Boro V Blackburn 0-0

[LukeR 44]

My ratings from the match

 

Given- 7- didn't have much to do

 

Varga- 6.5- meh, looked okay on the ball. Put in a few decent challenges but apart from a few interceptions where he kick started attacks for us, didn't do too much

 

Woodgate- 7.5- class act as always, captained the team well, didn't put a foot wrong

 

Gibson-8- he'll be a big player for us in the future, showing great promise. He was solid again today

 

Friend- 8.5- MOTM an almost perfect display from a full back, he got forward well, and was excellent defensively. He doesn't run, he seems to gallop around the pitch

 

Whitehead- 5- I'm struggling to see the point of him, he doesn't do anything that his twin ( the Easter island statue) can't do.

 

Chalobah- 7- he impressed me today, looks composed in possession and has an eye for a pass

 

Ledesma- 7- showed his ability in flashes today, but didn't create anything particularly dangerous

 

Leadbitter- 8.5- it was a toss up between him and friend for man of the match, he did an excellent job in the hole. He's a bit like a poor man's Paul Scholes

 

Carayol- 8- started the game very well, every attack came through him, he was a bit wasteful with his chances though. He tired around the 60th minute, which was a shame, because prior to that he just mugged the fullbacks off time and time again.

 

Graham- 7- did ok, ran the channels well, he looks slightly off the pace with his link up play though. He didn't really have a chance in front of goal, otherwise is imagine we'd be celebrating a win

 

Subs:

 

Adomah- 7- he looked slower than normal when he came on, but still created a few chances

 

Kamara- 6.5- won a few headers but was needlessly offside on a few occasions

 

Main- 5.5- ran about a bit, had a decent chance from a cross, but jumped over the ball for some reason, then gave a foul after misjudging a jump with 2 minutes to go

[boroinferryhill 8]

I would agree with ur ratings bar ladesma thought he was quiet today but friend and gibbo were class

[p_mards 1,365]

Friend and Carayol were brilliant and ripped their RB to shreads for the first half and a 2-0 lead wouldn't have flattered us as we dominated them. I can't believe Karanka didn't start Adomah in RW and Ledesma behind Graham as Leadbitter should never have played there. We missed Emnes *ducks for cover*. Gibson had a very good game also. Chalobah looked equally as good with his mobility across the pitch. We had enough chances to win the match and restricted Blackburn to scraps so the system worked well.

 

The referee was shocking and the linesmen made a few bewildering decisions.

 

The outside chance of the playoffs are feeling a very long way away(Reading lost today though so not too bad) so I've got no high expectations for the remainder of this season.

 

Given: 7 -Didn't have much to do but the bit he had to do he dealt with it well.

Varga: 6.5 -Fairly poor. Made one very poor error in the first half which could have cost us a goal.

Woodgate: 7.5 - Solid defending. One moment he was chasing after a Blackburn player and his pace looked non-existent.

Gibson: 8 - Very good all game dealing against their strikers and was key to us only giving Blackburn scraps.

Friend: 9 - Brilliant game and his combination with Carayol caused Blackburn countless problems. Defended very well also. The most complete defensively and attacking game he has had for us.

Whitehead: 6 - A few dodgy touches and scuffs. Gave our defence decent cover.

Chalobah: 8 - Very good game and played a bit less disciplined than any of our DM's in games as he was roaming about at times. Very neat with the ball at his feet. At times you could see he was still adjusting but still impressed.

Ledesma: 6 - Made some good passes bur didn't really get into the game. Wasn't helped by us focusing our play down the left wing.

Leadbitter: 7 - Should never have played in the role but still worked very hard.

Carayol: 9 - Brilliant all the time he was on the pitch and ripped their RB(and occasionally RM) to shreads all game. He's really improved under Karanka.

Graham: 6.5 - Looked a bit rusty but didn't get a chance to convert. He got a few very good balls into the box

Adomah: 7.5 - Had one great run and one cross that Main couldn't get onto the end of late on. A dangerous shot that Robinson parried over. Should have started.

Kamara: NA

Main: NA

[chimpy07 20]

I dont get the "we missed Emnes" bit, although i didnt go today it seems like we created much more without him, was it a case of we did everything but score or were the chances not clear cut enough?

 

In recent past when I've been its been a case of not enough chances and not exactly great chances, barring mains chances against Wigan.

[p_mards 1,365]

Leadbitter was too deep so Graham was very isolated all game. The center of our team was lacking creativity and no one to link up with Graham.

[jamesp 125]

Given - 6. nothing really to do apart from one good save

 

varga - 6 wasnt bad, stopped cairney from having much impact at all (their best player in the last few months apparently) looked better than usual going forward too

 

woody - 7 Classy as usual, didnt have alot to deal with tbh. his lack of pace can sometimes be an issue though

 

Gibson - 8 MOTM although he didnt have alot to deal with everything they threw at us he dealt with. cracking last ditch tackle in the first half too

 

Friend - 8 Constant thread going forward especially in the first half. just a shame his final ball is fairly poor. did a good job defensively too

 

Whitehead - 6 wasnt his best game, gave the ball away needlessly a few times and just didnt really offer anything for me

 

Chalobah - 7 looks like he could be a good player for us, tidy with the ball and didnt put a foot wrong really

 

Leadbitter - 7 Better performance than i was expecting to be honest despite being played further forward than he is used too. he doesnt have the attributes to play this position really and this seemed to limit us going forward

 

Ledesma - 6 Not impressed with him today, didnt see enough of the ball to make a real impression though, i still think his best position is behind the striker though.

 

Carayol - 8 Fantastic in the first half, tore them apart. end product very lacking though. wasted our best chance. the change they made at HT effectivly finished his game though. cant keep a high level of performance for over 60 mins which is worrying

 

Graham - 6 Didnt do alot, fantastic ball for carayol in the second half though. didnt look totally fit too me.

 

Main - 6 Ran about abit and thats it

 

kamara - 6 some decent headers but didnt do much either

 

adomah - 6 not match fit by the looks of today. didnt look himself at all

 

Could have had three in the first half and carayol missed a great chance at the start of the second. tore them apart down our left side until they changed their RB at half time. end product is lacking within the team though. no link up to the striker. im sure when tomlin is playing in the hole we will be alot stronger going forward

very negative from blackburn though, awful long ball tactics . despite this we looked very solid at the back as usual. cant see us conceding alot of goals this season

---

also the ref didnt help matters, shocking performance.

 

 

 

had an absolute idiot sat behind me;

 

Karanka your ***e

 

karanka your ***ing useless

 

karanka you dont know what your doing

 

boooooooo

boooooooo

boooooooo

 

get adomah on

 

adomah your ***e

 

carayol your ***ing useless

 

5 minutes later.....

 

why take carayol off. booooooooooo. karanka you dont have a clue

 

 

they were just some of the comments i had the pleasure of listening too during the game

[HoyteForLeftBack 194]

Given - 6. nothing really to do apart from one good save

 

varga - 6 wasnt bad, stopped cairney from having much impact at all (their best player in the last few months apparently) looked better than usual going forward too

 

woody - 7 Classy as usual, didnt have alot to deal with tbh. his lack of pace can sometimes be an issue though

 

Gibson - 8 MOTM although he didnt have alot to deal with everything they threw at us he dealt with. cracking last ditch tackle in the first half too

 

Friend - 8 Constant thread going forward especially in the first half. just a shame his final ball is fairly poor. did a good job defensively too

 

Whitehead - 6 wasnt his best game, gave the ball away needlessly a few times and just didnt really offer anything for me

 

Chalobah - 7 looks like he could be a good player for us, tidy with the ball and didnt put a foot wrong really

 

Leadbitter - 7 Better performance than i was expecting to be honest despite being played further forward than he is used too. he doesnt have the attributes to play this position really and this seemed to limit us going forward

 

Ledesma - 6 Not impressed with him today, didnt see enough of the ball to make a real impression though, i still think his best position is behind the striker though.

 

Carayol - 8 Fantastic in the first half, tore them apart. end product very lacking though. wasted our best chance. the change they made at HT effectivly finished his game though. cant keep a high level of performance for over 60 mins which is worrying

 

Graham - 6 Didnt do alot, fantastic ball for carayol in the second half though. didnt look totally fit too me.

 

Main - 6 Ran about abit and thats it

 

kamara - 6 some decent headers but didnt do much either

 

adomah - 6 not match fit by the looks of today. didnt look himself at all

 

Could have had three in the first half and carayol missed a great chance at the start of the second. tore them apart down our left side until they changed their RB at half time. end product is lacking within the team though. no link up to the striker. im sure when tomlin is playing in the hole we will be alot stronger going forward

very negative from blackburn though, awful long ball tactics . despite this we looked very solid at the back as usual. cant see us conceding alot of goals this season

---

also the ref didnt help matters, shocking performance.

 

 

 

had an absolute idiot sat behind me;

 

Karanka your ***

 

karanka your *** useless

 

karanka you dont know what your doing

 

boooooooo

boooooooo

boooooooo

 

get adomah on

 

adomah your ***

 

carayol your *** useless

 

5 minutes later.....

 

why take carayol off. booooooooooo. karanka you dont have a clue

 

 

they were just some of the comments i had the pleasure of listening too during the game

 

Sounds like the tripe I have to put up with when I get a spare ticket off my dad, sits in the west stand and there are some proper clueless numpties up there

[2plus2 290]

It's a massive blow for our chances this season. We've had some difficult games lately, but you have to find some wins to keep up with the pace. We've definitely drifted now and it's going to be tough. Not impossible, but getting there.

 

That doesn't mean I'm going to start berating the team like some on here though. All this talk of a missed opportunity to close the gap is rubbish. You can't expect us to get a result every game. Those same voices would still be echoing around here with the same comments if we were third and had just lost ground on the automatics, or even in second chasing the title. Nonsense.

 

In terms of our future prospects; you build from the back, and we have an exciting creative AM to make his debut soon. I genuinely think we're going to have a strong campaign next year. If you combine our great spell of form alongside the subsequent run of [mostly goalless] draws, it's still quite impressive. But the terrible form to start this season will likely prove too costly, unfortunately.

 

That said, I haven't given up hope yet.

[jamesp 125]

Given - 6. nothing really to do apart from one good save

 

varga - 6 wasnt bad, stopped cairney from having much impact at all (their best player in the last few months apparently) looked better than usual going forward too

 

woody - 7 Classy as usual, didnt have alot to deal with tbh. his lack of pace can sometimes be an issue though

 

Gibson - 8 MOTM although he didnt have alot to deal with everything they threw at us he dealt with. cracking last ditch tackle in the first half too

 

Friend - 8 Constant thread going forward especially in the first half. just a shame his final ball is fairly poor. did a good job defensively too

 

Whitehead - 6 wasnt his best game, gave the ball away needlessly a few times and just didnt really offer anything for me

 

Chalobah - 7 looks like he could be a good player for us, tidy with the ball and didnt put a foot wrong really

 

Leadbitter - 7 Better performance than i was expecting to be honest despite being played further forward than he is used too. he doesnt have the attributes to play this position really and this seemed to limit us going forward

 

Ledesma - 6 Not impressed with him today, didnt see enough of the ball to make a real impression though, i still think his best position is behind the striker though.

 

Carayol - 8 Fantastic in the first half, tore them apart. end product very lacking though. wasted our best chance. the change they made at HT effectivly finished his game though. cant keep a high level of performance for over 60 mins which is worrying

 

Graham - 6 Didnt do alot, fantastic ball for carayol in the second half though. didnt look totally fit too me.

 

Main - 6 Ran about abit and thats it

 

kamara - 6 some decent headers but didnt do much either

 

adomah - 6 not match fit by the looks of today. didnt look himself at all

 

Could have had three in the first half and carayol missed a great chance at the start of the second. tore them apart down our left side until they changed their RB at half time. end product is lacking within the team though. no link up to the striker. im sure when tomlin is playing in the hole we will be alot stronger going forward

very negative from blackburn though, awful long ball tactics . despite this we looked very solid at the back as usual. cant see us conceding alot of goals this season

---

also the ref didnt help matters, shocking performance.

 

 

 

had an absolute idiot sat behind me;

 

Karanka your ***

 

karanka your *** useless

 

karanka you dont know what your doing

 

boooooooo

boooooooo

boooooooo

 

get adomah on

 

adomah your ***

 

carayol your *** useless

 

5 minutes later.....

 

why take carayol off. booooooooooo. karanka you dont have a clue

 

 

they were just some of the comments i had the pleasure of listening too during the game

 

Sounds like the tripe I have to put up with when I get a spare ticket off my dad, sits in the west stand and there are some proper clueless numpties up there

 

the ground would be a better place without idiots like that, he even booed main onto the pitch. that will do wonders for any players confidence. its just a shame you have to put up with the odd idiot at the riverside

---

It's a massive blow for our chances this season. We've had some difficult games lately, but you have to find some wins to keep up with the pace. We've definitely drifted now and it's going to be tough. Not impossible, but getting there.

 

That doesn't mean I'm going to start berating the team like some on here though. All this talk of a missed opportunity to close the gap is rubbish. You can't expect us to get a result every game. Those same voices would still be echoing around here with the same comments if we were third and had just lost ground on the automatics, or even in second chasing the title. Nonsense.

 

In terms of our future prospects; you build from the back, and we have an exciting creative AM to make his debut soon. I genuinely think we're going to have a strong campaign next year. If you combine our great spell of form alongside the subsequent run of [mostly goalless] draws, it's still quite impressive. But the terrible form to start this season will likely prove too costly, unfortunately.

 

That said, I haven't given up hope yet.

with reading loosing it was a missed oppertunity. if we are hoping to make the playoffs we need to be beating teams like blackburn at home. personally i think it would be harsh to criticise the players today, blackburn came for a point which made it hard for us, we did pretty much everything but score. on another day one of them chances would have gone in im sure.

 

very excited by this team, playoffs will be out of reach this season due to the failure of the previous management but im sure the playoffs will be the minimum expectation next season. AK is building a very good team here

[Guest Spirit of 86]

Given - 6. nothing really to do apart from one good save

 

varga - 6 wasnt bad, stopped cairney from having much impact at all (their best player in the last few months apparently) looked better than usual going forward too

 

woody - 7 Classy as usual, didnt have alot to deal with tbh. his lack of pace can sometimes be an issue though

 

Gibson - 8 MOTM although he didnt have alot to deal with everything they threw at us he dealt with. cracking last ditch tackle in the first half too

 

Friend - 8 Constant thread going forward especially in the first half. just a shame his final ball is fairly poor. did a good job defensively too

 

Whitehead - 6 wasnt his best game, gave the ball away needlessly a few times and just didnt really offer anything for me

 

Chalobah - 7 looks like he could be a good player for us, tidy with the ball and didnt put a foot wrong really

 

Leadbitter - 7 Better performance than i was expecting to be honest despite being played further forward than he is used too. he doesnt have the attributes to play this position really and this seemed to limit us going forward

 

Ledesma - 6 Not impressed with him today, didnt see enough of the ball to make a real impression though, i still think his best position is behind the striker though.

 

Carayol - 8 Fantastic in the first half, tore them apart. end product very lacking though. wasted our best chance. the change they made at HT effectivly finished his game though. cant keep a high level of performance for over 60 mins which is worrying

 

Graham - 6 Didnt do alot, fantastic ball for carayol in the second half though. didnt look totally fit too me.

 

Main - 6 Ran about abit and thats it

 

kamara - 6 some decent headers but didnt do much either

 

adomah - 6 not match fit by the looks of today. didnt look himself at all

 

Could have had three in the first half and carayol missed a great chance at the start of the second. tore them apart down our left side until they changed their RB at half time. end product is lacking within the team though. no link up to the striker. im sure when tomlin is playing in the hole we will be alot stronger going forward

very negative from blackburn though, awful long ball tactics . despite this we looked very solid at the back as usual. cant see us conceding alot of goals this season

---

also the ref didnt help matters, shocking performance.

 

 

 

had an absolute idiot sat behind me;

 

Karanka your ***

 

karanka your *** useless

 

karanka you dont know what your doing

 

boooooooo

boooooooo

boooooooo

 

get adomah on

 

adomah your ***

 

carayol your *** useless

 

5 minutes later.....

 

why take carayol off. booooooooooo. karanka you dont have a clue

 

 

they were just some of the comments i had the pleasure of listening too during the game

 

Sounds like the tripe I have to put up with when I get a spare ticket off my dad, sits in the west stand and there are some proper clueless numpties up there

 

the ground would be a better place without idiots like that, he even booed main onto the pitch. that will do wonders for any players confidence. its just a shame you have to put up with the odd idiot at the riverside

 

Sounds like he would fit in quite well on this forum

[MMC 1,000]

Walking away from the ground today, it felt like we'd lost. We dominated proceedings for pretty much the entirety of the game with Blackburn only showing up in flashes. Their RB got subbed at half time and rightly so as Friend and Carayol made him look like an u11s player. First half we were in cruise control and the only thing missing from our game was a goal or 5. We were creative and pulling them apart at ease, but the luck wasn't with us. Our luck was epitomised by a goalmouth scrap which ended up with a pile-on on Ledesma with the ball trapped a yard out from goal. Had a few good penalty appeals which were denied. Carayol got constantly pulled back, but surprise surprise, the ref and linesman didn't blow (even when a Blackburn lad was grabbing his face). We didn't score when we were dominant and that was annoying. Paul Robinson made some good stops to be fair. Carayol slammed one at his near post after beating their right back which he forced wide. George Friend caned a right footed shot towards the opposite corner from just inside the box after some good dribbling ant interplay from himself and Carayol, but was denied by a terrific block. Woody glanced a header wide from one of many corners, and Carayol was hauled to the floor on another one when he was about to run on to it and slam in, but the referee felt it wasn't a foul. Ledesma was playing some good stuff down the right, but their scrumcapped left back was a far more competent player than their disgrace of a right back. Ledesma mostly tried to play in clever balls or spread the play, and did a fair job. Leadbitter was industrious as ever and actually showed some good dribbling ability at points, going back their right back (granted I could go past him with my eyes closed after a quadruple amputation whilst unconscious/dead)

 

Second half was a scrappier affair and Blackburn had a half decent little spell for 10 minutes or so with us under pressure. Adomah was unlucky not to score with a scathing left footed piledriver. Danny Graham picked out Carayol with a perfect, curling ball which put him one on one with the keeper after he showed terrific pace and strength to pull away from the defender, but he couldn't finish.

 

Blackburn's best chance was a shot from just outside the box which was slammed hard and low, and an unsighted Given did terrifically to get his legs out to it and force it behind for a corner.

 

Our subs did alright also. Carayol had ran himself into the ground and never left 6th gear from coming on until the hour mark. He began to tire and also picked up a knock, so subbing him wasn't a bad decision. Adomah didn't get on the ball as much as the second half was a scrappier, cagier midfield affair, but when he did get on he raced past several players and made things happen. Kei Kamara won all his headers and looked pretty decent also. Curtis Main did nothing. He didn't even close down players like normal. I fail to see what he offers.

 

Player ratings then:

 

Given - 6.5. Didn't have much to do, but did it well.

 

Varga - 6.5. Looked fairly solid defensively which was nice after a few shaky performances of late. Made one terrific burst forwards, but his passing wasn't brilliant and he just punted it forwards aimlessly or out into touch a fair amount.

 

Woody - 7.5. Looked good defensively, passing wasn't half bad and could have notched a goal with better contact on his header from a corner. Good to see him back in action and performing very well.

 

Gibson - 7.5. Another good performance from a lad who's quickly becoming one of our best choices at centre back. Strong in the challenge, good in the air against the troublesome Gestede and his passing wasn't wasn't bad either.

 

Friend - 9.1. Excellent in defence. Excellent in attack. Sublime performance. Passing was excellent, constantly driving past players and interchanging excellently with Carayol. Could have scored if not for a terrific block. My MOTM (was marginally better than Carayol hence the 9.1 :P)

 

Chalobah - 7.5. Good performance, looks like a clever player with an excellent range of passing. Powerful, quick, good in the air and a good tackler. Look forward to seeing him and Leadbitter playing as the holding partnership when Tomlin is available.

 

Whitehead - 5. Standard Whitehead, some terrific defensive play and kept a lot of attacking moves ticking with decent passes, but made vast numbers of sloppy mistakes which led to Blackburn having a decent spell in the second half. Nearly every attack against us was from a careless piece of play from whitehead.

 

Ledesma 6.5. Some good passes in the first half but he was used fairly sp***ly due to the ineptitude of their right back which meant everything came down the left hand side through Carayol and Friend. Was quieter in the second. Made a nuisance of himself, but didn't really create anything of note. Didn't take a shot all match. I was flabbergasted. His corners were terrific.

 

Leadbitter - 8. Industrious, all action performance. Good passing, surprisingly good corners, even had the confidence to do a few stepovers and skill his way past their useless rightback. Our best midfield player and performed surprisingly well in that more offensive capacity. Runs until the death and constantly closes players down. We'd struggle without him in the team, he refuses to give any players a second to be comfortable on the ball.

 

Carayol - 9. Incredible performance. Went past their right back and right mid at will and was truly fantastic. The most vivid memory I have of this game was a 40 odd yard run for him where he was sandwiched inbetween and slightly behind their 2 players and somehow forced his way past them and whipped in a great cross. They couldn't contain him and resorted to doubling and tripling up on him. His end product has come on in leaps and bounds since he first joined us, his crossing was excellent today and when Danny Graham becomes more used to our tactics and playstyle, he should be getting on a few of those (Tomlin too!!!). His crossing was also excellent. Only missed out on my MOTM rating as he tired a little in the second half (who wouldn't after the amount of sprinting he did!) and lost the ball several times which could have set them up for a counter.

 

Graham - 6.5. Showed his class in flashes. Didn't get on the end of the crosses continually drilled in. Won some good headers and his link up play, passing and flick ons are streets ahead of what Juke offered. Looking forward to seeing him become more integrated into the team and offer more of a threat. His movement is spectacular.

 

Adomah - 7. Lively and dangerous when he got on the ball. A great shot and some good crosses.

 

Kamara - 6. Won his headers and offered some good link up play. Offside a few times in the brief period he was on. Rating could have been higher but he wasn't on the pitch long enough to really impress or disappoint.

 

Main - NA. Wasn't on the pitch long enough to get a rating IMO. Looked like standard Main minus the energy. Didn't really offer anything or impress in any way. By this point though we weren't tearing them apart and they'd grown into the game a bit. Inexplicably missed a cross with only a couple of minutes to go. Get any kind of contact on it and he's scored the winner and begun to won Teesside over. Can't help but feel he'd benefit hugely from a loan spell as his movement isn't intelligent enough and his link up play isn't brilliant. Definitely needs to get more experience as if he can up his technical ability, he has all the physical attributes (strength, pace, stamina), to be a half decent striker.

 

All in all I'd say our best performance since the Reading game, but instead of grinding out a point, this time it felt like we needlessly dropped 2. We had all the chances to not just win the game, but destroy Blackburn by 3 or more goals. Our chances weren't half chances, but instead very good ones. Glad to see us playing well again, as we've looked toothless recently. Looked potent again, we just need to be clinical. Looking forward to seeing a full fitness attacking lineup as Carayol is in the form of his life. Adomah and him playing at the top of their game should pull apart any defence. Ledesma or Tomlin through the centre and Graham up front and we should be laughing our way to a result in most of our remaining games.

[Nics 8]

Walking away from the ground today, it felt like we'd lost. (Wall of text)

 

Wow, thanks very much for the update. Very detailed and much appreciated!

[boro-unger 3,870]

Walking away from the ground today, it felt like we'd lost. (Wall of text)

 

Wow, thanks very much for the update. Very detailed and much appreciated!

 

Indeed. Thanks mmc (and others that gave reports), very useful!

[MMC 1,000]

No worries lads! Glad my view of the match was appreciated :)

[p_mards 1,365]

Our system has worked very well in all of our home games as we have generally restricted opposition teams to a fraction of the chances that we have created so I have faith in it going forward despite it's obvious short comings chance conversion wise lately which haven't been helped with a lack of quality fit/sharp strikers and partly disjointed by the recent comings and goings in attacking areas.