Vs Middlesbrough (home). Matchday thread.

[Inglorius]

8 minutes ago, McLovin said:

Behind the scenes that’s probably what they will be thinking yeah. Of course they don’t to put unnecessary pressure on by saying our only target is promotion this season so they will say otherwise. 

I'd be interested what Lampard thinks of that if it is true, he turned down the Ipswich job over money but they also rely historically on minimal investment and getting bargain basement players from lower leagues which may have put Lampard off as well.

[RamNut]

Great start and some good football. But as against norwich we started giving the ball away. I counted seven misplaced passes from wilson, mount, waghorn, bogle and others. The foul on marriott just before half time was outrageous, and limited his effectiveness in the second half.

holmes was warming up when wilson was injured so i was staggered to see huddlestone come on. Any idea that huddz might counter their physicality is  misplaced because he is such a big girl's blouse. that change really set us back. Evans and huddz were doing the same job with the added disadvantage that huddz is slow, casual and counter productive. He gave the ball away sloppily and that led ultimately to their goal. Holmes was brilliant when he was introduced, and we might just have snatched a game we should have dominated. Boro are crap, so i'm strangely encouraged. Ayala is such a donkey but Friend - as so often before - has that bit of quality to deliver a great ball right onto hugill's bonce.

Wisdom was immense. Unbelievable that someone said he was poor. Tomori played well. wilsons absense demonstrated how important he has become to the midfield. Hopefully marriott suffered no lasting damage from the attempted leg-breaker. 

[Sexydadbod]

1 minute ago, reveldevil said:

He's missing @Bris Vegas terribly.

See my previous post replying to Cam

[KCG]

1 minute ago, WAGHORNY RAM99 said:

Was it only me who though Bogle was poor? For the goal, it came about after school boy defending as he had a chance to clear into touch but did a terrible clearance instead which put us on the back foot for the next few minutes, he put in one half decent cross all match  and was very wasteful on many occasions, and at the same time he did nothing to stop the cross coming in for the goal as per usual. This sounds harsh on an 18 year old of course, but if we want to go up or even finish Top 6 we can't be having players playing at a level that would only be good enough for a relegation fighting/lower midtable championship team. I also thought Waghorn and Jozefoon were disappointing, but it wasn't all negative as Holmes looked very good when he came on and Evan showed promise with some good passing and defensive abilities.

I didn't think he played too badly, but he was at fault for the pressure that led to their goal when he committed a stupid foul against a slow player who had passed the ball to Huddlestone. Thought once we settled down in the 2nd half we played much more positively and controlled the game.

I wouldn't have taken Waghorn off, as he was putting himself about, although he was not having the best of luck. Holmes for Zoon would have been my choice.

[Alph]

Again, it's not a bad performance at all. 

Our game management is really poor. We try to split teams open with stunning moves when momentum is against us. Periods where we can't get a grip on the ball and we start trying Hollywood passes.

We get ourselves involved in games of tennis. I get that you want to counter attack but we are trying to force it when it's not on. 

For a while all Boro wanted to do was get crosses in. And all we kept doing was scrapping. Fair play for effort but nobody took much responsibility and they just replaced composure with more aggression. We gave away free kicks, put the ball in the air to lose headers, pressed as individuals and started knocking it into channels. 

It was Holmes who eventually pressed the reset button. His bravery and composure giving the team a wake up call. We stopped being stupid.

It's happening a lot. It happened at Norwich. The first 30 mins Norwich were simply too good. But then as they eased off we managed to start doing our thing. Then in the second half we got involved in a battle. Then even after taking the lead to win the game we got back into scrap. 

Swansea. Forest. Loads of games. 

In almost any game we will have periods of pressure. Some long and some brief. We need to make sure we do the basics right. Not kick and rush. Not daft free kicks or constant defence splitters. Manage the momentum and get back in the game. 

They undo their own good work. It's a good team. An exciting team. But it can be incredibly dumb. 

Well done to the defence today. I thought both full backs did well. Maybe Bogle should have dealt better with the movement from the throw? But he did well. Wisdom much better at LB. More options than at LB with him naturally playing in field. Marriott found it hard going. Not his best game. 

Holmes guided us back into the match though. Excellent sub today. 

Overall a fair result.

[Marriot Ram99]

10 minutes ago, Cam the Ram said:

Thought he was good going forward like he normally is and you could see him getting quite frustrated at the lack of movement ahead of him. He had an even tougher day today because Waghorn frequently moved inside leaving Bogle to try and create something on his own down our right. But I agree with you about him defensively .... it feels like it's been months now that there's been criticism for the full backs for not stopping the crosses coming in and today was no different. I'm not sure if he's worried about the winger/full back beating him and getting into the box or something, but something needs to change because Keogh and Tomori are facing what feels like 20+ crosses a game 

We defend far too narrow down the left side with the winger doing most of the defending and the full back just watching and down the right Bogle is just not aggressive or strong enough to barge players off the ball that is part of the problem .His body positions for 1vs 1s are always dodgy and he would be a wingers dream to play against as he falls for any bit if trickery and you could quite easily just fake to go one way and run past him on the other side. Another problem is the wingers don't help out enough or with any intelligence and players are always left open down the sides.

[AndyinLiverpool]

I suppose we will just have to go and beat Leeds now.

[Mafiabob]

20 minutes ago, RedSmog said:

Thought you lot were lucky to get a point tbh

Derby never looked anything like the team we were expecting, but the Boro defence looked class today ?

 

Think their is smog in your eyes if you thought that.... but I think you’ve got a cheeky grin saying that ?

Agree Boros defence was brilliant for me.....

[King Kevin]

1 minute ago, AndyinLiverpool said:

I suppose we will just have to go and beat Leeds now.

Hope so got my ticket yesterday.

[Marriot Ram99]

1 minute ago, AndyinLiverpool said:

I suppose we will just have to go and beat Leeds now.

I'm not sure if it is a good time to be playing them or a really bad time as they will be pumped up and desperate to bounce back, either way we will have to play better defensively than we did today or it will be a repeat of the Sheffield united game.

[Rev]

13 minutes ago, RamNut said:

Friend - as so often before - has that bit of quality to deliver a great ball right onto hugill's bonce.

The only thing better than Friend, in that position in the championship, is George Friends hair.

It's truly wonderful, full bodied yet bouncy, with a magnificent natural sheen, yet pleasingly old fashioned in its cut and style.

Timeless and classy, like a good watch, an Aston Martin or indeed James Bond himself.

I bet it even smells good, even after 90 minutes.

[Harrowram]

The result was a bit disappointing. However the plus points are the improved performances of the players bought in such as Waghorn and Josefszoon, the involvement and ability of Evans and Holmes, and Wisdom making a very effective contribution at left back.

By my reckoning we have 8 games remaining against teams in the top half of the table (including Leeds). Six of those games are away and two at home.

However we have 12 games remaining against teams in the bottom half. Eight of those games are at home and 4 away including Ipswich who are probably already dead and buried.

On the above basis I think we have a very good chance of an automatic promotion spot particularly if we can beat Leeds away!

[Inglorius]

1 minute ago, Harrowram said:

However we have 12 games remaining against teams in the bottom half. Eight of those games are at home and 4 away including Ipswich who are probably already dead and buried.

On the above basis I think we have a very good chance of an automatic promotion spot particularly if we can beat Leeds away!

I'm not trying to rain on your parade but I've not seen anything so far with over half the season gone to suggest we're Top 2 material.  

Sonething totally radical will have to change for us to do that and I simply can't see any evidence as yet for that to happen. 

[lukedcfc]

Fair result in the end, both teams had good chances to win it. Wisdom was excellent, he looked like the wisdom we had on loan. Holmes was also excellent, should of come on for Wilson though. The Nugent chance was huge, he should put that away with his eyes closed. All in all a decent week, after Leeds we have got most of the better sides out of the way. 

[Coneheadjohn]

George Saville looks a good buy at 8 million?

[Wrightdcfc]

David Nugent has cost us vital points this season, he should of bagged against Boro away and home and should of finished that headed against Forest. Could be vital points 

[Doodle]

Just got back, disappointed with a point although would have taken it b4 kick off. Positives Wisdom, great game and some decent crosses. Holmes looked very bright when he came on and I expect him to start on Saturday. Negatives Bogle, poor at crosses and stopping them, I expect Lowe to come in with Wisdom swapping sides. Josepzoon started quite well but quickly ran out of ideas. Very surprised to see Waghorn off instead of him. Nugent the other obvious disappointment. Nice bloke and starts a bounce well but if we are serious about going up we need a decent forward in on loan as back up or to play alongside Marriott ( if we are needing Waghorn on the wing). Tomori and Keogh need to work on their communication regarding headers with high balls coming into the box. 3/4 times today the first man usually Tomori would stretch for an header and not clear well. When the other usually Keogh was better placed to clear it, one or both need to shout louder 

[Wrightdcfc]

Wisdom not so great first half but had an outstanding second half to say he's playing out of position..  I think shuffle him over to the right another centre half and left back in January and we will be okay. Can't rely on Lowe as we don't really know no injured he is.. Yes he was on the bench but from playing Scottish football to championship it's a massive step up.

[Inglorius]

4 minutes ago, Wrightdcfc said:

David Nugent has cost us vital points this season, he should of bagged against Boro away and home and should of finished that headed against Forest. Could be vital points 

So it's Nugents fault that we're not higher up the table?

[Zag zig]

6 minutes ago, Wrightdcfc said:

David Nugent has cost us vital points this season, he should of bagged against Boro away and home and should of finished that headed against Forest. Could be vital points 

And yet his contribution against Norwich was lauded by Lampard; for balance he effectively helped win 3 points..... just saying.