Best position for Tav. Not before time.
In spite of recent defensive lapses this looks to be as solid a line-up as we could have hoped for.
Hope it works out that way. If it doesn't we could be in trouble.
A lot will revolve around Hall being up to speed.
I hope that isn't the actual formation with those players in those positions but somebody seems to think that could be how they line up.
A suprisingly strong bench at Watford: Pears, Fry, Wood, Bola, Coulson, Wing, Browne.
According to the Gazette "McNair gets the nod at centre-half, with Dael Fry dropping to the bench."
I hope McNair becomes the next Willie Maddren as a centre back. Up the Boro!
Incidentally, here's the Watford team - it doesn't sound too imposing and can't say I've heard of most of them...
Thanks for the non-preview Werder. Pleased you have kept your sense of humour to brighten up the pre-match reading.
I have my crisps and bottle of wine ready and am listening to Radio Tees. Even though I have my season card I am not in any hurry to be able to travel over to the Riverside when (if ever) it is allowed. I feel safer watching home games on my computer and will pay the £10 for other available games rather than travelling over on 4 trains, being safely(?) spaced in the stadium and staying in a hotel. I usually catch a cold a least once a year on my travels so I would be listening for a Covid cough. I wouldn't risk visiting my sister (82) and brother (80) after that journey.
It looks like we will play 5-3-2 and I hope our depleted squad can continue the end of last season away form. I don't recognise most of the Watford players' names!
This is the Forza Football app, available in the App Store . It gives team news, goal updates and highlights at the end of the game. You just select the team you want to follow...
Glad Pears has been given the nod on the bench. Disappointed Wing is swapped for Saville, but what would I know ...
I'm not sure what to predict tonight and I'm a little worried about the defence as Grant Hall is really the only defender in the whole back five who is probably playing in his recognised position - OK our wing-backs are used to playing there but are better going forward than defending and stopping crosses. Dijksteel for me is a right-back and McNair is something of a experiment.
Anyway, we may score a couple but will we concede less than that? I'll go 3-2 but not sure to whom - hopefully Boro 🙂
We have dropped from 12th to 23rd! 2nd glass of wine!
A glass half something or other that game. Could easily have been 1-1, should probably have been 0-0. Their best was slightly better than our best. All our long-standing problems are still there but you feel that we're not far off. We have a lot of players that don't quite do enough but, if we get the right additions you feel that you can also get a lot more from the current squad. For all that it was a bit of a nothing game in the end I feel that we'll be looking up rather than down.
I managed to find a dodgy stream to watch the match. Not the hammering I expected in spite of the Watford missing players and our reduced squad. We competed well and it was only a bad goal following an unnecessary throw in given by Hall leading to the corner when he was beaten from the following corner that cost us the match. I thought Britt and Fletcher put up a good attacking fight but the goals did not come as has been our usual failing. Tav is our best attacking midfielder but needs another attacking midfielder to take the weight off him. The defence coped with Watford for most of the game.
45 matches to get us out of the relegation places.
Well that was actually a lot better than I feared. It reminded me a bit of the early Karanka days when we never really looked like conceding goals but didn't have the cutting edge to score. I noted how the defence had been schooled not to go down but to remain standing and just crowd people out by positioning. If you look at the game, Watford had two chances from corners, scored one of them and had one other shot from mid-range. We had a lot of possession round their box and some half chances. One of those - the Fletcher volley for example - could easily have flown in but didn't.
I too thought that Tavernier played well but didn't have a second attacking midfield player to link up with. That's what Saville should have been but he didn't show much. Bettinelli looks huge and makes me feel confident even if he had nothing to do. Hall is another big unit. He was caught a bit for the goal but that happens. Dijksteel looks like a real find in a back three. He's big, quick and could be a major player for us. McNair also looked very comfortable there as well. It would just be nice to see a left footed player.
Howson was solid and reliable as ever. Johnson looked better defending and has a really good left foot. Spence also looked to have improved as a defensive player. Britt looked sharp. Fletcher a little less so. I felt that he could hold the ball a bit more rather than always look to play it off immediately which can work well but can also give it away.
It was interesting thinking about substitutions. Wing for Saville made sense in that, theoretically, it gave Tav a forward-looking partner although it could have happened ten minutes earlier. Other than that it was hard to work out who could come on and make a difference and, also, who you would take off. Maybe Browne for Spence but you couldn't guarantee that it would have made us stronger. That's the problem with the squad. No attacking people on the bench who could change a game.
Anyway, onward and upwards. Does anyone know much about Morsy. Is he a guarantee for the first team and who does he displace?
UTB
im sorry people but that was bad,i accept the effort was there ,but really the lack of quality was there to see,our starting midfield would be back ups at a progressive club, really what do they bring ,nothing ,we are desperate in that area,and the sooner Warnock gets back to his prefered 433 the better.
The reason we arent scoring is there is little creation ,today we got the ball back and just hoofed it because they cant deal with being closed down, maybe its time we took the rose tinted glasses of,and call it like it is, a club standing still
Yes it went well if you have low expectations, but for me, leaving out Wing, then saying we had no attacking ideas is to state the bleedin obvious, even worse, it points to the fact that no one thinks that Wing is one of our great hopes when playing around the oponents box with, of course Tav as Co-conspiritor. As usual he was brought on too late, a habit we cannot seem to break. I have no idea where the story that Britt was suddenly the striker of our dreams came from, but please give it up, it will only upset you. Britt is Britt and can no more morph into a striker than I can. A great chance went begging and I think we all know that.