodgate ever did. 😎
John Terry is the sort of name and level of experience that Steve Gibson has gone for in the past but perhaps having Kieran Scott around would change the thinking next time.
Hopefully he knows of a Pochettino-esque young manager on his way up.
Dijksteel had a very poor game yesterday but in his defence he isn't a wing back and never has been. He doesn't have the physical attributes for that role so I find it strange that he is even considered for that role, A RB yes, a Midfielder OK, a CB perhaps but a right wing wonder, don't make me laugh.
I have no idea what was wrong with Tav yesterday but it was his poorest game in a Boro shirt. That Jones looked equally disappointing didn't help matters. Samba is a great Pro but with no recognised LB and no midfield defensive wall in front and Dijksteel pushed upfield it's no wonder that our defence was exposed and easily opened up.
With regards to the Warnock/Strachan viewpoint, Strachan achieved a 28% win ratio during his tenure at the Riverside. Since the start of 2021 Warnock has won 9 games out of his 33 competitive fixtures which is a 27% win rate.
Warnock has kept us up but his side plummeted after he brought in Kebano, NML, Bolasie etc. Dropping the journeymen players after January that had got us within touching distance of the play offs was the start of the decline. As soon as he was able to bring in his choices things went pear shaped. This summer was an opportunity to reshape things further and we seem to be just as bad if not worse with an average of one point a game. That projected forward will have us in the relegation zone come May, things are getting worse not better albeit not quite yet at the level of Woodgate's 21% win rate.
In Warnock's favour there have been odd glimpses of decent football but never enough over 90 minutes to actually win a game. If he hasn't got his methodology and tactics instilled by now then he never will. It appears that there is some doubt as to whose signings the latest arrivals are and if they are not with his stamp of approval then things are unlikely to improve. The second half against QPR's ten men was pitiful, the abject lack of an angry response against a dysfunctional Derby side appalling, Blackburn was again poor fayre but without the Dael Fry excuse and yesterday was lower than a snakes belly apart form the opening 15 minutes.
As Warnock knows only too well its a 90 minute game not 10 minute patches here and there. That he seems incapable of mustering a side with the organisation and spirit to last for 90 minutes is down to him, that he has failed to do it since last December is down to him, that his sides seem incapable of any set piece rehearsals is down to him. His 27% win rate in 2021 is down to him and him alone, not the Referees, not the Linesmen/Assistants just his decisions and selections alone.
John Terry is looking for a job !
OFB
Heaven forbid, I despair of the moral compass at the Club at times and that would just put the tin hat on it for me.
Just read all the comments, can't disagree. And still the experienced old manager patter comes rolling out in a never ending steam of platitudes. In my opinion he is out of his depth, and unlikely to ever field a team who know what they are doing. Yes, we will win the odd game (shall we call it, 'the law of averages') but that doe not mean that you will finish in the middle of the league, far from it, if only! As we have found with this Manager, never, (Big word) do we go out, command the game, make and take an early chance, and cruise it. As we play the four or five bottom clubs twice, and meet the usual number of teams in a small slump or injury crisis, and have home advantage In half our games, it means that we are that team to most of our opponents. A recall of events since he arrived will support that assessment. Bringing on a sub with three minutes to go when you are one goal down (yes it was Tav.) finding that you have a Young player with speed and the ability to beat an opponent at will, and moving him to full back, yea, that seems about right. I listened to the match on radio, we attacked full on, failed to shoot, or missed the target. They lobbed the ball over our heads, the First three times they failed to score, the fourth time they scored. It ain't rocket science.
JT
An arrogant man who shamelessly parked his car in disabled parking bays and laughed about it ! I hope he never comes anywhere near Boro..
Apparently he’s touting for the Forest job !
OFB
JT
An arrogant man who shamelessly parked his car in disabled parking bays and laughed about it ! I hope he never comes anywhere near Boro..
Apparently he’s touting for the Forest job !
OFB
And that's just his better points!
It shows our strategy when McNair is injured who do we put on as a substitute? A 20 Years old Boro graduate who has just captained England to victory? Now we put on a 36 years old player who should have retired and was struggling for pace in the second half. Yes he’s fought back from health problems but this is professional football we’re talking about not sentimental actions.
I’m not panicking but I’m just saying the writing may not be legible yet but I can see it forming on the wall !
OFB
So Forest lost at home to Cardiff today. That gives them the grand total of 1 point from their 6 games. Wednesday’s game has ‘Boro Banana Skin’ written all over it. On paper, we should win. I would say MUST win, given that we clearly need the 3 points to kick-start our season and build confidence. Yet our away record at Forest has been pretty dire over the years. I’m afraid my predictometer doesn’t see us winning.
And if we lose, I foresee a fair degree of crowd dissatisfaction on Saturday. NW may have been impressed thus far with the noise the crowd has made - if things go pear-shaped on Wednesday and again versus Blackpool, I would suggest he’s going to hear a lot more noise from the Boro faithful. And he’s not going to like it.
Clive, you’ve just perfectly summarised the match preview I’ve drafted up for the Forest game. I’ll stick it up tomorrow.
@andyr
Andy
Just copy and paste the post and add it onto the end of your preview it’ll be fine.
Looking forward to reading it many thanks
OFB