I am surprisingly quite relaxed about this game and rest of season.

My ultimate feeling is we will fall short of the play offs but not in any danger of relegation so I am looking forward to seeing how the team and certain individuals develop in the 2nd half of season with one eye on next season.

 

 

 

10 hours ago, Changing Times said:

Well if they were back today then no reason they couldn't be on the bench I suppose.  Neither started against South Korea did they?

Be good to see both McGree & Silvera on the bench today mind 

3 minutes ago, Smogzilla said:

 

 

 

That suggests that McGree will be on the bench today 👌

10 hours ago, Smogzilla said:

I suppose they were only in Qatar to be fair. Not THAT far all things considered.

Last summer I flew back from Cananda, landed at 10 in the morning, the following morning got up at 5 for work & done a 12 hour shift 😉

Mind jet lag kicked inn 3 days later & I was goosed 😁

Edited February 4, 20242 yr by Erimus74

Glover, Ayling, Fry, VDB, Engel, Barlaser, Howson, Hackney, Azaz, Forss, Greenwood.

If that is the team, I wonder when O'Brien will break in to the starting Midfield 🤔

11 hours ago, ladyspite said:

Dont need to go route one. You just need to play out of their press and you will have space. Thats how playing out from back works. Its a double edge sword in that way. It only realy works against teams that press, and at the same time its very vulnerable if you dont nanage it. As we saw against Chelsea. But we were also very deep that game. It worked better in the first game when we dident start so damn back down....

I know how it works but at times we are just not very good at it against opponents who have worked us out and use it to exploit our frailties when confidence levels dip and can't execute it effectively to the point where we get ourselves in trouble. I'm not advocating that we adopt route one Pulis style, just at periods in games to relieve self induced pressure, to use our opponents tactics in smothering us as their Achilles heel.

Playing pretty intricate football is great to watch, getting beat by it or struggling against the likes of Rotherham with it isn't. My concern is that Carrick continued it against Chelsea when it was doing far more damage to us than Chelsea themselves, it's a concern when the Manager can't or won't switch things around during games. 

1. Choose your 11 

No much point now it's been leaked. 

2: Result and Boro scorers?

hopefully we'll do them 4-0 again, but somehow I don't see it today. I'll go 1-0 Boro win with Forss getting a stuani-like screamer. 

3: Are you happy with our January Transfer Window?

Reasonably. Would have liked a striker, and im sure Kieren et al were looking for one, but im glad we didnt just throw money at some useless lump out of desperation. 

4: Are you satisfied with the clubs "new" bussines model? 

Yes. It seems to be paying dividends already with signings like Rogers. Score a few goals and then sell for 10-15 x their price. If we can keep that up, we'll be sustainable AF. 

5: Will Rogers find his feet at Aston Villa?

Probably. He showed against chelsea he can play well against the big boys. 

6: Are you going to the game?

Yup. I'm in Boro now. Looking forward to it. 

7: What's your favourite thing coming from Sunderland?

Probably me mam. 

1 minute ago, Redcar Rioja said:

I know how it works but at times we are just not very good at it against opponents who have worked us out and use it to exploit our frailties when confidence levels dip and can't execute it effectively to the point where we get ourselves in trouble. I'm not advocating that we adopt route one Pulis style, just at periods in games to relieve self induced pressure, to use our opponents tactics in smothering us as their Achilles heel.

Playing pretty intricate football is great to watch, getting beat by it or struggling against the likes of Rotherham with it isn't. My concern is that Carrick continued it against Chelsea when it was doing far more damage to us than Chelsea themselves, it's a concern when the Manager can't or won't switch things around during games. 

rather than say we are not very good at it. better to break it down to who exactly isnt good enough. I'll start. engal, fry, clarke, paddy all to slow on the ball to play out from the back sufficiently. the midfield is poor at it to. barlaser's reactions are way to slow. howson although seems fine gets caught way to much and is to sloppy in his passing. 

so we play out from the back and majority of our players in the defensive 3rd and not suited to it. carrick needs to rethink his tactics imo. sick of it tbh. we are not man city. i hate it when other lesser teams try it, more painful watch us mess it up over and over again. 

10 hours ago, Smogzilla said:

I suppose they were only in Qatar to be fair. Not THAT far all things considered.

Certainly not when they will have travelled first Class with a full length sleeping area.

27 minutes ago, MarkT73 said:

Glover, Ayling, Fry, VDB, Engel, Barlaser, Howson, Hackney, Azaz, Forss, Greenwood.

If that is the team, I wonder when O'Brien will break in to the starting Midfield 🤔

Barring an injury to Howson, I'm not sure he will, except for rotation purposes.

Edited February 4, 20242 yr by TeaCider24

12 minutes ago, Dynamo Kev said:

rather than say we are not very good at it. better to break it down to who exactly isnt good enough. I'll start. engal, fry, clarke, paddy all to slow on the ball to play out from the back sufficiently. the midfield is poor at it to. barlaser's reactions are way to slow. howson although seems fine gets caught way to much and is to sloppy in his passing. 

so we play out from the back and majority of our players in the defensive 3rd and not suited to it. carrick needs to rethink his tactics imo. sick of it tbh. we are not man city. i hate it when other lesser teams try it, more painful watch us mess it up over and over again. 

It works brilliantly when executed with a slick playing style but watching us take three of four touches and still not knowing who to pick out is frustrating. Personally I like it but we don't have the required skill and mind sets to make it effective. Key to it is everyone creating the opportunity to receive the ball quickly which isn't always easy if everyone is being smothered by opponents and even less so if we need to stop and ponder a before releasing it. When it is slick and incisive it's brilliant and a joy to behold but I don't believe we have enough of that with the current squad.

2 hours ago, RichAcklam2404 said:

Team is correct 👍🏻

Looking forward to this one. Come on BORO 💪

I reckon 3-1 Forss 2 and VDB