Odd to win 4-0 and not think it was entirely comfortable thanks to our keeper! Honestly, what was he doing on several occasions today?
Still, job thoroughly done elsewhere by the full time whistle and I think Balogun is getting better month by month.
Well, that was just “what the doctor ordered “, particularly as Huddersfield and Forest had both won their away game.
A bonus was 4 of the competitors all dropped points resulting in Boro being catapulted up to fifth in the League.
But there’s many twists and turns still to come - so hold tight and keep your fingers crossed.
Just a thought, Sporor seems to becoming a forgotten man. I wonder if there’s more to his fall from grace.
Still, Saturday evening is to be enjoyed after today’s excellent result.
Philip of Huddersfield
As an aside there was some discussion on Match of the Day between Gary Lineker and Micah Richards on the pronunciation of Diogo Jota’s surname. I know that Gary speaks excellent Spanish and that if Jota was Spanish his surname would be pronounced Ho-taa but as he is Portuguese his name is pronounced Joe-taa as was Jose Mourinho’s Christian name pronounced as Joe-say.
Basically a J in Portuguese is pronounced as a J, but in Spanish pronounced as an H, whilst an H in Portuguese is pronounced as a Y like Juninho.
Accents are never used in Portuguese but are frequently used in Spanish as is the case of Raul Jimenez. There are accents over the U in Raul so pronounced Row-al and his surname pronounced Him-ay-nis not Him-in-is.
I know, nobody likes a clever dick, but very few commentators pronounce his name correctly, and it does irritate me.
And to make it worse, H is not pronounced at all in Spanish.
The final result was certainly exactly what the doctor ordered but we did seem to be riding our luck a bit against what was a pretty basic route one team.
I note the calls from certain quarters for Coburn and Watmore to start and it's understandable because they look very effective when they come on as substitutes. However, as I think it was Neil Maddison who said, facing Watmore coming on after you've already spent an hour chasing round after two other quick young strikers is exactly what big Championship centre halves don't want to see. I'm inclined to think that Wilder will continue to use Watmore in this fashion. Coburn is a more interesting question because he really seems to be getting better and better but is this again because he can use his size to bully tired defenders. I'm not certain that we're set up to take advantage of his attributes as a starter. If he starts a game, where is the supply coming from and will it mean a change to the way that we play. Not sure about this and would like to hear a few more thoughts.
Sporar strikes me as an alternative starter to Balogun and Connolly and with Balogun getting better by the day, the real battle is between him and Connolly for the second forward starter. I have to admit that I remain unconvinced about Connolly. He produces a few nice touches but doesn't really make an impression. I wonder if we'll see Balogun and Sporar together. That would take pressure off Balogun as the player receiving the ball with his back to goal and may open up some opportunities.
Anyway, looking ahead, can we expect a full strength Fulham effort on Wednesday. They're pretty much guaranteed promotion so I wonder if that will see them ease off after a long trip up north. It's harder than popping round the corner to beat QPR.
Still exciting times.
UTB
Where is Redcar Red?
Where is Redcar Red?
The right question Malcolm.
It certainly appears Wilder is not keen to start Watmore but I wonder if some games need him to start to get Boro on the front foot and stop the opposition defenders being comfortable and passing the ball out from the back. One thing I noted about Watmore yesterday is how much pace he appeared to have as he outran the defence for both the goals he was involved with.
While Connolly has often shown his work-rate and a good first touch, his finishing has been below average and never convinces that he's going to score. Also he regularly opts to fall over to try and win fouls, which is often a sign of a striker lacking confidence.
Balogun is looking sharper and has quick feet and is capable of striking the ball really well - he just needs to improve his decision making but doesn't appear to be a target man who would hold the ball up.
That's probably what Josh Coburn could add to Boro as he does look like he could be a genuine number nine and as he gains experience in terms of movement and positioning, we may find he will be close to starting under Wilder.
I suspect Sporor is being omitted to avoid some contractual trigger that Boro don't want to happen as they've probably decided he's not worth the potential fee of a permanent deal. I think he's only averaged 25 shots on target from 28 appearances - though having said that, he's scored 5 goals in his last 10 games so would appear to be a better option than Connolly based purely on performance.
Not the best of matches but we got the valuable three points. Two awful goals conceded by the Posh - like gifts for us.
Balogun is starting to score goals. Someone said three in the last four league matches, I think. And three international goals in the two U21 match during the break. Not bad.
Watmore was back to his best again. And I think someone calculated that Josh Coburn has scored a goal per every 89 min he has played this season. Not bad either.
But best for me was the balance returning with Bola being there on the left wing back. So a happy day.
Up the Boro!
Lippen Schweigen from me. I’m quite happy to accept Chris Wilder’s choice of tactics and especially his choice of using four strikers with the impact from Duncan Watmore and Josh Coburn later in the game. He seems to know what he’s doing, and it’s working rather well at the moment. He’s the professional so why should so many of we amateurs give our opinions? Now our last four managers I would certainly have challenged at times.
Odd to win 4-0 and not think it was entirely comfortable thanks to our keeper! Honestly, what was he doing on several occasions today?
Still, job thoroughly done elsewhere by the full time whistle and I think Balogun is getting better month by month.
I agree Andy it was not one of our best performances in terms of quality/domination but as I posted when the third goal went in, at this time of the season its about results and not necessarily about the quality of the football and the need to grind out wins whichever way possible.
If CW learnt anything from yesterday it must have been that JL is not a first choice Championship keeper and which ever league we are in next season he needs to be replaced. His decision making/handling at times are suspect; PM did not look very impressed having made his goal saving clearance that got JL out of the mire! 😎
There’s not much on television today that I watch excepting sport and often I fall asleep anyway. So I’ve dug out my collection of DVDs which I used to watch in Portugal. So this morning was watching an episode of ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ where the grumpy Hudson played excellently by the late Gordon Jackson who was reading an article in The Times and announced his disgust that Middlesbrough had paid £1,000 for the transfer of Alf Common from Sunderland. “No footballer is worth £1,000” he opined. So I decided to get the facts about the story.
Well it was February 1905 and Boro were heading for their first relegation to the Second Division, in 17th place out of a league of 18 clubs having won only 5 matches and scored only 21 goals in 23 matches with Henry Astley and Robert Atherton joint top scorers with 4 goals each. Something needed to be done and quickly too to safeguard their future with only 11 matches remaining.
Boro had made a bid of £400 two years earlier for Common whilst he was a Sheffield United player, but were gazumped by Sunderland who signed the striker for £510. So keen were Boro to get their man that they made a bid of £1,000 which was a record at the time. The bid was accepted but what a furore it caused. Questions were even asked in the House of Commons about the ethics of paying such a fee, wth several MPs stating that Boro should accept relegation rather than bring the game into disrepute.
On the field of play the signing worked as Common scored 4 goals in 10 matches as Boro finished 15th and Common regained his England place, though it did have repercussions for Boro in the transfer market. A set of auditors were selected to investigate past transfer dealings and to closely monitor future transactions. When Boro signed another England striker Steve Bloomer from Derby County for a fee of £750 it was suggested that Derby had massaged the figures way above the new £350 interim transfer guidelines. The valuation for Bloomer was £400 but Derby and Boro suggested that Jack Ratcliffe be part of the deal at a fictitious value of £300.
Now Steve Bloomer was an established England international forward, whilst Jack Ratcliffe was a reserve fullback with the Rams and had made only 16 first-team appearances in four seasons and indeed never made a first-team appearance for Boro. Obviously there was some discrepancy in the valuation of the two players, but although Boro had made a record loss of £1,635 during the 1904/05 season, it was suggested that contemporary clubs had loaned cash to Boro to help pay the fee because they didn’t want a club like Boro who attracted decent gates suffer relegation. The theory was that they’d rather see a club like Bury relegated instead.
However, could it have been because little old Bury had trounced Derby 6-0 in the 1903 FA Cup Final, or a case of too many Lancashire clubs in the First Division at that time? Surely not! As for Alf Common, he scored 65 goals for Boro in 178 appearances and finished his career at Preston. Whilst Steve Bloomer scored 60 goals in 130 appearances and returned to Derby with a career record of 392 goals in 655 appearances plus 23 international caps in which he scored 28 goals before making a name for himself at baseball for Derby Baseball Club.
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In my hundreds of years watching Boro, I’d only ever seen us score 4 away from home five times previously, so yesterday was a real joy! It made the 460 mile round trip worth every last mile! Three of our strikers scored goals!!!!! Watmore, McNair, Tav, Howson, Bola, Dijksteel and Crooks were all outstanding. Balogun had a good game - he’s getting better all the time - and Connolly worked his socks off but enjoyed little luck. Jones was quiet, but contributed effectively nonetheless. Fry was great for most of the game, after a dodgy early 20 minutes.
The Boro faithful - all 3800 of us - were absolutely fantastic from start to finish, singing very loudly throughout the game. There have been plenty of Twitter comments today from Posh fans praising our fans as the best and loudest they’d seen all season. Very impressive.
Of course, as you’ve all said, it wasn’t all plain sailing. The defence was far too open in the first half and we nearly conceded three times. A better side would have punished us. Fulham warning! The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed I didn’t mention Lumley above. He had a frenetic game with 2 mad rushes of blood - once when he dashed out to win a tackle and Paddy had to hurtle back to clear off the line - and once when he bizarrely tried to prevent a corner and left their forward with an almost open goal. Only the quick-thinking and tracking of Dijksteel prevented it. After a fairly settled spell, Lumley is once again giving me the jitters. Still, 4-0 away from home was terrific.
For the record, my other 4 goal away games were as follows. Curiously, four of the games featured Boro hat-tricks, as I recall.
Doncaster Rovers, 1967. 4-0. Arthur Horsefield got a hat-trick.
Blackburn 4-0. 2004. Jimmy Floyd hat-trick.
Doncaster 4-1. 2010.
Millwall 5-1. 2014. Jelle Vossen first half hat-trick. As yesterday, all 3 strikers scored in this one, Bamford and Kike getting the other two.
Hull City 4-2. 2017. Boro were 4-0 up at half-time. Scott Macdonald hat-trick.
In my hundreds of years watching Boro, I’d only ever seen us score 4 away from home five times previously, so yesterday was a real joy! It made the 460 mile round trip worth every last mile! Three of our strikers scored goals!!!!! Watmore, McNair, Tav, Howson, Bola, Dijksteel and Crooks were all outstanding. Balogun had a good game - he’s getting better all the time - and Connolly worked his socks off but enjoyed little luck. Jones was quiet, but contributed effectively nonetheless. Fry was great for most of the game, after a dodgy early 20 minutes.
The Boro faithful - all 3800 of us - were absolutely fantastic from start to finish, singing very loudly throughout the game. There have been plenty of Twitter comments today from Posh fans praising our fans as the best and loudest they’d seen all season. Very impressive.
Of course, as you’ve all said, it wasn’t all plain sailing. The defence was far too open in the first half and we nearly conceded three times. A better side would have punished us. Fulham warning! The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed I didn’t mention Lumley above. He had a frenetic game with 2 mad rushes of blood - once when he dashed out to win a tackle and Paddy had to hurtle back to clear off the line - and once when he bizarrely tried to prevent a corner and left their forward with an almost open goal. Only the quick-thinking and tracking of Dijksteel prevented it. After a fairly settled spell, Lumley is once again giving me the jitters. Still, 4-0 away from home was terrific.
For the record, my other 4 goal away games were as follows. Curiously, four of the games featured Boro hat-tricks, as I recall.
Doncaster Rovers, 1967. 4-0. Arthur Horsefield got a hat-trick.
Blackburn 4-0. 2004. Jimmy Floyd hat-trick.
Doncaster 4-1. 2010.
Millwall 5-1. 2014. Jelle Vossen first half hat-trick. As yesterday, all 3 strikers scored in this one, Bamford and Kike getting the other two.
Hull City 4-2. 2017. Boro were 4-0 up at half-time. Scott Macdonald hat-trick.
I’ll throw in another 4-0 that I saw.
BORO away at Fulham March 1974. Goals from Maddren (2), Boam and Souness who was superb. Boro were streets clear at the top of the division and looked wonderful. Let’s hope that Fulham have forgotten this one.
utb
Clive
That’s quite an impressive sextet of matches, the only two 4-0 away wins I can recall seeing were an FA Cup win at Bradford Park Avenue in January 1956 (Joe Scott 2, Lindy Delapenha and Charlie Wayman) and one at Trent Bridge in November 1956 against Nottingham Forest (Brian Clough 3, and Arhur Fitzsimons).
Selwyn
I was also at that that Fulham game which was on a Tuesday night and also at the Hawthorns on the previous Saturday when we beat West Brom 4-0 goals from Foggon, Hickton 2, and Souness. If I recall wasn't Bobby Moore making his Fulham debut that night? Those were the days, those two results were among 9 consecuive wins, 5 away from home, 23 scored 3 conceded.
Selwyn
I was also at that that Fulham game which was on a Tuesday night and also at the Hawthorns on the previous Saturday when we beat West Brom 4-0 goals from Foggon, Hickton 2, and Souness. If I recall wasn't Bobby Moore making his Fulham debut that night? Those were the days, those two results were among 9 consecuive wins, 5 away from home, 23 scored 3 conceded.
Me too. Yes Bobby Moore did make his debut and Alan Mullery was also playing.
Best times ever watching the Boro for me. 😎