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Boro vs Watford 0-1


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Hands up who thought this season wouldn't be difficult?

 

We struggled again up front, we just can't create chances in open play and when was the last time Boro scored on the break? I reckon it was Fabbrini last season. Our problem is lack of options. We are a team that takes no risks.

 

We need a striker that can provide a bit more movement in front of our creative midfielders. So often either Downing, Ramirez and Forshaw were forced to play the ball backwards or sideways, as there was nothing on in front of them, occasionally the ball will be pinged wide, but more often than not, it gets played back to one of our CB's  who then hoof it forward.

If we are going to continue with a loan striker, we would be better off giving Nugent a go, at least his runs are more dynamic than Negredo's, either that, or give Stuani a chance up front, at least he has an eye for goal, Negredo has scored 1 goal in 19 matches, Rhodes has never scored at the Riverside, it's our forward play that needs working on.

 

I don't blame the system, it's a very popular one at this level, but something is wrong. It may be that AK urges the team to be cautious, but I can't believe that he would urge the forward players not to take chances on the edge of the opposition's penalty area. The early interchange between Negredo and Ramirez, that cute back heel to put Gaston through was our best bit of attacking play all match, nothing else of any note happened, both players spent far too much time rolling around on the floor after that.

 

If it's not the system or the mentality, you have to look at the skill-sets of the players, particularly the ones that the club have bought in to improve on last years squad. We seem to have more staff employed in the area of recruitment than we do as coaches, I'm not convinced that there weren't quite a lot of factors that influenced our recruitment in the summer, some of our signings seem to have been made to put players in the shop window rather than for the good of the team, I'm yet to be convinced by any of them, although Chambers is improving alongside Gibson.

 

The club have been cautious in their dealings this year, with one eye on damage limitation should we go back down. An understandable stance, Gibbo isn't made of money and the club is a business which has rarely made a profit.

 

We are playing in a very difficult league, with a squad that lack premier league experience, it's going to be tough, we are punching above our weight.

 

Some fair and interesting points there bud.  Good post.  Disagree about the last bit though.  I don't accept that we're punching above our weight at all.  We're a Premier League club because we deserve to be.  What we do with that opportunity is up to us.

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Question? who actually identifies and buys the players these days? does AK select the area's that need improved and the 'team' of Orta, Gill etc go and find the players? We haven't bought well, in quantity yes but in quality most have been a big let down to say the least.

 

This whole area of the club needs to be accountable, not just the Manager.

 

I'm pretty certain that KM is in charge of recruitment, he's a big fan of quantity over quality.

 

Don't even joke about something like that.  Can you even imagine  :dodgy:

 

I would ha recruited a better set of players than Gary Gill and co. Fact. :P

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This thread has made interesting reading (given my much longer standing views about Karanka) - which haven't been popular.

 

However, what I don't understand, is why is anyone surprised? What was everyone else watching last season... or at the end of the season before that? Many on here must have been at the play off final and seen us just roll over to Norwich, completely incapable of getting back in to the game after 15 minutes. We haven't had an attacking threat for SO long now.

 

Last season we played in exactly the same way, and had a great first five months of the season, but what about the run from January to March? Maybe teams had finally realised that we only play one way. Remember the away games against Brentford, Bristol City, MK Dons, Rotherham - some pretty abject performances? Especially against Rotherham for me, where Warnock made a couple of changes at half time, and we went from stuffing them (although we'd failed to score our golden chances) to losing the match 1-0. AK was out manoeuvred tactically by a more experienced manager. That worried me, and I pointed it out at the time (not popular)!

 

Then when the Charlton weekend debacle blew up I was one of the 10% (Evening Gazette survey) who thought maybe it was time to let AK go.... a chance to change the way we played, as by then I was sick of the defensive sideways / backwards game that we played. I said at the time that it wouldn't cut it in the PL.

 

I ACCEPT THAT I WAS WRONG about replacing AK for the last ten games. It's what I wanted at the time, but on reflection it was probably too big a gamble. I think Steve Gibson probably considered all the options and felt that we could best gain promotion if he could clear the air and get everyone back on board. I think he must have done that.

 

Having gained promotion, although not overly excited about keeping AK, I did think it was fair to give him a go in the PL. I also hoped that MAYBE our set up and tactics might work better in the PL... or seem more exciting, as teams would maybe come at us more, allowing us to get in behind (but we just don't, do we)!?

 

Anyway, I still maintain that a team of our level (lower PL) can't just defend our way to survival. Too many games will end up like yesterday's where we keep them out for most of the match, until a single moment of skill/luck/brilliance can turn us over (West Ham a bit similar).

 

Anyway, Gibbo seems to give his managers a really good crack before binning them, so I doubt that AK will be going anywhere soon. AK has publicly stated that we/he won't change the way we play (he probably doesn't know how to)...... so I guess we need to strap ourselves in, and get ready for the high octane football that Boro are going to be treating us to over the weeks to come!!**

 

Cheers.... and COME ON BORO !!!

 

 

 

** That sentence was a bit sarcastic, so apologies to anyone that was offended by it.

 

PS... I've also said a few times, that IF ONLY AK would get in some decent offensive assistance, maybe we'd still be OK with him. I stand by that. I don't think he's devoid of any decent attributes, far from it, but I think he's showing that on his own, he may well not have enough to keep us up.

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I think it's time to start Traore. His positioning is poor, his work rate isn't the best and he needs to improve on other aspects of his game but I think the best way for him to do that is to start games. His crossing seemed better yesterday than it was against Spurs as did his positioning in my opinion. I have no idea why him and Downing switched sides but that completely nullified whatever threat both of them were offering.

 

That happened against Spurs as well.  I can't work out whether he's just going over there because he just does that or whether he was told to go over to the left.  If he was told to I can't understand why because as soon as he's over there he doesn't look anywhere near as threatening.

 

At Spurs it looked like more of a spur of the moment switch, Yesterday was different in my opinion. Him and Downing seemed to switch at the same time, which I know a few said didn't happen against Spurs where Downing seemed to react to Traore drifting. Whatever it is it needs to stop. Let's work on making him the best right winger he can be, not some all conquering player who can play in any of those three forward positions. Downing has been solid so far so let him continue doing that with Friend behind and let Traore do all the attacking down the right (although Chambers looked handy when he moved to RB) with a solid defender behind him.

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Bring back Higgy! The players seemed to know where the goal was when he was coaching.

 

Didn't someone (Boro unger I think) crunch the numbers and there really wasn't much of a difference in terms of goals per game with and without Higgy?

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I’ve not read through the thread as frankly I don’t want to drag up yesterday’s abomination.

 

Where do you start? Same old problems. Too many players under performing. A formation that doesn’t suit the squad we have. A negative approach to a home game etc. etc.

 

We were fortunate the referee gave us the balance of decisions otherwise it could’ve been much worse. We were ok first 20 minutes but we failed to capitalise. All seemed to go downhill after that. Our run up to December seriously worries me. I don’t see many opportunities for points. It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

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Another power failure thanks to a new storm managed to knock me out from watching the game. It sounds like I was spared a pretty awful match. If we're shot shy against Watford, it doesn't bode well. I didn't expect us to have an easy season, by any means, but we do need to give ourselves more chances to score, especially in games against teams from the mid-point of the league down.

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This thread has made interesting reading (given my much longer standing views about Karanka) - which haven't been popular.

 

However, what I don't understand, is why is anyone surprised? What was everyone else watching last season... or at the end of the season before that? Many on here must have been at the play off final and seen us just roll over to Norwich, completely incapable of getting back in to the game after 15 minutes. We haven't had an attacking threat for SO long now.

 

Last season we played in exactly the same way, and had a great first five months of the season, but what about the run from January to March? Maybe teams had finally realised that we only play one way. Remember the away games against Brentford, Bristol City, MK Dons, Rotherham - some pretty abject performances? Especially against Rotherham for me, where Warnock made a couple of changes at half time, and we went from stuffing them (although we'd failed to score our golden chances) to losing  the match 1-0. AK was out manoeuvred tactically by a more experienced manager. That worried me, and I pointed it out at the time (not popular)!

 

Then when the Charlton weekend debacle blew up I was one of the 10% (Evening Gazette survey) who thought maybe it was time to let AK go.... a chance to change the way we played, as by then I was sick of the defensive sideways / backwards game that we played. I said at the time that it wouldn't cut it in the PL.

 

I ACCEPT THAT I WAS WRONG about replacing AK for the last ten games. It's what I wanted at the time, but on reflection it was probably too big a gamble. I think Steve Gibson probably considered all the options and felt that we could best gain promotion if he could clear the air and get everyone back on board. I think he must have done that.

 

Having gained promotion, although not overly excited about keeping AK, I did think it was fair to give him a go in the PL. I also hoped that MAYBE our set up and tactics might work better in the PL... or seem more exciting, as teams would maybe come at us more, allowing us to get in behind (but we just don't, do we)!?

 

Anyway, I still maintain that a team of our level (lower PL) can't just defend our way to survival. Too many games will end up like yesterday's where we keep them out for most of the match, until a single moment of skill/luck/brilliance can turn us over (West Ham a bit similar).

 

Anyway, Gibbo seems to give his managers a really good crack before binning them, so I doubt that AK will be going anywhere soon. AK has publicly stated that we/he won't change the way we play (he probably doesn't know how to)...... so I guess we need to strap ourselves in, and get ready for the high octane football that Boro are going to be treating us to over the weeks to come!!**

 

Cheers.... and COME ON BORO !!!

 

 

 

** That sentence was a bit sarcastic, so apologies to anyone that was offended by it.

 

PS... I've also said a few times, that IF ONLY AK would get in some decent offensive assistance, maybe we'd still be OK with him. I stand by that. I don't think he's devoid of any decent attributes, far from it, but I think he's showing that on his own, he may well not have enough to keep us up.

 

Spot on post there mate. People calling for ak to get more time.. He's had 3 years now and he attacking side of our game is exactly the same (if not worse ) than when he first joined. It's pretty clear that he simply can't improve it.

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We've also gone from struggling to survive in the championship to struggling to survive in the premiership. If that trend continues for the next 3 years...

 

Struggling in the Champions league?

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This thread has made interesting reading (given my much longer standing views about Karanka) - which haven't been popular.

 

However, what I don't understand, is why is anyone surprised? What was everyone else watching last season... or at the end of the season before that? Many on here must have been at the play off final and seen us just roll over to Norwich, completely incapable of getting back in to the game after 15 minutes. We haven't had an attacking threat for SO long now.

 

Last season we played in exactly the same way, and had a great first five months of the season, but what about the run from January to March? Maybe teams had finally realised that we only play one way. Remember the away games against Brentford, Bristol City, MK Dons, Rotherham - some pretty abject performances? Especially against Rotherham for me, where Warnock made a couple of changes at half time, and we went from stuffing them (although we'd failed to score our golden chances) to losing  the match 1-0. AK was out manoeuvred tactically by a more experienced manager. That worried me, and I pointed it out at the time (not popular)!

 

Then when the Charlton weekend debacle blew up I was one of the 10% (Evening Gazette survey) who thought maybe it was time to let AK go.... a chance to change the way we played, as by then I was sick of the defensive sideways / backwards game that we played. I said at the time that it wouldn't cut it in the PL.

 

I ACCEPT THAT I WAS WRONG about replacing AK for the last ten games. It's what I wanted at the time, but on reflection it was probably too big a gamble. I think Steve Gibson probably considered all the options and felt that we could best gain promotion if he could clear the air and get everyone back on board. I think he must have done that.

 

Having gained promotion, although not overly excited about keeping AK, I did think it was fair to give him a go in the PL. I also hoped that MAYBE our set up and tactics might work better in the PL... or seem more exciting, as teams would maybe come at us more, allowing us to get in behind (but we just don't, do we)!?

 

Anyway, I still maintain that a team of our level (lower PL) can't just defend our way to survival. Too many games will end up like yesterday's where we keep them out for most of the match, until a single moment of skill/luck/brilliance can turn us over (West Ham a bit similar).

 

Anyway, Gibbo seems to give his managers a really good crack before binning them, so I doubt that AK will be going anywhere soon. AK has publicly stated that we/he won't change the way we play (he probably doesn't know how to)...... so I guess we need to strap ourselves in, and get ready for the high octane football that Boro are going to be treating us to over the weeks to come!!**

 

Cheers.... and COME ON BORO !!!

 

 

 

** That sentence was a bit sarcastic, so apologies to anyone that was offended by it.

 

PS... I've also said a few times, that IF ONLY AK would get in some decent offensive assistance, maybe we'd still be OK with him. I stand by that. I don't think he's devoid of any decent attributes, far from it, but I think he's showing that on his own, he may well not have enough to keep us up.

 

Spot on post there mate. People calling for ak to get more time.. He's had 3 years now and he attacking side of our game is exactly the same (if not worse ) than when he first joined. It's pretty clear that he simply can't improve it.

If you look at any manager they play with a certain style throughout their managerial career, Karanka's style is defensive and negative regardless of whether he's here or anywhere else.

As you say he's had 3 years to improve our attacking side, you could give him 10 years and the debate on here about our lack of attacking play would still be the same, a leopard never changes its spots and nor will Karanka. 

This is the style of football we're stuck with unfortunately.

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I've just watched the highlights of the Bournemouth game and my word, I don't think I've realised before just how bad our attacking play is. Bournemouth have got some very good attacking players and have recruited very well in the summer, and they weren't afraid to spend a bit of money either. The likes of Jack Wilshere, Juinor Stanislas, Jordon Ibe, Josh King, Benik Afoke and Callum Wilson...

 

I don't think we'll get anything out of Bournemouth at home tbh. Defensively they're there to get at but we'll sit back and won't test their defence, they'll probably have a moment of brilliance and nick a goal (or two).

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The telling thing for me it even after a couple of years and a few transfer windows we are still saying the same things - goalkeeper, right back, immobile centre mids, left wing, acm, rw,isolated striker, sideways passing, bizarre subs, no bodies in the box... I could go on. Its the same issues that havent been rectified and its said that only an idiot repeats the same thing over and over and expects diferrent outcomes.

 

In the Champ it worked...we somehow managed to keep possesion so much that we just somehow won games. It isnt working in the Prem and quite honestly it wont without some tweaks. I actually we started well against Watford but the lack of cohesion in he final third undid everyhing and meant we didnt have an advantage when we finally began to tire and Watford grew into it a bit.

 

People saying sack Karanka if he doesnt get any points from our next 4 games....its against the likes of the teams we have already played he should be judged against not the Cities and ***nals of this league. I hope Gibson gives him till December but also outlines how he expects Karanka to give it a go and evolve.

 

Anyone know when Grants back? I know he has often been criticised for slowing play down but his crossfield balls, longshots and leadership have been missed in my opinion.

 

Against ***nal I would go for:

 

Valdes

Barragan

Ayala

Gibson

Friend

Forshaw

De Roon

Traore

Downing

Fischer

Rhodes

 

At least give *** something to think about and give us a chance.on the counter. If he does insist on playing a striker RW then give Nuge a go. He can at least press and is more mobile. But why sell Adomah and replace him with a project? Now is the time to let him loose against a team known for playing openly and finally give is an outlet

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