Boro V Burton Albion (A) 1-1 (Assombalonga)

[Downsouth 501]

Due to Borodane's rather pathetic excuse that he is unable to prepare and author the match thread because he is in Paris visiting the likes of the Champs-Elysees, Place de la Concorde, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe the onus is now with me to produce and provide for the more important aspects of being a oneBoro forum member :)

 

Next up along the emotional roller coaster is Burton Albion V Middlesbrough from The Pirelli Stadium, Monday 2nd April kick off 1500hrs (3pm if you prefer)

 

Current form Burton: LLDLLL     

Current form Boro: LDWWWD

 

Last game

 

Burton losing away at Cardiff 1-3 which is a familiar score as far as Cardiff are concerned

Boro losing at home to Champions elect Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2

 

Think it is fair to say that many members did not expect anything from the game and a draw would have been seen as a good result, what we did not imagine was just how bereft we are in attacking ideas when playing against 9 men for 16 minutes or so, but as we had chalked the game off in our pursuit of a top 6 spot then I guess in the grand scheme of things it did not really matter............or did it?

 

At this time we are still in the top 6 with others in and around us not ensuring that they took maximum points from their own games, save Millwall but boy oh boy just how tight it is and how many are sitting with 62 points or so, the biggest surprise and made our own result easier to swallow was Derby losing at home heavily to Sunderland and we very nearly went up a place had Derby not scored.

 

Significant games playing on Monday

 

Ipswich V Millwall (tbh I can see Millwall winning this due to Ipswich being in disarray)

PNE V Derby (live on Sky 1245hrs draw or home win preferable)

Sheffield Utd V Cardiff (live on Sky 1945hrs draw or away win preferable)

Bristol City V Brentford (away win or draw preferable)

 

So everything to play for when we take on a team deep in relegation trouble and with a current form that will see them achieve that feared status.

 

Talking points:

 

Will The Mackems be secret Boro fans on Monday hoping that we repay the Derby favour?

Does anyone now think Leadbitter and Clayton should be in the same team at the same time?

Is this game a "must win" or TMIGOTS.....so far?

Have our top 6 hopes now "gone for a burton"

Will we see more ideas other than Traore runs in attack?

 

Over to you guys :blush:

[Borodane 339]

Thanks Alan. My wife is sick in bed so we haven’t left the hotel yet and have a good 14 hours drive home later today but before that the kids want to go out souvenir shopping. I just came on to start the thread by a two sentence opening saying “please discuss”.

 

I feel this is a must win game considering we are a much better team and it’s soooo close for the two play off spots. We can’t rely on other teams dropping points too. We know a win will keep us in the play offs and might even take us into 5th.

 

And no, Clayts and Leads shouldn’t start together. Way too negative. We definitely need a midfielder or two and another AM and LW in the summer.

[HoyteForLeftBack 51]

If leadbitter and Clayton are even sat together on the team bus I’ll be kicking some ass. If it’s was at home I’d be half tempted to play howson Besic baker and give Harrison a start but it’ll more likely be leadbitter Besic howson aand no harrison.

 

No game is a must win yet but if we don’t win we are ***.

[BOCA 0]

I would like to see baker and Harrison thrown in against Burton at some point and go for it I thought instead of putting craine on i thought baker should of been thrown on it was ideal situation for him to exploit areas of the field we had failed to do

[SmogDane 425]

Against a weak Burton side, I would also really like to see a midfield of Besic, Baker and Downing, with Adama and Harrison on the wings ..

 

Go create...

 

Downing has an ok vision, but not on the wing.. Why not try him in the middle, but not as a 10 ..

[thomas 9]

go back to what was working for weeks please-

..................................Randolph.............................

Shotton........Gibson.....Ayala....................Friend

................................Leadbitter...............................

.......................Besic...............Howson,,..................

Troare.....................Bamford....................Harrison

 

Sorry guys but downing flatters to deceive at times and i wasn't impressed with his performance in particular that miss against wolves. The other thing is I would look at bringing in an academy player that plays upfront to replace Britt on the bench his performances under Pulis have been shockingly bad and he doesnt look bothered lets give someone else a shot off the bench.

[SmogDane 425]

Randz

 

Shotton, Ayala, Gibson,Mr. Red card pulls

 

Downing, Besic, Baker

 

Traore, Harrison

 

Bam Bam

 

 

Tell me why not.. I want to argue!

[Rioch's Braves 53]

We should win this we've been building a little bit of momentum of late by beating the sides near the bottom of the league so that will probably continue, its the teams in the top ten who can play a bit we struggle against not the bottom teams, Sunderland apart.

[Jimmy 75]

Just have to win if we’re serious about competing in the top 6.

[Rioch's Braves 53]

Burton's record since the start of the year W2 D3 L10, it'll be shocking if we can't take 3 points against the whipping boys of the league.

[Changing Times 758]

Tough game this. Burton have the joint worst goal scoring record in the league (28) and the worst goals against record in the league (70). They therefore have the worst goal difference in the league (-42) and are bottom of the league. Their home record is actually worse than their away record. They've won all of 2 games at home this season and they've only won twice since Christmas home or away. In short they aren't very good and operate on a fraction of the budget we do - it's a miracle they are even playing at this level. What else is there to say really?

[SouthernSmoggie 64]

Downings attacking contributions really aren't good enough to be part of the front three. Most of the team have an awful attacking output too. How many goals and assists have Downing, Clayton, Leadboots (minus pens), Besic, Friend & Shotton got between them? Less than Wolves left back has got. They have danger all over the pitch... like Neves hanging back for long shots instead of just recycling possession.

 

Haven't really improved have we. Still beat the dross but can't beat the good teams. Same results against Wolves Cardiff and Brentford as under Monk.

 

We will prob beat Burton.

[boro-unger 217]

Certainly a must win game in my eyes. And I think we will. 2-0 Boro, traore and bamford to score

[Foogle 310]

It will be 0-0 until we get Burton down to 9 men, then we will go for the throat and Randolph will score from a long range free kick in our own half. 1-0.

[Tom 294]

Anyone who thinks Pulis will drop Downing or Leadbitter will be sorely disappointed.