3 hours ago, LinoJo3 said:

I think our biggest problem in games like this is we can’t cope playing our own game against such a high tempo press. We seem to get way to close to each other, rush the passes because we have no time to pick an option or control the ball and end up giving away a sloppy pass.

It's a lot like watching Southampton in the Premier league. When we come up against a team who are able to press our midfield we can't cope. Barlaser & Hackney can play together against weaker teams but they actually make each other weaker. Hackney's game is all about bursting forwards and breaking the lines but he needs a Morris or younger Howson to support him. Barlaser, like Azaz, needs someone to support him so he can play his passing game. They just about held the line against Burnley but that's because we played on the counter (probably not deliberately). Against Leeds, because we went behind we had to play on the front foot and couldn't cope.

With Morris and Hackney we would have had a fighting chance or even Morris and Barlaser but when Hackney has to do Morris's job and keeps trying to break the lines he tries to do much and loses control. 

Realistically, once Sheffield Utd turned out to be good, we've been fighting for 4th place and this game makes that clear. Get a really good CM in on loan and possibly a LF then I think we can still hit 4th and maybe even 3rd if one of the top 3 go off the boil. 

6 minutes ago, Bruce said:

It's a lot like watching Southampton in the Premier league. When we come up against a team who are able to press our midfield we can't cope. Barlaser & Hackney can play together against weaker teams but they actually make each other weaker. Hackney's game is all about bursting forwards and breaking the lines but he needs a Morris or younger Howson to support him. Barlaser, like Azaz, needs someone to support him so he can play his passing game. They just about held the line against Burnley but that's because we played on the counter (probably not deliberately). Against Leeds, because we went behind we had to play on the front foot and couldn't cope.

With Morris and Hackney we would have had a fighting chance or even Morris and Barlaser but when Hackney has to do Morris's job and keeps trying to break the lines he tries to do much and loses control. 

Realistically, once Sheffield Utd turned out to be good, we've been fighting for 4th place and this game makes that clear. Get a really good CM in on loan and possibly a LF then I think we can still hit 4th and maybe even 3rd if one of the top 3 go off the boil. 

I still think we need two new full backs first and foremost. The ones we have just aren't top half players. They don't really have any strengths which is very annoying.

12 minutes ago, Bruce said:

It's a lot like watching Southampton in the Premier league. When we come up against a team who are able to press our midfield we can't cope. Barlaser & Hackney can play together against weaker teams but they actually make each other weaker. Hackney's game is all about bursting forwards and breaking the lines but he needs a Morris or younger Howson to support him. Barlaser, like Azaz, needs someone to support him so he can play his passing game. They just about held the line against Burnley but that's because we played on the counter (probably not deliberately). Against Leeds, because we went behind we had to play on the front foot and couldn't cope.

With Morris and Hackney we would have had a fighting chance or even Morris and Barlaser but when Hackney has to do Morris's job and keeps trying to break the lines he tries to do much and loses control. 

Realistically, once Sheffield Utd turned out to be good, we've been fighting for 4th place and this game makes that clear. Get a really good CM in on loan and possibly a LF then I think we can still hit 4th and maybe even 3rd if one of the top 3 go off the boil. 

We need to be going for 3rd or 4th, to ensure the 2nd leg of the play-off is at home. Although this didn't work out with Coventry, it's still an advantage we should be striving for.

5 minutes ago, Erimus 63 said:

We need to be going for 3rd or 4th, to ensure the 2nd leg of the play-off is at home. Although this didn't work out with Coventry, it's still an advantage we should be striving for.

Just don't want 6th as either Burnley, SHeffield or Leeds will likely finish 3rd.

Top two has gone so now we need to ensure a top 6 place.

However tired of these two step forward and two steps back, this needs to be addressed moving forward with some decent (on paper) fixtures coming up.

We were poor last night did ourselves no favours so brush it off and get on with it.

https://www.skysports.com/football/video/30998/13271190/leeds-3-1-middlesbrough-championship-highlights

Sorry guys and it does not get any better.

Leeds, Burnley or Sheffield United are going to end up 3rd place making play offs a bit of a task

I suppose there could be a question of fitness with the players on the bench if Maddo was saying that players had needed to be isolated from each other and separate (I'm sure somebody on here said that last night), which might excuse the limited use of what seemed like a fairly strong bench.

8 hours ago, JTG said:

 

Just to try and add some positivity. Believe this was pre-Burnley. This was always going to be a difficult couple of games but our season won’t be defined by losing away against the league leaders.

We’ve been moving in the right direction and we’ve got a favourable run of fixtures between now and February to build some momentum and get some points on the board.

You're dead right. Our season will be defined by all the points we've dropped against the teams that we should be putting to bed especially at home. We're now fighting for a play off spot which is incredibly disappointing as we've not even got Christmas out the way. 

I have to admit that i am disappointed in Carrick's performance this season. We've played some really nice football but we are less then the sum of our parts as a successful team at this level.

6 minutes ago, Humpty said:

You're dead right. Our season will be defined by all the points we've dropped against the teams that we should be putting to bed especially at home. We're now fighting for a play off spot which is incredibly disappointing as we've not even got Christmas out the way. 

I have to admit that i am disappointed in Carrick's performance this season. We've played some really nice football but we are less then the sum of our parts as a successful team at this level.

Due to circumstances and recently playing in the PL and all that entails when relegated we have to admit that there are 3 current teams who are better than the Boro no big surprises there. Ensuring we do not drop silly points and ensuring a top 6 spot has to be our goal and if the "top 3" drop points then maybe we can dream!

There are 3 fixtures coming up Burnley V Leeds, Burnley V Sheffield United, Leeds V Sheffield United (does not matter if home or away) where points are going to be dropped which could be as much as 6 points depending on results 

No i don't think that's the case at all. Our squad is as good as any other in this league. We've beaten Sheffield United, we've been unlucky not to beat Burnley away and we've beaten Leeds away with our second string side. That clearly demonstrates the depth and quality of our squad. 

23 minutes ago, TeaCider24 said:

I suppose there could be a question of fitness with the players on the bench if Maddo was saying that players had needed to be isolated from each other and separate (I'm sure somebody on here said that last night), which might excuse the limited use of what seemed like a fairly strong bench.

It would be a fair point if he showed he was capable of making use of subs at any other point when chasing a game.

I'm not trying to drag the man out of the club over this point by any means but I do think subs are a weak point of his and his coaching staff. I feel like subs are too few and often too late, I'd love to see a comparison against the teams around us to see what we look like there.

Even then, subs that do come on often feel ill-prepared for the task in front of them. I would put some of this on the players and perhaps that could feed into his unwillingness to utilise them - but the buck still stops with him in making sure he has readily available options to impact a game.

9 minutes ago, Humpty said:

No i don't think that's the case at all. Our squad is as good as any other in this league. We've beaten Sheffield United, we've been unlucky not to beat Burnley away and we've beaten Leeds away with our second string side. That clearly demonstrates the depth and quality of our squad. 

I don't think we are.

Against Leeds, other than Rav I don't see any of our nominal 1st 11 who would be nailed on starters for them. Doak at his best would be pushing for a start while Hackney & Morris would be in rotation for midfield. Likewise Lath, Conway and Azaz would make for a really strong bench.

Burnley harder to tell because they have so many injuries. Again, Rav would probably make their 1st 11 and they are desperately short of a centre forward so ELL or Conway would likely start. Hackney and Morris would be good backups to Cullen and Brownhill & Doak would be frequently used from the bench against tired defenders. 

Sheffield Utd?  Wilder has switched to 4 at the back this season. Azaz woujld get the #10 role over O'Hare who hasn't really done much. Hackney and Morris would be on the bench. ELL or Conway would start as a striker and Doak would be pushing for a start. Rav would be pushing for a start. 

Basically, of those 3, I doubt more than 2 of our players make their best starting 11. 

All three play 4-2-3-1 so it's fairly easy to make direct comparisons.

10 minutes ago, Humpty said:

You're dead right. Our season will be defined by all the points we've dropped against the teams that we should be putting to bed especially at home. We're now fighting for a play off spot which is incredibly disappointing as we've not even got Christmas out the way. 

I have to admit that i am disappointed in Carrick's performance this season. We've played some really nice football but we are less then the sum of our parts as a successful team at this level.

Is it disappointing or is it just what we are? Leeds, Sheff Utd, and Burnley all have better squads than us. For us to finish in the autos two of those have to underperform and we’ve got to overperform. It was always a big ask and I’ve been consistent since the start of the season in saying that playoffs is the realistic goal.

In my mind to really mount a sustained challenge for the autos you need a top keeper and I’m just not convinced with Dieng. I think he’s regressed a bit from last season, but I actually said in the summer that I’d have been in for Johansson and Cooper for the fees they were going for.

21 minutes ago, Humpty said:

No i don't think that's the case at all. Our squad is as good as any other in this league. We've beaten Sheffield United, we've been unlucky not to beat Burnley away and we've beaten Leeds away with our second string side. That clearly demonstrates the depth and quality of our squad. 

It demonstrates that we can beat anyone on our day, and if anything is a credit to Carrick that he’s had us punching above our weight against the parachute teams.

Almost every player in the Leeds team that started yesterday would walk into our team and probably be one of our best players.

1 minute ago, JTG said:

I’m just not convinced with Dieng. I think he’s regressed a bit from last season,

It feels like he's been off the boil since coming back from AFCON last year. He hasn't, on the whole, been poor but he doesn't look like one of the top 6 in the Championship which is what he felt like early last season. He has little spells of looking like a top 6 keeper but doesn't sustain them.

2 minutes ago, JTG said:

It demonstrates that we can beat anyone on our day, and if anything is a credit to Carrick that he’s had us punching above our weight against the parachute teams.

Almost every player in the Leeds team that started yesterday would walk into our team and probably be one of our best players.

You're taking the *** now mate 😉