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Introduction.  The last time I authored a matchday thread there was a sense of optimism on the forum after a positive, attacking performance away at Luton..  Unfortunately, since then t

People are so quick to write players off these days. Sheff Utd are smashing it in the PL with a team full of league football journeymen. Vardy was in non-league a few years ago. Pukki couldn't hit a b

Hats off to sky sports, how they found 15minutes worth of highlights to put on the tele is beyond me

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This is as bad as it can get if you can’t beat 10 men and just one shot on target and in the bottom 3. Like many said, I would have taken a point before the game because against a full Fulham squad it would have shown progress. 

The statistics are abysmal and I have yet to see anything in this team have what it takes to battle its way out of relegation. Teams up the anti and relish playing teams in the drop zone because it’s were they accumulate points. I can bet managers are banking on taking three points. It’s going to be a ugly dog fight, it’s going to be as tough as it gets because as big as we battle every team will battle harder. 

Woodgate needs replacing or assisted. I don’t blame Woodgate, never will, its just the fact he has zero experience. On here, I have read the positive spin and quite frankly it’s getting to a point I’d rather believe labour Abbott speak facts.

The fact is we are poo poor and show no signs we could do better but I still believe we will end up around mid table. 

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2 hours ago, BillinghamBoro said:

Christ that was a hard watch wasnt it. 

I can't believe people are trying to argue drawing 0-0 with a 10 man team is somehow a good result. Has the ambition dropped so low that 0-0s are acceptable?

 

Bottom 3 for the first time in 9 years in the championship, one of the worst starts to the season I can think of, and still it can get worse and worse. Painful absolutely painful and tragic. It's like watching a car crash in slow motion. 

I understand the argument that it's not purely Woodgates fault, but this cannot be allowed to continue, he needs to be dismissed and give s new manager the opportunity. 

Absolutely horrific game and a total waste of a Saturday afternoon.

Which new manager is this,I haven't seen that many hats being chucked into the ring

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I wasn’t at the game today but from what people have said it sounds pretty dire. I still think it is hard to blame Woodgate alone for this mess, but he has to take some share of the blame. We knew it was going to be a tough season when we signed no one and announced we were going to be playing flowing football. The few players capable of scoring last year now seem totally lost and that’s down to him.

That said, I think it’d be hard for anyone to do much with this team in an attacking formation. I don’t think firing Woodgate solves the problem. We need investment into the side - a few experienced heads with the youngsters makes a big difference - like Merson/Townsend in 1998. I’m not sure who our leaders on the pitch are at present. Gibson needs to open his wallet.

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On Wednesday it was the players fault for not getting the 3 points, we created enough chances.

Today however, Woodgate and co have to take the blame. Keeping 5 at the back until 80 minutes?!?! Not to mention our best player in McNair playing there. 
eventually he brought on Browne for some pace but instead of sticking him on the wing, he put him behind the forwards...

Basics of playing against 10 men is make the pitch wide, not cram everything in the middle like we did.

Such a awful performance. Can’t see anything changing with this personnel, both players and staff.

Bad times 😞

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Well it was poor.

Fair play to Fulham , they defended well. Looked lively on the break towards the end, too.

So what does that say about the Boro? Certainly our strikers are out of confidence & struggling badly - touch, movement and shooting all gone.

tbf in the first half I thought wing did really well, pinging some lovely balls about, but we never got on the end of any crosses( well, not well).

2nd half they sat back & we looked bereft of ideas & movement.

i do worry where we go from here. Strikers look lost and there's precious little confidence elsewhere in the squad - maybe give one or two youngsters a try?

I'm feeling pretty pessimistic atm I'm afraid.

utb!

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Its worrying that we struggle to control the majority of games when we win the ball. 

Today has shown that when we win that ball, we are clueless and devoid of ideas. 

I can remember early on in the game when Fletcher was running down the win and he thanked his cross, but Britt was in there in the middle against 3 Fulham players. 

Its embarrassing that our system is like this, but again another week and another game goes by which makes me think that Woodgate isn't up to the job. 

I hope the fans vote with their feet and Gibson gets what he deserves. 

If I was Woodgate I'd ask Gibson to subsidise the tickets up til Christmas to try and encourage people to come and fill it and get behind the team. 

Imagine having a shortage of money each week and then paying to watch that. Fair play to people who do it but Gibson is gambling on the blind loyalty of the "true fans" by appointing Woodgate and rolling the dice. 

Southgate, Strachan, Agnew, Woodgate. 

Why do we always get it wrong more often than not? 

Oh wait, its Gibson.  

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5 hours ago, wilsoncgp said:

I don't really understand the need for players to drive at defenders when they're all sat back in a protective shape. You're just running the ball into them. There's no space to run into when a team plays with that many men behind the ball. The problem was we couldn't stretch them or create enough gaps for players to pick up. The movement as a group wasn't great but when it was better, it had to coincide with them leaving a gap and they were very conscious to avoid that most the time. Finding space at all was hugely difficult and they only played so tightly in that shape because of losing a man.

Which leads me to people trying to belittle how hard it can be to play against 10 men, it's not the playing against 10 men specifically that is hard. It's that some teams, like Fulham today, go to 10 men and then shut up shop for the rest of the game. I didn't expect them to do that as they're a better team than that. It was utterly miraculous that they had any chances in the end though but they only came as we became so lax of our shape (as we didn't really need one), we were playing 3 at the back but half the time, the two on either side of Ayala were playing as full backs. When Coulson went off and Johnson switched to the right, it was a mix of Browne and Fry covering the left back spot. We were practically playing 1-4-5 at some points. Though maybe 1-4-4 was more fitting given how anonymous and detrimental Britt was today.

You need players to drive at defenders to force them to commit and step out of their position, otherwise your just up against a wall and have to go side to side or over the top.

The way you don’t just run into them is through clever movement and use of the ball, exploit the gaps a defender leaves when he commits and either lay it off or try to push into the space.

It doesn’t have to be Traore style runs, just a push and run and quick lay off, or a 1 two round the corner, create a gap to get it through to the striker who hopefully holds it up or try’s to turn the defender. We never do any of this, not only do we always play in front of defences but we seem to slow down to let them back into position, forcing ourselves to play in front of them.

There was an annoying point late on where fletcher and Browne were back in our box tackling one of their forwards, great they won the ball back but when we broke away against their 2 defenders we had nobody up there cos they were in our own box. Stupid!

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Comments on young Pears in the goal please.

He has kept two clean sheets out of two now. Has he been busy or just dealing with routine stuff for a goalkeeper? The reason I ask is that it seems that Randolph has had to consistently make worldies to keep us in games. If Pears hasn’t had to make lots of saves, does it not point to progression within the way Woodgate is setting us up? If so, why all the negative, we are going to be relegated comments?

The man is finding his feet and learning on the job. He is progressing and will get there. The longer he is there the better he will be. To quote a worn out phrase in the pub........Time gentlemen please

 

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5 minutes ago, Blanco said:

Comments on young Pears in the goal please.

He has kept two clean sheets out of two now. Has he been busy or just dealing with routine stuff for a goalkeeper? The reason I ask is that it seems that Randolph has had to consistently make worldies to keep us in games. If Pears hasn’t had to make lots of saves, does it not point to progression within the way Woodgate is setting us up? If so, why all the negative, we are going to be relegated comments?

The man is finding his feet and learning on the job. He is progressing and will get there. The longer he is there the better he will be. To quote a worn out phrase in the pub........Time gentlemen please

 

Had absolutely nothing to do for the majority of the match, so it's hard to judge. He's kept 2 clean sheets but hasn't really made a save of note.

Nearly carried the ball over his own line before Fulham went down to 10 men.

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A rookie manager, learning on the job, putting solid foundations in place, after realising his initial assessment was a bit off and doing something about it?

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35 minutes ago, TeaCider24 said:

Had absolutely nothing to do for the majority of the match, so it's hard to judge. He's kept 2 clean sheets but hasn't really made a save of note.

Nearly carried the ball over his own line before Fulham went down to 10 men.

He didn't put a foot wrong other than that near calamity. He was also quick to get the ball back out on pretty much every occasion, looked comfortable with the ball. As you say, little to do, recovered well to prevent Reid's 50 yard attempt but other than that, hasn't needed to do much.

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Ponce mentioned this on Twitter too, anyone wondering why Dijksteel or Bola can't get in the team, can solve that one for you perhaps. Both, in particular Dijksteel, were absolutely void of effort in pre-match and half time drills. Dijksteel looked like he didn't want to be there. They were doing those long range passes together at one point, Bola spooned one miles away from Dijksteel and Dijksteel just stood still, didn't even look at the ball, just sort of slumped and gave up any idea of wanting to keep warmed up. Probably coldest day of the season at the Riverside and he just couldn't be bothered moving. If Spence was blitzing it in the U23s, I'd question whether he'd even be in the squad tbh. As for Bola, well Coulson has been injured, played for the U23s, then got a sub appearance and finally got back in the team with very little competition. It's clear he isn't doing enough either.

Notably, I felt similar about Britt in what I saw of him pre-match. He didn't look up to it and barring some of his pressing work, it showed in the game too.

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6 hours ago, wilsoncgp said:

Ponce mentioned this on Twitter too, anyone wondering why Dijksteel or Bola can't get in the team, can solve that one for you perhaps. Both, in particular Dijksteel, were absolutely void of effort in pre-match and half time drills. Dijksteel looked like he didn't want to be there. They were doing those long range passes together at one point, Bola spooned one miles away from Dijksteel and Dijksteel just stood still, didn't even look at the ball, just sort of slumped and gave up any idea of wanting to keep warmed up. Probably coldest day of the season at the Riverside and he just couldn't be bothered moving. If Spence was blitzing it in the U23s, I'd question whether he'd even be in the squad tbh. As for Bola, well Coulson has been injured, played for the U23s, then got a sub appearance and finally got back in the team with very little competition. It's clear he isn't doing enough either.

Notably, I felt similar about Britt in what I saw of him pre-match. He didn't look up to it and barring some of his pressing work, it showed in the game too.

It has been said before by managers that they will only use players who want to be up for a fight and who want to play for the club.

We all know that there are some who clearly show their loyalties in various ways, it will not be long when finally Woodgate admits we are in trouble and will mention players attitudes.

Britt often appears cool and casual and very laid back but the real truth is there to see for many fans.

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