13 hours ago, Tractors Stopping By said:

 

I suppose it's still feasible Boro could finish in top six, it remains a mathematical possibility but how much do the players there really want it.    

.......

If you play like today and believe in yourselves (and that nearest challengers can fall away) there's still time to make it, I'd suggest not to give up on the season just yet.  

Unfortunately it doesn't matter how much the players want it or believe in themselves.

We are 8 points behind Norwich with 3 games left. 

This might be really harsh but I think people may slightly overrate Clarke because of the way he defends. Everything is always very last ditch, stretching, sliding. I do like how strong he is in the air though, same for Rav. But imo he was poor yesterday, got bullied a few times and was at fault for there goal. So I find it a bit odd how people have him as their MOTM.
I’m quite confident Lenihan and Rav will be first choice next year. Both are our best communicators in the back line and both are also the best ball players we have in that position. I reckon they’d make a great partnership.

I still think Lenihan is the best centre back at the club honestly. Clarke has done really well recently, but he turns slowed than a tanker with a sloth as Captain. And he's been caught out with poor positioning a few times. I think Lenihan and Rav is probably our best pairing

3 hours ago, Humpty said:

With regards to the centre halves I thought both Clarke and VDB were poor yesterday. Still yet to see VDB really excel in a back two. He’s done all his really good work in a back three to date. As someone above said Fry, RVDB, Clarke and Lenihan are as good a pool of defenders as you’ll see at this level.
 

Our problems in the number of goals we concede is due to the way we play. The system we play needs better balance. I feel like the closest we’ve come to having that balance is when Howson and Hackney have played together in the centre. That’s not backed by numbers by any means, it’s just how I see it when I see them play together.

I noticed against Hull there never seems to be enough of our players around, like we set up already ‘stretched’ as a team and that’s our default. It’s hard to describe like no matter where the ball is there never seems to be enough of our players compared to attacking players.

55 minutes ago, BoroDave4 said:

I still think Lenihan is the best centre back at the club honestly. Clarke has done really well recently, but he turns slowed than a tanker with a sloth as Captain. And he's been caught out with poor positioning a few times. I think Lenihan and Rav is probably our best pairing

Correct.

Incorrect... especially in a back two.

Edited April 15, 20241 yr by Humpty

18 hours ago, BoroDave4 said:

I still think Lenihan is the best centre back at the club honestly. Clarke has done really well recently, but he turns slowed than a tanker with a sloth as Captain. And he's been caught out with poor positioning a few times. I think Lenihan and Rav is probably our best pairing

They're the two most talented cbs we have imo, I think they'll work quite well together too. Lenihan is a more effective version of Clarke with his aggression and quick and progressive ball release and vdb is the silkier rolls Royce type defender. In theory they should be very good together but they've not played together in a 2 yet so remains to be seen if they're our best pairing. 

On 4/14/2024 at 10:04 AM, Erimus74 said:

Fry is an odd one, agree as good as he is he wouldnt leave tge club due to his awful injury, we just cant rely on him, every season he misses a large chunk of games 

VDB & Clarke/Lenihan going forward

there's only VDB on the list of players you have mentioned in this post that havent spent more time on the injury table than the pitch 

Edited April 15, 20241 yr by Rob

7 hours ago, Humpty said:

Incorrect... especially in a back two.

What makes you say that? 

15 hours ago, BoroDave4 said:

What makes you say that? 

He's played the vast majority of his stand out games in a back three. He's done ok in a back two but he's still finding his feet and his inexperience tends to show a bit more.

On 4/13/2024 at 6:52 PM, LinoJo3 said:

We’ve literally just spent the last few weeks challenging for the top 6 tho lol. 

What glasses do you wear. We challenged no one in the top six. We played some but challenged? 

On 4/13/2024 at 6:58 PM, Neverbefore said:

So who do you give the credit to for over performing if you think everyone has been useless?

No one over performed the stats prove it. If you mean you don’t rate the manager, staff or players then you are probably correct. 

34 minutes ago, sanddancer said:

No one over performed the stats prove it. If you mean you don’t rate the manager, staff or players then you are probably correct. 

You literally said we overperformed in your first message in this ridiculous discussion.