BORO v Coventry City 1-3 (Coburn)

[Guffie 1,681 2.8k]

Just now, Changing Times said:

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.

Yeah I agree. I’d just like forss back to compete with jones. Rb is vital I think RVDB is better suited CB and he’s adds pace to our centre. Who he replaces though I’m not sure. 

[TheJew 3,662 6.1k]

6 minutes ago, Changing Times said:

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.

CM for me depends on the future of Hackney and O'Brien.

[Downsouth 8,161 39.1k]

It's about time Boro came clean and explained the current injury crisis with an indication as to when certain players are expected to return 

[Downsouth 8,161 39.1k]

47 minutes ago, oldboyskyblue said:

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 

 

Good of you to post and agree with regards to the first half

Sadly we are down to the bones player wise and some of the current players have run out of steam sadly.

Your keeper had a good game

[Changing Times 16,078 23.1k]

32 minutes ago, Guffie said:

Yeah I agree. I’d just like forss back to compete with jones. Rb is vital I think RVDB is better suited CB and he’s adds pace to our centre. Who he replaces though I’m not sure. 

I think Forss and McGree coming back can make a sizeable difference, not just because they are decent players but because it does give you the option to switch people around.  At the moment we're basically playing the same players regardless of whether they are playing well or not, if they are knackered or not, carrying knocks or not. It's one of the reasons I'm a little less annoyed about how things are going at the moment.  I don't believe that any team can cope for a weeks on end without their two right backs, two or three of their central defenders, two of their central midfielders, two of their attacking midfielders, and one or two of their strikers.  Today the second half was all about fatigue to me, physical and probably mental as well, and I thought the same at Huddersfield too where we didn't look as good in the first half as we did today but seemed to struggle in the second half exactly as we did this afty.  We can play well, we played really well in the first half so it clearly can't be down to players not being up to it, or at least it can't just be that, there have to be other factors at work. 

In terms of central defence, I was thinking/assuming that Clarke is being managed a bit so he might not be able to play consecutive starts or perhaps Saturday then midweek anyway.  We can at least rotate the three we have so VDB is going to keep getting game time, which is really important in my opinion, but at the same time we can make sure we're not overdoing it with him.  However, and I hope I'm not tempting fate here, Fry has more minutes than anyone in the squad at the moment, and almost as many mins as he managed last season.  If anything were to happen to him then we're in a bit of bother.  If we were further away from the play offs I'd be tempted to say sack the season off and give younger lads the chance to play if we need to rather than make short term signings.  But we're still in hunt so what do you do?  Like going back to today's game, one really good 45 mins, one really bad 45 mins, so the first half makes you think there's definitely something to play for but the second half not so much.

[Changing Times 16,078 23.1k]

57 minutes ago, TheJew said:

CM for me depends on the future of Hackney and O'Brien.

Well yeah it will do to a certain extent but I think we also need to consider if Howson another year on, and Barlaser, are going to be up to it.  I think both seem to be ok just as long as we're doing ok as a team but neither can wrest control of a game back if we lose it, which is what I'm after in at least one central midfielder.  Barlaser to me is a canny player when he's allowed to play but put some pressure on him and he struggles a bit.  Howson is Howson. O'Brien isn't our player and I'd guess would take a few quid to bring him here.  There seems to be a fair chance that Hackney will be off.  Even if we got another season out of him, Hackney, Howson, Barlaser just lacks a bit I'd say.

[TheJew 3,662 6.1k]

14 minutes ago, Changing Times said:

Well yeah it will do to a certain extent but I think we also need to consider if Howson another year on, and Barlaser, are going to be up to it.  I think both seem to be ok just as long as we're doing ok as a team but neither can wrest control of a game back if we lose it, which is what I'm after in at least one central midfielder.  Barlaser to me is a canny player when he's allowed to play but put some pressure on him and he struggles a bit.  Howson is Howson. O'Brien isn't our player and I'd guess would take a few quid to bring him here.  There seems to be a fair chance that Hackney will be off.  Even if we got another season out of him, Hackney, Howson, Barlaser just lacks a bit I'd say.

Oh don't get me wrong, if we lose Hackney and O'Brien then we will definitely require some midfielders.

[Smogzilla 9,473 7.1k]

I suppose we've just got to take what we can get at the minute and hope that some of our younger players can take moments from these difficult run which will stand them in good stead later on. It seems a tall order to expect a proper promotion run at this point, so I guess it's about how we look to the future.

I'm thinking in particular about Coburn and Rogers. Both just 21.

I don't think Josh had as much impact in our build up play as he usually does but he managed to grab another goal. Their centre backs did a reasonable job on him. He certainly can finish. I don't recall him having a clear- cut chance apart from that? Bodes well for him if we can improve our final balls.

Then Rogers. He's improved more and more as the seasons gone on but there were genuine "wow" moments from him in that game. He still has improvement to make (inconsistent pass quality for one) but there is one hell of a player there if he keeps developing.

 

 

 

[JCWamma 538 306]

@Changing Times I don't want to bother giving you a billion separate thumbs up notifications but you're doing great work bringing some perspective in here in response to various different people. Good stuff!

[Denzel Zanzibar 8,167 15.6k]

Jones is one of our best players. Creates most of our chances going forward and defends well too.

If he was flawless he'd be playing in the Premier League. I think a lot of people forget where he was playing when Boro signed him.

Rogers is definitely a future star. We may have problems holding on to him and Hackney in the summer, especially if we don't go up.

[SouthernSmoggie 5,315 7k]

9 hours ago, Changing Times said:

I think Forss and McGree coming back can make a sizeable difference, not just because they are decent players but because it does give you the option to switch people around.  At the moment we're basically playing the same players regardless of whether they are playing well or not, if they are knackered or not, carrying knocks or not. It's one of the reasons I'm a little less annoyed about how things are going at the moment.  I don't believe that any team can cope for a weeks on end without their two right backs, two or three of their central defenders, two of their central midfielders, two of their attacking midfielders, and one or two of their strikers.  Today the second half was all about fatigue to me, physical and probably mental as well, and I thought the same at Huddersfield too where we didn't look as good in the first half as we did today but seemed to struggle in the second half exactly as we did this afty.  We can play well, we played really well in the first half so it clearly can't be down to players not being up to it, or at least it can't just be that, there have to be other factors at work. 

In terms of central defence, I was thinking/assuming that Clarke is being managed a bit so he might not be able to play consecutive starts or perhaps Saturday then midweek anyway.  We can at least rotate the three we have so VDB is going to keep getting game time, which is really important in my opinion, but at the same time we can make sure we're not overdoing it with him.  However, and I hope I'm not tempting fate here, Fry has more minutes than anyone in the squad at the moment, and almost as many mins as he managed last season.  If anything were to happen to him then we're in a bit of bother.  If we were further away from the play offs I'd be tempted to say sack the season off and give younger lads the chance to play if we need to rather than make short term signings.  But we're still in hunt so what do you do?  Like going back to today's game, one really good 45 mins, one really bad 45 mins, so the first half makes you think there's definitely something to play for but the second half not so much.

This is how I feel too. It's hard to get too upset when the team essentially picks itself due to injuries. Carrick has been accused of being slow to react in the past but he has no options to rotate for form and fatigue at the moment, either with starting line ups or in-game subs. I think it's fair to suggest we'd have picked up a few more points over this period if we had something closer to a full strength squad.

[Bruce 3,157 2.5k]

6 minutes ago, SouthernSmoggie said:

This is how I feel too. It's hard to get too upset when the team essentially picks itself due to injuries. Carrick has been accused of being slow to react in the past but he has no options to rotate for form and fatigue at the moment, either with starting line ups or in-game subs. I think it's fair to suggest we'd have picked up a few more points over this period if we had something closer to a full strength squad.

Same here except for one thing which is that Carrick has shown himself unwilling to rotate or rest players even when he has a full squad to pick from. Although he talks the talk about young players he doesn't actually use the academy players. 

He didn't have to play Silvera at centre forward. He could have started Kavanagh or Nkrumah in order to freshen up Silvera or rest Greenwood and play Silvera where he is best. Sure, Kavanagh and Nkrumah might not be at quite the same level but the only way they'll get to improve is by playing 60 minutes from the start. While Rogers, Silvera, Crooks and Greenwood are dying on their feet, Gilbert is sitting on the bench picking his nose. 

Something that has become apparent is that Carrick simply will not use academy players. Hackney was introduced last season by Leo who eased him into the team over 5 games. Since then, nothing. A few brief run outs in friendlies and cup games but that's it. We have Agyemang who is a right back and we don't have a right back but Carrick would rather play an exhausted 1st team member out of position. Agyemang is two years older than RVDB. Sure RVDB is miles better and Agyemang may never make the grade, but for all he talks about, Carrick seems to be as reluctant to use the academy players from the start as Wilder was.

He also will not alter his formation to cover up the gaps. Right now he appears to be an incredibly inflexible manager who would rather run his 1st team into the ground than turn to the academy.  The injury list is appalling, but in the same way that Howe is getting questioned at Newcastle, you have to look at Carrick's inability to set up a team to cope with it.

Yes, you can't have 14 senior players out and expect it not to make a huge impact but I'm not convinced that Carrick is making the best of who he does have available.

[SkyBlueSam 0 2]

16 hours ago, RiseAgainst said:

I hate Coventry. The Luftwaffe had the right idea back in 1940. Flatten the bloody place and start again.

What a vile person you must be. 1,236 people were killed by your idols, the Nazis.

[Denzel Zanzibar 8,167 15.6k]

17 minutes ago, SkyBlueSam said:

What a vile person you must be. 1,236 people were killed by your idols, the Nazis.

The man was clearly not being serious. Look at his username, he's obviously not a Nazi lover. 

[AnglianRed 7,883 18.1k]

9 hours ago, JCWamma said:

@Changing Times I don't want to bother giving you a billion separate thumbs up notifications but you're doing great work bringing some perspective in here in response to various different people. Good stuff!

Okay, how much did he pay you to write that? 😜

I didn't realise CT has his own propaganda wing now. 😆