Otto42

I was in Sheffield for a family party on Saturday evening chatting to a few Blades and they are very confident. Think if we are able to play as we did against Cardiff first half they may be in for a bit of a shock. Having said all that the only games we have struggled in the league under Carrick have been when the opposition has been pacey and turned our defence, Sunderland and Burnley. Could well be a goal fest, in Super Michael Carrick we trust - 3-2 to the Boro 😉

My abiding memory of this one is being in the East End seats surrounded by Geordies, for some reason the game wasn't all ticket and the Geordies took over, only game I ever persuaded my old fella to leave early. Remember a Geordie shouting whenever Beatie was in action 'He's got nay knees man'!

Everton's a strange one, I think if they did come down they would either romp to promotion as Champions or slide to League One. As we've found if you don't get back up in the first couple of years it gets tough, West Brom will be concerned if they don't go up this season as will Sheffield Utd. I reckon the yoyo clubs like Bournemouth will always mount a challenge, if Southampton come down they could easily become a yoyo club. Overall you probably want clubs of similar size to ourselves to come down.

I don't see it getting any better in league one either with our current set up.

I don't see it getting any better in league one either with our current set up either.

I will be very surprised if Woodgate is sacked this season. I expect him to still be here next season whatever happens. I think the club is prepared to accept relegation to the third tier, otherwise he would have gone in November. I can't personally see Woodgate turning it round with the experienced players, who I don't believe are playing for him. The younger players are more likely to listen to him and that's why his about turn and confused selections in the past month have surprised me. I never thought Woodgate was the right man for the job, but he has been let down by his 'big na

Can't disagree with any of that. However we'll struggle to move on Saville and to keep Ayala. We need some experience bringing in on the pitch and off if relegation this season is avoided, otherwise it will be constant struggle until there finally aren't three worse teams than us.

I understand the sacrificing a forward, would have been Britt for me btw. Baffled by bringing Clayton on...it was our left wing back who was sent off! Midfield three were working well. He therefore shuffles around at least four players when all he needed to do was bring on Coulson for Britt/Fletch.

It's not hindsight I really couldn't understand bringing Clayton on at half time and leaving Britt totally isolated. Tav is not and never will be a left back. Johnson was stupid, but Woodgate takes a big share of the blame for blowing a wonderful chance to get a win. By all means defend if you have the players but you still need to hav some posession.

Gestede would be top of a long list of forwards including 'goal machine' Afonso Alves, Michael Ricketts (some leeway allowed for his goal at Spurs), Mido, Kris Boyd, Alliadiare, Peter Davenport and Braithwaite (who took us for a ride for £9m)

On my way home from Pride Park. We did ok first half, but seemed to give up second half.. ..god knows what Woody said at half time. Pears saved us from a battering second half. Our manager is clueless, again playing our most dynamic midfielder in a back three, but apparently he hates Geordies so that's ok 😂. Assombalonga should never play for us again, offers nothing holding up the ball and misses sitter after sitter!

Fair result. Enjoyed the game, there are some promising signs going forward, but defensively we are far too open. I think if we are expecting our full backs to get forward we should go with three central defenders and provide more protection from midfield, 3-5-2 doesn't have to be a negative formation and suits our current players better.

Still too early to press the panic button imho. However, confidence will be low and it's going to be difficult for a novice manager and assistant to boost that. Probably need to dispense with one of the three forward players and bolster the midfield.

Am afraid it's the social media and 24 hour news generation that means there is no patience anymore. This will be our third league game, you can't really say how the season will pan out until mid October and even then there's scope for a big turnaround. For what it's worth I think this will be a season of transistion with us flirting with play offs and perhaps relegation in equal measure. I for one will be happy to see steady progress both on and off the pitch towards our 'new model' being implemented.

Joined about a week ago when fmttm had technical issues (yet again) and saw you mentioned over there. Seemed to be more genuinely ITK than some of the fmttm wind ups in the transfer window?. Like the layout especially the fact you can focus on the Boro stuff. Have been with fmttm for a long time, never really got on with come on boro, so nice to have an alternative.