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Smokedsalmon

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Posts posted by Smokedsalmon

  1. Just now, Neverbefore said:

    The fact that balogun and sporar didnt touch the ball backs this up. That's why I always defend him, he gets far worse than any of the others but they're all much of the same - at some point you have to ask if that's a tactics issue or do we really just have 4 crap strikers?

    Connolly gets it worse because of the reputation he's come with off the pitch, I reckon. He looks like a "lad" with his Love Island girlfriend and history of a bad attitude.

    Balogun doesn't bring that, and Sporar has a catchy song, so neither get pelters as much as him.

    • Like 1
    • Haha 1
  2. I don't rate Connolly at all, but I have to say, I don't know what people expect him to do.

    He'd have had to literally pick the ball up in our half and beat the whole Bournemouth team to score today.

    You can see how annoyed he gets after the 4-5th time when he's made a run, called for it, and we've passed it backwards. He probably snatches at chances because he's genuinely lucky to get the ball in a shooting position once per game.

    Our awful attacking play is not his (or any of the other 3 striker's) fault because they're doing what they're instructed to do.

    People can't seriously believe all 4 of our strikers are this bad, right? You could genuinely put Lewandowski up top in this side and he'd struggle exactly the same way.

    • Like 3
  3. 7 minutes ago, Denzel Zanzibar said:

    This is worrying considering I'd heard a rumour that Wilder's contract with us is only for one season. 

    Surely he'd want to have a full season with us though if we don't get promoted this season? Burnley in the Championship, even with parachute money doesn't seem to be a very attractive job offer to me...

    He's said in basically every interview he's ever done with us that he's here "for the medium and long term" and there is 0.0% chance we sacked Warnock to bring Wilder in on a 7 month contract so that rumour sounds about as believable as the one I'm about to make up now saying that we're bringing in Dyche as our new Media Training Coach to teach the players how to growl when they talk.

    • Haha 3
  4. 2 hours ago, AnglianRed said:

    Fair point. Quite a few times I've found myself shouting "shoot!" then groaning when they take another touch, or pass it. Another reason we are so frustrating to watch at times.

    Its like we caught the Arsenal disease and just want to pass the ball into the net.

     

    Moving the ball slowly has been our bane for years now. Very rarely we get some one-touch passing and movement going on down the right, usually involving Jones/Dijksteel (who have a great partnership) but otherwise it's soooo sloooow. McNair especially is guilty of picking the ball up in his LCB position, watching everyone stand in front of him, moving it to he left, then the right, then waaaaaiting....

    I think we just don't have the technical ability to play at the pace required to break teams down with passing and movement.

    • Like 3
  5. 1 minute ago, TeaCider24 said:

    It would be a great idea to go up.

    We could go down with 0 wins and 38 losses and we'd still probably be in a much healthier place than we are now.

    The financial benefits of promotion outweigh any downsides of struggling when we're up there.

    Except everyone would turn on Wilder, we'd sack him halfway through the season, give the job to Knill, abandon the whole project and come down back to square one.

    I swear I've seen this movie before...

    • Like 1
    • Haha 3
  6. Just now, Downsouth said:

    Connolly is an enigma no doubt about it and the most marmite player we ever have had. You either like him or loathe him but the question is have we seen him improve? 

    Connolly plays because Wilder brought him in and to not play him would be him admitted it was a mistake.

    There's literally nothing more to it, really.

    But I also don't think he's the source of our issues, that lies in our lack of quality out-wide (without Jones) and the fact we're carrying passengers in key positions (Crooks, Lumley).

    • Like 2
  7. It isn't said enough by the way - what were we doing letting Ikpeazu go because he "doesn't suit the system" when we still ping long balls to Connolly every game? He literally never wins them.

    Easy to say in hindsight but Ikpeazu would 100% have contributed more than Connolly/Balogun have. He would have held the ball up and bought us time in the final third.

    He might not have pressed, but let's be honest, we don't press very well anyway, so I really don't get that one at all.

    • Like 6
  8. 2 minutes ago, TheJew said:

    Need then front 2 changing. As usual.

    Absolutely nothing to do with either of them that we keep taking 50 years to move the ball in the final third of the pitch. Too easy to blame strikers. No Boro striker has had consistent service since Bamford in '15.

  9. Just now, BoroJake said:

    Really think we are going up automatically next season with a few decent signings

    We are 1 good striker and a fit McGree/Payero away from absolutely *** this league at times. With Bola and Jones out wide, Crooks replaced with McGree, and a striker who can link up play, we will finish top 2 no doubts whatsoever.

    • Like 1
  10. Just now, Borodane said:

    Ah come on. We’ve got eight games this month and Jones was sick. He has to use his squad. But I’m quite certain that against weaker team he wouldn’t have gone with those two. We were so much better when the others came on. We did not deserve to lose this. 

    There is no excuse for playing a 35 year old centre half and a spent 33 year old defensive full back as your ONLY attacking width in a 3-5-2. No excuse. We were dire for the whole first half because of it.

    The rest of your point I agree with. We were better when they came on and we didn't deserve to lose. That's why it hurts - over 90 minutes with Bola & Tav out wide, we win that game. Play your best team every game.

    • Like 2
  11. Just now, sanddancer said:

    Do you think we may have a bit of stage fright. Well I can’t think why we seem so blunt and devoid of ideas. Hoping we get a chance to grow into the game but give me a point and I’ll be happy. 

    It's the 2 wing backs not being very good in a system that relies entirely on them for width.

    • Like 1
  12. 12 minutes ago, Dynamo Kev said:

    i think people over estimating fulham calling them a premier league team. they would get trounced every week in the prem again. and whats to fear anyway we ko'd two top 6 prem teams out of the fa cup this season. both are far better than fulham. we are favorites tonight they will do well to beat us. i think we'll win (so that means we lose) lol

    The Football Gods are having an absolute field-day with posts like this...

  13. 32 minutes ago, Redcar Rioja said:

    We need to treat the Fulham, Bournemouth and Huddersfield games with the same respect and effort as we did in those Premiership FA Cup games. If we do we have shown that we can compete and get results against top class sides, even Chelsea despite the result. The preparation and psyche has to be right within the squad and they have proven it can be done. In one word, consistency!

    I honestly feel better about those 3 games than the Peterborough one. This is a massive Typical Boro banana peel waiting to happen.

    • Like 3
  14. 3 hours ago, Barnaby said:

    How on earth can you be Top of the Home form League, and bottom of away form league? Surely there can't be that much difference with the same side?

    It's the difference in how teams approach playing us at home vs away.

    Away from home teams know we are fragile under the press + positive atmosphere. They start quickly and get into our faces and, whilst Millwall didn't yesterday, often score an early goal or 2 which puts us under the cosh right from the off.

    Whilst at home, with our positive atmosphere, teams usually sit off more. We tend to get a grip on the ball and "get into our rhythm" a lot quicker which lets us have more time to dictate play.

    We are far, far better on the ball than off the ball. We don't have a very effective counter-attack (we just kick it long and lose it as none of our strikers can hold it up well) so if you can stop us playing through the press, we are basically nullified.

    I also think fatigue has been a factor. Jones must cover some serious ground every game, and he's doing it for 90 minutes 3 times a week at the moment. Crooks as well. Both their performances have dipped and I think that's why. We're suffering from a serious lack of depth.

    • Like 2
  15. Just now, AnglianRed said:

    Its possible WIlder is telling them to play like this, but I'd like to see a bit more thought / imagination. Maybe get it out wide, try some diagonal balls etc. Just to mix it up a bit.

    (Says the armchair expert)

     

    I don't think Wilder tells them to play like this, he said last time against Sheffield "you'd think we were a long-ball team".

    Can you imagine being confident playing it out the back with Joe Lumley behind you in goal? Don't blame them at times.

    • Like 1
  16. Just now, Changing Times said:

    No he didn't mate, seriously, you've obviously made your mind up today but no Dykes didn't torture us at times, that's just not true.  Carroll had a better game for Reading than WBA but hardly bossed it, if you think he is the reason we didn't have a sniff for 65 mins then we're clearly not even close to being on the same page as to what we were watching that day.

    Every time QPR wanted to relieve the pressure, they did. He beat Fry in the air every time. Every time. But I guess it doesn't count if he doesn't score?

    You can't just say "you've decided to be wrong" as some form of argument. Let's leave this one there. 👍

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