Well, Carrick can flower it up all he wants, but at the moment we are a bloody shambles.

Woodgate said the table was lying/upside down & fans mocked him, Carrick was ok with that inept perfformance & its ok 

16 minutes ago, thatoldchestnut said:

Well, Carrick can flower it up all he wants, but at the moment we are a bloody shambles.

True 

The point is simple,  Carrick has been assured one thing and got another.

The squad expected some players to remain/ come back and they didn't.

There's unrest. Like it or not. 

19 hours ago, AnglianRed said:

Hey @TheJewhave you hacked CT's account again? 😁

 

I'm as angry and disappointed about today's performance as anyone, but at the risk of getting dogpiled, I will say that we are still only 4 games into the season. I usually give us at least 10 before I start criticising in earnest, but I will agree our start to the season has been little short of alarming.

Boro have been woefully underprepared, both in terms of personnel and training-wise. There is still an awful lot of work to do to get the team functioning properly - more defensively than attacking and not a lot of time to fix the multiple issues, before player morale and attitude takes a permanent turn for the worse.

I'm still prepared to give Carrick and the lads another 6 games, but if there hasn't been a significant upturn in performances and results by then, then the club has serious problems to address that go beyond attempting a new approach which isn't necessarily aimed at immediate promotion (regardless of the official club line about aiming for a top 2 finish).

I often read and support your comments but it’s not ONLY four games in, it is 4 games in and it does concern me that we have become accustomed to poor starts. We have 1 point from 12 but more worrying this team isn’t anytime in the very near future going on a run of back to back wins. We have become so accustomed and accepting the clubs sound bites and every season patiently we allow for a rebuild and poor starts until around 10 to 15th game before accessing the team. We must be the most forgivable fans in the league. 
Granted I do believe there are worse teams and I do believe we are capable of mid table but mid table isn’t the goal. 

Edited August 27, 20232 yr by sanddancer

2 hours ago, TheJew said:

The point is simple,  Carrick has been assured one thing and got another.

The squad expected some players to remain/ come back and they didn't.

There's unrest. Like it or not. 

Unless you were present in the room then, quite frankly, you don't have a *** clue what Carrick was assured. None of us do.

Don't present your opinion as fact

Tough game yesterday. There were some pleasing signs in that our passing was crisper than it had been across the first few games and we did a lot better at creating chances. Latte Lath is looking a fantastic signing, however it's still early days. Best showing from Sammy Silvera so far as well. He'll definitely frustrate at times, but it's nice to have a player who will try to take his man on and make something happen when we can't unpick a defence. Jones had his best game in a long time too from the bench.

Unfortunately the good work was completely undone by some brain dead decision making, and not just from the players. I appreciate my view that the first goal wasn't a foul isn't widely shared, however the truly baffling decision was for Howson to be marking Kipre in the first place. Proper physical mismatch there.

We were walked through far too easily for the second goal with no one really covering themselves in glory. At times our defence was reminiscent of early last season under Wilder where teams simply knew how to play through us at ease. The ball in behind was always on and Phillips probably should have done better with his chance in the first half.

The third goal was a truly awful decision by Engel. He had a similar pass in the first half which was fortunately not capitalised on. The championship is a big change in pressure and intensity for him to adapt to. Hopefully he can iron out that part of his game as he looked a very tidy player outside of that.

No clue what Smith was thinking but he always seems to have a brain dead decision or 2 in him outside of being an otherwise reliable player.

I'm still optimistic for the season. We've had a tough run of games to start with and a much changed squad with a lot of younger and less experienced talent. At some point optimism has to run out but happy to see what the squad looks like at the end of the window and after a few weeks on the training ground post-international break. 

This is the first period of real adversity Carrick has had as our coach. Wilder in the same situation couldn't stop the slide and things became toxic. I do hope Carrick can turn it around as we've been a pleasure to watch and support for most of the past 10 months.

9 minutes ago, MMC said:

Tough game yesterday. There were some pleasing signs in that our passing was crisper than it had been across the first few games and we did a lot better at creating chances. Latte Lath is looking a fantastic signing, however it's still early days. Best showing from Sammy Silvera so far as well. He'll definitely frustrate at times, but it's nice to have a player who will try to take his man on and make something happen when we can't unpick a defence. Jones had his best game in a long time too from the bench.

Unfortunately the good work was completely undone by some brain dead decision making, and not just from the players. I appreciate my view that the first goal wasn't a foul isn't widely shared, however the truly baffling decision was for Howson to be marking Kipre in the first place. Proper physical mismatch there.

We were walked through far too easily for the second goal with no one really covering themselves in glory. At times our defence was reminiscent of early last season under Wilder where teams simply knew how to play through us at ease. The ball in behind was always on and Phillips probably should have done better with his chance in the first half.

The third goal was a truly awful decision by Engel. He had a similar pass in the first half which was fortunately not capitalised on. The championship is a big change in pressure and intensity for him to adapt to. Hopefully he can iron out that part of his game as he looked a very tidy player outside of that.

No clue what Smith was thinking but he always seems to have a brain dead decision or 2 in him outside of being an otherwise reliable player.

I'm still optimistic for the season. We've had a tough run of games to start with and a much changed squad with a lot of younger and less experienced talent. At some point optimism has to run out but happy to see what the squad looks like at the end of the window and after a few weeks on the training ground post-international break. 

This is the first period of real adversity Carrick has had as our coach. Wilder in the same situation couldn't stop the slide and things became toxic. I do hope Carrick can turn it around as we've been a pleasure to watch and support for most of the past 10 months.

Very good post, though I disagree with a tough run of games, I dont think any of the 3 teams we've lost to will be in the top 6 & Huddersfield the only team we've taken a point from will, if we continue, be among the bottom teams with us 

22 hours ago, sanddancer said:

I often read and support your comments but it’s not ONLY four games in, it is 4 games in and it does concern me that we have become accustomed to poor starts. We have 1 point from 12 but more worrying this team isn’t anytime in the very near future going on a run of back to back wins. We have become so accustomed and accepting the clubs sound bites and every season patiently we allow for a rebuild and poor starts until around 10 to 15th game before accessing the team. We must be the most forgivable fans in the league. 
Granted I do believe there are worse teams and I do believe we are capable of mid table but mid table isn’t the goal. 

Do we actually know what the goal is though?

I find it hard to believe the club's official line about pushing for promotion this season, given the turnover in players and the fact their replacements have largely been of inferior quality (Latte Lath and Dieng being a couple of exceptions).

I know Carrick has said that the aim for this season was to improve on last season, but when you look at our transfer business and our performances in the first few games, those words ring increasingly hollow.

If that really is the case then the plan is very close to being derailed, with no way of getting it back on track. A few more performances and results like we've had so far and we'll be lucky to be fighting for a play-off place.

 

I have read a few posts from people on here suggesting that this season in reality will turn out to being a rebuilding exercise with a serious promotion push being prepared for next season. Its early days, but right now that is looking a more likely scenario, depending on whether or not we manage to make any more signings before the window closes.

In a nutshell, our season could yet take off and we could storm up the league, but for now I'm managing my expectations in case we actually are rebuilding this season. After all this is meant to be a new era, with a new sustainable approach where we don't throw money at players to mount a quick promotion push, only to have to tighten our belts the following season when it doesn't work out.

6 hours ago, AnglianRed said:

Do we actually know what the goal is though?

I find it hard to believe the club's official line about pushing for promotion this season, given the turnover in players and the fact their replacements have largely been of inferior quality (Latte Lath and Dieng being a couple of exceptions).

I know Carrick has said that the aim for this season was to improve on last season, but when you look at our transfer business and our performances in the first few games, those words ring increasingly hollow.

If that really is the case then the plan is very close to being derailed, with no way of getting it back on track. A few more performances and results like we've had so far and we'll be lucky to be fighting for a play-off place.

 

I have read a few posts from people on here suggesting that this season in reality will turn out to being a rebuilding exercise with a serious promotion push being prepared for next season. Its early days, but right now that is looking a more likely scenario, depending on whether or not we manage to make any more signings before the window closes.

In a nutshell, our season could yet take off and we could storm up the league, but for now I'm managing my expectations in case we actually are rebuilding this season. After all this is meant to be a new era, with a new sustainable approach where we don't throw money at players to mount a quick promotion push, only to have to tighten our belts the following season when it doesn't work out.

What is the goal? It is a good question and I think we all have our own perception of what it is. Carrick May have stated improvements on last season but its pretty much open to what he means by that. Is it finishing stronger or higher in the league. It could be scoring more goals or better defensively but I doubt it meant promotion. Let’s face it we would need a great deal of investment in quality and experienced players. Personally like us I think he has been short changed.