Boro v Huddersfield 0-2

[SmogDane 4,057]

It's common fact in football, that you play to make the players around you play good .. 

We did that very well .. 

Someone just have to tell our players that it is supposed to be team mates only

[Downsouth 6,328]

If results go against us I believe we can fall into 10th spot, am I correct? 

[Humpty 3,261]

1 minute ago, boro-unger said:

Disappointing how our season seems to be fizzling out. 

Huddersfield, like Hull, knew that all they had to do was defend in an organised fashion and hit us once or twice on the break.

We played it left to right and right to left round their penalty area. Then someone would make a sloppy pass and Huddersfield were on the break. 

After they scored their second we pretty much gave up. We had half an hour to get back into the game but there wasn't any impetus in us. Just slowly knocked the ball around.

I don't know why Jones doesn't get to the byline in the 6 yard box anymore and whip it back in. We scored so many goals from that tactic earlier in the season, but seem to have given up on it for some reason...

When you find yourself in that position over and over again like we did in the first 30 minutes, you have to do something different. We moved the ball to the edge of the box and into a shooting opportunity countless times. You take a few of those shots, then all of a sudden Huddersfield  start coming out to press and that starts to leave pockets of space in the box which then makes it easier to create those "quality chances" we do so love.

It's an over simplified analysis i know but you have to mix it up when it's clearly not working.

[AnglianRed 6,320]

2 minutes ago, boro-unger said:

I don't know why Jones doesn't get to the byline in the 6 yard box anymore and whip it back in. We scored so many goals from that tactic earlier in the season, but seem to have given up on it for some reason...

Well he didn't get much chance this game as he usually had 2 defenders trying to herd him to the corner. Even when he does there's often no-one in the box to get on the end of them.

Its not just Jones, everyone else seems to have given up on that too.

Also, as I've said before I think its harsh to single out one player for not doing their job when you can point fingers at most of the team.

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

1 minute ago, AnglianRed said:

Obviously I'm not saying they should be able to do EVERYTHING, but when Plan A isn't working, you need a Plan B that you can work to.

I think it's worth taking stock of where we were at before Wilder came in and how he has instilled a strong execution of his plan A in the squad in that time.

Now, teams at this level don't often need to play any way other than plan A. If they can play one plan to a tee and have the right players for it, you'll be in the fight for promotion. It'd be nice to be able to be more flexible in your approach more often but mid-season, making that change after already trying to drill a new philosophy into players would be quite hard too.

Time will tell how this goes but, whilst it's hard watching your team getting completely nullified at home and watching you play the same way pass after pass, we have to hope a full pre-season will really help kick us on to the next level. And to be fair to Huddersfield, their defence today was as good as I've seen any in the league this season.

[Downsouth 6,328]

Apologies one and all but we have to take the rough with the smooth, the lowlights of todays performance.

 

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/12593044/middlesbrough-0-2-huddersfield-champ-highlights

Gosh I am so peeved!

[BoroSmoggie 2,710]

Might do a post about the game later but probably not as got other things to do. 

One thing I will say is respect to Johnny Howson for being the only boro player with the bottle to clap the fans after the game. Shame on the others.

[boro-unger 3,870]

Just now, AnglianRed said:

Well he didn't get much chance this game as he usually had 2 defenders trying to herd him to the corner. Even when he does there's often no-one in the box to get on the end of them.

Its not just Jones, everyone else seems to have given up on that too.

Also, as I've said before I think its harsh to single out one player for not doing their job when you can point fingers at most of the team.

Im not so much pointing the finger at Jones. It seems more like he's been told not to do it anymore and to try more crosses from more conventional areas. Even before his injury he'd stopped doing it.

[Downsouth 6,328]

2 minutes ago, Humpty said:

When you find yourself in that position over and over again like we did in the first 30 minutes, you have to do something different. We moved the ball to the edge of the box and into a shooting opportunity countless times. You take a few of those shots, then all of a sudden Huddersfield  start coming out to press and that starts to leave pockets of space in the box which then makes it easier to create those "quality chances" we do so love.

It's an over simplified analysis i know but you have to mix it up when it's clearly not working.

Well said Matt we do not shoot sometimes shooting works but more often than not due to how long it tgakes us our efforts are blocked

[SmogDane 4,057]

3 minutes ago, Humpty said:

When you find yourself in that position over and over again like we did in the first 30 minutes, you have to do something different. We moved the ball to the edge of the box and into a shooting opportunity countless times. You take a few of those shots, then all of a sudden Huddersfield  start coming out to press and that starts to leave pockets of space in the box which then makes it easier to create those "quality chances" we do so love.

It's an over simplified analysis i know but you have to mix it up when it's clearly not working.

I wrote this early on the game ... The part with having to shoot in positions to draw them out ... 

So weird, that we don't shoot at all ... 

Our best chance was a shot from distance, the one time we tried it ... 

[Downsouth 6,328]

2 minutes ago, BoroSmoggie said:

Might do a post about the game later but probably not as got other things to do. 

One thing I will say is respect to Johnny Howson for being the only boro player with the bottle to clap the fans after the game. Shame on the others.

Did they clap him back? Howson bless his heart does try but not hard enough

[TeaCider24 12,646]

Listening to Wilder's post match now, certainly doesn't sound like he's leaving in the first few minutes. 

[SmogDane 4,057]

[BoroSmoggie 2,710]

1 minute ago, Downsouth said:

Did they clap him back? Howson bless his heart does try but not hard enough

Yes for the most part (he wasn’t booed). Think the fans recognised and respected he was the only player to have the decency to do it. 

[Downsouth 6,328]

4 minutes ago, wilsoncgp said:

I think it's worth taking stock of where we were at before Wilder came in and how he has instilled a strong execution of his plan A in the squad in that time.

Now, teams at this level don't often need to play any way other than plan A. If they can play one plan to a tee and have the right players for it, you'll be in the fight for promotion. It'd be nice to be able to be more flexible in your approach more often but mid-season, making that change after already trying to drill a new philosophy into players would be quite hard too.

Time will tell how this goes but, whilst it's hard watching your team getting completely nullified at home and watching you play the same way pass after pass, we have to hope a full pre-season will really help kick us on to the next level. And to be fair to Huddersfield, their defence today was as good as I've seen any in the league this season.

Are we suffering from Managers who are so set in their ways and do not consider changing that?

To be honest I would not mind a younger more flexible guy to be in charge