4 minutes ago, Mfcdanny said:

We’re can I find this interview mate? 

https://bold.dk/fodbold/klubber/middlesbrough/nyheder/engel-ramte-bunden-i-middlesbrough-jeg-var-bange-for-at-fejle

Thought Barlaser was excellent again yesterday, cementing his place in the best 11. You can see his partnership with Hackney developing. 👍👍

2 hours ago, JCWamma said:

I love how much effort is put in to find the most uncharitable interpretation possible. Like, Southampton. Firstly they'd only lost 5 in a row before that and we were the sixth. But also, they haven't lost since. If losing a bunch in a row is all it took to make it so you'd lose again, you'd have thought they'd be even easier afterwards, right? But instead they followed it up by beating third-place Leeds. I can only imagine how lucky Leeds must be doing to do that well...

The Watford one is obviously laughable. "They played badly", no thought to why. The Sunderland sending off being "nonsense" is, um, a subjective take shall we say and ignores how clinical we were. And Birmingham's "new style of play" is meant to be possession-based, yet we had over 60% of the ball. It's not like they were struggling to make their new style of play work through inexperience, we just stopped them even being able to implement it in the first place by being better than them.

And even IF you decide it's an easy run of games... so? We already had an easy run of games before this, and we got 2 points from 7 games. Now we have 15 from 5. Independent of whatever nonsense you want to throw around the circumstances of it, the undeniable fact is that we look like the team of last season again, in both performance and results.

It's a daft way of looking at things. You could make a similar list of excuses for all the games we didn't win - the truth is most games in this league are tight and come down to big moments on the day.

I actually quite like that lad but he gets a bit up his own backside with his stats and spreadsheets. Thinks he's got football totally figured out. Also has a bee in his bonnet because Watford are dog dirt this year.

The Birmingham one is particularly weird. If he was trying to build a narrative around a team being good he'd have drawn attention to getting a win despite the "new manager bounce". Yet because he wants a narrative of us getting lucky, they draw attention to how it represents a change of styles etc. Daft.

In any case, I'd rather focus on how, despite the meagre margin of victory, that was arguably our best performance of the season so far. I still have the pessimistic "our luck will come to an end on Tuesday" attitude, but if we can play close to that level then Norwich will have a really tough time.

it wasnt our best performance of the season. we were incredibly wasteful. they were incredible poor opposition to. we were by far the better side and deservedly won but it should have been wrapped up before half time. reminded me of the readsing home game last season. except we never had chuba and archer so struggled to score. if we had them on the pitch today, 4/5 nil and then we would have just passed about to see out game. like reading game. 

1 hour ago, RichAcklam2404 said:

https://bold.dk/fodbold/klubber/middlesbrough/nyheder/engel-ramte-bunden-i-middlesbrough-jeg-var-bange-for-at-fejle

Any idea how to translate it? Used to have a function on my phone. Can’t seem to find it anymore 

I didn't see yesterday bar the highlights but the past few games Crooks really seems to be getting back to the form of a couple of years ago. Also it's great to see us carry on the run after international break which can impact on momentum.

This without Mcgree and Lenihan as well.

Having a curer in Leeds/Bradford airport. Was very impressed by the performance yesterday. Delighted with the well deserved win UTB

I think the post count is down because everything whilst perhaps not Rosy is certainly very positive. Even the "poor" signings are now finding their feet and contributing. Everywhere you look is a positive, Engel has come good, Fry and McNair are looking impressive, Crooks is bossing things, Dieng is looking way above anything we could have hoped for, Barlaser is coming on leaps and bounds and so on and so on.

Difficult to debate or disagree on things when we are all aligned I guess.

Brilliant game yesterday. Had a feel from last season where before the game I thought we were going to dominate . Which we did. Lacked cutting edge in the final third but on another day could have been 4/5. Coburn looked raw yesterday, should have done better with 2 of his chances but still very promising. Latte lath looked good when he came on again. Our defence looks solid, shoutout to McNair and fry. Barlaser and Hackney ran the game, crooks and jones were class. Ruddy for them had a brilliant game.

 

As for the ref I thought she had a poor game, the advantage she didn’t play in the first 15 minutes. Also booking Engel for the head clash was baffling

1 hour ago, smogsterking the Inspirati said:

I didn't see yesterday bar the highlights but the past few games Crooks really seems to be getting back to the form of a couple of years ago. Also it's great to see us carry on the run after international break which can impact on momentum.

This without Mcgree and Lenihan as well.

Arguably four starters missing in Lenihan, McGree, VDB, and O'Brien. The squad feels deeper this season, even if the best XI isn't as strong as last year's.

1 hour ago, Mfcdanny said:

Any idea how to translate it? Used to have a function on my phone. Can’t seem to find it anymore 

Engel hit rock bottom in Middlesbrough: I was afraid of failing
Lukas Engel was torn out during halftime in a Middlesbrough match, and it was a mentally tough experience for the Dane. Now he has overcome the fear of failing, and it resulted in a standing ovation at the stadium the other day.

"It was a nightmare."
Lukas Engel had a tough start to life in Middlesbrough after his transfer from Silkeborg when he was substituted at halftime by manager Michael Carrick in one of his early games.
The match was against Sheffield Wednesday, where the 24-year-old Dane was repeatedly overrun by his opponent.
"I hardly got a foot right," Lukas Engel tells bold.dk.
"It wasn't fun. It's not enjoyable to run around the field knowing that you are so far from where you should be. I was always a step behind, even mentally."
"So, you keep thinking, 'Damn, that was really bad, it wasn't good enough.' Then a new situation arises, where you're on the back foot again. It's a vicious cycle."
"In addition to it not being enjoyable to be on the field, it's also not fun to be substituted after 45 minutes. At that point, you just know that you haven't been good enough, even though it was well-deserved that I was taken off."

"I've had too many speculations."
The Danish left-back had a rough start in Middlesbrough after his transfer from Silkeborg when he was substituted at halftime by manager Michael Carrick in one of his early games.
The match was against Sheffield Wednesday, where the 24-year-old Dane was repeatedly overrun by his opponent.
"It wasn't fun. You don't just go out to the bus and smile and have fun. It was a mental challenge, even in the following days."
"When I came home and went to sleep, I was most irritated with myself. There were things I could have done better. It wasn't anyone else's fault. I was frustrated with myself."
"It wasn't about being in a new environment, a new league, or new teammates. It was about mental readiness, which I wasn't satisfied with."
Why weren't you mentally prepared – was it nervousness, or how do you explain it?
"I think, for me, it has been about having a lot of speculations in my early days here."
"It happened quickly, from everything falling into place with the transfer to playing the first home game with over 20,000 at the stadium. I was, of course, ready for it, but I was perhaps more focused on not failing."
"I didn't feel entirely comfortable in the system or the relationships. Everything was very new to me. How do we make each other better on the field? I was determined to show them, 'These are the things I'm good at, so play me this way.' I didn't feel I demonstrated that in the first few games."
"I was too cautious and too safe in my play. I played it to the side or did the easy thing instead of being myself, where I'm a threat offensively, for example."
"It's very mental. If you take a hit in a game, you either get up or get hit again and fall, so to speak. I wasn't strong enough to get up after a few bad actions."
"Before the game, I was clear in my head, and I always am. But it was difficult for me to get out of the negative bubble during the game."
Being applauded out of the stadium How did you manage to pull yourself out of the black hole?
"The first few days, I was affected. I felt like everything was going wrong, and it wasn't a pleasant feeling. After that, I chose to turn the page. I couldn't turn back time, even though I wanted to."
"I was on the bench in the following games, and I was eager to get out and make amends. I wanted to show my best side. I used it as motivation."
"And the coaches and players have been really good at telling me, 'You can't do anything about it; you're a good player, show it to those who think otherwise.'"
Throughout the process, manager Michael Carrick has been immensely supportive of Engel, both in the media and personally.
"Before the game against Cardiff, he pulled me aside and told me to just be myself and not think too much about what had happened before. He wasn't angry or disappointed, and he said I shouldn't bury myself because they still believed in me."
"It has really helped me, and those have been my two best performances in the last two games."
Lukas Engel's game against Cardiff was the first since the nightmare half. Here, he assisted a goal and prevented a goal on a huge chance at the other end.
He played a terrific game. And then he was applauded off the field by a standing home crowd.
"It was huge. When I made an assist for the 1-0 goal, I could feel that there were some emotions that needed to come out. I was so determined to show what kind of player I am to the club, my teammates, and the fans."
"I was a bit moved, and the feeling of happiness was almost creeping in. Being applauded out was special. It was something I needed after a mentally challenging time."
Engel would have preferred to do without the experience against Sheffield Wednesday, but it has still been important for him.
"I think I've learned something from it. After that game, I let go more and dared to be myself. I didn't think so much about failing or what other people want."
"I'm just myself, which is the player they've signed," says Lukas Engel.
In total, Lukas Engel has played seven games for Middlesbrough, who are currently ranked 16th in the Championship.

2 hours ago, JCWamma said:

The Birmingham one is particularly weird. If he was trying to build a narrative around a team being good he'd have drawn attention to getting a win despite the "new manager bounce". Yet because he wants a narrative of us getting lucky, they draw attention to how it represents a change of styles etc. Daft.

In any case, I'd rather focus on how, despite the meagre margin of victory, that was arguably our best performance of the season so far. I still have the pessimistic "our luck will come to an end on Tuesday" attitude, but if we can play close to that level then Norwich will have a really tough time.

 

2 hours ago, Dynamo Kev said:

it wasnt our best performance of the season. we were incredibly wasteful. they were incredible poor opposition to. we were by far the better side and deservedly won but it should have been wrapped up before half time. reminded me of the readsing home game last season. except we never had chuba and archer so struggled to score. if we had them on the pitch today, 4/5 nil and then we would have just passed about to see out game. like reading game. 

I wouldn't say it was our best performance of the season. Instead I'd say it was a case of grinding out a result and finding a way to win, in spite of some poor attacking play.

I was pleased with how hard the midfield worked, in breaking up Birmingham's play, winning the ball back and not letting them build any momentum...which has so often been our undoing.

Our defence was mostly pretty solid and we pushed forward whenever we could. As Kev pointed out, our only real issue was in front of goal - a combination of wayward shooting, poor passing and decision making. A recurring issue this season.

Oh and our set pieces...the less said about them the better.

As Wamma said, it was a weird one. On the one hand a good performance, but also frustrating and it highlighted the ongoing need to improve our attacking play.

Edited October 22, 20232 yr by AnglianRed

56 minutes ago, Blanco said:

Having a curer in Leeds/Bradford airport. Was very impressed by the performance yesterday. Delighted with the well deserved win UTB

Yeah considering they were playing in front their new manager for the first time and would want to impress him

Football is a funny game.

Our worst ever start followed by our best winning running in 7 years.

Edited October 22, 20232 yr by TeaCider24