Boro v Shrewsbury (EFL CUP) 4-3 (Johnson Fletcher(2) Tavernier)r

[Neverbefore 10,942]

Just now, Brunners said:

Interesting, I thought Wing played quite well all things considered.

I thought he wasn't great again - but didn't comment on him in my summary because I think its unfair to judge the midfielders in that performance. They didn't have a chance. One thing is for sure - if were going to continue to play him, we are going to need to work far harder at freeing up space around the outside of the box and getting him the ball there. Otherwise I dont think there's much point. 

[BoroBoy1989 229]

1 minute ago, Brunners said:

Interesting, I thought Wing played quite well all things considered.

Maybe harsh saying wing had a bad game, just don’t think he imposed himself on the game. None of our midfield 3 did. 
 

Howson was very disappointing 

[Leesider 1,076]

Thanks for the link Red Rocket,great to have the footie back again,really enjoyed it, Bit worrying the way Hall was turned so easily on a few times,good to see us score 4 though,a rare treat, Really need a few in the next few weeks though, UTB

[CrazyL 2,565]

3 minutes ago, 2plus2 said:

I will add one trough of negativity though. I'm not convinced by Fry's suitability for this system. Not either side of the central CB anyway.

The problem here is that if the left wing back is a converted winger, rather than a converted left back, then the left of the three centre half’s Absolutely has to be left footed. 

[Brunners 7,982]

1 minute ago, BoroBoy1989 said:

Maybe harsh saying wing had a bad game, just don’t think he imposed himself on the game. None of our midfield 3 did. 
 

Howson was very disappointing 

I think that comes back to all the long balls. I thought of the 3 he had the best impact, was driving forward, assisted one (two? Does the post count?) After his last season, I'll take that performance as a good starting block for him!

[Skinemrippers 895]

Fry hasn’t trained at all until this week has he? Looked very rusty. Hall didn’t give that stability at the back we all thought he would but Wood and Dijksteel definitely positives tonight at the back. If he goes for a back 4, we definitely need a specialist LB, if he sticks with wingbacks Spence needs some competition. Marvin much the better going forward and Coulson will be challenging for that role as well. 

[Jamie-H 1,322]

I don't think we've quite grasped what we have in Wood you're talking a prodigal talent who with another growth spurt could be touching 6 foot 5 in a couple of years time.

Let's lowball it and guess he gets 20 games this season because of our 3 CB system who was the last 18 year old English CB to breakout in the Championship with 20+ games under his belt?

The boy's had the natural composure since his debut I really think sky is the limit for him. For Pulis of all people to be unable to ignore a 16 year old kid says it all and now Warnock throwing him in ahead of the battle tested Stubbs it's genuinely scary to me how good Wood could be.

[SA Red 114]

Good to finally win at home.

No control in midfield, never dictated the pace. A holding midfielder that can put his foot on the ball, as well as give the defence some protection needed. Far too often exposed tonight and didn't deal with it anywhere near convincingly enough.

Long balls are ok with me, but not the aimless hoofing we saw so much tonight.

Good to get that one out of the system tonight and hopefully a one off.

[DurhamRed 2,047]

1 minute ago, Jamie-H said:

I don't think we've quite grasped what we have in Wood you're talking a prodigal talent who with another growth spurt could be touching 6 foot 5 in a couple of years time.

Let's lowball it and guess he gets 20 games this season because of our 3 CB system who was the last 18 year old English CB to breakout in the Championship?

The boy's had the natural composure since his debut I really think sky is the limit for him. For Pulis of all people to be unable to ignore a 16 year old kid says it all and now Warnock throwing him in ahead of the battle tested Stubbs it's genuinely scary to me how good Wood could be.

Wood does become a wonderkid in football manager like 

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

1 minute ago, DurhamRed said:

Wood does become a wonderkid in football manager like 

He's still leading my defence as probably the best defender in the Premier League from FM19 in 2025/26. By some margin one of the quickest defenders and fantastic with the ball.

[thatoldchestnut 583]

Well it was the first game i realise that, but i think it could be seen that the goalkeeper needs replacing, We need a proper left back/Left wing back as Johnson is neither. obviously midfield needs attention and i still think we need a winger to come off the bench as an alternative to wing backs. Another centre half is needed and as Warnock says two more strikers. Its nothing that 7-8 new players wouldnt solve.HaHa.

[Changing Times 12,347]

7 minutes ago, wilsoncgp said:

Both managers said they viewed this as the last pre-season game. As for being as clueless as under Woodgate, defensively maybe but functionally we've been better than whatever Woodgate served up the last few months of his time here.

Will say, I think Hall has got to improve a great deal from that to lace Ayala's boots. Got beat so often by their forwards in positions he should be winning the battle.

I don't really know what that means?  I don't think we had much of a clue what we were doing, save for hitting the ball long nice and often.  I don't really see that as any kind of improvement on what we saw under Woodgate, but obviously I would like to see us playing a certain way, as you know.

43.1% possession.

60% passing accuracy.

52% passing accuracy in the final third.

3/21 successful crosses.

8 key passes.

Every single one worse than Shrewsbury.  If people want to talk it up, not necessarily you, than fair enough, but if we'd played like that under Woodgate or Pulis then nobody would be doing so.  You can't even blame the goals conceded on us being 'too attacking' because we weren't.  We just didn't play well, against a team we should be comfortably better than, and they were the team that actually looked like they had a clue as to what they were doing, they just lacked the players comparable to ours to get it done.

Does it not bother people that we played a team a league below us who played the better football, but more than that, at least tried to play football, which we mostly didn't, save for a few occasions when we did, and then we actually looked decent?

Hopefully next week we will see something different, a bit more composure with the ball and better defending without it, would be a decent start.

[Denzel Zanzibar 6,972]

No wonder we're looking for a new first choice keeper, Stoj didn't exactly cover himself in glory tonight.

[Brunners 7,982]

Think the hate is unwarranted for Stoj, what exactly was he to blame for today?

[Uwe 3,545]

2 minutes ago, Brunners said:

Think the hate is unwarranted for Stoj, what exactly was he to blame for today?

My stream was a bit jumpy but didn’t he miss The ball by a mile which fell nicely for their 3rd goal