the_littlest_hobo

Agreed boroinbishop, I would share the blame equally a***st Monk, the players and Steve Gibson. Monk has to take his share of the blame for inconsistent team selections/tactics and recruitment. The players are blatantly not matching the opposition for workrate and effort. As the old saying goes 'you must first earn the right to play'. They also seem extremely complacent in the sense that they believe they are too good for this league. And finally, Gibson made the most amateurish mistake going when he proclaimed we wanted to smash the league. It placed huge pressure on the manager and

MMC, calm down. Are you hungover? I will give my opinion and you give yours. Easy. No need to get angry just because you dislike my opinions and the tone of my posts. I tend to find the best way to get through life is to be open, honest, respectful and truthful so I will post on here in the same way. However, I must disagree with a lot of what you say. I will leave it at that as you don't appear to take criticism too well. Just have a look who started with the name calling. Here is a clue, it was not me.

An intetesting similarity between us this season and the Man City team of last season is the inability to beat the top teams. I think City only won twice in 12 meetings against the traditional Big Six. That wasn't down to the quality of their players and it certainly wasn't down to having a poor manager in charge.

Hey Will, there is no animosity on my part and I cant remember saying you were immature but apologies if I did. We all have different opinions but one thing we all agree on is that we want what we think is best for Boro. No hard feelings. I disagree with what you mention about City. Yes, they had a good start but considering the quality they had they were very error prone, disjointed and unsure in many games. You cannot blame that on injury and fitness but then not afford Monk the same excuses. I am just of the opinion that changing the mentality and style of a team takes longer than

MMC, its a marathon not a sprint. Do you also scream at the TV halfway through a horse race if your horse is not leading? Now thats idiotic!

We are trying to replicate the way in which his Leeds side played last season. Lone striker, three behind playing narrow and the full backs playing very high up the pitch almost as wingers. The problem was and still is recruitment and mentality. Was Monk solely responsible for recruitment. No, but he will have been involved and I think he has got the balance wrong. We have too many strikers and not enough creative attacking players for in behind. We also need a natural left sided full back. I think this will be rectified in January with at least one striker leaving and a couple of c

Good post. Agree with almost all of that other than you not seeing any progress. I also cringe when our fans are demanding instant success or the mangers head. Its not the way our club does things and I am proud that we have some loyalty and values.

Good points and I totally agree about the way he uses the full backs, far too attacking. He has certainly not got the balance right but again I point to Man City and Guardiola arguably the best team in England and the best manager in the world. Completely changing the style and philosophy of a team does not happen quickly. Personally, I do not agree with the tactics employed by Monk. I have said it many times that I think we need to be much tighter defensively. However, after the mind numbing football under Karanka a huge number of fans were demanding attacking football and I am certain Gib

Wilson, Monk has said time and time again that he is taking responsibility for our current situation. Just one question, do you think he should be given to the end of the season?

Will, Duvel, Changing apologies if that sounds patronising! I am a little sick of reading constant negativity towards the manager to be honest, some of it warranted but a lot of it not which is what prompted me to submit my opening post. It appears to me that too many supporters have made their minds up because we are not top of the league already. I dont think that is fair and I wouldnt want this impatience and entitlement to contribute to the sacking of the manager who, I believe deserves much more time than under half a season to get the team playing how he wants.

Despite how this is going to look, especially after being labelled as defending Monk at all costs, I do feel a little balance is required when it cones to discussing our current situation. Should we not look at how some top managers have fared during the early stages of their respective club careers? I think a great example is Pep Guatdiola at Man City. Of course, I am not in any way comparing us to Man City in terms of quality however lets take a closer look. Pep had a really tough initial spell where the players struggled to adapt their games and play in the way Pep wanted. They lo

I can see what you are saying but I am not sure that Monk has a huge say in the transfer dealings anyway. He will be a part of the process but I do not think he has total control. Anyway, if we are in a similar position this time next year then I don't think anyone can grumble when Gibson does sack him. I honestly believe that Gibson, dedpite his stupid 'smash the league' comment has given Monk a remit of promotion within two seasons which seems fair enough to me.

Thomas, I would expect Gibson to hold his nerve and reserve judgement until the end of the season and I believe that is what he will do. He gives his managers ample opportunity to be succesful which is a very sensible approach in my opinion. Do I think Monk will get us top 6? Not on current evidence. Do I think he is doing a good job? No he is definitely underachieving. However, that is based on his first 6 months in charge. I would not be totally shocked to see us improve in the 2nd half of the season and I think Monk deserves a full season in charge at the very least because of the situat

Yet I am not the one losing their temper and firing out childish insults. I have simply agreed to disagree as you appear unwilling to consider any positive opinion. Your little outburst has just reinforced that so I will leave it there if thats OK. Have a great Xmas.

Thomas, I have seen glimpses and I mean really tiny fleeting glimpses of it coming together of late. As I keep saying, because of the 3 points I raised in my opening post I am prepared to give the new manager more than half a season. I will judge him at the end of the season. Playoffs is the minimum requirement and I will make my judgement accordingly.

Riochs, have you considered any of those 3 points in my opening post and the relevance they may have with regards to our inconsistency and poor displays?

Sorry Will, whilst you are of course entitled to your opinion I just can not agree with anything you say. Without wishing to offend, you are one of the types of supporters I mentioned in another thread relating to entitlement. You are unwilling to see any positives and are incapable of being sensible and realistic with regards to our situation. Whether that is your fault or Steve Gibsons fault for stupidly raising expectations is another argument. I think I will just agree to disagree with you as we are never going to find common ground here.

Of course tyler, its all about opinions! It would be boring if we all agreed!

Tyler, no, I think the 5 above were our most talented last season but you are correct when you distinguish between most talented and best performing. Gibson is a little overrated in my opinion although he was indeed one of our best performers.

Hi Will, I did say arguably our most talented. Personally I would say the 5 I listed are more talented than Gibson but I could understand others disagreeing. You seem to want to hammer the manager regardless. I prefer to look at things calmly and objectively. I am no fan of Monk but I am also no critic of him. As I have said, I understand the difficulties of the task he has. I am prepared to give him time because of this. I think that is the most sensible approach but can understand fans, like yourself, being slightly dramatic and impatient.

1. Valdes, Ramirez, Chambers, De Roon and Negredo were arguably our five most talented players last season. Half a team gone. 2. Relegation is one thing. Going down like Villa and ourselves did is another thing entirely. There is a huge difference. 3. Considering points 1 and 2, judging a new manager with less than half a season gone is perhaps a little silly.

As much as I am not impressed by his managerial efforts so far I must admit that I do not disagree with any of the points he made this afternoon. YES the confidence and morale in the dressing room will have been at an all time low and, as Aston Villa proved after an equally horrendous season, spending big big money does not offer an instant fix. YES too many of our players have taken far too long to adapt to a more positive, attacking approach after years of being drilled in defensive tactics. YES too many people, supporters and press, forget the large number of key players that left

With such defensive frailty, a plethora of options in attack and a lack of quality in wide areas I would like to see us switch to a 3-4-3 formation. One thing I liked from the reign of Karanka was his idea of two players competing for each position throughout the squad. With that in mind....... GK Randolph Dimi CB Ayala Fry Gibson Shotton Friend RWB Christie Fabio CM Leadbitter Howson Clayton Forshaw Baker Downing LWB Johnson Tavernier FWD Gestede Assombolonga Fletcher Bamford Traore Braithwaite So as you can see, our current squad really does

Why do you think the players make an effort one week and not bother the other? I don't agree with you by the way I'm just curious why you think the way you do. I've seen players down tools at certain clubs but when they down tools they stay down. I haven't seen a team not bother one week and then try the week after, it doesn't make sense to me. I think the lack of effort/passion accusation is thrown around far too easily by fans and is a very lazy argument. Its down to attitude. Pure and simple. To phrase an expression from Dads Army...."they don't like it up em!" When teams ge

Its a tough one. I don't think Monk has what it takes to get us up judging by what I have seen SO FAR. However, do we just keep changing managers and letting the players get away with this lack of effort every other week? Leeds away, Bristol away and now Milwall away. All carbon copy 2-1 defeats caused by our players not working as hard as the opposition. Thats got nothing to do with tactics. Too many of our players letting the club and the fans down at the moment.