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p_mards

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Everything posted by p_mards

  1. You can only beat what's in front of you so I won't let Preston's poor performance downplay the positives of Tuesday night. After the slight dip in form, our ever increasing injury list and our upcoming tough fixture list, we really needed to win so I'm delighted. When I saw the teamsheet without Hackney I was fearing the worst as we usually really struggle without him. Hopefully it isn't a long-term injury as that could really hinder our play-off push. We made the most of our few moments of quality and managed the game well to not let Preston get any encouragement - which is something we've b
  2. The news about Lenihan is a massive blow. Thankfully Clarke and Dijksteel are now back from injury to plug gaps when needed. Our defence is going to be stretched to the limit with our hectic late November to New Year schedule. It wouldn't surprise me to see another RB or CB signed in January - likely a RB given Berg is a natural CB.
  3. Port Vale ticket information has been released: https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2023/november/20/ticket-info-for-port-vale-cup-tie/ I'm hoping someone can do me a massive favour... Is there someone with 160+ priority points who isn't going to the Port Vale match? If so, please can I use your digital account access to buy a ticket?
  4. While Coburn has made some decent improvements with his hold-up and link-up play this season, he really needs to work on his technique for first touch finishes from crosses - especially when they're in the air. It's a constant frustration of mine as it's such a glaring weakness. I'd like to think that it's an area the coaching staff have highlighted as a weakness and have him working on it in training. He's got good technique striking a ball that's under control, but the drop off in technique when it's a first time shot is stark. It's the sort of thing that can be coached so hopefully we can s
  5. A random question ,but my 7 year old niece is going to her first Boro match tomorrow and we're planning on her meeting the Boro players pre-match and getting some autographs. What time does the Boro team start to arrive? She's got a Man City influence from her mother's side so we're trying to prevent her from the oil baron's grip...
  6. Like adhering to his ban and not trying to enter the stadium. Unlike this guy who made the Evening Gazette today for breaching his banning order: https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/boro-matchday-moron-jamie-lathan-27997690.
  7. MFC are rightly looking to set an example of the fool. The fact that he's a season card holder makes it even more stupid as it's abundantly clear that he had notice of the zero tolerance approach of pitch encroachment. It has been emphasised all season throughout all matchdays. While it's a lifetime ban on the surface, which is key for the deterrence, I'd like to think that there'd be an option for it to be reviewed in a few years and lifted if he's had no other trouble.
  8. What an enjoyable win. Our structure out of possession is much better now as we can now absorb pressure and calmly get through tricky moments in games. We can't benefit from turning matches into wide open matches and outgun teams like we did last season, so we have to play a bit more organised and wait for our moments to exploit. I'm sure Carrick will have learned far more in the opening 7 games of this season than the whole of last season as he has had so many problems to solve, which he has done very successfully lately. Defensively we were fantastic. Fry was solid yet again. He seems to be
  9. What makes our recent run of form so impressive is that we've still had significant setbacks along the way. Engel had to be dropped at LB after the stinker against Sheffield Wednesday and then his unnatural replacement, O'Brien, gets a long-term injury against Watford. Van der Berg got injured in the warm up against Sunderland. Then McGree got injured during the Cardiff match and has been out since. Even since the Watford game Lenihan seems to be struggling with something as he hasn't made the bench a few times before the recent seemingly more concerning injury he picked up. Even now we've see
  10. I was really impressed with how well we played. It's the closest I've seen us back to playing in our style in a very long while, albeit without the cutting edge just yet. In terms of individual performances the vast majority performed well. Engel looked the most comfortable he has defensively so far. Birmingham were regularly testing him with early, direct distribution towards his area, to little avail. Dieng was incredible yet again. Barlaser put in the best performance here. When our two CM's perform so well, it makes possession-based football look really simple. Coburn obviously was v
  11. I know Greenwood hasn't ripped up any trees yet but he's got brilliant potential so having the option to sign him for £1.5 million sounds a very good piece of business. It makes me feel far more comfortable about getting minutes ahead of other players who are under permanent contract here. Considering the high quality attackers that Leeds have within their team and the substantial rebuild they they needed this summer, he seems to be one that's fallen between the cracks after the chaos of relegation. He's got great foundations to develop a young player from as he's only 21 year old, has a good
  12. I think it goes without saying that given Sunderland's attacking talents, we can't effectively go toe-to-toe with them for attacking quality. We've looked at our best this season when we've struck teams on the counter-attack so Sunderland's adventurous style could suit us. I've had a cheeky £1 bet on Fry first goalscorer and 1-0 win at 425 to 1. We've got such an aerial advantage over Sunderland so that one area to exploit. I was hoping that Engel would be dropped as I fear that the atmosphere at Sunderland could be too much for him to deal with. Him v Roberts is a huge concern also. Hope
  13. Matt Clarke is expected to starting for Boro under 21s tonight against Stoke City: https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2023/september/29/boro-u21s-/. If he comes through it unscathed then he must be getting somewhere close to returning to the first team.
  14. After seeing Akpom's resurgence last season in the gap left by our failed pursuit of Strand-Larsen, not signing another striker like Cannon could turn out to be a blessing in disguise by being the making of Coburn or someone else. With Sam Greenwood able to play #10 and RW we've got more depth to adjust Forss and Rogers from their usual positions into strike if needed. It's better to sit on our money and wait for the right deal, even if it's in the January window or the next summer. This season it's going to take a lot to fall into place for us to finish ahead of the likes of Leicester, Southa
  15. Making more signings to replace Rogers and Lath based upon fans "screaming" that they aren't good enough after just a few games is a ridiculous transfer strategy. Clearly the club highly rate Rogers and Lath, and see them as our first choice #10 and #9. We've spent a heavy percentage of our budget on them and both have shown early promise so they need time to settle in and continue their development. We were never going to sign better quality, immediately anyway, than Akpom and Archer - as we simply can't afford to. The hope is that Rogers and Lath can develop and become at least as good as th
  16. O'Brien would be an excellent signing for us. While he's more of an #8 than a #6, he's a comfortable footballer in tight spaces to play out from the back in our 3-2-5 structure and should be able to add vital mobility to make recovery runs to help us defend long diagonals and transitions down our left flank. The lack of athleticism and defensive nous from central midfield when our shape has opened up is very telling at times, so hopefully he can effectively help plug them gaps that we leave. At the moment, Hackney plays as our left-sided CM with one of Howson or Barlaser on the right-side, but
  17. Tommy Smith is back in training. He's in the training photos released just now.
  18. Our system worked the best it has so far this season so I'm feeling optimistic that things are starting to improve despite the draw. There was much better link-up play between the thirds, with Howson's return allowing us to bring the ball out of defence into midfield more effectively and Rogers allowing us to open up Huddersfield in the final third. The pace of Lath and Silvera in attacking areas really helped us stretch Huddersfield and give a degree of unpredictability to our game. The main thing that let us down was our cutting edge with a mix of poor finishing and poor decision-making, lar
  19. I thought he played LW for QPR for the majority of his hot spell at the start of last season. I could easily be wrong though.
  20. Our team is looking in a much stronger position now that we've signed Engel and Lath. The only remaining positions that we need to strengthen before the end of the transfer window is CM and another striker. The contract situations with McNair and Dijksteel makes it likely that we'll cash in on them if we receive decent offers and can find suitable replacements, so that could be some other transfer movement. If we sign Chris Willock from QPR then I suspect it'll be to play the striker role as we're already very well stocked at LW with McGree and Silvera. Hopefully the Akpom fee can allow u
  21. I'm glad to see Silvera and Jones start on the wings. Crooks has struggled so far in the #10 role, but hopefully the pace on the addition of pace on wings from Silvera and Jones can bring the best out of him. In Wilder's system, Crooks was excellent at arriving late into the box to convert Jones' low deliveries into the box, so hopefully the pace on the wings can help bring the best out of him today. Barlaser really needs to improve his short passing if he's ever going to succeed here. I was hoping Howson was going to have recovered enough to start so I'm disappointed that he didn't come in fo
  22. I agree that we could possibly have got more money for Akpom if we played a high-risk strategy. However, that reckless approach loses sight of the position we're in as we need his transfer fee to strengthen many areas of the team like LB, CM and at least one striker. Blackburn tried that over Ben Brereton-Diaz last summer by demanding £25 million plus, which backfired spectacularly considering he left on a free transfer to Villareal this summer. Also, given Akpom has only just recovered from a long-term injury, I feel fortunate that we can still raise a significant fee for him. If he tweaked
  23. It wouldn't surprise me to see Coburn go out on loan to Huddersfield. Warnock is a huge fan of his and they're supposedly looking for a striker so he's got to be high up their list of targets. In the right system Coburn is capable of scoring 15-20 goals in the Championship.
  24. We're firmly in the category of younger and improved. It reinforces the view that we're starting to get on the right path long-term.
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