fatharrywhite

I think he's taking the p... Phil Jones linked with a loan move to managerless Hull. Wasn't someone claiming they had heard Boro were in for him, wonder whether this story has anything to do with it. It could have been leaked in the press as a means of getting Boro to get a move on. Or I could be talking complete ***. Hang on, I thought he was claiming Maguire was in the photo of the Udinese Stadium. He's actually saying Maguire has been spotted walking around Riverside Stadium in training kit Do potential/actual signings ever go to have a look round the ground anymore? The only on

I think he's taking the p... Phil Jones linked with a loan move to managerless Hull. Wasn't someone claiming they had heard Boro were in for him, wonder whether this story has anything to do with it. It could have been leaked in the press as a means of getting Boro to get a move on. Or I could be talking complete ***. Hang on, I thought he was claiming Maguire was in the photo of the Udinese Stadium. He's actually saying Maguire has been spotted walking around Riverside Stadium in training kit Do potential/actual signings ever go to have a look round the ground anymore? The only on

you cant really say that though as the whole context of that weekend would have been different had we won at Fulham (i.e. Watford would have played out the last few mins of their game very differently if they *had* to win and no guarantee they had drawn). equally there would have been more pressure on the teams above us and no guarantee bournmouth would have won with the pressure off them. as you said, throughout the season there will have been shedloads of examples were we *could* have picked up those extra 5 points with better finishing, dodgy refereeing decisions etc) Don't think I

you cant really say that though as the whole context of that weekend would have been different had we won at Fulham (i.e. Watford would have played out the last few mins of their game very differently if they *had* to win and no guarantee they had drawn). equally there would have been more pressure on the teams above us and no guarantee bournmouth would have won with the pressure off them. as you said, throughout the season there will have been shedloads of examples were we *could* have picked up those extra 5 points with better finishing, dodgy refereeing decisions etc)

....Unless their manager isn't good enough? I dont think we blew it in the slightest last season - to blow it you have to be in a position to lose it and we were never remotely clear in the top 2 at any point last season. The squad was one of the best in the division last season. Karanka was learning his trade and in my opinion we didn't get the best out of the players. Whether you call that blowing a chance is up to the individual. 'one of' being the key words. There's probably 4 sides outside of the teams that went up that you could legitimately say 'blew it' given how tight

....Unless their manager isn't good enough? I dont think we blew it in the slightest last season - to blow it you have to be in a position to lose it and we were never remotely clear in the top 2 at any point last season.

were you expecting anything else? We may find out in years to come when autobiographies are written but for the time being it will all be rumour and hearsay

well his birthday is in september so it's nothing to do with that.

It is based on the fact 6 of our 10 games are at home and despite our overall form the home one is still pretty much spot on and while Hull and Brighton are tough on paper it isnt beyond the realms of reality to pick up 18 points from those games. That would put us on 85 and probably needing to pick up 5 points from 4 away games, again, not beyond the realms of reality.

I ended up with: Burnley - 99 Hull - 89 Boro - 88 With Brighton, shef wed and ipswich to join us in the top 6. I reckon we could walk those play offs! ;) You seriously think Burnley are going to only drop 2 points in the rest of the season ? Maybe not when you think of it like that, but going through the list and taking each game in isolation, I guess I did... I always tend to be biased towards the opposition when doing this kind of thing, when you look at Burnley's fixtures there is a fair amount of 'cant see them not winning that'. In the end you end up giving them draw

That's impossible, if we're 2nd and they're 3rd we'd only need a draw. And if hull are 2nd there's no guarantee a win for either would mean top 2

Yes we should, but Hull could say the same thing as us and Burnley to a lesser extent. Every team in the league could look back and say if only we had won this game and that. There's a hull fan at work who isn't confident in the slightest of finishing top two. I really don't understand the overrating of their squad, the fact that it's still in our own hands after the results we've had recently says everything about the teams around us. Burnley will run away with it now but 2nd spot could be one of the lowest points gained for a long time as I don't see any of the chasing pack sudden

Didn't realise that, sounds quite easy now :-)

I was trying to work the maths out for what we would actually need to guarantee promotion given we play both hull and Brighton. If we were to win 7 of our last 10 and that included beating both of them (obviously a big ask to win 7 given our current away form) then we'd be on 88 and I think it would be hard pushed for either of them to catch us?

http://www.mfc.co.uk/news/article/2016/-middlesbrough-boro-aitor-karanka-3008900.aspx