@Pedro de Espana
As we approach the end of the year matches might be coming thick and fast for Boro, but they are one of only 16 clubs of the 92 not to have had a postponement so far this season. The total postponements so far total 70 - 17 in the Premier League, 19 in the Championship, 15 in League One and 19 in League Two and several more in the bottom 2 Divisions due to FA Cup ties in the 3rd Round, and we haven’t seen any due to bad weather yet. There may well be 200 or more to rearrange in total before the season’s end with only 8 or so free midweek slots available. So let’s hope that Covid related postponements become rarer to enable all 72 EFL clubs to play their full allocation of 46 matches.
Just as a reminder for us and Wilder Boro, Nottingham Forest have lost a second match after Boro defeated them on Boxing Day.
So their magnificent run of 16 games have come to an end when they lost at home to Huddersfield by one goal to nil.
Forest boss Steve Cooper told BBC Radio Nottingham:
"It's a disappointing result but I don't think it's a disappointing performance - we've played well tonight and in some ways as well as we have played in recent weeks and months."
Forest had 58 % of possession and had 23 shots with The Terriers having only 9 shots.
This is just a reminder to us that there will be setbacks on the way. Like Fulham, Bournemouth and West Brom have had recently.
Let's hope our run continues on Saturday, though. I will be happy with a 1-1 draw with Watmore scoring. Up the Boro!
Looking at the table after last night’s games, our match with Sheff U is an important one in which to avoid defeat.
The Blades are seven points behind us but have three games in hand. We don’t want that to be just four points still with three in hand.
Connolly only turns 22 at the end of January so is still only 21 so does he count in the 25 man squad? Does anyone know when the cut off is? Spence turns 22 in August.
The report I heard from the training ground yesterday was that 4 players got covid 2 kit men 3 first team coaches. Had 18 fit players down to 14 Boro would have to use under 23s, Howson, Tavernier, Olusanya and 1 more
Report that 16 players/coaches updated later reporting now
OFB
The report I heard from the training ground yesterday was that 4 players got covid 2 kit men 3 first team coaches. Had 18 fit players down to 14 Boro would have to use under 23s, Howson, Tavernier, Olusanya and 1 more
Report that 16 players/coaches updated later reporting now
OFB
If that's correct it's not even close to postponement. To get a match postponed you need less than 13 players including your U23s. Realistically you replace Tav with Payero and you have 10 of the 11 who played against Blackpool. Hard to see the EFL agreeing to a postponement in that case.
"Hey, Lads! I've just received a Fax from Middlesbrough asking for a postponement of their game against Sheffield United - something about a covid outbreak at the club. Didn't know covid was a problem so near the Arctic circle. What's the last minute we can reply with a refusal, to cause them the most embarassment and problems? Maybe about 45 minutes after they should have set off on the bus to Sheffield? Please, one of you, look up the travel times for a bus to get from near Newcastle (that's where Boro is, isn't it?) to Sheffield. We'll tell them 45 minutes after that. And if they turn up late after they realise the game is ON, we can discipline them for that, too. Hee Hee!"
"First, put the phone on the 'out of office for New Year' message. We DID give Middlesbrough the wrong Fax number, didn't we? A cunning move not to let them have the email address, too! Anyone for a round of golf - the course should be fairly empty at this time of year...."
For those wanting to recall (I am not one) Lewis Wing should read what division 1, Shef Wed supporters think:
My opinion has been he is a div 1 player at best but it appears he may not be even that.
Come on BORO.
Pity he seems to have lost his way. He seemed to be set for a comfortable place in a championship side but his performances have been going down and down.
Perhaps some coach will get hold of him and point him in the right direction
OFB
For those wanting to recall (I am not one) Lewis Wing should read what division 1, Shef Wed supporters think:
My opinion has been he is a div 1 player at best but it appears he may not be even that.
Come on BORO.
I'm not sure he's good enough for us (sadly) but I think the comments are unfair. He was being played out of position as a holding midfielder. Like Howson under Warnock, I think the problem is the manager setting the team up badly. Apparently they had Marvin Johnson as a left-sided centre-back and played 3-1-4-2 with Mendez-Laing as a left wing back. I doubt Viera could have played as the sole defensive midfielder in that line up.
That said, Wing has generally been poor at Wednesday so it wouldn't surprise me if the loan was cut short by them. To be honest though, what Wednesday need is a manager who hasn't lost the plot.
@deleriad: Do you honestly think Wing would get in our match day squad, let alone get on the pitch. Before his loan he was very poor and as I have said before not a championship quality player IMHO.
Come on BORO.
The latest update on the Shef Utd game is reported that the EFL are not going to make a decision until more tests this evening, even though the match is scheduled for a 12:30 kick off. No press conference by Wilder so far which, I believe, was due at 1300 hrs.
Stojanovic has gone out on loan to Ingolstadt (Bundesliga 2) for the rest of the season.
Come on BORO.
Boro manager Chris Wilder has confirmed that as things stands, their Championship game against Sheffield United is going ahead despite a Covid outbreak amongst the squad.
Up the Boro!
In my opinion I don’t see the point in looking at League tables at this time of year especially with the current situation regarding postponements due to Covid. Professional golfers very rarely look at leaderboards until the last half dozen holes, just trying to score as many birdies and eagles as they can. So just enjoy the new style of football and take each match as they come, but also expect the inevitability of defeats when they come, but keep in touch with with the top six. In my lifetime I’ve seen at least 5 occasions when Boro have slumped from a promising position at Christmas to fall away in the New Year and here are some of those occasions:-
1946/47.
Boro’ were riding high in second place in the First Division at Christmas, but won only 4 more matches thereafter and finished 10th.
1950/51
Boro’ were actually top of the First Division at Christmas with a 3 point lead, but won only 3 more matches thereafter and finished 6th but 13 points behind Champions Tottenham. David Jack was the manager in both these seasons.
1988-89
Under Bruce Rioch Boro were sitting in a reasonable position of 7th in mid-November after two successive promotions but then after winning at Southampton in mid-January and still being in the top half of the season won only once thereafter yet were still 14th with only two matches remaining but lost both 0-1 at home to Arsenal and away to Sheffield Wednesday to finish 18th and relegation.
More recently 2011/12
Under Tony Mowbray Boro were 2nd at Christmas but won only 6 matches thereafter and finished 7th, five points adrift of the playoffs and an almighty 18 behind runners-up Southampton.
2012/13
An even more dramatic reversal of form under Tony Mowbray from 3rd at Christmas but won only 3 wins thereafter to finish 16th.
Of course there have been positives in 1974 and 1987 when Boro’ always looked certainties for automatic promotion, plus 1992 under Lennie Lawrence when against the odds Boro’ came from behind with only 10 men to beat Wolves and gain automatic promotion in the final match of the season.
I would refer Honourable Members to the messages I left at 12.44pm and 12.47pm (above)....
I think we've been here before, the 'people' who run football this way are the very definition of the collective noun for stupid idiots. Obviously the attitude is at the top of the job specification 'must have attributes'. From FIFA, through UEFA to the Premier League and the Football League they seem to be vying for the Golden T-Shirt for 'Idiot of the Year'.
Is there just a little bit of spleen being directed at Steve Gibson for his stand against financial cheating or whatever they're calling it this week?
Boro will probably lose and if those three points were the difference between promotion or not . ..
Perhaps somebody should quietly tell the Football League that there's a pandemic raging across the world but they probably haven't even noticed yet. Safeguarding? What is that?
I'll keep it clean. They're idiots.
UTB,
John
Don't know where the post has gone but I posted about the Football League and the growing fiasco with Covid re-the game tomorrow. Anybody help?
It's appeared. Conspiracy theories rule.
UTB,
John
Dormo
I enjoyed your posts, but unfortunately completely misread them.
I was going to respond by saying, "And they say that satire is dead".
I hadn't realised that it is, of course, (dating from when Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize), and that your contributions were an entirely factual.
You obviously have great mole within the EFL, and I am already looking forward to your next leak.
@deleriad: Do you honestly think Wing would get in our match day squad, let alone get on the pitch. Before his loan he was very poor and as I have said before not a championship quality player IMHO.
Come on BORO.
As i said, "I don't think he's good enough for us (sadly)". It would have been great if he could have kicked on from non-league the same way that someone like Jones has. There was a brief period under Woodgate when Tav, Spence and Wing worked up a real understanding.
Although I don't think he's good enough for us now, his best position is probably as one of the two advanced midfielders in a 3. Then again, depending on the Rona he might well be playing for us when we least expect it...
Boro manager Chris Wilder confirms that Aaron Connolly loan move is agreed.
Joining us soon when some training is allowed again at Rockcliffe. Some good news behind the 19 COVID-19 cases.
Up the Boro!
My problem with this is inconsistency. On paper, having 9 1st team players out with covid and/or injuries means we might end up putting out a team that a looks a lot like the one that Warnock put out in the league cup.
- 1Lumley
- 14Peltier
- 15Wood
- 22Bamba
- 33Robinson
- 24Malley
- 5Morsy
- 35Jones
- 29Spence
- 37Coburn
- 10Payero
Teams that can, like us, have a habit of switching out 9 or so players for matches that aren't important. So, on paper, we undoubtedly have enough players who haven't (yet) tested positive to fulfil the fixture. On the other hand, 5 of the next fixtures are cancelled with covid including WBA. I absolutely do not believe that WBA can't put 14 players on the pitch. So why one rule for one and a different one for the other?
More importantly, the rule itself is stupid and potentially dangerous. There's one thing requiring playing a game if a squad is suffering from injuries and food poisoning. It's an entirely different one requiring one to go ahead when a team is suffering from a highly infectious, potentially life-threatening/life-limiting disease that they can spread where-ever they go. It's not just the players, it's the coaching staff, support staff, bus driver, stewards and all of them who are being put at risk by fulfilling the fixture.
@original-fat-bob. Club website just confirmed that the EFL have agreed to postponement. The correct decision eventually!😎
Blades v Boro cancelled tomorrow.
After waking up and finding that there's a Pandemic raging and it's only just 2021 the Football League have confirmed the game is off. Possibly they wanted a lie-in tomorrow?
Ye gods you couldn't make it up. I'm now looking for their collective resignations for incompetency and idiocy but I don't seem to be able to find anything. Amazing.
A happy and healthy New Year to everyone.
Stay safe.
UTB,
John
@john-richardson dont hold your breath, you could be waiting sometime, they are like the current govt they dont do resignations. I wonder if it was Rick Parry who wanted to make us play