As the form aficionados on Teesside continue to weigh up the probabilities of promotion this season, Saturday sees another game of chance, or indeed chances, given Boro's newfound recent incarnation as the Championship's most prolific outfit. A somewhat unexpected development given that most players in Neil Warnock's team had looked more than a little dicey when approaching the opposition goal but shooting craps is no longer the only game in town for Boro forwards intent on losing their shirt.
The manager's gamble in bringing in free-agent Duncan Watmore looks to have paid off after the former Black Cat hit a double against Swansea to secure three valuable points. It must have been poignant moment for the 26-year old, who has had more than his fair share of bad luck with injuries in recent times. As he returns to match fitness, it's been clear to see his awareness, drive and movement that has brought a new dimension to Boro's attack that has been absent for quite some time.
It's Watmore's intelligence as a player that shines through, which is possibly what you'd expect for a player who also has a first-class degree in economics. In addition, his bravery in coming back from a cruciate knee injury was perhaps demonstrated by an incident in Barbados during his rehabilitation a few years ago. While he was travelling on a boat, it was suddenly hit by a speeding catamaran that split it in two sending everyone into the water - Watmore was credited with saving the lives of three pensioners who were also on the boat, one of whom declared if it hadn't been for the player he'd have been lucky not to be coming home in a box.
Neil Warnock will surely have been impressed by his new acquisition but will also take no risks as he returns back to full fitness and his second goal saw him subbed just after the hour mark. The Boro manager regarded that performance against Swansea as the best he's seen from his team since he arrived at the club. Indeed, it wasn't only Watmore who had impressed but he was matched by players all over the pitch with the back four of Spence, Fry, McNair and Bola all looking the part - and then some in Bola's case. Also a returning Sam Morsy showed just what a great ball-winner he is as he snapped around the Swansea players and Howson was his usual calm and assured presence with Tavernier also giving a box-to-box energetic performance.
That win on Wednesday put Boro back in promotion contention as the table tightened after none of the top five achieved victory but the rest of the clubs in top half picked up three points. It means Boro down in tenth are just three points off second place as promotion this season looks like becoming something of a lottery. Still, as the old adage goes, you have to be in it to win it and Neil Warnock's men at least have a ticket as the Premier League jackpot prize continues to roll over.
OK, we can only hope that whoever is drawing the promotion winning numbers wasn't involved in this week's South African national lottery. Punters took to social media in disbelief and crying foul as the numbers that were drawn were 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 - with an even more unbelievable twenty 'winners' sharing the jackpot when its normally rare to see even two joint winners. I believe the matter is being investigated to see if there was fraud involved but as far as I know, nobody has as yet called for Rudy Giuliani to be appointed on the case.
Anyway, talking of making your own luck, Boro will be hoping their nascent winning streak will continue to blossom as they head to Stoke this weekend. Michael O'Neill's team have just one point more than Neil Warnock's men and should prove to be another good test of Boro's promotion credentials. The Potters have been involved in a few high-scoring close games in recent weeks, losing 3-2 to both Norwich and Watford, plus that 4-3 win over Huddersfield. However, things were a bit less exciting when Tony Pulis and his baseball cap returned to the club he'd managed for over ten years as the newly appointed Owls boss made them feel all nostalgic with a trademark nil-nil.
The team selection for Boro may depend on how fresh many of those legs are after that tough midweek game and whether Dijksteel is still carrying a knock. Perhaps, Warnock will be keen not to see another Huddersfield-type display but both Watmore and Morsy were at least withdrawn early. We may see the return of Britt as while Akpom worked and ran he didn't look like he would get on the score-sheet. Still, at this stage of the season as the games come thick and fast it's about playing the percentages and picking winners - luckily for the Boro manager, he appears to have turned players written off as losers into ones that have what it takes to win the prize. Time to release those balls!
Thanks, Werder.
It a game time tomorrow. Again. I love this two games a week - especially now when the COVID is on and I can see all matches live on TV via Riverside Live.
I think Stoke have a very good squad. So a tight game. I hope we can run, though our style is quite demanding physically. Especially with a small squad.
But still, I will go for a 1-2 win. We need to keep in touch with the top six.
A Britt Assombalonga brace tomorrow. Up the Boro!
Here's a question, how many points did we have after the same number of games last season?, I would be happy with the same result as the last time we played Stoke away. Although they seem to have had a similar transformation to ourselves.
We have long been complaining on here about “ Square Pegging”. I think NW’s number one talent as a manager is the ability to look at a player and determine what his best position is, and backing up his judgement by giving him an extended run in the team.
Brilliant piece, Werder.
Loved the reference to Giuliani, though, of course, he was caught fiddling when he gambolled and drew the short straw against Borat's niece ('She's too old for you!').
Still he might have salvaged something from the Huddersfield game, since it was clear that we won convincingly.
We should have been 3 up after 20 minutes, so a landslide win should obviously have been declared at that point.
All of those late Huddersfield so-called "goals" came to pass only after the game had already been won.
We all know about the deep corruption in football, so the fact that the fake media were unanimous in declaring Huddersfield the winners simply exposes the so-called plurality and diversity of the "free" media for the myth that it is.
At least we true believers here on Diasboro know that although the Boro have won and will continue to win most of their games this season, the fake league table will only ever show us to the rest of the world as a mid-table side.
If in doubt, just check it out.
Werder
Many thanks for another great preview.
Appreciated as always
OFB
Another jackpot of an article, thanks Werder.
I have a feeling we may see the same starting eleven tomorrow, albeit NW may wish to include Saville to give us greater numbers in the middle of the park but that would then leave us short on offensive options so tricky decision. Morsy's fitness levels may be a decider, with Saville on the bench ready to replace him after 60 - 70 mins.
It a ⚽️ - ⚽️ at best but hope we pinch it. CoB give us another positive display. 😎
Werder, Another fine introduction to the game, thank you and much appreciated. Let's hope Boro can beam a few into the Stoke net so I'm going for a daring 1-1 but I can see us nicking it with a bit of a smash and grab raid. I hope I haven't put a hex on the game again.
Oh, and lets hope that the referee has has had an eye test and a rub down with the rule book.
Stay safe everyone.
UTB,
John
PS now to wait for the highlight of the weekend, OFB's prediction!
Terrific link, which I really enjoyed. Thanks for passing it on
Boro’s away record overall at Stoke doesn’t make pleasant reading with only 11 wins and 10 draws in 47 encounters. However since moving to the Britannia Stadium in 1997 Stoke have met Boro only 5 times with 2 wins each and a total of 4 goals each, a much better ratio. So perhaps a draw is on the cards tomorrow.
Thanks Werder, terrific opener.
Re GHW's "square-pegging" point above, McNair and Tav are interesting ones in that debate. Before blossoming this season, most would have considered playing McNair at centre-back as square-pegging. He still plays in midfield for N Ireland and has previously declared himself a midfielder. He's done a superb job at the back for us this year though, no doubt helped tremendously by the quality of marking and tracking around him and some excellent man management.
I feel a little bit sorry for Tav. Here's a player that's played almost everywhere this season - centre-midfield, no. 10, either wing and even wingback. It's a huge credit to him that he's made a fist of every role but he's another that I think needs to nail down a position if he''s to fulfill his promise.
As for tomorrow, I tipped Stoke to make the playoffs this year and they look capable, but there again I tipped us for lower-midtable and we look much better than that now. Nothing to fear - it will be a tough game against a good side who are on-the-up but we've faced similar this season and done well. 1-1.
Before a ball was kicked I thought we would struggle in these opening games of the season, having looked at the fixture list. In fact we have done much better than I imagined.
The fixtures have borne me out in one respect. After tomorrow's game we will have played all 9 teams currently above us in the league. By contrast we have played only 2 of the bottom 5.
Typical Boro tells us that this may not necessarily be significant, as the Huddersfield game proved. We all know that we can traditionally raise our game against the better teams and fail to put lower teams to the sword.
It's a curious fact about the table nevertheless, and I'm choosing to see it as a sign for optimism.
Given that Stoke are above us in the league and therefore a challenge I'll predict a good performance from the lads and a repeat of my Swansea prediction of a 2-1 win for us.
Yes, I just checked out last year's table after 15 games - Boro had already slipped into the bottom three with just half the points we have his season but it was tomorrow's opponents Stoke who were bottom.
Incidentally, following the 2-0 defeat in game 15 to Derby, Woodgate was still in denial when in his post-match press interview he said: "People say the league table tells the truth, it's not. It's lying at the minute. We have had chances to score goals, we have missed opportunities, we have had referee's decisions not go in our favour. We have seen where we are. The players need to look at themselves. I look at myself constantly and the players need to do that as well."
I sometimes wonder if the whole Trump presidency was just a Sacha Baron Cohen parody movie that got out of hand when he won the election four years ago - especially given the role of Rudy Giuliani as the crazy lawyer with one press conference mistakenly held in the Four Seasons Landscape garden centre car park located between a crematorium and a sex shop - which surely was intended for the exclusive Four Seasons Hotel and tallest building in Philadelphia.
Evidently, that was a classic Borat setup, which was then surpassed as Giuliani held his next wild press conference with the now disowned Sidney Powell, who claimed the voting machines were fraudulently rigged by a long list of bogeymen from the now former-Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez who actually died 7 years ago, Cuban and Chinese communists plus Hilary Clinton. Then if that wasn't enough he started to sweat black streaks of hair dye down both cheeks - tell me that wasn't scripted for the movie trailer.
I'm now waiting for Trump to suddenly announce on his last day in office a massive 'Gotcha' as he appears with Borat in matching red MAGA mankinis. The last four years were all just a big ruse to see how many of the gullible would go along with the whole charade. Surely none of the Trump presidency was real - the clue is in his Twitter name 'RealDonaldTrump' - which is obviously meant to be fake account.
At least trump should get an Oscar for his performance, which will luckily also match his skin colour!
Looking forward to the game tomorrow and something of a rest after a very busy week that included decorating the hall, laying a carpet and today I spent five hours hanging a 100-foot long chain of Christmas lights along the front and side of the house with 80 adhesive hooks that needed the backing peeling off with rather numb fingers in almost freezing temperatures. All in preparation for what is on Sunday over here in Germany Nikolaus (St Nicholas) where children are traditionally given presents in their shoes. Anyway, lets hope Boro also fill their boots tomorrow!
Terrific link, which I really enjoyed. Thanks for passing it on
For anyone who doesn’t watch them, I would recommend the NW press conferences that are always posted on mfc.co.uk. The latest is about 20 minutes long and is absolutely fascinating and gives a little more insight into why players perform so well for NW.
utb
Worth a watch.....
Excellent link me thinks. I haven't laughed so much for a while. Absolutely brilliant! A showman. Up the Boro!
It was a joy to see a Boro manager being so open with the fans. He’s a bit like your favourite grandad who doesn’t have any filters.
Does anyone have a breakdown of the number of penalty points accrued by Boro players for yellow/red cards this season and when the next cut off date is? Neil Warnock mentioned that Jonny Howson was one point away from suspension.
Hoping Fry may come good at a set piece today.
1-2
It’s McNair who is one booking away from a suspension
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-middlesbrough/sperrenundverletzungen/verein/641
Neil Warnock was very high up in my estimation as a manager but after watching that class match conference on Friday he has proved to be a very honest and funny man. No wonder his players are playing for him. Neil Warnock I love and admire you.
laws of the game John there are no rules!
eyeballs in the sky will do me today thanks
⚽️⚽️
OFB
Stoke have been conceding a lot of goals at home this season so lets hope that continues today. They have a few serious Keeper injuries so we may see Andy Lonergan turn out for them. Looks like JOM will be out so no reunion or curse of the old boy there then.
Battle of the Badges
It is interesting enlightening and amusing to watch NW press conferences and I too am a convert to our manager as a man who knows what he’s doing. I hope he can stay with us for a few more years and perhaps if he had started for us last season wood gate might still have been with us as a young coach learning his craft.
one of the things NW said on Friday was that he makes sure his players go flat out for every game. “Mind” I’ll have to perhaps put a performance stat vest on Djed for the next game.” ! He said with a grin and this will have been noted by DJed that he’s being watched !
OFB
In case anyone missed it, this podcast with NW and the Twelfthman supporters group is excellent.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fTFGnlIZvVY
