Middlesbrough v WBA

Riverside Stadium

Saturday 23rd December

KO: 15:00

 

Well well well, who'd have thunk there'd be a third DZ authored MDT in a row? Not me, certainly. I was convinced I'd jinxed our Carabao Cup run but it turns out we swept aside Port Vale with ease.

Unfortunately it came at a cost, with further injuries to the squad. Assuming Carrick isn't being coy about injured players returning, this very well could be how we line up against West Brom:

 

No offence to the lads, but quite frankly that's terrifying.

Hopefully Latte Lath just picked up a minor knock and Morgan Rogers is fit enough to start. Isaiah Jones came off against Port Vale only 25 minutes after coming on as a sub, so I'd expect him to miss out. Rav Van Den Berg missed the Port Vale game due to a minor back injury so could return for this as well. 

Glover kept a clean sheet but frankly had very little to do, so this will be a real test for him if Dieng is ruled out. 

Sam Greenwood returns to the squad after being cup-tied for the Port Vale game. 

Baggies fans are probably licking their lips at this fixture, to be honest. They're a decent team and doing well in 5th place, playing some great football under Carlos Corberan. I remember when I wanted us to hire him instead of Michael Carrick. Boro are 13th. Fun times.

Questions:

Predicted lineup/scoreline?

What does Michael Carrick want off Santa Gibson for Christmas?

Who will get injured in this match? 

Have you ever eaten a faggot?

~fin~

Dieng

Dijk VDB Fry Bangura

Barlaser Howson

Jones Crooks Greenwood

LL

Subs: Glover, Clarke, Engel, Hackney, McCabe, Gilbert, Silveria, Nkrumeh, Kavanagh

Carrick did not seem too concerned about VDB after Port Vale. I noticed Crooks after the game was walking fine so hopefully he okay. Jones and LL were hopefully taken off as simply precaution.

Carrick did say he expected Hackney back before Christmas so hopefully fit enough for the bench.

Looking at the league table we really need to win this. Would be really good to close the gap to WBA to three points. But with all the injuries and our ability to give away soft goals it'll be really tough. Hope Dieng and Greenwood are back for this and Lath is OK.

Sneak a win and it'll probably be my favourite Christmas present.

Going to be a very, very tough game for us though.

Bound to win with DZ going for a hat trick...

Is... is that an actual picture of their mascot? A boiler?!?!

Nevertheless, I imagine the Boro's walking wounded will club together for this one, wih a few sneaky returns to the lineup as I think some of the substitutions may be precautionary. I'm gonna say a 2-1 home win. 

Dieng 

Dijk Clarke VdB Engel

Howson Barlaser

Jones Greenwood Bangura

Kavanagh

 

Carrick will be asking Santa Gibson for a long term RB option for the long term, a short term CB cover on loan and potentially a more experienced striker who perhaps wont expect to be first choice, as cover for Latte Lath and Coburn but not to stunt their development.

 

The Injuries have to stop some time and maybe this game can be the turning point. I'm even expecting our subs bench to have a few regular faces on it.

 

I've never eaten a faggot but there's a great Tom Stade routine about having a bag of them which always makes me laugh when I see them in the shop

Problem with Faggots are that you have no idea what you shoving down your neck, best just to swallow quickly and forget, unlike Parmo's in a bun, oozing with Bechamel sauce and Cheese dribbling all over your hands and down your arm. Anyway enough of the culinary expose' and onto the game in hand.

Judging on the limitations of who is walking or limping even (let alone fit) I'd go with the below:

Glover

Dijksteel Fry Clarke Engel

Howson Barlaser

Silvera Greenwood Bangura

Kavanagh

Subs will be comprised of anyone who can get to the Riverside Car Park by 12.30 for a game of Keepie Uppie and the last 8 (plus 3rd Keeper Jones) get a signed shirt and seat on the bench for the afternoon.

Only ever had Mr Brains Faggots, which I imagine are probably the worst quality, but I don't mind them at all.

6 minutes ago, TeaCider24 said:

Only ever had Mr Brains Faggots, which I imagine are probably the worst quality, but I don't mind them at all.

I remember back in the 80's ASDA used to sell them from their frozen aisle, used to buy them as I had just finished Uni and my first wage was poor to say the least and the Mortgage was crippling. I just figured they were meatballs until a mate's mum told me what they put in them.

The positive from that was crippling myself with a mortgage in my early twenties turned out long term to be one of my better decisions in life, still not sure about those faggots though, even now I'm feeling queasy just thinking about it.

Read it and weep:

Seny Dieng

Tommy Smith

Darragh Lenihan

Paddy McNair

Rav van den Berg

Lewis O’Brien

Marcus Forss

Riley McGree

Hayden Hackney

Josh Coburn

ELL

Isaiah Jones

Matt Crooks

Morgan Rogers.

That's a hell of a list, surely some of them must be close to returning!

29 minutes ago, Redcar Rioja said:

Problem with Faggots are that you have no idea what you shoving down your neck, best just to swallow quickly and forget

What did I just read here 😉

53 minutes ago, OldManGravz said:

Is... is that an actual picture of their mascot? A boiler?!?!

Technically yes, but I was having a bit of fun. That's Boilerman, their secondary mascot as a result of their partnership with Ideal Boilers.

A bit like when we had that Bee alongside Roary on matchdays.

WBA's main mascot is Baggie Bird, which isn't nearly as funny.

Edited December 21, 20232 yr by Denzel Zanzibar

20 minutes ago, Borodane said:

What did I just read here 😉

Any double entendre unintentional 🤣🤣🤣

They are made from the minced up bits that usually end up in dog food.

22 minutes ago, Denzel Zanzibar said:

Technically yes, but I was having a bit of fun. That's Boilerman, their secondary mascot as a result of their partnership with Ideal Boilers.

A bit like when we had that Bee alongside Roary on matchdays.

WBA's main mascot is Baggie Bird, which isn't nearly as funny.

Boilerman. That mascot cracks me up every time I see it.

Boilerman is the superhero we truly need, but only once a year.