@martin-bellamy Cheers, mate. Same play. I did not know they play football in a play in a theatre. Up the Boro!
@deleriad - I think we can be fairly sure that, whatever happens to Boro this season, we WILL need a new keeper next season. That is not to knock Steffen but he is a Manchester City player and is by far the highest paid player at our club. They will no doubt hope to sell him for a big fee as I doubt they will presently think he is good enough to be a City No 1. I can imagine a few waves being caused if we ended the season with a 30-goal striker, a young midfielder who burst into the first team and looked as if he'd always been there from Day One, and if we had a winger/wing-back who created more chances than anyone else in the Division, and if we had a player fresh from a successful stint at the World Cup and who's been similarly laying off VERY cheeky passes to set up goal scoring opportunities, and none of those players were earning anything like the keeper's wage.
Maybe we need to bear in mind the keepers already at the club (on loan or otherwise). Brynn has played 31 games for Swindon Town since going there on loan last June/July so I guess he must be virtually an ever-present there and, therefore, doing reasonably well, having the previous season been out on loan at Queen of the South.
A little late acknowledging you OFB for another excellent introduction, this time to the WBAvBoro thread.. So, thank you now and for both yours and AndyRs continued literary prowess and dedication to Diasboro.
I have put off posting to this because, to be brutally honest, I really have no idea what to expect or what to think about this next fixture. My anxiety is that while we have not been consistent in a good way (i.e. we continue to trend to perform at an ever increasing level rather than being consistent at the same level or even worse continually delivering an unpredictable performance), that sooner or later we will reach our plateau and one day some team in this division is going to live with us for an entire game and maybe get the rub of the green ahead of us. That might be this next match. It might also not be until sometime in April or even May… who knows? Can we really be Middlesbrough3 more times than we are just plain old flatter to deceive Middlesbrough?
But like Jarkko and others have noted, in recent enough history there are teams from the nether regions of the table that have gone on to have remarkable winning streaks through to the end of a season to win promotion outright, or at least a decent chance of it in the playoffs. Why not that it is Boro this year to do that?
The trouble is, while it is not history yet, then it hasn’t happened and all we can do is hold our breaths and wonder, ‘Is it going to happen for us?’.
So there it is. Will it happen for us, or will it not? I don’t know. None of us knows. We all want it to be so. So here I am scared to believe but wanting to believe. Will it be my prediction of Middlesbrough3 that is the one tempting fate too far? Might it be my conservative forecast of Boro holding on for a lucky draw with the Baggies showing a lack of faith? Or maybe my anxiety that we are going to succumb to some quality West Bromwich finishing and come away with nothing is simply disrespectful and blind to the form we are in?
Anything can happen in any one game in this crazy league and I suppose with where Boro is now and how far the team has come since October then we can rightly envisage any of the three possible results: win, lose or draw. None of those results on its own is going to force us off our trajectory… well not this weekend at any rate. It is still much too far out to call. So while I would love us to win this game, even as the almost legendary Middlesbrough3, I am not going to allow myself to be despondent whatever the outcome, safe in the knowledge that even if Middlesbrough3 doesn’t show up on Saturday, it will be back with and even more conviction against QPR one week hence.
I’ve no idea what the score will be tomorrow but a win would be amazing. For me the important thing is to keep a gap between us and the chasing pack - who knows whether we can catch up the Blades, but guaranteeing a play off place must be our priority. I don’t think many teams would fancy their chances of beating us at the moment.
Any talk of Boro overtaking Sheffield is very premature as , if Sheffield win their game in hand they will be effectively 8 points ahead ( accounts for better goal difference )
They are a very good team who have lost 2 games against top 6 opponents. Good teams respond and so I expect them to win tomorrow.
So Boro just do as MC consistently says - try to win the next game.
A really pleasing fact is that 3 or 4 games ago , Boro sneaked into third position as a result of playing more games than other top teams - and about half a dozen teams could overtake them if they won their games in hand.
But it doesn’t happen , often because they play each other. So now Boro are clear third with no teams able to overtake them by winning their games in hand plus Boro have a healthy points lead over teams below them.
Tomorrows result ? I’d be pleased with a draw because WBA are a good team with a very good coach.
Philip of Huddersfield 👍👋
I would hope that Cobourn will return to our training ground, to come under our Coach's guidance. He definitely has the talent to go right to the top, and will benefit more from coaching by Carrick than he will from running around a pitch in nowhere'svill
MC on the other MC ("Crooksy") + very brief comments on Barlaser & Ramsey & their first starts:
@jarkko Thanks for the information about the B & B you have stayed at in Yarm. Unfortunately, having lived alone for over 47 years, I couldn't cope with staying in someone's home (except a relative's). I don't think I am unsociable but I feel awkward and uncomfortable with strangers. Hotels are impersonal places, though the staff at the Middlesbrough Premier Inn now recognise me and I get a table by myself in their restaurant and for the rest of the time I lock myself in my room and watch TV. (Even when I am on holiday in the UK there are days when I can't get myself to go into a restaurant and have to just buy sandwiches.)
I think supporting the Boro is so important to me as it is the connection to where I grew up as part of a family. My last 5 years living in the North East was in a bungalow in New Marske which is a village about 10 miles east of Middlesbrough and I expected to spend the rest of my life there but after 15 years in a job which had become routine and boring I was offered promotion but with a transfer. Although I have now lived in Penrith for more than half my life, I still look at New Marske as "my home".
@david-in-cumbria No problem. This B&B is quite large and I could easily say it is a bit like a hotel more than traditional B&B where you feel like inside someone's home. Where the family lives, it is totally a separate area. So it really feels more like a small hotel type - like in central Europe.
For us the best is the railway station near by. Rail connection from Manchester airport and Middlesbrough.
Up the Boro!
My prediction: what ace tipster Bob said.
Bob, having successfully predicted the last two 3-1 scores, giving him a 200-1 double (20-1x 10-1) is now going for a 25-1 shot at 0-3. If successful this would make it a 5000-1 treble.
Who are any of us to argue with this?
And what a brilliant get-rich -quick service Bob is providing for all of us on the blog.
He obviously doesn't have to do this given his undoubted personal wealth
If I were being picky I would say that I have a slight preference for 1-3 yet again, since Steffen for all of his many qualities still contrives to come up with ever more ingenious ways of gifting our opponents a goal (I'll go for a halfway line lob catching off his line this week). And Albion have the best record in the division as a high pressing team, as they demonstrated against Watford in mid-week by seizing on a loose pass out by the Watford keeper.
Whilst completely behind Carrick's philosophy of playing out from the back, I still manage a sub-conscious cheer and a sudden release of nervous tension whenever our keeper decides to give the ball a bit of welly.
So really looking forward to the game and I'll stick with Bob's 0-3
Forss back, McNair again preferred to Fry:
@stircrazy - Although I might have picked Fry, I can live with that XI. Let's hope it's good enough and that Boro has the breaks this afternoon.
I see that the ITV EFL highlights programme at 23.30 today actually mentions the match by name (at least in my copy of the current Sunday Times culture section), so I presume that means a larger helping at the start than is usually the case (last week, for example, Sky's paltry two minutes of second-half action were all that was used almost as an afterthought). Hope so anyway.
From the Beeb's scene-setting live commentary in this afternoon's EFL matches:
Can Baggies end bad run against Boro?
West Bromwich Albion boss Carlos Corberan is facing the first mini-crisis of his short reign at The Hawthorns. Just one win and four defeats in their last six league and cup games. Four points from a possible 15.
And, at Watford on Monday, his decision to start with John Swift wide left, and Jed Wallace in the number 10 role, was criticised by fans.
Corberan himself admitted that it simply hadn’t worked in the first half, changed it in the second, Albion rallied, played as well as they have done in weeks and should have got at least a draw as Watford got lucky. But they now bump into the Championship's bang in-form side in Michael Carrick's Middlesbrough.
Five straight wins. Fourteen goals scored. Only three conceded. And now looking good to overhaul Sheffield United for the other automatic promotion spot behind runaway Burnley.
Carrick has taken 40 points from a possible 51 since becoming Boro boss on 24 October - the day before Corberan took over at Albion, who have picked up 32 points out of a possible 48 in the same time span.
Did Boro dodge a bullet by not going after Corberán?
Followed by:
Squad Goals Championship match of the day
Kaye Holland
A month ago, Sheffield United were the overwhelming favourites to claim the second automatic promotion spot to the Premier League. However, Boro have been piling on the pressure and have cut the gap to four points.
Make no mistake: Michael Carrick’s men are one of the Championship’s most in-form sides, having won their last five games on the trot.
With Chuba Akpom and Cameron Archer on fire in attack, Middlesborough will be looking to extend their winning streak to six matches as they make the trip to the Midlands..
And it’s as good a time as any for Boro to face West Bromwich Albion. After rapidly rising up the league following the appointment of Carlos Corberan at the end of October 2022, the Baggies have stuttered a little in recent weeks – picking up just one point in their last three matches, and are clearly missing injured goalkeeper Alex Palmer.
Can ‘King Carlos’, as West Brom fans have nicknamed him – Albion were second bottom and staring relegation in the face when the Spaniard took over – get the Baggies’ play-off bid back on track?
It’s hard to bet against Boro at the moment, given the form they are in, but this is the Championship – and anything can happen.
Kaye's prediction: West Browich Albion1-1 Middlesbrough
Slow start by Boro. Losing 2 - 0!
Kaye Holland wasn't wrong! 🙁
Slow start by Boro. Losing 2 - 0!
Kaye Holland wasn't wrong! 🙁
Vic's observation:
Both very tight decisions. Boro caught twice. Worst possible start. Time to dig in and regain control like they did v Sheff Utd. This team is good enough to claw back.
Slow start by Boro. Losing 2 - 0!
Just when I was going to gloat that the Black Cats had lost to Coventry by 1-2 in the early match! 🙁
Well that’s Len and OFB’s bets down the pan.
Good start by Boro, then it all falls apart with some poor defending against two counter attacks. Madison citing offside for the first and a spill from Steffen for the second.
However it was the vulnerable Boro defence that was at fault overall.
Boro are not playing badly, but the defence, well we know all about them.
Tommy Smith picks up a yellow in the 44th minute.
We’ll have to settle for a 3-2 win today.
Well so far I am sorry to say that one of my pre match comments is sadly coming to fruition so far:
”If we are not at it from the off and the Baggies score first then we may not pull it back for once.”
CC and the Baggies have got their tactics spot on. They have been well organised and prepared to let us have the ball. Our build up play has not been quick enough enabling them to close off the space and deny us any clear opportunities.
First goal may have been offside and second was not helped by a weak header out by PM.
Can MC and the team counter this? If not then I can see a lot of teams adopting a similar tactic against us and we will struggle to create clear opportunities.
Need a big second half to rescue a point at best. If we continue to play like the first half then we will go home empty handed. CoB 😎
Vic's verdict on the first half:
HT: Two down. Caught cold. West Brom were assertive, Boro not so much. Grew into game later on but slow & failed to test the defence. Time to regroup, reenergise, & reboot. Need to up the tempo, be brave & put pressure on their backline. We can still get something here
Don’t want to really pick out one player, but Smith having a really hard time of it, then an unnecessry foul to give him a yellow card. Not helped by McNair.
Second half all WBA.
Millwall, Blackburn, Norwich and Luton all winning. Looking like we are doomed!
Fry on for an injured Paddy (carried off on a stretcher & on oxygen, apparently) in the 57th minute, Ramsey for Forss in the 68th.
Crooks on for Archer in the 77th minute, while Jones replaces McGree a minute later.
Millwall, Blackburn, Norwich and Luton all winning. Looking like we are doomed!
And a Ryan Porteous OG put the Blades a goal up in the 73rd minute.
Well a reality check after a poor day at the office.
Hopefully this is a one off and we can return to normal service next week.
Credit to CC and the Baggies who did their homework and came up with a plan to counteract our style of play and we did not have an answer or a plan B. The subs who came on did little to impact the game positively.
Job far from done and still much to do. 😎☹️