So much for me hoping for no injuries. I should just keep quiet.
UTB,
John
Jones beats his man twice, brought down, Penalty all day long.
@pedro - Let's hope we have NOT run out of luck. In play-offs you always need luck. In fact in any game you could do with luck. If McGree's early attempt at goal where he lifted it (over the keeper?) and it was cleared off the line, had gone in - different game.
A draw here would be better than losing. It doesn't SOUND like Boro playing well.
There have been some crunching tackles from Rotherham, just not the team and situation you really need at this stage of the season.
@forever-dormo Rotherham letting Boro having the possesion, however with a man short it is more difficult. Still too many loose passes from us.
It is certainly a nervy listen, Pedro.
Disappointing.
Much better to be going into the play-offs on the crest of a wave of good form, than limping over the line in less-than-good form. Man City and Arsenal are the top two teams in the Premier League but Man City is the team with the winning momentum at present and the sensible money is therefore on City to win the league.
Boro CAN still gain promotion via the play-offs but it will take much better performances than the last couple. And some luck....
I'm happy for Rotherham to have preserved Championship status but I don't want Boro to be in the same position (or the same league).
Craig Johns in the Gazette: "Poor performance from Boro today. Never really got going. Thankfully little at stake, but they're not going to be taking much form into the play-offs".
Much better to be going into the play-offs on the crest of a wave of good form, than limping over the line in less-than-good form. Man City and Arsenal are the top two teams in the Premier League but Man City is the team with the winning momentum at present and the sensible money is therefore on City to win the league.
Boro CAN still gain promotion via the play-offs but it will take much better performances than the last couple. And some luck....
I'm happy for Rotherham to have preserved Championship status but I don't want Boro to be in the same position (or the same league).
Beeb live text comment:
Boro losing momentum
Rotherham 1-0 Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough's play-off spot has not been in doubt for a long time, but their form has stalled somewhat.
This is a fourth defeat in the seven games since the last international break.
It will count for nothing once the play-off games start, but it's far from ideal for Boro boss Michael Carrick.
Whilst I think Dijksteel’s foul was probably a sending off, I have to say that Kevin Stroud was so inconsistent with his decisions.
Rotherham are fighting for safety and were niggily all game long. Nothing wrong with that, apart from drawing a line after one player makes too many fouls.
Hackney was booked for his first foul, not that bad in my opinion. Lindsay had committed at least 3 fouls before that. He then continued until he got booked in the 29th minute. Still continued throughout the match niggling away until he completely blocked (Akpom I think) not even trying to play the ball near their penalty area. A booking all day long, which would then would have been a red.
Inconsistent refereeing from Stroud as we have seen before.
Wow, how the tide has turned for some people, where is the report that Giles is injured instead of being rested. I am not worried about the recent results and giving fringe players game time, let’s see what the team starting eleven is when it matters, I don’t forget where we were when Carrick took over and we could have been playing Rotherham to stay up ! Maybe Carrick is cleverer than people give credit for, a touch of Ferguson mind games for the playoff opponents.
Come on BORO.
NE ratings
6 Steffen: Didn't have much to do. Rotherham scored with their only shot on target. Steffen didn’t move but appeared slightly unsighted.
5 Dijksteel: Solid enough first half but mistimed tackle that led to dismissal.
6 McNair: With Howson getting injured in the warm-up, McNair thankfully appeared to come through return unscathed.
6 Lenihan: Physical battle against Hugill. Rotherham didn’t really have a chance other than their goal.
6 Bola: Linked up well with McGree down the left.
7 Barlaser: Built on Luton display with another tidy showing. Will be disappointed to be on losing side against former club.
6 Hackney: Saw plenty of the ball but couldn’t find killer pass. Replaced on the hour mark, perhaps as precaution after first yellow card.
6 Jones: Couple of breakaways in first half but couldn’t take advantage. Big penalty claim turned down after the break.
5 Akpom: Struggled to get into the game.
7 McGree: Almost scored early on, teed up chance for Archer. Boro’s best player.
5 Archer: Fired over with one early chance from McGree cross. Other than that, was quiet.
I think that after todays poor performance, MC has to play his strongest first eleven next week against Coventry.
We need a win. We need a lift. We need some momentum. We may be playing Coventry in the play offs.
This current trend of nothing games does my head in! Plus the point that Boro will stay in fourth place and therefore play the second leg at home. Is this getting to the team etc They will have play a a lot bloody harder than they have in the last few games! Am I worried? Yes.
Pedro, I said from the start that he should play his strongest team in every game.I think that after todays poor performance, MC has to play his strongest first eleven next week against Coventry.
We need a win. We need a lift. We need some momentum. We may be playing Coventry in the play offs.
I’m with Exmil. Today a win would have been a nice to have but by no means essential. The players know that crucial games are coming up and they all want to be involved in them rather than sidelined on the treatment table. That’s bound to have an effect on commitment levels in what for Boro was a nothing game. Carrick knows what he is doing and I expect the best of Boro as we have seen it this season to be on show in the playoffs.
My only niggling concern is how next week’s match with Coventry shapes up if it is likely we will meet them in the playoffs. It will need a better referee that the one we saw today.
@forever-dormo I think to be fair Steffen would not have seen the ball until it was far too late. Smith was stood more or less between Odoffin and Steffen.
Although it was a belter of a shot, Smith kept his hands by his side and turned his body away. Not much Steffen could have done IMO.
@exmil You are supremely confident then exmil? This is all part of a devious plan? I sincerely hope you are correct.
When all is said and done, Boro has either 3 or 4 games left this season. There's no point leaving anything in the locker because anything not spent won't be used again this season. I'd favour playing the best team possible in the final home game against Coventry (accepting from Pedro that we might end up playing Coventry in the play-offs) and the team needs to resume the previous winning streak. Now is exactly the wrong time to be losing games. (Plenty of time for that next season!). But, do I expect/trust Michael Carrick to get things right? A resounding YES to that!
He has done magnificently well to have got the team into the play-offs, given where the team was placed when he took over. Had Boro got into 6th place in the table with a last minute goal in the last league game of the season, everyone would have been delighted. I suppose some perspective is needed.
@exmil You are supremely confident then exmil? This is all part of a devious plan? I sincerely hope you are correct.
Maybe wishful thinking but take, Riley McGree today, we haven’t seen him in the match day squad since Bristol (10 April) even then he only came on in the 83rd minute, everyone thinks he is injured and suddenly he appears in the starting eleven and plays 80 minutes, not coming on as a sub as you would expect a player returning from injury. Was Jonny Howson really injured when he pulled up in the warmup or was it a clever manoeuvre to rest him without the other relegation threatened teams calling foul. Also it would not surprise me to see Aaron Ramsey make an appearance, even though an old picture appeared of him at Villa, suggesting he had returned. If Blackburn beat Luton tonight, Coventry will have to beat Boro next Monday to be sure of the playoffs.
Come on BORO.
I'm with exmil and Boroexile. It's exactly the kind of performance and result one might expect with so much at stake for one side and the game being a dead rubber for the other.
There were some positives to take out of the game. McNair had a really good game, his distribution from the back being exceptional with half a dozen precision 40yard passes out to the left wing and dangerous threaded through balls down the middle.
It was good to see McGree apparently fully restored with a lively first half display.
And Barlaser ran the game in the second half when we had 80% of the ball in spite of being a man light. I think we may well see both him and Mowett feature more prominently in the play-offs than they did through the season.
The performances of Ackpom and Archer actually provided evidence for not necessarily playing our strongest team, since neither of our star players made a meaningful contribution to the game.
Indeed the greatest anxiety i had was not that we lost the game, but the two occasions when Ackpom went down and rolled in agony, holding first his ankle and then his knee.
He seemed to be all right but on both occasions I was having palpitations.
Are we really saying that it is worth risking either of our two greatest assets in dead rubber games in both of which it is going to pay our opponents dividends if they succeed in booting us off the park and injuring our best players?
Whatever happened today, and indeed whatever the outcome of next week's game, the play-offs will be a completely different proposition, played in a different atmosphere and with the highest possible degree of motivation.
Nothing is more important than that we have all of our strongest players fit and ready to go for these great and unique occasions.
@exmil I guess the main problem for most of the Boro supporters, is that as exceptional as the season has been and I take in Dormo’s last post, the way MC has driven us into the play offs, has raised the bar somewhat, with our hopes and expectations.
Unfortunately, next season may be harder to achieve than what we have done this season, if we stay in the Championship. So promotion this year could be our best chance for awhile.
OK, May be MC is being cagey with his team selections, although that is not what he has intimated in his pressers. He is a winner. He wants to win matches.
As has been said, we have lost our form. We were poor today against a poor side that gave its all. I cannot believe that losing does not dent a players confidence, even a little. Many on here have talked about fine margins. Well at the moment those fine margins have just got a little finer.
Apart from McGree’s early effort, I do not think we really looked like scoring today. We certainly need a lift. A win against Coventry would help.
A lacklustre display by our heroes today, but as others have said, it’s not that surprising. I think we missed Giles, although Bola played ok, particularly taking those long diagonals from McNair in his stride. Unfortunately he doesn’t have the assist quality that RG possesses.
Akpom was quiet but I’m glad he played - incidentally that moment where he was caught on the knee by their keeper would, I’m sure, have been a free kick anywhere else on the pitch.
Hopefully, MC knows what he’s doing and will have the team up for it in the play offs.
@lenmasterman As I have alluded to above Len, do you not think there could be a psychological issue to also deal with and manage. For Footballers, confidence is all.
@martin-bellamy I thought Bola did Ok, but just OK. For me the player that we have possibly missed the most is Forss?
Pedro, I guess we will just have to wait and see. I don't myself think we have lost our form, but the proof will be in the play-offs.
I remember from when I was a kid that in the weeks leading up to the Cup Final the two teams involved would invariably play badly and lose unexpectedly, sometimes to the Boro. Their loss of form, such as it was, rarely seemed to carry over to the big day itself.
Ramsey has returned to aston villa.
Ramsey, who hasn't featured since being forced off in the victory over Norwich, was pictured back at Aston Villa's training ground over the weekend.
Carrick said: "He's getting treatment, he's their player."
Asked whether there's any chance of Ramsey returning for the play-offs, Carrick said: "There's always hope. We'll have to wait and see."
There is no doubt that MC has done a tremendous job - so far.
His abilities has recently been tested in the last few games and has more tests to come against Coventry and the play offs.
However, Boro’s form is not good with 4 defeats in the last 7 games. Today they were poor. Their form is inferior to Luton who deservably are the third best team in the Championship and also Coventry.
So everything in the garden isn’t rosy - certainly not as rosy as a few weeks ago when Boro were clearly the third best team and on a roll.
So , Boro are heading towards the playoffs not in good winning form and have the worst injury crisis all season. What could be worse?
Listening carefully to MC he’s never said what’s wrong with Fry which makes me think he’s got little chance for the playoffs. He needs a game as he must be rusty by now. Little detail has been given about most of the other injured players giving little optimism that most will be fit for the playoffs.
So, am I worried? Yes. Am I confident that Boro will cruise through the playoffs ? Certainly not.
So , what we need is a confident performance and victory against Coventry and fingers crossed that most of the injured players are fit for the playoffs.
However I think most , at best , will be on the bench and so our success might hinge a lot on the likes of Barsaler and Mowatt and others who have only played a few games.
So there you have it - I’ve depressed myself!! I’m more confident that Huddersfield will stay in the Championship thanks to Neil Warnock than Boro getting to the playoff final.
Philip of Huddersfield
I agree about teams losing form but Luton are the opposite - something like 12 games unbeaten and this is the team most likely to make the playoff final and recently beat Boro. Confidence is everything and Luton players will be feeling that they can’t lose a game. I also think that Coventry are in good form and better than Boro. Momentum for the playoffs is everything and we haven’t got it.
Philip of Huddersfield