BORO v Coventry City 1-3 (Coburn)

[Downsouth 8,161 39.1k]

Firstly great to meet up with @trekkers good to see you Dave.

Back at Newark and boy I did not enjoy the drive back and so glad I do not have another 2 plus hours to go.

Game of 2 halves I thought Boro were superb in terms of intensity, endeavour and drive and even though Coventry equalised  I felt we deserved to have gone in in the lead at half time especially with the chances we created, sadly we all know it is the goals that count and we did not take them.

The depletion of the squad is clearly showing now because the lads ran out of steam and could not maintain the tempo though why we fannied around just before they got their second goal goodness knows and we were the culprits of our own demise.

Jones, Greenwood and Rogers went missing but I think that is down to fitness levels and certainly because we rely on them so much, disappointing result but not unexpected and I have now a real dislike of Coventry as they know just what to do when they play us.

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/13040547/middlesbrough-1-3-coventry-championship-highlights

The high and lowlights for those who have not seen developments today

[JonnyMFC 1,930 2.1k]

I wonder what ppls views are on the reported £1.5m for Greenwood now? For me there are some major deficiencies in his game that i've stayed quiet about for a few weeks but today has sent me over the edge.
He goes missing for large periods, something I think most ppl have picked up on. 
Today he seemed more intent on trying to wind up Milan van Ewijk than anything else.
He's terrible at looking after the ball. Despite ppl stating that Engel was fouled for the second, which he wasnt BTW, if Greenwood had actually looked after the ball better then we wouldn't have conceded that goal. Talking of conceding goals, what was he doing for the third? Nothing is the answer, stood around in the box ball watching with no awareness of who is around him and the fact that Sakamoto came in around the back, completely unmarked.
Oh and finally......most of his shots are straight at the keeper, they might go down as on target, but they are where the keeper is, for someone that can pick the top bin from a dead ball, his finishing on the move is something to be desired.

I really hope we dont spaff £1.5m on him in the summer as he creates more problems that he solves.
 

[DurhamRed 2,384 5k]

If they is a way to mess up a chance we do it at the moment. 

[Erimus74 5,353 5.5k]

3 minutes ago, JonnyMFC said:

I wonder what ppls views are on the reported £1.5m for Greenwood now? For me there are some major deficiencies in his game that i've stayed quiet about for a few weeks but today has sent me over the edge.
He goes missing for large periods, something I think most ppl have picked up on. 
Today he seemed more intent on trying to wind up Milan van Ewijk than anything else.
He's terrible at looking after the ball. Despite ppl stating that Engel was fouled for the second, which he wasnt BTW, if Greenwood had actually looked after the ball better then we wouldn't have conceded that goal. Talking of conceding goals, what was he doing for the third? Nothing is the answer, stood around in the box ball watching with no awareness of who is around him and the fact that Sakamoto came in around the back, completely unmarked.
Oh and finally......most of his shots are straight at the keeper, they might go down as on target, but they are where the keeper is, for someone that can pick the top bin from a dead ball, his finishing on the move is something to be desired.

I really hope we dont spaff £1.5m on him in the summer as he creates more problems that he solves.
 

Agree Jonny, even with low on numbers paying £1.5m is money wasted 

[Guffie 1,681 2.8k]

49 minutes ago, Changing Times said:

Makes more tackles than any other player in our team, scored more this season than almost all of them, sets up more chances than most of them, just by jogging around.  Set up our goal today, and had one cleared off the line, just by jogging around.  Same *** Tavernier used to get though to be fair.  Four key passes today, and of course the assist and the chance off the line as well, more than Rogers and anyone else as it happens, barely lost the ball unlike Rogers, 20% better passing accuracy than Rogers but Rogers is brilliant and Jones isn't a good footballer and just jogs around.

Yes that’s my opinion 🤙🏼

[Changing Times 16,077 23.1k]

11 minutes ago, JonnyMFC said:

I wonder what ppls views are on the reported £1.5m for Greenwood now? For me there are some major deficiencies in his game that i've stayed quiet about for a few weeks but today has sent me over the edge.
He goes missing for large periods, something I think most ppl have picked up on. 
Today he seemed more intent on trying to wind up Milan van Ewijk than anything else.
He's terrible at looking after the ball. Despite ppl stating that Engel was fouled for the second, which he wasnt BTW, if Greenwood had actually looked after the ball better then we wouldn't have conceded that goal. Talking of conceding goals, what was he doing for the third? Nothing is the answer, stood around in the box ball watching with no awareness of who is around him and the fact that Sakamoto came in around the back, completely unmarked.
Oh and finally......most of his shots are straight at the keeper, they might go down as on target, but they are where the keeper is, for someone that can pick the top bin from a dead ball, his finishing on the move is something to be desired.

I really hope we dont spaff £1.5m on him in the summer as he creates more problems that he solves.
 

I said the other day that he's a weird one.  I wouldn't make any decision right now as he's still got half a season to show what he can do, and let's face it we need everyone we have at the moment.

[Changing Times 16,077 23.1k]

7 minutes ago, Guffie said:

Yes that’s my opinion 🤙🏼

And it's a stupid one 👍

[Guffie 1,681 2.8k]

16 minutes ago, Changing Times said:

And it's a stupid one 👍

Because you say so? And a few stats . Ok mate 😂😂

[oldboyskyblue 121 30]

First off , Happy new year to you all

 

Just got back and what a strange game that was

How we went in level at half time I'll never know. You lot played some great stuff and really should've had a commanding lead

I don't know what Robins said to our lot at the break but we came out and showed more of our latest form

In Sakamoto we have one of the finds of the season , he's fast becoming our favourite player and goals apart showed why we're falling in love with the guy

Haji Wright after a stuttering start is a menace to any defence and the return of Callum O'Hare has galvanised us so much

We're quite capable of doing that to any side when we get it right but your 1st half performance showed we have a long way to go to be serious playoff hopefuls

We've the small matter of Leicester coming to the CBS after the cup weekend which should be a good barometer of where we are

Good luck for the rest of the season , you'll play a lot worse than that and win games 

 

[p_mards 1,905 8.5k]

A few players have been struggling for a while so today sadly comes as no surprise. The bench was as weak as I've ever seen it. In terms of the game we were great in the first half, albeit without much cutting edge, and terrible in the second half. In the first half we played with energy and purpose, albeit with our usual lack of end product. As soon as we came out in the second half we simply couldn't get going. Coventry were cutting through us with ease from front to back with one touch passing before getting one of their forward players in down their right channel. That regular pattern of play epitomised how much sharper Coventry were than us. We were especially bad at gifting them possession in defensive areas through sloppy passing and general overplaying in tight areas.

Our game management when the momentum was turning against us in the second half was terrible. We were struggling to play through Coventry, but didn't adjust our style to clear our lines, hold a solid shape and look to disrupt Coventry - Instead we decided to play even riskier passes and make rash pressing decisions. Coventry mustn't have be able to believe their luck that we self-destructed so spectacularly. I know the players are tired - which is obviously having a negative impact on our performance levels, but it's on Carrick to accept that we're struggling and our best course of action is to get more bodies behind the ball and be humble enough to play on the counter-attack. Carrick doing nothing to try to turn the tide is bad management in my opinion. He was far too passive. Last season we often had tricky spells in the final 30 minutes away from home, in which Smith would go down "injured" and get some treatment before continuing on. It crucially gave us time to compose ourselves. Obviously the rules have changed this season which would mean he'd have to go off the pitch for 30 seconds, but still, we lacked that experience and nous to quell Coventry's clear momentum.

Rogers was our stand out player by a considerable margin. It's comfortably his best performance for us. He looks transformed compared to the shell of a player he was last month when he was struggling to control the ball, make basic passes or run with the ball. His stand out moment today was his sharp turn in his own half before driving through Coventry's team and spreading the ball wide to Jones and then getting on the end of his cross which was unfortunately blocked. It was exceptional play from him. It was Chuba-esque - albeit without the finish. I really liked how that moment was greeted with a raised hands aggressive clap by Carrick for Rogers to see that he was really impressed. He's starting to show signs of him moving ahead of Crooks for the #10 position - Crooks simply isn't capable of the things he did today. Coburn took his goal incredibly well from a great Jones cross. I'm glad that Jones had a decent game today after his infamous miss against Huddersfield.

From the starting 11 today there's only a handful who would be starting if it wasn't for injuries. IMO the likes of Dieng, Smith, Lenihan, Forss, Hackney, O'Brien and McGree would likely be Carrick's starting options if available. There's only LB that we don't have injuries in so we're struggling in most departments. Even the record breaking Championship teams of previous seasons would really struggle in our circumstances. A major positive of the injury crisis is that it's led to the likes of Berg and Rogers to make considerable improvements due to their exposure to first team football. It helps cushion the disappointment in games like today as there is still progression, albeit in terms of individual young players. Fortunately Clarke has got through another game unscathed and performed pretty well. His return helps alleviate some of our desperation to sign some more defensive depth.

It feels like things have hit rock bottom and things will only start to go in an upward trajectory from here with some important first team players like Hackney, Crooks and Lath returning from injury and us likely to make some transfer additions. As we have 5 days until the (lower priority) Villa FA Cup game, 8 days until the Chelsea first-leg and 12 days until our next league game against Millwall, we've got a good opportunity to get a bit of freshness back into the players.

Edited January 1, 2024 by p_mards

[Changing Times 16,077 23.1k]

2 minutes ago, Guffie said:

Because you say so? And a few stats . Ok mate 😂😂

No, because it's based upon absolutely nothing at all.  Just watching a game will tell you that Jones doesn't simply jog about.  The few stats I gave indicate that he is heavily involved in our play both with and without the ball, which would be difficult to do whilst just jogging about.  I can never understand people who seem to revel in their ignorance, like it's a badge of honour to have a stupid opinion, and then just stick with it regardless.

[Guffie 1,681 2.8k]

Just now, Changing Times said:

No, because it's based upon absolutely nothing at all.  Just watching a game will tell you that Jones doesn't simply jog about.  The few stats I gave indicate that he is heavily involved in our play both with and without the ball, which would be difficult to do whilst just jogging about.  I can never understand people who seem to revel in their ignorance, like it's a badge of honour to have a stupid opinion, and then just stick with it regardless.

Mate I’m going to stick with my opinion regardless if you say it’s stupid or you don’t like it. I’ve never rated jones, he’s the most frustrating player I’ve watched in recent years. He gets away with too much, people start saying “tavernier treatment” etc. I don’t rate him, I hope we sign a RW to replace him. Simple.

[Changing Times 16,077 23.1k]

6 minutes ago, Guffie said:

Mate I’m going to stick with my opinion regardless if you say it’s stupid or you don’t like it. I’ve never rated jones, he’s the most frustrating player I’ve watched in recent years. He gets away with too much, people start saying “tavernier treatment” etc. I don’t rate him, I hope we sign a RW to replace him. Simple.

I have no doubt that you will stick with your opinion regardless of whatever argument is presented to you.  I think there's a quote that a fool is someone who ignores information because it disagrees with their desired result.  You've never rated Jones therefore you're not interested in anything that suggests you're wrong.  Saying that he just jogs about however is clearly incorrect, and is therefore a stupid opinion.  I'm not arsed whether we sign a replacement for him or not, we don't have a player in this squad that can't be improved upon, and that includes Jones.

[Guffie 1,681 2.8k]

Just now, Changing Times said:

I have no doubt that you will stick with your opinion regardless of whatever argument is presented to you.  I think there's a quote that a fool is someone who ignores information because it disagrees with their desired result.  You've never rated Jones therefore you're not interested in anything that suggests you're wrong.  Saying that he just jogs about however is clearly incorrect, and is therefore a stupid opinion.  I'm not arsed whether we sign a replacement for him or not, we don't have a player in this squad that can't be improved upon, and that includes Jones.

Ok 

[Changing Times 16,077 23.1k]

I don't think I'd have RW as our priority though either in this window or in the summer.  I'd say there's a couple of positions I'd prefer to add to the squad ahead of that.  Right back obviously, and central midfield.