Boro vs Crewe Alexandra (EFL Cup) 2-2 (Fletcher, Bola)Boro lose 4-2 on penalties

[Motor Mouth 255]

8 hours ago, Skinemrippers said:

Woodgate needs to take some of the blame for his selection tonight, I just get an awful feeling out entire coaching set up is out of their depth. 

Once again another Gibson selection,did we expect anything different.

Dropping  Johnson our only creative player was a dumb idea as well.

People say Woodgate needs time ,thats a joke he had all the time he required when Pulis walked. We all knew Gibson was going to go for him.Plus lets not forget he said he was going to take players from our youth and Under 23s . Dragging his heels a little bit on that isn't he. Our Under 23s would have pi55ed all over Crewe last night.

[FamilyBoro 140]

24 minutes ago, velocitractor said:

I'm not sure Woodgate knew what he was doing with the formation tbh. At one point in the first half we had the two full backs and the three forward players literally in a line at the top of the pitch. Tav and Sav were stood together just behind them. George had the ball in his own half. Clayton just behind him. Where does he pass? The midfield was none existent. In the second half it was much the same, five players in a straight line up front. Luckily, McNair was the one dropping deep, someone with actual quality. It's an incredibly dangerous game though. McNair makes a bad pass, that's five players out of the game, we're gonna take some absolute batterings if we keep doing that.

At one point we had Tav and Browne up front with Fletcher and Britt deep in midfield. Honestly, it was a mess. 

 

Also, FWIW:

Pears 6, Dijksteel 5, Wood 6, George 7, Bola 4, Saville 4, Tav 4, Clayton 5, Browne 5, Walker 5, Gestede 3, Fletcher 7, McNair 8, Britt 6.

100% this. I was at the game and constantly all game you would have Friend or Clayton trying to bring the ball out of defense with all our players stood in a line right at the top of the pitch it was so clear to see. They put men in midfield and we resorted to constant long balls that we didn't win. When either of the FB showed themselves, we opted to go inside and again more often than not chose a long ball. It was far to easy for them but I just couldn't understand why they weren't being told.  

[TeaCider24 12,642]

50 minutes ago, Motor Mouth said:

Once again another Gibson selection,did we expect anything different.

Dropping  Johnson our only creative player was a dumb idea as well.

People say Woodgate needs time ,thats a joke he had all the time he required when Pulis walked. We all knew Gibson was going to go for him.Plus lets not forget he said he was going to take players from our youth and Under 23s . Dragging his heels a little bit on that isn't he. Our Under 23s would have pi55ed all over Crewe last night.

3 of the starting 11 were from our U23s and youth.

2 more were fairly recently U23s players, and 3 were young new signings.

It was a very young team outside of Gestede, Friend and Clayton.

Edited August 14, 2019 by TeaCider24

[Brunners 7,982]

52 minutes ago, Motor Mouth said:

Once again another Gibson selection,did we expect anything different.

Dropping  Johnson our only creative player was a dumb idea as well.

People say Woodgate needs time ,thats a joke he had all the time he required when Pulis walked. We all knew Gibson was going to go for him.Plus lets not forget he said he was going to take players from our youth and Under 23s . Dragging his heels a little bit on that isn't he. Our Under 23s would have pi55ed all over Crewe last night.

No they wouldn't. 

[RiseAgainst 3,793]

Re Britt - clearly his confidence has gone, and dropping him from the team would be counterproductive (though someone needs to talk to him about his body language, which is clearly alienating a section of the fanbase).

 

However, if a professional footballer can't hit a target measuring 200 square feet from 12 yards away with at least one of three separate attempts, he shouldn't be given a fourth attempt. That's pretty basic stuff to be failing at midway through your career. Get it on target and if the keeper saves it, that's unlucky. To miss completely is unacceptable.

[Foogle 2,104]

5 minutes ago, TeaCider24 said:

3 of the starting 11 were from our U23s and youth.

2 more were fairly recently U23s players, and 3 were young new signings.

It was a very young team outside of Gestede and Clayton.

Our average age was 23 last night apparently, should still have enough to beat Crewe. The starting 11 wasn't dissimilar to what most people put in here as their starting team. It's just one of those games that we're going to need to forget and bounce back from, at least we weren't beaten in 90 minutes ?

 

[Ash 167]

I can see the atmosphere getting really toxic if we don't win on Saturday and/or Tuesday... it was bad enough last night from what I've been hearing and that was a cup match.

[TeaCider24 12,642]

21 minutes ago, Ash said:

I can see the atmosphere getting really toxic if we don't win on Saturday and/or Tuesday... it was bad enough last night from what I've been hearing and that was a cup match.

I think it's a bit shameful that we've had 3 games under a new manager and 2 of them have ended with boos.

[smogsterking the Inspirati 2,490]

Most games I attend end in boos to be fair.

Oops I meant booze ?

[SouthernSmoggie 4,242]

24 minutes ago, TeaCider24 said:

I think it's a bit shameful that we've had 3 games under a new manager and 2 of them have ended with boos.

Weren't the boos after Brentford aimed at the officials? 

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

One or two people at the match last night couldn't wait to throw Woodgate under a bus, some of the abuse being levelled at him was dreadful for a rookie manager in his third game. I honestly can't understand why anyone would go out of their way to pay money to come to that match last night with that in their mind throughout.

3 minutes ago, SouthernSmoggie said:

Weren't the boos after Brentford aimed at the officials? 

That was my understanding, especially as some of the players came round and got a fair round of applause. 

[TeaCider24 12,642]

1 minute ago, SouthernSmoggie said:

Weren't the boos after Brentford aimed at the officials? 

That excuse gets thrown out a lot after final whistle boos at our matches, but even if it was the case, which I don't believe it is for half the people booing, I don't think the players or manager are going to immediately assume that loud boos as soon as a loss is confirmed are aimed at anyone but them.

It was a frequent thing last season too.

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

6 minutes ago, TeaCider24 said:

That excuse gets thrown out a lot after final whistle boos at our matches, but even if it was the case, which I don't believe it is for half the people booing, I don't think the players or manager are going to immediately assume that loud boos as soon as a loss is confirmed are aimed at anyone but them.

It was a frequent thing last season too.

I don't think Woody felt the boos were at them at the weekend. I think last night shows if anything, if he thinks the performance wasn't good enough to merit a result, he'll let us know he feels like that. At the weekend, his primary focus was on the officials. Not that the performance was great but overall, being 1 or 2 goals up entirely changes the game and the ref got a few other things wrong during the match too.

It was surely a frequent thing last season because nobody could stand Pulis and his style of football, especially when we didn't win.

[DevKWat 2,370]

One thing I will say is that the midfielders are non existent at times. I’ve lost count how many times Clayton receives the ball and looks up to the 2 attacking midfielders stood completely still and blocked by defenders, not even attempting to make any angles for him. Looking at this you’d think they were being told to go direct and for the midfielders to stay very high for knockdowns off the strikers. Clayton hasn’t been great but I do feel for him with this, so obvious to see. 

[mendieta420 1,008]

The 11 should've been more than capable of beating Crewe. The players lacked application and focus from the start, listening to Woody's interview I don't think that was down to him as he was raging. The players have to be held accountable. Supposedly Tav thinks he's the next big thing.. Browne wants to be starting.. lets *** see it then.

I'd take Gestede out of all consideration. Just send him home and tell him to not bother coming back, what's the point?

The positives: Fletcher, McNair, George looks fit to replace Shotton.