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i mean if u look at our form i think we have turned a corner some what. 1 defeat in 5 and it was away to top of the league leeds. weve won 2 games after no win in 10 , were scoring goals and were now 4 points clear of the drop. and to top it off weve done this while half the squad has been out injured or ill. a bare bones boro squad has show the fight and determination thats been lacking all season, for me thats grounds for optimism

Hi, Apologies for the intrusion. I covered an U23 match of yours against Newcastle back in November, and planned to do so next time you played down south and I was nearby. I went to the match against Crystal Palace today, which 'Boro absolutely dominated, and put together this match report with photos. https://thegrassrootstourist.com/2019/12/02/crystal-palace-u23/ Hope it's of interest to some. Regards, GRTourist

For me, I've watched us play a fair few games this year and theres been a sprinkling of us looking good. It's not constant and it's in flashes. However, what worries me the most is that we just didnt even muster any real chances throughout the game. That's a worry as its typical of most of our games this season, as shown with the low shots and conversion stats. I still cant quite fathom what type of team we are. Do we defend deep and hit them on the break? Do we play with the infamous Woodgate high press? What exactly is our approach to games? We dont keep the ball well. That's a worry. Even in periods today where Leeds were at us and even the Hull game, *** me, just pass the ball around and make Leeds work for it. We gave them the ball back so many times but for no purpose? I just dont get it. Its amateurish, it really is. It's going to get worse before it gets better, that's for sure. Randolph will leave and if you're a Boro player now, why on earth would you sign an extended contract to stay? I hate it. I honestly hate it so much. It's like watching your house burn down and being powerless to stop it whilst Woodgate tries to blunder about and put it out whilst Gibson controls the water. No game plan, no tactics, no possession, no shots and no enjoyment. We currently win 1 game in 6. Have the 5th worst goal difference in the league. It's amazing we're not in the bottom 3.

We should have been out of sight in that game had it not been for Barnsleys keeper pulling off heroics, what are you talking about "undeserved" and Barnsley should feel "robbed". We were far better that 2nd half.

If we can afford Hughton we can afford Karanka. I don't care about the dangers of nostalgia, just give me that beautiful man back.

Wow. Great point. totally unexpected. Nice one. Keep going. We are only 13 points from a play off spot with half the season left. Onward and upward. C'mon Boro.

They could send up their ladies team and get through

Take off those rose tinted glasses lad, they've torn us apart. When they kick it up a notch in the second half they'll put a few more past us most likely.

You should have let him travel up tonight and get even more radged when he realised the game was tomorrow, it would be hilarious 😀 - I've done the travelling all over watching Boro, you don't get a medal for it, you just do it because you want to do it. It also doesn't make you any different to any other Boro fan. - We do have an inexperienced management team although some might suggest the word that you're really looking for is cheap. There's not a great deal of evidence to suggest that they are learning as they go, which is probably why we've only won 2 out of 17 games this season, haven't won in the last 10 games and haven't won since the middle of September. - Gibson was putting whatever money he was into his own business. That's what you do when you run it at a massive loss, you have to fund the shortfall. The entire reason there were financial issues was because he allowed the club to overspend and did so in such a way as to create long term problems. If you keep making *** poor decisions then it's right that it costs you rather than other people although as it happens it did cost us other people as well. - Hardly any of our players are making a step up from our youth set up or from lower leagues. Randolph, Johnson, Fry, Ayala, Howson, Dijksteel, Wing, McNair, Tavernier, Fletcher (Clayton 45), Assombalonga. That was our team on Sunday. It's not inexperienced or full of lower league players and people need to stop using this as an excuse. - I'm a Boro fan and that means I'll be a Boro fan next season regardless of which division we're in but I'm buggered if I'm going to be happy with a team that can barely win a game. Just like you I've seen that before and it usually ends in relegation and there's no reason to just go along with that as though it's ok.

Good 40 minutes, granted. That second half was as absolutely horrid. Yes I know we were down to ten men, but the game against Fulham showed that you can still play with 10 men and look ok going forward and defensively. But dear me our tactics when going down to ten men we may as well have just said to Hull "here you go lads have a go" sparse attacks and spent most of the game camped in our half and box and honestly 5 mins in you could see precisely what the result was going to be. Johnson was absolutely stupid, but Woodgate was just as stupid with the tactics in the second half.

Were just so so poor this season man. Scary part is I can actually see it getting worse before it gets better. I'm still largely of the opinion that our recent performances were fluke rather than anything particularly special. Such horrific horrific discipline

Well damn, that was a point I wasn't expecting. Didn't see or listen to the game, but reading the BBC's match report, sounds like it was a pretty dour affair. According to the stats, Forest had way more possession & corners, but both sides had exactly the same number of shots at goal & on target. In any case, that could end up being a valuable point and given I was expecting us to be soundly spanked, I can only say "well done lads". With that result, our last 6 games read: W2 D3 L1 Is it too early to say we've turned the corner...or a corner, at least?

It's for mental health awareness - https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/dec/02/fa-cup-third-round-delayed-minute-mental-health-awareness

I know the club have the gazette by the balls but oh my god. ‘It’s no use crying over spilled milk’. What a total lack of respect from the Gazette, no journalist can wash their hands with this degree of manipulation. Fans are frustrated with the ineptitude at the top of the club. Yes, the club seems to be trying to right those wrongs, but the same people remain in charge and have given fans little faith they have the knowledge to turn it around. As far as most fans are concerned, the milk continues to spill. This article rebuffs all the subsidiary concerns fans have whilst completely failing to acknowledge the problem that underlies them: the poor decisions made by people at the top of the club who remain in place.

How can being relegated be better than not being relegated? I'll take 'just staying up' right now. Our last two relegations have turned out brilliantly. Warnock has got a team promoted in the last two years and almost kept them up too - harsh in my opinion to compare to Pulis who failed in direct competition with a vastly superior budget. I don't think anyone has ever dreamt of seeing Warnock as their team's manager... but would take him over the pure embarrassing ineptitude getting served up right now. If Woody keeps up it will be through blind luck of there somehow being three poorer teams.

There is one person to blame and that is Steve Gibson. He's taken his eye off the ball. He's lost interest in MFC. He's preoccupied with supporting his 'mates' in the Tory Party to the detriment of MFC. RIP Boro

The current predicament says a lot more about Gibson than it does Woodgate.

Anyone who thinks Johnson's sending off was a yellow needs their head examining.

Uwe is pretty sneaky. You've got to keep a close eye on that one 🧐

I'm not impressed with some of my colleagues lately 😞

I'm scared if Gibson trusts Woodgate with any money. Please get rid and let someone else have a crack

We must have worn them out during the week

Yes

I only went to school 7 years. 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 3rd, grade, 3rd, grade 3rd, grade and 3rd grade ...

The City ground as never been a very happy hunting ground for us, we miss too many clear cut chances, I'll go 2-0 Forest with Lewis Grabban showing our boys how its done.

I will post negative shi#e before every match if we end up like today 😷 UP THE BORO

It's probably because we can't afford young players that are actually getting gametime and we're left with older has-beens that can't get into the matchday squads in lower prem teams. It'll be more Cranies than Gastons.

Ohhh, now that would be an interesting move!

Yet we were all happy to play at the Cellnet Riverside Stadium, wearing Cellnet-branded replica shirts. And now we're sponsored by a gambling company - the same firm sponsoring five other clubs in our league alone. I find that far more morally repugnant than the prospect of being owned by an energy drink brand. I haven't bought a Boro replica shirt for a decade, because I'm not willing to advertise gambling firms or pawnbrokers as I walk around. Steve Gibson is very unusual in not using his ownership of the club to promote other businesses he owns. Apart from Rockliffe ads on the trackside boards, I'm struggling to think of anything - there's certainly no Bulkhaul flags flying on the East Stand. Other rich owners take a different approach, which is why Arsenal play at the Emirates and Man City play at the Etihad. Progress comes as a price. Would you rather be a middling Championship club sponsored by pawnbrokers and gambling firms, or an established Premier League club sponsored by a drinks firm?

Can we open a new thread: Worst transfer window of the decade?

Worrying that Pears is likely to continue in goal once Randolph is sold in January. He was absolutely woeful today, cost 2 goals that any professional keeper would have saved. Not helping a defence that already has zero confidence.

You can take off an attacker when down to ten men and replace him with a more defensive player but you cannot just desert three quarters of the pitch and set up camp on the twenty yard line. What we failed to do was cover our wide areas which allowed them to get behind us with crosses time and time again Now that could be down to Woodgate or the players but it certainly is not the way to set up with ten men and we paid the inevitable price, schoolboy coaching stuff this !

We need to stop hoofing it and try to just keep the ball in their half. Even if we're not going forward with it, we just need to keep possession.

Whilst "only needing" one point is sufficient to get us out of the bottom 3 I hope that the players see this as a "must win" game because it is, thankfully others above us are having serious troubles of their own but we are still in deep trouble ourselves. Nothing less is simply good enough and only wins breed confidence. Massive game

I don't think it's the goal scorer, it's the lack of creativity and pace to create the opportunities (granted Britt has missed one or two) and the whole balance of the squad, shocking decision making and recruitment by many over a long period of time.

With all the different things taken into perspective Denmark will be in a group with Belgium from the top group, Russia from the second group and a team from the bottom group. Not too bad, and a decent chance of finishing second behind Belgium, unless we rise to the occasion, play a perfect game and beat the belgians. But a minimum of two home games in a finals is historic and a massive event for Denmark. Really looking forward to it. It'll be a red and white Copenhagen thats for sure.

Just another one to add to the ‘unlucky’ list...

The usual crap I see. Did he sleep with your mrs or something? That's the build up to the goal. As the ball gets played into their lad to the left of the play button, Fry goes to close him down because nobody is on him. Saville is marking nobody, McNair is marking nobody and Ayala is marking nobody. Fry points to Ayew and shouts at Coulson to tuck in but Coulson doesn't as he's watching his man near the touchline. This is the sort of crap that has been doing my head in on here all season long. Fry is getting blamed for stuff that isn't his fault unless he is supposed to mark two people at once while three other players are on nobody at all? Watch the goals we concede and see how many of them show midfielders doing absolutely nothing of use - either trailing yards behind their opponents or marking 'space' while other players are trying to deal with more than one player. If you want to blame Fry for moving out to close their lad down then fair enough but he shouldn't have had to in the first place. Our midfield is absolutely atrocious and it's not the younger lads letting us down. Tav is with his man, Coulson is watching his man and Fry is watching his. Where are the international midfielders while this is happening and what is Ayala doing exactly because he can see there's a spare man and he can see Fry moving out to close him down? He's too slow to react and he's too busy looking behind him to players who are actually marked instead of seeing the danger in the unmarked player that he's actually looking at.

Phew, love Preston.

He didn't even get to play a PL game, his only senior game for West Ham was as a 2nd half sub in a Europa League game.

*** stupidity.

🤣🤣 To expand a bit, he had a dreadful game. Robbed of possession 3 times. Overran the ball when dribbling and conceded throw ins/goal kicks on multiple occasions. Wayward passing throughout. Looked average when playing with league 2 / national league players. So hopefully he's not actually a target.

Woodgate is so full of ***. All this bull about not being afraid to play youngsters. The only reason any of our youngsters are playing is because of injury. He has completely changed our formation just to avoid having to play one of our young strikers. Have some balls Woodgate and show us you’re not just talk. Because, honestly, since he’s got the job that’s all he’s been. “we will play attacking football” - bullshit ”we will play high press football” - bullshit ”I will play the youth players” - bullshit

STAMPEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well what is there to say about that? That game was the story of Middlesbrough's season in a nutshell. Leeds didn't even need to break out of first gear they just turned up and sliced through our defence and tore us to pieces. The team sheet before the games show the state our club is now in, relying on untested youth and league 1 players and praying that they will come good, despite all of the evidence to the contrary. Steve Gibsons continuing failures and inadequacies are coming home to roost every time and he seems perfectly accepting of our current plight. I don't blame Woodgate for our thin squad, but I blame him for the poor tactics. That criticism is much more than just this game, hell it's not even the first time an opposition has scored 4 past us this season. Honestly I've never felt so numb and disinterested about Boro, honestly I feel more interested in my local club. 2 draws against mediocre opposition convinced fans we were ok and turned the corner. Christ man.

Does anyone else hear a certain piece of music and just tear up? This sounds ridiculous but there's a Ford Focus advert on at the moment with a brief classical sounding piece in it. Turns out it's by the utterly fantastic British musical collective The Cinematic Orchestra, two pieces called "Arrival of The Birds" and "The Transformation" originally written for a Disney documentary about flamingos of all things!

Oh and Cauley Woodrow got a 10 from me in the first half. Injured his own shoulder diving off the pitch before crawling back on to make it look like it happened in the box. Theatrically dived when Fry(?) pulled his leg away from a challenge in the box. Not even a booking, seen far too many dives at the Riverside this season without punishment. No wonder refs continue to be conned when they don't even stick to the courage of their convictions when a player throws himself to the ground but is adjudged not to have been fouled.

Age catch’s up with us all. If I manage a night out these days I swear after three downed pints I spend more time at the urinal then the bar. In fact I think I pass more than I down. I also think there are more chemicals in beer judging by my lasting hangovers

Actually its on tele isnt it.....there may be some long delays at the crossing today...

With todays results tomorrows game is even more important.