1 hour ago, Humpty said:

I think poor start to the season, the vast number of points we've dropped against inferior opposition not to mention all the points we've dropped at home, indicate to me that had we returned the points from those games that we should have, then we'd still be in the race for the top two. 

2 points from 12 against Portsmouth, Derby and Plymouth really underscores how dire we've been against some of the worst teams in the league.

Think Sheff Wed on boxing day epitomises us under Carrick. Excellent when it clicks, but defensively and mentally fragile and prone to self destruction.

2 hours ago, Changing Times said:

I'm still indifferent.  We did ok tonight, certainly in the first half anyway, and got the job done in the second half but there's still no consistency to us.  The win feels good tonight precisely because we haven't been playing well.

Have to disagree, wins always feel good!

2 hours ago, Redcar Rioja said:

Indeed, that's two consecutive poor starts to a season and 2.5 seasons of dropping points against relegation haunted opponents and then a woeful Home record this season to boot. Even tonight his half time team talk yielded the same lack of drive and intensity (which a few on here joked about at half time would happen) and consequently the second half saw us defending for our lives at times. I have no idea how he does it but he manages it on a regular basis.

Agree in general but 'defending for our lives' is a bit dramatic, glover made 1 save!

Lets get this thread kicking again.

 

This season feels so repetitive. Lose games and drop points against lower sides. Pressure starts to build. Beat a competitor. Release a bit of pressure. Go back to dropping points.

 

Rinse. Repeat.

 

I am not sure I have the confidence in Carrick to break that cycle.

He's a bit of a fraud.

I’m going to wait for the signings to bed in and see where we are come 1st march to comment on this thread again, enjoy your evenings people. 

4 hours ago, martonboro said:

Lets get this thread kicking again.

 

This season feels so repetitive. Lose games and drop points against lower sides. Pressure starts to build. Beat a competitor. Release a bit of pressure. Go back to dropping points.

 

Rinse. Repeat.

 

I am not sure I have the confidence in Carrick to break that cycle.

I feel like I say the say thing every two weeks. We’re making the same mistakes over and over again.

Watching games this season is just a carbon copy. Majority of our defeats you can see them happening infront of your eyes.

 

Carrick and his staff are not doing enough to sort this out. We need a consistent run of results but I'm not confident of one.

This league is weird - most teams go on a run of say 4 or 5 wins on the bounce at some stage. I just can’t see that happening with us as we’re so inconsistent - it’s a bit embarrassing that we’re not comfortably in the playoffs at the minute and if we missed out altogether that would be a complete failure with this squad.

The losses don’t come as a surprise anymore - I just wish Carrick had a really solid number 2 to back him up.

I wouldn't wish for anyone to be solidly backed up by a number 2.

I wonder if Bill Murray is a Boro fan?

Maybe he could bring Punxsutawney Phil with him to replace Roary as our Mascot. I'd feel a lot better if he did then it wouldn't feel like just Boro fans are stuck in Groundhog Day.

This season reminds of the Ravenelli one where he was going apeshit over the state of our defence. We had World Class Players in the side but the money was all invested at the top end with a League One defence. We witnessed World Class attacking and sublime finishing complimented by agricultural defending, a total imbalance.

The causation now is entirely different as I think we have decent players in defence, Fry is good at this level, VDB is touted to be a top level Champions League defender in waiting, Clarke has received plaudits wherever he has played, Ayling is ageing but still as good as many if not better for this level, Borges was highly regarded before coming here (as was Engel), even Dijksteel has been a revelation. Individually they are a match for most if not all Championship sides but collectively, when I can only assume following orders, they look like their heads are filled with with fudge topped off with treacle. Together they are less than the sum of their parts.

We witnessed Karanka's defending levels in the Championship where Dimi holds the record for the most Boro clean sheets! With all due respect to the Greek God he wouldn't make the top 20 list of Boro Goalkeepers. Such was the tactical organisation and nous where everyone knew exactly what was required, organised and drilled into carrying it out it became almost robotic, such was the choreography that Dimi was reduced to a spare part.

We have seen Carrickball's swashbuckling attacking style, cutting teams apart to the extent where  they simply couldn't live with us but we have seen the exact antithesis of it and often within the same match be it Norwich or Wednesday this season or even yesterday to a lesser extent where we played some good football but then defend like a Pub Team after Lunch.

I get the affection Carrick has for many fans, his football isn't dull as ditch water, it's entertaining and we score some great, even perhaps memorable goals. When we are on fire nobody can live with us but unfortunately that fire rarely lasts 90 minutes and if it does it doesn't last from game to game. Even "that" spell in November walloping QPR, Luton and Oxford was sandwiched in between losing at Home to Coventry 0-3, (the week after that Norwich implosion), and Blackburn 0-1. 

If Carrick can sort the defending out we will be all set to storm the Championship but I see zero evidence of him even wanting to sort our defence out. In fact I see even less evidence that he believes there actually is a problem. He is so convinced and principled that his style works that deviation of any kind would be sacrosanct to a form of betrayal. I believe that we are wading waist deep through the inevitable, hoping that it will sort itself out or that opposition Managers will be so overwhelmed by our dynamic playing style they will no longer employ low blocks or dare to attempt to make substitutions to try and change the outcome. It's not uncommon amongst many Football Managers to hold their nerve, believing that it's all going to break their way when they have been sussed. Even the mighty Mourinho lost his shine and we painfully witnessed up close the death throes of Pulisball. 

Carrickball is inconsistent, it varies between spluttering brilliant and devastatingly disappointing. The only consistent thing is the flip flopping inconsistency of it with no refinement of improving defensively regardless of personnel. Maybe it might work with a top two Premiership side but that's not us, and I doubt ever will be in my or SG's or even Carrick's lifetime. We can all see that just a small retuning and the odd tweak would make a huge difference but it's just not going to happen. Instead we watch with forlorn and misplaced hope along with the overbearing inevitability factor that will define Carrick's time here. 

The biggest thing carrick could do right now is just tell the defenders to defend first look pretty second. If we are boxed in get rid either in the stands or up the pitch and get ourselves organised and back in position. We did it against Burnley and West Brom effectively so it seems against the 'lesser' teams we seem to think we can takes risks and it keeps blowing up in our face time and time again. I was saying yesterday i wouldnt be surprised if we went on a little run next 3 games as they are all teams doing very well and we seem to go into them games alot more prepared defensively and more switched on when attacking knowing we have to take our chances. Against teams in the bottom half we seem to just coast through expecting to win and that needs to change now. Failure to get playoffs would be unacceptable. And looking at the table there are a queue of teams waiting to take our spot. We wont get away with this till MD46 and we shouldnt really be getting away with it now. Just shows the lack of quality in the division this season.

seems like its the part of the season where we play 5 at the back for a few games 

Echo going in on Carrick. FairPlay. Agree with every word.