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PNE V BORO

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Ken Smith
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Joined: 4 years ago
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Glad I didn’t listen to the match, sounds to have been pretty boring to me. The weather in Australia spoiling the T20 World cricket. Never mind Hartlepool won, but I chose to watch England’s almost reserve rugby league side score almost a century of points with 17 tries demolish Greece. The serious matches start next week, but before then am intrigued to see how Teesside adapts to rugby league, the man’s game when compared to American football, this afternoon.

This post was modified 1 year ago 2 times by Ken Smith

   
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I have, since my previous post, watched the highlights. Oh dear! It could be described as a weak display all round, they targeted the ball, and ran at said ball at speed as though their life depended on it, and it was enough. We approached the ball as though it might explode. Never even having a smash at the goal, everything was very gentlemanly, nothing to frighten the opposition, god forbid! I feel sorry for our new manager, the chickens are coming home to roost, and it is not his fault. Everyone speaks of players needing to be fast and fit, which is true. But any examination of matches on the box, and there are plenty to watch, will show players really accelerating into the ball, even if some other player thinks he has got there first, we seemed to put the brakes on in a gentlemanly way. There was a complete lack of any attempt to have a smash at their goal when all else failed. Jones?  


   
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I'm going to put the glass half-full perspective. Personally, I think the main things wrong with us can be solved with a shot of confidence and improved defensive organisation at set pieces. Get that right and I think we'll end the season somewhere between 12th and 18th. 

Although there are problems with the squad, our first team is arguably better than the one that beat Spurs 1-0 in the cup. We still have 8 out of that starting 11, with Lumley, Sporar and Tav being replaced with Steffen, Akpom and McGree. Aside from Tav, that is a comfortable upgrade on a team that looked like it would be challenging for automatic promotion.

Akpom has been reinvented as one of the most lethal strikers in the championship, averaging a goal every 120 minutes or so. Jones is off form but looks to be suffering from second season syndrome. With proper management he is likely to be back to his best in 2-3 months. In Giles we have possibly the most prolific source of assists in the championship. Lenihan and Clarke may have underwhelmed so far but are two of the most highly-rated defenders in the Championship. Carrick may be a rookie manager but he has had a strong apprenticeship that is on a par with the likes of Karanka and McClaren before they started with us. We finally have a head of recruitment and, hopefully, a working relationship between Scott and Carrick that can bring out the best in both. We're also sitting on healthy cash reserves from the sales of Tav and Spence that can be spent in January.

It's not that everything is rosy. It could all go horribly wrong but I feel like there is more to be positive about than not. If we're still in the relegation places at Easter then we would need to reassess but I feel it's time to gird our loins and look for the positives rather than the negatives.


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@deleriad.  I understand where you are coming from but it is easier said than done when we continually keep making the same mistakes.

The second goal yesterday was similar to the one we conceded against Blackburn when we allowed a man free in the box at the far post and able to head back goal wards.  We don’t seem to be learning from our mistakes of the past.

If MC can sort this out then we are back in with a chance but then he will have to sort out the lack of creativity and goal scoring.

Lots to do but still time in which to make the required improvements to get us into the league position you suggest.

I am hoping we can at least keep a clean sheet on Tuesday if nothing else. 😎


   
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@deleriad 

I think 12th would be a good result for Carrick since if you consider Coventry finished in that position last season on 64 points then it would mean Boro picking up 47 points from their remaining 29 games. What's so special about that you may wonder - well that would give a point-per-game from those 29 matches of 1.62, which coincidentally is almost identical to gaining that play-off total of 75 from 46 games - i.e. a points-per-game of 1.63.

If Carrick can do that then it bodes well for the following season - however, finishing 18th on the other hand would only have taken 52 points last season, which is only slightly better than where we are currently heading on our 1 point per game - it's actually only 1.13 in comparison. It would essentially mean Carrick would have had little impact on changing out fortunes.

Whilst I'm hopeful Carrick will steady the ship and see us move up the table, I'm less convinced even with cash in the bank Boro will attract the kind of players we'll need in January. There are two reasons for this - one good players won't see a move to a club at risk of relegation as a good move - the other is that Boro can't risk giving the kind of contracts to good players that they will demand if they are indeed at risk of relegation. Indeed, it will probably be a few loan deals at best and if history is anything to go by then these players are often not match fit having lacked pitch time.

So I'd go back to Carrick needing to improve the players he's currently got - the plus side is that he has the Qatar break to work with most of the players - it's almost like a pre-season so if he's a good coach then it will show in the second half of the season. A few wins before the break will help to restore confidence and then we will see if Carrick can indeed make that pseudo play-off 12th spot!

This post was modified 1 year ago by werdermouth

Pedro de Espana
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@werdermouth          Good reasoned post Werder.
The issue and question is can he improve what we have because the probability is we will not get any better players in until next summer, IF we are still in the Championship.

As a doubting Thomas and unsure what Woodgate will bring to the table, that’s a lot for MC to move forward with. It will be interesting to see how hard Mr Gibson tries to get this additional experienced coach on board to help out. If he is any good why would he come?

 

 


   
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I think we can all (probably?) agree at this stage that getting into the play-offs from here would require the sort of dreams that can only be had by breathing in the fumes of burning Boro foam-hands. It would require such a change in confidence, ability and performance from our players that it would make one VERY suspicous. I mean, if the change from an experienced manager who has taken teams to promotion in the none-too-distant past, to a novice in charge of his first club, could result in such an upturn from edge-of-relegation form to play-off form, you'd have to question what (1) the previous manager was doing for the last 6 months or so and (2) what the players have been doing.

Surely it can't be as simple as the manager "no longer getting on with his players", can it?  That shouldn't make a player "switch off" at defensive free-kicks or corners, or fail to see there are two free men behind him. It shouldn't cause a player to misplace passes so that possession is surrendered. The manager not "getting on" with a player shouldn't adversely affect the fitness of a player so his tank runs empty with plenty of time still on the clock. You'd think such a player would be doing all he could to demonstrate he is STILL a good player, in order to catch the eye - if not of the manager then of other clubs who might want to come in for him. Don't players who feel slighted want to prove the manager wrong, or alternatively to put themselves in the shop window any more? Is there no self-motivation?

If in the few weeks he has before the World Cup break (no doubt we'll come back to that joke later...) the new manager can get some improvement in tactics, performance or whatever and we have a couple of wins and draws to celebrate, then that must show that the difference between success and failure is, indeed, very narrow.  Very small incremental gains was the way success was planned in Britain's cycling set-up.  He can hardly change the squad in a few weeks, only apply a few tweaks here and there and maybe give some enthusiasm and confidence back to the players.

To get into a play-off spot would be too much to ask.  But getting into mid-table obscurity and safety isn't!  And that has got to be the first target.  If we get there, we can reassess later. We really SHOULD be able to get to safety.  It really isn't too much to ask from a team that, at the start of the season, must have been  looking towards the top end of the division.

Football is really annoying, isn't it?


Ken Smith
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Joined: 4 years ago
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I did say a few days ago to be entertained by this Tonga rugby league side. But wow I’ve  never seen such speed for 80 minutes at the Riverside Stadium as thrilling as that, it almost makes football so mundane in comparison.

A different sport I know but every Tongan knew when to release the ball. How can American football or rugby Union  be as exciting as that, or football for that matter in recent seasons? It could be said that the Cook Islanders couldn’t tackle but I doubt that even Australia, New Zealand or indeed England could serve up such a display like that. It’s a pity that the Tonga v Samoa quarterfinal won’t be played at the  Riverside Stadium, it could have been a 30,000 gate selll out


   
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Ken Smith
Mr
Joined: 4 years ago
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Official attendance at the Riverside Stadium yesterday was 8,342, a little disappointing but I did say that I doubted there would be more than 10,000. Obviously Teesside is not yet ready for rugby league!


   
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