Britt missed a great chance in the First half which might have caused Preston to wobble, a great ball in to the near post, all Britt (unmarked) had to do was take one stride towards the ball and his next action would have been to put the ball into the net, lovely pace on the ball, keeper frozen in the centre of his goal, Britt stood immobile, then complained to the crosser that his pass should have been better and he might have scored.
Well I've stewed overnight about the performance an maybe I should just say "it is what it is" but in my eyes last night was unacceptable we struggled to pass the ball to each other, have the players started to believe the hype, but as a famous group sang "Dont believe the hype". I think we may need to accept that we are a lower middle of the table team.
One worrying thing is I've started to think about not watching the matches
"I guess a blunt team and a thin squad are struggling with two games a week and are showing what they really are - a mid-table outfit at best."
You have summed it up perfectly. I think we all got carried away with that non losing streak and a few wins and believed we were capable of more.
At the start of the season I was of the view we were a lower league side and might even flirt with relegation again. This was based on last seasons performances (or lack of) and the lack of creativity and ability to score within the side. This all still exists despite NW's best efforts and without funds to remedy it will continue.
The lack of crowds is working in NW's favour as I am sure they would soon be on his back if results and performances continue as they have recently and if that happened he would soon be off back to Cornwall as happened when he was at Cardiff.
I just wonder if the recent contract extensions for a few players has caused some unrest; in my view GS performances have dropped off since the international break and one or two others are not at the level they were earlier. Perhaps as you say it is just fatigue whilst others are just not good enough and have flattered to deceive since they arrived at the club.
How quickly things can change but "typical Boro" never does and unfortunately I predicted that it would turn up last night! 😎
It is not just the poor results, it is the infuriating incompetence, a few examples, player running with ball up wing, opposition getting cover organised, as you do, but there is a colleague running free up the centre of the park so all is well, ten yards later he still has not made the pass, five more metres and he passes to said colleague, very very slowly, so it all turns into rubbish, ending with zilch, and start again. This happens in front of the dugout, and my point is that in any other team there would be fisticuffs at half time. Our other favourite is doing silly little passes in and around our box, we seem to have no ambition to upset the other team in any way. If they are all around your box then by definition you want the ball in their half a.s.a.p. Final point, I could go on, throughout the match we were utterly pitiful in the air, did we win a heading dual? Don't think so. Will someone inform me when Britt's time is up?
Roberts is a very good footballer in my opinion.
According to reports today, he is obviously not rated or trusted or both by Warnock.
But we are not utilising him.
Give him some game time like you seem to give Assombalonga Neil.
If this doesn't happen then if I was Patrick I would be off in January.
Being at Boro at the moment is not helping his career and that is not fair by any means.
@malcolm. It does beg the question why did he push to get him back in the first place! NW said he needed someone who could offer something different and unlock defences; he gets him back and then tells us he has to manage his fitness/game time and then only picks him as a sub and brings him on when the game has gone. Baffles me. 😎
After we went 1-0 down, it was difficult. When Johnny Howson went off injured we lost the game. I don't blame NW to throw everything forward at that point.
With Howson injured and Paddy McNair attacking, we had only three players defending. If you watch the two last goals again, you cannot see Paddy anywhere near our penalty box.
So losing 1-0 or 3-0 is academic. We just lost. Let's concentrate on the Millwall match next and hope the blib is over as soon as possible. There is no time to train now.
Up the Boro!
I think we are facing a reality check, I mentioned previously we were a mid table Championship outfit punching above our weight and results reflect that.
I think that people, well Boro fans and some journalists, were getting carried away with Mr Warnock's promotion record in happier and more 'normal' times, and of course his record with Boro so far. The true reality is he performed a mini-miracle keeping Boro up and he still is doing a good job with purse strings like horsehair and wheeling and dealing almost under the table in secret. Mind you there's no harm in that strategy.
For me he should go for the formation that works and drill it into the players, as he seemed to do earlier in the season, in a way forming a red square and all-comers can throw themselves at it. Boro are going to win some, draw some and lose some and if we end up between tenth and sixth that, to me, will be a triumph. Staying up will be good too. Last season I thought that the club would be relegated but at the very least Mr Warnock has created optimism in fans plus a better atmosphere in the club and that was in short supply last season. Very short supply.
Our striker problems are well known but that isn't a new problem and I sometimes think that if the opposition's goal was twice the size Britt would still miss and Boro are only a couple of injuries away from a crisis. What are Hamilton Ricard or Maccaroni doing now, or even Ravanelli. Sorry outbreak of nostalgia there.
The people who need a kick up the arse and a reality check are those who organise the tournaments that give us international breaks, without those the games wouldn't be coming quite as thick and fast and players would have some physical recovery time.
Lastly I would caution all DiasBoro contributors not to take the 'Curse' of Manager of the month ligthly, Boro are the proof it's real. You know it's a warning. Not a Warnock. Now can someone work out how few we have to win not to bearded the gong? I think we've managed for this month so January can produce a surge in form that will send us back up into nose bleed territory.
Perhaps there should be a gong for the worst manager/player/team, reverse psychology would surely work with Boro. On the other hand perhaps not.
Stay safe,
UTB,
John
Aaaarggghhh. Awful performance all round. I agree with Werder - I think several players are completely knackered and running on empty. That doesn’t excuse Morsy, who took 30 minutes to get on the ball and didn’t seem to do much thereafter; Bettinelli, whose positioning and shot-stopping were at fault again (anybody else unsure of him, as I am?); or the two so-called strikers, who have roughly shared duties over the last few games, so should perhaps be fresher. I think the loss of Howson was a major blow - we just went to pieces after he departed. I hope to goodness he was just suffering from cramp and not a hamstring.
Meanwhile, the Roberts enigma continues. NW seemed to think he didn’t add much when he came on. I saw him make a good return pass in the box to Tav, who hit the post. But I also saw him try to beat one man too many on at least 2 other occasions. Begs the question - just how effective can we expect him to be when he only gets 10 minutes?
We are starting to look like an average mid-table side. Two wins and three losses in the last 5. Yet somehow we are still just 6 points off the play-offs. Not for much longer if we turn out more rubbish like at Stoke and Preston. NW’s aura of being a magician is starting to wear off, small squad notwithstanding. Perhaps we are only ordinary after all? Perhaps it was more about NW’s philosophy, experience and the sheer force of his personality that have driven us on and made us seem better than we really are? Perhaps the cracks are appearing and our flaws are becoming more obvious as teams work us out?
Let's hope this is just normal ups and downs every team goes through a season. Our form can go up , too. As we saw versus Swansea.
Howson's injury is a worry. But Saville or Morsy should be able to play there, too.
But I hope Dijksteel will be fit soon, too.
Up the Boro!
We're not as good as we looked against Derby and not as bad as we looked at against Preston. Both games were very similar in that once a team went behind they became vulnerable when they chased. We did look like Woodgate Boro when we started chasing against Preston. That said, they looked to have the beating of us for nearly all the game anyway. Howson getting injured may have opened the floodgates but we were shipping water before then.
Unlike Woodgate, you feel that Warnock has the experience and nous to prevent the drama from becoming crisis and that, come the end of the season, we'll be somewhere around 6-10th.
I know it's fashionable to bash Britt but who would be a striker for Boro. It's a thankless task. Like pretty much every striker we've bought his record is to score goals everywhere but for us. Even for us he's still managed a decent strike rate. Sure he misses more than he hits but that's why he isn't playing the Premier league. I bet if we had bought Ivan Tony he would have scored 3 goals by now and we would all be raging at recruitment again.
There's an old depressionism poster which says "The common factor in all your failed relationships is you." The same goes for Boro and strikers.
To be clear I don't think that Britt or Akpom is the answer to our problems. If the team was set up to play to their strengths they would do better but one thing we have learned is that we can set up to defend or set up to attack but not do both.
Roberts, I am beginning to think is a win-more player. If the rest of your team is superior to the opposition, Roberts can tear them apart. If we had a striker who could defend from the front and fast, creative players around Roberts he would be brilliant. As it is, if you have Britt/Akpom and Roberts in the team you have two players who are basically passengers when defending and I'm not sure any team in the Championship can afford that. It's starting to feel like a poundshop version of the Juninho problem all over again. Put him in the team and you lose stability but keep him out and you struggle to win anyway.
Who would be a manager, eh?
Perhaps we should redefine the word ‘strikers’ as far as Assombalonga and Akpom are concerned as it sounds more appropriate to state that as far as goalscoring goes these two players appear to have gone on strike.
Just been daydreaming about our current travails and thought it's hard to believe that likes of boksic, mendieta, ravanelli, juniniho played for us I smiled and then sighed
NW’s pre-match presser....
Howson out, Bolasie back on the radar, still not “ Taking a knee” and not surprisingly a downbeat and bit subdued manager.