Boro v Stoke 0-0

[Robin Johnson 2,081 3.1k]

Disappointing and a performance of concern to me. Far too many sloppy passes,being somewhat overrun in the second half, poor finishing in the first half. Too slow and pedestrian, little idea how to break them down evident particularly in the second half.

I am disappointed as we certainly don't appear to be getting better. Hackney and Morris clearly outshone especially second half.

Big improvement needed im afraid.

[SzilardNemethsCurtains 4,953 5.4k]

5 minutes ago, Robin Johnson said:

Disappointing and a performance of concern to me. Far too many sloppy passes,being somewhat overrun in the second half, poor finishing in the first half. Too slow and pedestrian, little idea how to break them down evident particularly in the second half.

I am disappointed as we certainly don't appear to be getting better. Hackney and Morris clearly outshone especially second half.

Big improvement needed im afraid.

We were clearly the better side first half to be fair, we just ran out of steam, and their changes highlighted our frailties. Bad day at the office but it's not of huge concern yet

[ladyspite 920 5.9k]

3 minutes ago, SzilardNemethsCurtains said:

We were clearly the better side first half to be fair, we just ran out of steam, and their changes highlighted our frailties. Bad day at the office but it's not of huge concern yet

Well we created the same amount of chances in the first half as in the second. So it might been a bit of illusion that our first half was very good? It was better than the Southampton match but that's not very hard to top....

[BillyWoofs_shinpad 2,391 10.4k]

What a negative bunch you all are. We are top of the league, enjoy it while it lasts.  

[BoroSmoggie 4,802 4.7k]

26 minutes ago, Dan1234 said:

I think Conway might be an issue for us this season. Edwards really wants him in the side obviously for his work rate, but for me that's where Conways strengths kinda end. Last season after Lath went it was widely acknowledged Conway just wasn't good enough to play as a lone striker for a team looking at playoffs. After his work rate Conway is a 6/10 for everything really. Not particularly quick or skillfull, quite weak, quite greedy, decent feet but hardly a dribbler. 

Now the team is setup more defensively its even more vital the few players we have in those positions are creative. Everyone has their own opinion on who it should be. Personally I'd like to see Nypan and Hansen behind Strelec. You'd have 5 really technical footballers with Morris and Hackney who look to play quick passing moves. I think Conway would be better coming off the bench to hassle tired legs. 

Conways best attribute is scoring goals. If you provide him service he’ll get 15+ a season easily. Obviously he’d need to play up top for that to happen though. He proved under Carrick that he can play as a lone striker. Think he actually had a better goals per minute ratio then LL.

[Redcar Rioja 9,930 9.6k]

2 minutes ago, BillyWoofs_shinpad said:

What a negative bunch you all are. We are top of the league, enjoy it while it lasts.  

We are elite perfectionists, nothing but the rarest and very finest will do to sate our palates. Mere toleration of the status quo will not suffice if it is seen as pandering to the accepted previous norms. Striving for perfection is like swimming towards an ever receding shoreline, if you stop, you drown.

 

[Robin Johnson 2,081 3.1k]

We are top of the league - which is great. However performances like last night will not keep us there.

If folk are happy with the performance- great. But it won't be long before we are gobbled up and overtaken in the league standings without improving.

[Rob 7,421 11.3k]

1 hour ago, Plastic Goat said:

My feeling is that Hackney will go in January. Some PL club will offer possibly £30 million or so and Boro will accept it. Hopefully Scott has got Hackney's replacement lined up as well as a RWB. We could end up with a stronger and more dangerous team without Hackney. To be fair to him he deserves to test himself in the PL. Mustn't forget the man mountain coming from USA too.

 

Will a premier league club offer 30m when there was zero bite on just north of 20m? 

If we are still in the promotion mix I'm not sure he would be off unless an offer that was too good came in. I can't see him being a desperation/panic buy tho to come straight in your premier league and make up for what your lacking, he fits the profile of someone you invest money and time in and probably gradually bring in to the team (if he aiming higher than the relegation teams)

[Plastic Goat 978 1.4k]

3 minutes ago, Rob said:

Will a premier league club offer 30m when there was zero bite on just north of 20m? 

If we are still in the promotion mix I'm not sure he would be off unless an offer that was too good came in. I can't see him being a desperation/panic buy tho to come straight in your premier league and make up for what your lacking, he fits the profile of someone you invest money and time in and probably gradually bring in to the team (if he aiming higher than the relegation teams)

Come January PL.clubs with money will be looking to strengthen.There is usually be a lot of activity in the transfer market. Yes Hackney could be seen as a player who is introduced to the PL in January to hopefully cement a regular place in the coming season. Who knows but I suspect he was disappointed not to move in the summer and if unsettled it's better for both parties he moves on. I would prefer him to stay but I think it's the way football has always been. 

[sackrobson2 506 1.3k]

28 minutes ago, ladyspite said:

Well we created the same amount of chances in the first half as in the second. So it might been a bit of illusion that our first half was very good? It was better than the Southampton match but that's not very hard to top....

We were clearly the better dominant team first half to anybody watching. We played very well after we got past the Edmunson injury. 

[Humpty 6,204 11.2k]

51 minutes ago, Dan1234 said:

I think Conway might be an issue for us this season. Edwards really wants him in the side obviously for his work rate, but for me that's where Conways strengths kinda end. Last season after Lath went it was widely acknowledged Conway just wasn't good enough to play as a lone striker for a team looking at playoffs. After his work rate Conway is a 6/10 for everything really. Not particularly quick or skillfull, quite weak, quite greedy, decent feet but hardly a dribbler. 

Now the team is setup more defensively its even more vital the few players we have in those positions are creative. Everyone has their own opinion on who it should be. Personally I'd like to see Nypan and Hansen behind Strelec. You'd have 5 really technical footballers with Morris and Hackney who look to play quick passing moves. I think Conway would be better coming off the bench to hassle tired legs. 

I don't agree with that. He's a one in 3.5 striker which is a good record at this level. Conway and ELL dove tailed beautifully last season. It wasn't "widely acknowledged" that he wasn't good enough as a lone striker. I'm not sure where you're pulling that from? Conway was fantastic against West Brom. He's an asset to this squad. 

[LinoJo3 7,394 15.6k]

31 minutes ago, BillyWoofs_shinpad said:

What a negative bunch you all are. We are top of the league, enjoy it while it lasts.  

What’s the point being here then if it’s not going to last? At the end of the day in September/October being top is just something to be encouraged about there’s nothing really to ‘enjoy’. I don’t want us to be some plucky outsiders having nose bleeds because we’re too for once. I want us to be serious contenders and look very good value for our league position and have some confidence that we can retain it.
 

At the moment our performances aren’t doing that and we’re starting to look more like we’re clinging on rather than setting the pace.

It’s not being negative at all really, there are obvious areas for improvement that can only make our season better. So no I’m not settling for ‘enjoy it while it lasts’, I want to see that improvement, I want more.
 

People are frustrated about what we’ve been seeing because we now DO have the players available to deliver what we’ve need so the more we see them fail at it the more annoying it gets. This isn’t like Mowbrays team of misfits and random outcasts, this is an expensive, high profile team so let’s start playing like one. 

[mrlahhh 394 200]

4 hours ago, BoroSmoggie said:

The rhetoric between Strelec and Conway is interesting. Seems as though Strelec is getting no service and is being hung out to dry, yet when it was Conway who was up top getting no service, it was he’s useless and can’t lead the line by himself. Funny how you can perceive things as how you want to see them 

Absolutely nailed it.

Even now, Conway is essentially playing out of position (despite scoring from 9 in the two games before Strelec signed), is our top attacking contributor and is getting criticised for ‘just working hard’ and ‘offering nothing’. Attributes he was getting praised for 2 games ago. But Strelec isn’t getting the service because of other players, etc.

The actuality is somewhere in between, a combination of players not settled yet, playing out of position etc. but your point about rhetoric is spot on. Strelec has looked largely ineffective and doesn’t look fit enough yet.

Sene has probably been the most effective of the 3 and has earned the start on Saturday, with Hansen and Whittaker for me.

[Rob 7,421 11.3k]

47 minutes ago, Plastic Goat said:

Come January PL.clubs with money will be looking to strengthen.There is usually be a lot of activity in the transfer market. Yes Hackney could be seen as a player who is introduced to the PL in January to hopefully cement a regular place in the coming season. Who knows but I suspect he was disappointed not to move in the summer and if unsettled it's better for both parties he moves on. I would prefer him to stay but I think it's the way football has always been. 

I don't think he is unsettled or showing any signs of it tbh

Players don't tend to become unsettled when they don't get their move because no one was interested in them, its normally when there is bids of an acceptable price (from their point of view) and you knock them all back and force them to stay when players tend to get unsettled.

If he was unsettled in the summer, he would of probably wanted to go to Ipswich when he had the chance or at least pushed for it in the last week of the window when the Premier League never came knocking - and he never.

If your needing bodies in January for your premier league team as bit of a panic buy your more likely to look within the premier league or abroad than the championship, as you want someone ready to go 

 

[Rob 7,421 11.3k]

1 hour ago, BillyWoofs_shinpad said:

What a negative bunch you all are. We are top of the league, enjoy it while it lasts.  

I love how your saying don't be negative, then end with negativity stating its not going to last