Boro v Sheff Utd 2-2 (Akpom (2) )

[Humpty 3,261]

5 minutes ago, AllBoro10 said:

We get it. You don’t rate him. Give him time. He will show his worth

Never said that. Still early doors after all. I'm just calling it as i see it and to varying degrees, he was at fault for both goals yesterday.

[AllBoro10 2,235]

8 minutes ago, Humpty said:

Never said that. Still early doors after all. I'm just calling it as i see it and to varying degrees, he was at fault for both goals yesterday.

Great header assist from the lad though and some good passing from defence. At least give him a bit of credit too

[Borodane 6,301]

36 minutes ago, Guffie said:

I thought we were really unlucky yesterday. By far the better side. Thought wilders tactical change of fry was good. Lenihan is better in centre back than fry (for me). Thought jones was a little better than his previous games, still sloppy. Akpom was brilliant, forss did brilliantly off the ball with his pressing. Mcgree was very quiet again. And mowatt looked good when he came on. Also thought McNair did pretty well in his midfield role

I don't think we were. United matched us and had their spells of dominance too. I don't think it was a particular good game from us. We we soft in the middle, not much supply to the strikers and the defence was shaky along with Steffen who isn't very good in the air for such a big keeper. I think Lenihan and Steffen have to step it up to show that they are so good as we've been told. Steffen being labelled the best keeper in the league certainly has to step up, but it's still early and he's been a reserve for years so may need some more gametime.

[Humpty 3,261]

Agreed and I have done previously. I’ve said his leadership skills and aggression are attributes to the team.

[Changing Times 12,347]

5 hours ago, Neverbefore said:

What matters is what each player does in this system, not what came before. If wilder thinks lenihan fits the system better than fry then I'm happy to go with it until he's proven wrong. Like I said, I love fry and certainly don't want us to lose him, but wilder has always build extremely solid sides defensively so the man knows what he's doing. 

Fry was playing in this system last season, when he had the 76% passing accuracy that I mentioned.  That's the reason I brought it up.

[Neverbefore 10,942]

3 minutes ago, Changing Times said:

Fry was playing in this system last season, when he had the 76% passing accuracy that I mentioned.  That's the reason I brought it up.

True. Wilder also said that he felt he hung dael out to dry by playing him the entire League cup game - suggests he still isnt up to full match fitness which is why lenihan was preferred yesterday. He did say it was tactical, but it does also sound that fitness is also a factor. 

 

[Changing Times 12,347]

2 hours ago, wilsoncgp said:

Second goal, I think that's being incredibly critical of Lenihan to blame him for that. It was a very good flick by Norwood that took Lenihan out of it.

The only reason Lenihan is there is to defend that area, and he doesn't do it.  That's why he's partly to blame for the goal.  The flick shouldn't take him out of the game, that's poor defending on his part.  It's also poor from Howson who does his usual ball watching, and then poor from Giles who panics.

As for the first goal, he's just a bit too far away from Berge.  Lenihan has nobody else to look after, there is no danger other than Berge for him to be mindful of, and he ends up a bit too far from him.  Of course it's a good finish, that's what good players do, and that's why it's handy if you don't give them the space to do it.

it's worth considering that Lenihan has spent most of his career being no more than a fairly decent Championship defender.  He had a decent season last season, and some people got it into their heads that he was in the Championship team of the year but he wasn't.  He was in Whoscored's team of the year, which isn't a particularly good barometer as their ratings have some odd biases in them I think, which is why if you look at the rest of the central defenders in the running, pretty much none of them would be anywhere near a Championship team of the season.  Lenihan didn't even win the Blackburn player of the year award, it was another defender who did - Van Hecke.  He's a solid Championship defender, who gives us some needed aggression, but I think perhaps people are overrating him a little maybe, as if he's the missing link to a great defensive unit.  It would be great if he was but I just don't see it.  Would anyone compare him favourably with someone like Ayala for example?  It's early days yet but he just doesn't seem to be on that kinda level but maybe that's my own bias shining through, as I didn't think he was anything special at Blackburn.

[Changing Times 12,347]

20 minutes ago, Neverbefore said:

True. Wilder also said that he felt he hung dael out to dry by playing him the entire League cup game - suggests he still isnt up to full match fitness which is why lenihan was preferred yesterday. He did say it was tactical, but it does also sound that fitness is also a factor. 

 

Could be, and I know it was a League One side, but Fry's passing was just above 80% in that one.

I hope we sort the defensive side of things out soon cos it's screwing us over at the moment.

[Foxtrot Oscar Colin 607]

3 hours ago, Adam P said:

I'm surprised Mcgree is getting away with his involvement in the 1st goal tbh. I understand Berge is a big strong player but Mcgree barely breathes on him nevermind leans on him to make it a bit more difficult to get a clean strike off. He literally dangles a leg and then watches him shoot. I can guarantee Mowatt or Tav would have made that more difficult for him, he may still have scored, but you have to atleast try and put some weight on a player. 

Yeh surely he should have scythed him down and took the yellow. I'm surprised he hasn't been called out on it in the post match presser. 

[marvin 290]

5 hours ago, Rob said:

I blame marvin for the both goal's since he made the match day thread

I’ll take full responsibility. I should’ve been paying more attention, but was away with the wife so couldn’t listen to the whole game. That being said, I’ll also take credit for the equalisers. 

[JonnyMFC 1,535]

23 hours ago, JonnyMFC said:

Thought it was a cracking game myself. The ref let things go and allowed it to be a contact sport again and the atmosphere was pretty good. 

If I was to pick faults, McGree had 2 attempts at stopping that goal, the first against Norwoord where he should have got a foot in and then when it went to Berge he should have been stronger in the tackle.  As for the second that was Djik's & Lenihans fault, Akpon was coming back with Norwood for the throw and then stopped tracking him and called for Djik to pick him up on the edge of our box, this left him free for the throw in for an easy flick on for Ndiaye, Lenihan was slow to react to and allowed him to cross onto Giles' right boot.

 

7 hours ago, Adam P said:

I'm surprised Mcgree is getting away with his involvement in the 1st goal tbh. I understand Berge is a big strong player but Mcgree barely breathes on him nevermind leans on him to make it a bit more difficult to get a clean strike off. He literally dangles a leg and then watches him shoot. I can guarantee Mowatt or Tav would have made that more difficult for him, he may still have scored, but you have to atleast try and put some weight on a player. 

He didn't 👀

[SmogDane 4,056]

13 hours ago, Neverbefore said:

I'll start this by saying that I love fry, he's a top defender for this division. 

But people are going to have to get used to the fact that his biggest weakness - distribution - is one of the most important things in a wilder defender. Fry has looked good for years in old school systems where defending was the only thing he needed to worry about. However, we're now operating in a modern system where every single player needs to be good on the ball to make it work. Otherwise we're just putting the team under pressure and building nothing ourselves. 

Lenihans defensive work will improve as he gets more used to the shape and more match time in it - by all accounts he is a very good defender too and his stats show it. Fry has played in the wilder system for over half a season now and his ability on the ball hasn't improved to Wilders liking. So he's probably going to be back up until he proves he can do both sides of the game. 

People forget that generally, wilders teams have been very good defensively as well as going forward. His forward signings over the years have been called into question, but he's always been able to pick up defenders that turn into great players in this system. Give him 10-15 games and I'm sure we'll be a much more solid, attractive unit. 

That's what I was trying to explain yesterday 😄 

I fully agree! 

[Bosco's Tuft 941]

3 hours ago, JonnyMFC said:

but you have to atleast try and put some weight on a player. 

Playing the long game I see.

Feeding the opposition Parmo / Chips / Fudge Cake 3 times a week for a couple of months before we play them should do the trick.