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He just isn’t good enough, stop with all these excuses and mental gymnastics.

Remember a guy called Gilbert who had a great game against Leeds and linked up our attack and midfield and controlled the game in the second half, whatever happened to him, alien abduction maybe

I think that was Hackney's best game for us in ages, especially in the second half. Nice to see a return to form for him.

Said it before, I'll say it again Letting Coburn go in any capacity but especially permanent, is total lunacy I tells ya

Think there’s been a bit too much micro analysis going on tbh. I thought we actually played very well, much better than both the Swansea and Derby games. We created countless GOOD opportunities, not just half chances. A lot of our linkup play was actually real quality and we broke down their low block often enough. Hackney and Morris were very good in the middle, probably the best game Hackneys had in a boro shirt for a long time. Conway also looked tidy and sharp when he came on in the no.10 role. I think he will start next week. My only concern, and it is a concern, is our lack of putting away good chances. Whether it be an awful shot, a poor decision made or a touch too many we simply have to do better when we get in good areas. Ultimately when you don’t have natural goal scorers in the team this is what happens. Jones is never going to be a goal scorer, Azaz although got good numbers last year, I’ve seen enough to know he’s not a natural goal scorer thats clinical. Burgzong isn’t either. This is why I’ve been banging the drum about the importance of getting Forss back fit again and into the starting 11. Every attacker we had today had to take an extra touch before shooting, then maybe a chop inside, even Morris was guilty of it. Forss is someone who when he gets half a chance he will take the shot and not fanny around with it.

Of our 29 shots, 19 were in the box. They had 3 for comparison. Our attacking patterns are not the problem, the problem is the finish.

Ayling must have been awful first half because I thought he was decent second half, especially at driving forward and bringing the ball out of defence. Hackney looked back to his old self second half, promising. Burgzorg... I've never seen a player invite blocks for his shots as much as he does. He telegraphs when he's going to shoot every time. He's going to be very frustrating. Conway above azaz for me. He looks like he does everything azaz does but his ball retention is far far better. Hamilton looked far more involved on the left than he does on the right. Would be tempted to start him and Jones next game. Engel needs an extended period out of the team. That was one of the worst halves of football I've seen and he wasn't even challenged defensively. A win, a loss and a draw wasn't what I hoped given our fixtures but it's not an awful start to the season. Few bits and pieces of the team are gelling, new signings being eased in, defence is patched up. No disaster but we need to start taking chances.

The really sad thing is that Portsmouth and Derby are really poor teams and as it stands we have gifted them 6 points. These last two games have put a real dampener on early season optimism

On board in Dublin. About to take off. Looking forward to this one. Come on Boro 💪

Biggest issue for me is the three behind Latte Lath. Felt like deja vu from the Derby game. Azaz Burgzorg and Jones all poor again. Time for Hamilton Gilbert and Conway to start against Stoke on Tuesday imo. They all deserve an opportunity to stake their claim for a place in the team.

Another painfully frustrating game to watch. I'm not willing to be as patient with the team as I was last season. These performance levels need to be translated into results. Early days but we have an extremely kind start and so far we are failing to take advantage of it. Fingers crossed we sort it out asap.

Has to go down as a bad start to the season. Easiest fixtures you could ask for and we've shot ourselves in the foot twice.

How’s our xG looking?

Well done for giving him 1:47 minutes before writing him off. Scott is clearly an idiot.

Yeah I think the keeper only comes out there 1 on 1. Poor decision from Seny to even be coming for that.

Oh well at least you haven’t created any speculation 🙃

he had me at Borges, they make great parmos

He showed promise for us but anyone who claims they weren't surprised firstly that villa came in for him and secondly paid £15m or so, they are definitely liars. I am glad he is doing well though and hopefully we get all the add ons fairly quickly

Spoke to Rav Van De Berg after the game on the concourse. He signed my son’s match program and we got a pic. Jokingly asked him if he was ready for Stoke and he was quite candid and said he felt it at the end of the last game, was scanned and said he reckons at least 2 weeks away. Dael Fry was there too but he was chatting elsewhere and couldn’t get to him 😂

Quite enjoyed the match TBH, apart from the constant moaning from the people sat around me. Things just didn’t fall quite right for our players but the build up play was decent. Conway looks very good, love Morris already, Hackney played well second half. Burgzorg is a bit frustrating and I’m not sure he’ll be a starter once others are back. I think Engel is our best crosser of the ball, did really well until the last 20 mins or so, put a couple of poor crosses in and the crowd (or them around me) straight on his back. It’s infuriating! Im still feeling optimistic for the season.

I'd sell the whole team. All ***...

That's not what's causing him to misplace countless easy passes every game though

Anyone know what we got for him? He’ll be in the England squad soon. I’ve got to admit I didn’t think he was ready for the move - you could see his talent but decision making with us was hit and miss. I was wrong - I think playing with better players has made him even better. Well done Morgs.

Is it though? Feel like I've seen this exact game quite a few times where we don't come away with three points. Hardly a one off 😕

I think we said that quite a bit last season as well.

They were forced to watch him play

This type of game is definitely a pattern under Carrick. Awful defending and individual mistakes cost us and then we have to try and claw our way back into the game. It's been going on for a long time, he really needs to get on top of it.

The universe ends.

A promotion chasing team do not lose to either Derby or Portsmouth never mind both back to back. Just nowhere near good enough and actually pretty embarrassing to watch

You had me at Brazilian

Voted Ligue 1 left back of the year in 22/23 Season 😏 And the 10th Best left back in the world according to https://thetrivelaeffect.com/best-left-backs/ We'll take it!

It means they're mates

John Mousinho, the Portsmouth manager, was quite open in admitting that Middlesbrough deserved to win on the balance of play, which I thought was refreshing honesty. Likewise for Paul Warne with Derby last week.

This is now 100% Carrick's squad and Carrick's team, he coaches them, he sets out the tactics and he makes the tactical changes and substitutions during games. If Burgzorg is taking too many touches then hook him, If Azaz keeps frustrating, hook him, if Jones frustrates then hook him,. He has plenty of options on the bench to do something about it. We saw at Elland Road that he has players in his squad capable of making an impact, he can't hide behind previous excuses that it's Wilder's squad or there has been too much upheaval and new faces needing time to settle. As much as it sticks in my throat the Sunderland Manager has had a tougher challenge and fixture list as well as losing his by far most influential player in a basket case of a club. At some point Carrick has to start delivering consistently over an entire season and not selected bits of it, if it's not working then it's his responsibility. If it's not he shouldn't be in management.

What a game morgan rogers is having here

Negatives from today: - We struggled to break down another poor side. - We created tons of chances, but can't seem to convert them. - We still haven't scored from open play in the league this season. - Engel looks devoid of confidence. Similar to when he joined us last year - Dieng had a rare stinker - Our players are made of mirrored glass and everytime one breaks it gives us 7 years of bad luck. - Our defence looks about as solid as donald trump's (in any given trial). -It feels like its going to be another one of those seasons... - Sunderland won Positives from today: - I found a pound on the floor

51 shots in 2 games. 2 goals one penalty one and set pieces. Surely we will convert those stats soon. That said I felt with 15 minutes to go o thought it was going to be another one of those days so at least we managed to get a draw. Although in reality we should be on 9 points right now bar poor finishing and defensive errors.

I don't know, he wouldn't have expected his keeper to be coming out for a ball that is outside his box in that situation. He probably saw him but didn't believe it

Well the DZ run cam to a crashing end so hopefully @marvin will produce a winning Stoke at home cup thread and a start of a long run @Downsouth although I know you know you follow Marvin

30 shots to 6 and we only take a point, it's encouraging that we're at least smashing these teams even if we're not getting the result.

No point in having these options on the bench if we're not going to actually use them till the game is nearly done.

Hello gang, good to see the match thread as steady and calm as usual 😀

Your brother tell you this or this from you?

We'll win this 4-2.

You hope that the individual mistakes don't recur and yet here we are again. The first one was collectively poor though if Morris actually watches the space rather than the ball then maybe he prevents the cross. The second is just embarrassing. One of yaz, man. Dieng should be nowhere near that with Clarke launching himself across to cover his defensive partner.

Clarke is a very rash player and I think he’s at fault for the second, that being said he probably doesn’t expect Dieng to be there. Ayling playing very poor, would rather see Hunt on. Engel is not what we need to get out of this league. We need to get more bodies in the box when we do get forward, to many times they’ve got at least 5 players back and just Latte Lath in the middle.

Gerrin what a *** header

Shopping in Netto when we want a Waitrose left back 🤬

did all that in 9 minutes, so think how much he could do in a full 90!