You do need to look at this as part of a larger picture. Wilder undoubtedly has us over-performing, especially at home. Yesterday we faced a resurgent team who probably put together their best performance of the season. Everything worked for them. They did to us what we did to Spurs.
There are two deeper issues. One is that several teams have shown how to beat us now. Press hard and we don't know how to deal with it. You could argue that we did have gilt-edged chances to get back into the game but that's the second issue: the one part of our team that has gone backwards under Wilder is our forward line.
Connolly is league one or two standard at best. Balogun is nowhere near developed enough to play in the Championship. Sporar was having a mediocre season but is now regressing further; Wilder has either shattered his confidence or Sporar has lost interest or both. Coburn may have missed a good chance but he at least got into position and it was probably a little inexperience in how to deal with a defender climbing all over him.
What next? It's clear that we need Watmore to lead the press. Our away games (and to an extent our home games) have all shown us starting slowly and sitting off leading to us struggling to get into the game.
Our midfield is shallow: the injuries to Payero and McGree plus the uselessness of Lea Siliki means that Crooks, Howson and Tav get no relief. Wilder did try to address this but for whatever reason he refuses to use any of the U23s or even Boyd Munce.
To be honest, when I saw Peltier and Bola on the team sheet I was positive. I thought it would bring in some fresh legs and that Peltier would be defensively stronger than Dijksteel. I also thought that Sporar would have a point to prove and link us up well. Shows what I know.
Against Millwall, Wilder doesn't have a lot of options. I wonder if Bamba needs to come back in. Maybe we need to start with a 3-4-3 just to force the team to play on the front foot from the start. I know some people have flagged Bola as a potential left-sided centre back; maybe putting him there and putting McNair on the right would put McNair on his proper side. Thing is, with just 1-2 days on the training pitch I don't see anything to think that he won't just stick with what he knows rather than risking confusing the players.
Boro have now picked up just one point from their last five away games, with Wilder admitting that last night’s performance was by far their worst under his control. Well said.
Even Fry who has been excellent recently was getting 3 out of 10 from the Echo. He was shaky. It was all fives and fours in their player ratings - only Jones got 6. Up the Boro!
I’m not going to slate Chris Wilder, the man has pedigree. However it was fanciful to expect Boro to reach the playoffs and even more so to expect promotion this season. We have the nucleus of a good Championship team but that is all. We may have deserved to beat Man Utd and Spurs in the FA Cup but it could be said that both of those Premier League clubs had their worst displays of the season against Boro. Likewise many of the Blades fans commented that Boro were the poorest side that they had met this season and it might be accurate as last night’s display was abysmal but not perhaps surprising the way that this season has been played out, mercurial most of the time.
I still have that feeling that Boro might defeat Chelsea after losing to Millwall and Birmingham. Too often in the past Boro have made Ayresome Park in particular a fortress but struggled to win more than a handful of away games in a season, and this appears to be the trend this season too. I don’t know why this should be, but it’s an undeniable fact when I look at Boro’s record since the Second World War. Perhaps a case of home being where the heart is?
The big problem is changing this away form, there is no sign that we are even trying to do this. We have no striker, we have no tall player in attack to utilise High balls. Yes, I know about Cobourn, but we seem to avoid playing him as much as possible. Had we started him last night they might have spent time controlling him instead of winning the match in the First ten minutes. We have Sol Bamba who has faced many Sheffield united's in his career, and would have had some idea how to handle them. If he had played in the last six away matches we would probably have won three of them, Barnsley in particular. He also plays with a smile on his face, which helps. Our manager spoke about Connelly and seemed to to trying to send a message to us fans in code, as far as I understand the situation, from his words, which were full of, problems, difficulties, getting through said difficulties, will get better, etc. Our team is being used as a physiotherapy machine. I must say, the said Connolly has served up some lifeless displays of late, the old joke, as Good as a man off, comes to mind. I look forward to our next away match.
I do think something needs to change with our away setup given that's just two wins from our last ten on the road. However, you're right to say that it's unlikely in the short term to be anything radical given the lack of available training days - though the international break could offer an opportunity.
Given six of Boro's remaining 11 fixtures are away and two of the five home games are against Fulham and Huddersfield, it does appear any play-off chances are dependent on winning 3-4 of those away games.
Perhaps the problem is that opposition on their own patch are encouraged by the crowd to press and put in more energetic displays - which appears to leave Boro in panic mode when playing out from the back as they often launch it long once options of a 'safe' pass that must sound less safe as the home crowd roar the press on.
Boro would often beat the press with players like Dijksteel breaking the lines by running with the ball - we didn't really see much of that yesterday as sideways passing ended up either passing to the wing-backs, who had two opposition players pressing them with the option to find a teammate cut off, or a hasty long hopeful ball to Connolly - who if it reached him would basically play for the foul and fall over.
At least what we've seen of McGree showed he's capable of receiving the ball and bringing other into play. Peltier showed he's no Dijksteel and can't offer a way out ball - Bola also looked a bit off the pace given his absence through injury.
Chris Wilder will need to assess the way forward but it will need a much better level of performance than we've being seeing away from home. OK, the one at QPR was good bar some poor defensive errors and second half at Barnsley was pretty good but they already had a three-goal lead to defend.
Millwall will be tough again as they've only conceded one goal in their last five home games, beating Sheff Utd, QPR and Cardiff in the last three at the Den - in fact they've only lost once (1-0 to Forest) in their last ten home games.
Ken
“I still have that feeling that Boro might defeat Chelsea after losing to Millwall and Birmingham.”
Sounds like “ Typical Boro” to me! 😎
I agree with you that Boro could have done with Ikpeazu yesterday - he was our one forward who has the strength to hold and shield the ball when the team are struggling to get a foot into the game - perhaps he's the kind of player we're missing away from home.
I think we have all witnessed the recurring problem with this team over the last few months. They really do not cope well with being pressed at speed. If anyone of us had the answer to that problem given what we have at our disposal, then I'm sure that one of us would be managing for at least a good Championship side.
We can be quite certain that ChrisW knows what the problem is and will be working on that with the squad. I think to be fair about last night, I don't believe for one minute that SheffU can and will play with that intensity at that pace for every game between now and the end of the season. Having seen them a couple of times, I have to say that last night was very definitely an elevated performance. They were up for this particular "Wilder comes home" fixture so much more than any of the Boro team. That is not meant to excuse Boro for a poor showing, but I don't think any of Millwall, Birmingham, Peterborough, Swansea or Preston will be able to play with that same intensity and with that same quality as did The Blades. Sure, we will still have to up our game, but I would not expect us to get caught quite like rabbits in the headlights against these teams (even Millwall) as much as we did last night.
Djiksteel was badly missed (as several have commented) - and who would have thought we would be saying something like that five months ago. Does anyone know if he and McGree are likely to be available on Saturday? If McGree is fit, I would consider moving Crooks up front with Watmore to start the game, with McGree taking over from Crooks in midfield.
I don't think the big gal is even warming up yet, but do have to hope that Millwall will be on the receiving end of a Boro backlash on Saturday.
Ken
“I still have that feeling that Boro might defeat Chelsea after losing to Millwall and Birmingham.”
Sounds like “ Typical Boro” to me! 😎
I would be concerned that Chelsea will be able to play with even greater skill and intensity and clinical finishing than SheffU and we could be out of the cup before we even get into our stride in that game...
Well, that match sounded grim. Boro clearly well beaten by Sheffield United.
Of course it should be no surprise for Boro (with poor away form, especially recently) to be beaten away by the Blades (a team in excellent form). But surely nobody expected the scale of the defeat or for the team to be so soundly eviscerated. It sounded like the team hardly competed. You can win games, draw them or lose them, but to lose so comprehensively is a massive "wake-up call". That cannot be repeated for the rest of this season if there is to be any realistic hope of play-off success.
I hope Dijksteel recovers quickly and that McGree becomes available for selection. I assume that harsh words will be spoken by the manager to the players when reviewing the game. Obviously nobody can be expected to play well every game - Jonny Howson is a case in point: two magnificent games in a row but then he effectively gave a goal away against Sheffield United. I don't blame him for the defeat, in case anyone is ready to explode. But the point is that you wouldn't normally expect just about everyone to play below par IN THE SAME GAME unless either something very wrong has happened or the players have all caught an illness. The latter seems unikely.
Hopefully it can be put right but, with our recent away form and a number of away fixtures coming up, you'd not want to stake much money on it.
I watched the game on my phone last night and it was a tough 90 minutes “entertainment”. Whilst we played poorly, I do think a lot of credit has to go to the opposition. I doubt many teams in the division could have beaten Sheffield United last night.
There were few highlights for Boro in the game, although IJ and JL performed ok. I think if Sporar had missed JC’s chance there’d be a lot more criticism of him, but by then of course he’d missed an easy opportunity of his own to get us back to 2-1. Who knows what might have happened if he’d scored?
The Championship remains as crazy as it’s been all season though - any team can produce any result and there’s still a way to go before we give up and accept mid table mediocrity. A win on Saturday and I’m getting my foam hands back from down the back of the settee.
The highlight of the match last night was the sight of a boro fan dressed as a dinosaur ( T Rex I think )
The highlight of the match last night was the sight of a boro fan dressed as a dinosaur ( T Rex I think )
I missed that.
Did he have glittery stars stuck on his cheeks and masses of long flowing curly hair and overly made-up eyes and lips ?
The highlight of the match last night was the sight of a boro fan dressed as a dinosaur ( T Rex I think )
I missed that.
Did he have glittery stars stuck on his cheeks and masses of long flowing curly hair and overly made-up eyes and lips ?
No, but he was riding a white swan………
Honest I had drank or taken anything
https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/middlesbrough-fan-dressed-dinosaur-12839070bg
What a Cup match at the Vic tonight. A full house saw a fantastic David v Goliath match probably a precursor to Boro v Chelsea later this month where Rotherham had 35 position advantage over Pools whilst Chelsea at the moment have a 25 position advantage over Boro.
Pools started nervously but took the lead with a clever run from 18 year old Joe Grey from a free kick in the 29th minute and overall were the better team in the first half, as the Millers should have been down to ten men after Omar Bogle was cynically brought down when through on goal with only the Miller’s goalkeeper in front of him, but the referee only produced a yellow card. Viktor Johansson, Rotherham’s goalkeeper made a fine save just before the interval, and as the two keepers left the field the Pools keeper patted his rival keeper on the back, a sporting gesture between members of the goalkeepers union.
The testing time for Pools was facing the strong wind in the second half and from a corner in a crowded box Michael Smith (a target of Chris Wilder’s in the January transfer window) did what he usually does in these situations, rocketing a header into the net in the 50th minute. However Pools regained the lead 5 minutes later when the speedy Luke Molyneux scored a fantastic goal.
Several fine saves thereafter from Ben Killip and scrambled clearances from the Pools defenders kept Pools in the lead, but the inevitable happened when Michael Smith scored an equaliser in the 63rd minute with both sides having had 4 shots on target from 7 attempts on goal. From then on the Millers pressed hard for the winner, but Ben Killip made at least 3 more fantastic saves as the match ran into 5 minutes added time. Yet it was Hartlepool who had the best chance as Mark Shelton just put his header wide during added time.
No extra time in these matches, so straight into penalties all taken into the wind. Pools had the advantage of taking the first penalty and after 6 penalties it was 3-3 with successful penalties for Pools coming from captain Nicky Featherstone, Jamie Sterry and Mark Shelton but Luke Molyneux of all people had his penalty saved, but then Ben Killip made a wonderful save against Ben Wiles to restore the balance. Omar Bogle then converted to restore Pools lead at 4-3, but as did Angus MacDonald to make it 4-4, but then Tom Crawford missed the target and Mick Miller won it for Rotherham 5-4.
It was a really excellent game, but just a shame that Mark Shelton missed that last minute header. Congratulations to Rotherham, but what a journey Hartlepool had been on in cup matches this season knocking out Division One clubs Wycombe Wanderers and Sheffield Wednesday as well as Championship side Blacpool in the FA Cup and Division One club Charlton Athletic in the Papa John’s Trophy. Like Boro I doubt they will make the playoffs in Division Two, but the main aim was to avoid relegation back to the National League and they have almost acclompished that.
It was indeed a very entertaining game at Hartlepool Ken. Good summary.
I actually thought Rotherham were lucky not to have had two players sent off. Was it Wood, one of their centre backs that was correctly booked for shoving a Pool's player quite violently, near his throat? Within 10 minutes, the same player man-handled a Pool's player to the ground who was breaking free on the right. I suspect had he not just been booked for the previous attempt, the ref would have booked him for this. Certainly I felt he should have had his second yellow.
As for the other offence you mentioned. That was touch and go. I suspect the ref thought that the other Rotherham player chasing back alongside the fellow that committed the foul was goal-side making the offender not the last man. Another ref might have thought otherwise, but it was a close call to make without VAR.
Disappointing for the monkey hangers in the end, but they have done themselves proud this season.
I went to the Slaughtered Stoat for a few drinks with friends and was able to watch the football whilst chatting. My mate asked if they were intending to show the Man City Champions League game but, as City already had a 5-0 lead from from the first leg, the wise choice was to watch Pools. Real Madrid v PSG was well down the list of priorities.
As Ken & Powmill have said, it was a good game and Pools lost on a penalty shoot-out, but with their heads held high after a very good performance against a much higher ranked team. The money from the cup run (including TV money) will no doubt be very useful to Pools this season and next. That is a club on the up. Previous manager might sit up and take note.
And I am really pleased that Ken's threatened departure from these pages has been postponed - hopefully for a long time.