Boro vs Cardiff 2-0 (Tavernier, McGree)

[JonnyMFC 1,535]

9 hours ago, Denzel Zanzibar said:

Lol Craig Johns must have been watching a different game to 99% of people on the planet tonight.

Either that or he's on the take.

The 9 & 8's that he is referring to in his ratings are actually how many passes we managed to string together!

[JonnyMFC 1,535]

23 minutes ago, Downsouth said:

It has to be different both in terms of atmosphere and from the players when we play Stoke.

I think that this very much depends on the result on Fridays game.  If Sheff Utd dont win then it will be back on, if not,  then despite the fact that its the last home game of the season, the atmosphere will be flat as a fart!

[Borodane 6,301]

3 minutes ago, JonnyMFC said:

I think that this very much depends on the result on Fridays game.  If Sheff Utd dont win then it will be back on, if not,  then despite the fact that its the last home game of the season, the atmosphere will be flat as a fart!

It shouldn't be though. Sheffield have Fulham on the final day, so regardless of Fridays game it is absolutely paramount that we get a win against Stoke, so the fans should vocally back the players big time. 

This situation has a bit of a feeling of the last time we were promoted, where we needed Brighton to fail in on of their final games before we could settle things on our own terms. I think Brighton drew 1-1 in their penultimate game against Derby meaning we only needed a draw at the Riverside.

[JonnyMFC 1,535]

14 minutes ago, Borodane said:

It shouldn't be though. Sheffield have Fulham on the final day, so regardless of Fridays game it is absolutely paramount that we get a win against Stoke, so the fans should vocally back the players big time. 

I fully appreciate that it shouldn't be, but it will!
Last night really shouldn't have been sub 20k fans in the ground with us in the position we are, but it was!

I think that the fans lost hope after the Hull game, maybe even before that, possibly Sheff Utd away?  Lets face it, the only reason we are still in with a shout is because others have also failed to capitalise. You might say "well, that is the nature of the championship" and you would be right, it is, but our abject performances on the run in have been bordering on dismal and for a lot of the fans that we we brought back into the stadium for the cup games there is no hope, no light at the end of the tunnel, no glimmer of a sparkling performance from anyone, either on the field or off!

Just for the record, I am hoping, I will be at both games and I do dare to dream, why? because I believe in Santa Claus!

[Foogle 2,104]

Would like to see Crooks play Howson's role. Looks like it needs a bit of rotation after a manic season, Howson looked better last night but think he's struggled the few games before this and he looks like he could do with a week off. McGree looks a good player and would like to see him get more starts in our midfield. We seem to miss Crook's physical presence as we look a bit powder puff without him.

[Borodane 6,301]

3 minutes ago, JonnyMFC said:

I fully appreciate that it shouldn't be, but it will!
Last night really shouldn't have been sub 20k fans in the ground with us in the position we are, but it was!

I think that the fans lost hope after the Hull game, maybe even before that, possibly Sheff Utd away?  Lets face it, the only reason we are still in with a shout is because others have also failed to capitalise. You might say "well, that is the nature of the championship" and you would be right, it is, but our abject performances on the run in have been bordering on dismal and for a lot of the fans that we we brought back into the stadium for the cup games there is no hope, no light at the end of the tunnel, no glimmer of a sparkling performance from anyone, either on the field or off!

Just for the record, I am hoping, I will be at both games and I do dare to dream, why? because I believe in Santa Claus!

I appreciate what you are saying, and you are right in much of it. The performances haven't been great in recent games but Hull aside I don't think you'd expect us to win against Fulham, Bournemouth and then Swansea and Huddersfield were tough games too. Hudderfield was a massive disappointment though. All the nature of the Championship. I think our biggest problem is that most of our strikeforce are players that know they probably won't be here next season. It's just so disrupted.

I reckon just below 20k on a wednesday night without real away support is decent in the championship. It's just below our average which is the fourth highest in the Championhsip.

[GrimsbyBoro 1,968]

Did anyone else see Tav as playing behind the strikers last night. And that we went to a diamond 

 

 

[Borodane 6,301]

5 minutes ago, Foogle said:

Would like to see Crooks play Howson's role. Looks like it needs a bit of rotation after a manic season, Howson looked better last night but think he's struggled the few games before this and he looks like he could do with a week off. McGree looks a good player and would like to see him get more starts in our midfield. We seem to miss Crook's physical presence as we look a bit powder puff without him.

Crooks can't play that role. He's not clever or quick enough. He'd get an early booking and would have to be careful for the rest of the match. Technically Howson is also much better at bringing the ball forward. As someone else mentioned I'd be tempted to stick Crooks up front with a hard worker like Watmore. He's got a better knack at being in the right spot than the rest of our strikers.

[TeaCider24 12,646]

10 minutes ago, JonnyMFC said:

Lets face it, the only reason we are still in with a shout is because others have also failed to capitalise. 

We obviously need to win our final two matches to make the play-offs, but if we did we'd finish on 73 points.

That would have been enough to make the play-offs in 6 of the 17 Championship seasons.

In most of the other seasons, 74-75 points was enough.

Assuming we did win our final 2, we're not far off the average for a 6th placed team in this division.

[Brunners 7,982]

7 hours ago, Changing Times said:

We didn't pay £6m for him, did we?  I thought Warnock laughed that off at the time?  We do have a history of buying players, and then letting them go again very quickly.  Wilder inherited Payero so he isn't tied to him.  He'd be 5th choice as it stands, and that's not factoring in possible additions.

Not far off 6m.

[SouthernSmoggie 4,242]

 

27 minutes ago, Borodane said:

Crooks can't play that role. He's not clever or quick enough. He'd get an early booking and would have to be careful for the rest of the match. Technically Howson is also much better at bringing the ball forward. As someone else mentioned I'd be tempted to stick Crooks up front with a hard worker like Watmore. He's got a better knack at being in the right spot than the rest of our strikers.

Been saying it all season!!! Crooks up front seems painfully obvious to me.

Best finisher at the club, best header too, plus if played on the right we still benefit from his slick link up play with Jones. Big enough to hit it long and hold it up when we need an out ball. Can win flick ons for one of Watmore/Connolly/Balogun to chase.

Also means we can fit McGree into the starting line up over one of the useless forwards. 

[Downsouth 6,328]

6 minutes ago, SouthernSmoggie said:

 

Been saying it all season!!! Crooks up front seems painfully obvious to me.

Best finisher at the club, best header too, plus if played on the right we still benefit from his slick link up play with Jones. Big enough to hit it long and hold it up when we need an out ball. Can win flick ons for one of Watmore/Connolly/Balogun to chase.

Also means we can fit McGree into the starting line up over one of the useless forwards. 

Think we need to be a bit pc here and refer to them as less gifted forwards🤫 

[JonnyMFC 1,535]

46 minutes ago, Borodane said:

I appreciate what you are saying, and you are right in much of it. The performances haven't been great in recent games but Hull aside I don't think you'd expect us to win against Fulham, Bournemouth and then Swansea and Huddersfield were tough games too. Hudderfield was a massive disappointment though. All the nature of the Championship. I think our biggest problem is that most of our strikeforce are players that know they probably won't be here next season. It's just so disrupted.

I reckon just below 20k on a wednesday night without real away support is decent in the championship. It's just below our average which is the fourth highest in the Championhsip.

Expectation, thats a strange one to evaluate isnt it?

Fulham - No, They are head and shoulders above anyone else in the league, deserve to go up, but on reflection we could have and should have won that one.
Bournemouth - Given their squad size and ability, again no I did not expect us to win, but rather hoped we would and we could have.
Swansea and Huddersfield - I expected us to win those. Both games we were terrible, try to convince me otherwise.

I get what you're saying about the strikers, but there is no way that any of them go out with the intention of not trying to score, they want to score goals, its what they do. When you were kids and you played football on the back field did you ever not want to score?

20k Is poor, look back at our last promotion season.....12th April 7:45pm kick off against Reading who were in a similar position to Cardiff 24k, the following 2 home games we had 30k & 33k.........we wont be getting anything like that on Saturday, like I say the belief just isn't there!

38 minutes ago, TeaCider24 said:

We obviously need to win our final two matches to make the play-offs, but if we did we'd finish on 73 points.

That would have been enough to make the play-offs in 6 of the 17 Championship seasons.

In most of the other seasons, 74-75 points was enough.

Assuming we did win our final 2, we're not far off the average for a 6th placed team in this division.

Oh we that's ok then!  I can see it now, SG handing out the bonus cheques at the end of season dinner.........."Ive given you all the promotion bonus because you got just below average and were unlucky"

A lot of the dejection is due to what we thought we had, CW came in and we were suddenly playing football, winning games, we looked like a team again.....there was HOPE and BELIEF.  sadly we are not.

In case you have not noticed, previously I have said that we are not quick witted enough, dont have the speed of thought to make killer passes......Well i also think that this lack of mental capacity also effects our ability to bounce back , to believe they can win and the fans feel it too!
 

[TeaCider24 12,646]

16 minutes ago, JonnyMFC said:

20k Is poor, look back at our last promotion season.....12th April 7:45pm kick off against Reading who were in a similar position to Cardiff 24k, the following 2 home games we had 30k & 33k.........we wont be getting anything like that on Saturday, like I say the belief just isn't there!

We were 2nd in the table at kick-off for that game and had won the previous 4 matches.

Comparing apples and oranges.

Glory supporters always come out of the wood work at the end when a team is doing well.

Our average attendance for that season was 24k, we went up automatically and were in the top 3 for almost the entire season.

The previous season was 19k, and that was another where we were largely gunning for promotion the entire time, getting results, and made the play-off final.

We're averaging 21k this season and for very large periods of it we've not even been in the top 6, that is decent support.

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by TeaCider24

[Borodane 6,301]

18 minutes ago, JonnyMFC said:

20k Is poor, look back at our last promotion season.....12th April 7:45pm kick off against Reading who were in a similar position to Cardiff 24k, the following 2 home games we had 30k & 33k.........we wont be getting anything like that on Saturday, like I say the belief just isn't there!

I'm not denying that we've lost a lot of fans due to Woodgate, Pulis and Warnock. But an average of 21.600 is still decent, as I'd hazard a guess and say a lot of people didn't sign up last summer due to the Covid uncertainty and Warnock football. Hopefully we can finish the season with two wins and see where that takes us, and hopefully we'll a few extra thousands next season.