@lenmasterman I think that’s very harsh and not just on our keeper. I too saw no need to replace Sol Bryn but I haven’t seen a massive deterioration from Vitek. As Jarkko says, he hasn’t made any massive errors apart perhaps from the near post goal on Saturday. I’m equally surprised by your criti...

@lenmasterman Here are some statistics about Vitek at Bristol City and also at Boro. The numbers show that he AND Brynn underperformed this season and last season respectably. The article is of today: Up the Boro!

@jarkko And Vitek is only a kid, and trying to make a name for himself a long way from home. The psychological stresses of a young man in that situation and one in which any error of misjudgement will come under the microscope cannot be over-estimated. So the young man will need a lot of support...

Len, Vitek has not shined but has not made many mistakes, either. So a decent keeper, me thinks. But I expected a bit more, too. About scouting, you should ask the Bristol City fans. I think he was chosen as the player of the season by both his fellow players as well as the fans last season. So he...

It took me all of ten minutes of watching Vitek to see that this was a lad who, in spite of his 6'7'' stature, could not command his box from set-pieces and preferred staying on his line. That was 20 minutes or so into our first home game against Lincoln. And I foolishly and prematurely expressed th...

I watched Match of the Day this morning and saw Sunderland play in what looks like the most barbie-esque away kit I can recall - almost entirely pink except for a black front yoke that only seems to highlight the pink collar. Now I'm not one for buying club shirts but you'd have to be a die-hard b...

@werdermouth - I agree with the points you made in both paragraphs above.

@forever-dormo Despite my thinking, I suspect there's very little chance of getting Hackney on loan from Everton - I think they have one of the smaller squads in the PL and Hackney is probably only one injury away from being a starter. Still, Malanda is not a midfielder, it's not his game and d...

@lenmasterman And it is not as though we have not paid decent money for some of the new lads, never mind what we paid for Strelec. Joseph - 4 million, Arfsten - was it around four? At least Berhalter came relatively cheap, but still has to be better. Then of course Sarmiento, looking to offer m...

  "Yes a difficult conundrum for Hellberg. The “reserves” don’t look good enough to start, but need sufficient match minutes to be effective when they play."   Pedro, that's the situation in a nutshell  

Well we have agreed on here with Hellberg that he got is first pick wrong on Saturday. As I posted earlier, one wonders if he does not really think Barron or Pearl-Harris are good enough to start a game (yet?) The latter has had his chances but not made much of them for an athletic looking lad. An...

I never realised that Malanda palyed in midfield versus Cardiff. This is what Dom Shaw wrote in the Echo yesterday: "Sebastian Berhalter looked against Stoke like a player who needed a breather. Fair enough. But rather than a midfield swap, Hellberg started with a back five and had both Adilson M...

Given that we have had a much better run with injuries than has been the case in other seasons, it is ironic that we have been hit in exactly the two areas that have caused problems. Strelec when fully fit is an international level player and, in my mind, would be the first choice to replace a re...

@powmillnaemore - No - the important thing is to ensure the team goes up. If that is achieved we can worry about next season in May!

It would have been better to be in the Top Two. But it is within Boro's abilities to get into the Top two on Friday. I doubt over the longer term that will be achieved by using Malanda in midfield in matches against good opposition. Hopefully the coaching team can spend some time looking at the v...

@forever-dormo Re HH cheeky request. Everton can only say no and we are no worse off. But imagine they say yes... On the other hand. We would still be left with the problem of finding a full time replacement for next season, so maybe not the best thing to do.

@werdermouth - My mate suggested that loan deal attempt as we were walking out of the stadium. HH would certainly get into the starting XI but that would be the cheekiest of all cheeky requests.

@werdermouth - I, too, would like to see what Barron and Law McCabe can do. Unless they are given a chance we will never find out!

@original-fat-bob - If Boro can't keep players in the winter Transfer Window, there will be no promotion!

Last season we could not score sufficient goals and we also made too many individual mistakes. This season we have improved the goals and could have had more. However what Hellberg has not been able to do is improve the defensive end of the team. Considerng the money spent in the summer, there a...