Relegation Battle

[chickenlunch 315]

I think worst case scenario we'll have to go back to the 3 CB's route and start grinding out some more results, but I agree that this is more about getting the squad more used to playing the formations that Woodgate / Boro want to play in the long term. Even if we won every game from now til the end of the season, we'd be hard pushed to make the playoffs, so I think we're gonna have to accept the short term pain.

2 hours ago, SmogDane said:

We will be fine .. 

I see this as a long warm up and training for next season.

But we need to find some sort of formation that suits our players best and then stick with it and improve it.

My bet would be some kinda formation with wing backs  and 2 strikers

 

[sanddancer 1,967]

16 minutes ago, Alves car salesman said:

Would the club move to sack Woodgate if we lose the next two games?

NO!

[AnglianRed 6,320]

So simple question for every member to consider, are we now in a relegation battle?

Well, we're not mathematically safe yet by any means, so I'd say yes. But its not a desperate one...yet.

 

Are we kidding ourselves that Woody and the team can overturn this?

For this season, yes. If he hasn't figured out a way to effectively use the players at his disposal after 32 games, it ain't happening. If the same spending restrictions are in place for next season, there is a real risk we will be relegated IMO.

 

Can we beat both Luton and Barnsley to ensure that we have another cushion?

I'm still optimistic we can get maximum points from those games. Pick up another couple of draws and we will scrape our way to safety this season. May prove to be just be a stay of execution though.

 

Plenty of games to go for a swing either way any comfort in that?

More of a worry than anything, but see above answer. I think we can (should) be able to make ourselves mathematically safe, before the end of the season.

 

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

I don't think they would either. I don't get any sense of Woodgate's job being on a knife edge. He's safe as houses.

[Uwe 3,545]

[Smoggydownsouth 1,621]

Woodgate will be here the rest of this season and next season and probably the season after... everyone involved thinks it's a long term project but they are trying to do it the correct way buy promoting internally.

[TAPOUT 361]

I don't think we will go down, but I don't think it will be a comfortable ride between now and May. I realise he wants to play 433 but he does not have the players to do it. It is irrelevant trying to play that system ready for next season as none of our players have the attributes to do it effectively. Woodgate has to go back to wing backs to give us the width and pace to get behind defences to try and give the right ammunition to our forwards. We saw last night that the front 2 cannot play with their back to goal. Other than the disallowed goal did we create anything?  Expecting Wing to produce these out of the box worldies every match is not going to be sustainable.

Last night was pitiful. 63% of the play and virtually no clear cut chances created. There is no point in playing a pressing game to regain possession if we cannot do anything with the ball. I am losing faith in what JW is trying to do. Wheres all this IDENTITY, where are all the goals he said were in the team when appointed. Have we really developed anything since the first match v Luton? If we have i have missed it. Patrick Roberts is a definite loss but we should not be reliant on one individual in the team who will probably be off at the end of the season.

This summer requires even more surgery than should be the case. Effective forwards, intelligent runners with pace and a bit of a trick. A midfield with players that aren't all the same style and coaching the defence to be more solid. This has been a year where the club have had to tread water due to financial constraint. I accepted that, but also expected to see some form of pattern / structure developing on the pitch on which to build next year. To me we are going to be in exactly the same position on the pitch as we were last August.

[mendieta420 1,006]

Good. I'd hate to see him chopped tbh.

I only have 2 real issue with him.

One is his forcing out-of-form players into the line up. McNair should be no where near the starting 11 and Fry has been awful for most of the season.

And two is moving away from what was working to try and implement a new formation/tactic just as we have a run of crucial games.

[AdidasTango 10]

Over the last ten years 42/43 points has been enough although there has been two occasions of teams going down on 51 & 54.

So there is a chance we may only need another 6 or 7 points, it would take a disastrous run not to achieve this!

 

Get some results and end this talk!!

[Lord_Moose 387]

3 hours ago, Downsouth said:

So simple question for every member to consider, are we now in a relegation battle?

Are we kidding ourselves that Woody and the team can overturn this?

Can we beat both Luton and Barnsley to ensure that we have another cushion?

Plenty of games to go for a swing either way any comfort in that?

I think this entire season has been an unnecessary relegation battle, I think we will stay up but I wouldn't be shocked if we slipped into the relegation zone a few more times or were even relegated. 

I've had 0 confidence in Woodagte from day 1 and I'd still have little confidence in him if he did manage to turn it around. I really hope he does for the club's sake bit I'm not a fan, surely having an experienced manager in charge of a project would have been better, we just wanted the cheap option dressed up as jobs for the boys.

You would expect to beat them but you would also have expected to beat Wigan. Now is the best time to play us from their point of view.

I'd be much happier with this gap and 2 games of the season left, still plenty of time for teams below us to go on a run.

[AnglianRed 6,320]

22 minutes ago, Uwe said:

 

Pizza delivery to the Boro dressing room...

 

Woody giving a press briefing outside the Riverside...

[AnglianRed 6,320]

10 minutes ago, Lord_Moose said:

I think this entire season has been an unnecessary relegation battle, I think we will stay up but I wouldn't be shocked if we slipped into the relegation zone a few more times or were even relegated. 

I've had 0 confidence in Woodagte from day 1 and I'd still have little confidence in him if he did manage to turn it around. I really hope he does for the club's sake bit I'm not a fan, surely having an experienced manager in charge of a project would have been better, we just wanted the cheap option dressed up as jobs for the boys.

You would expect to beat them but you would also have expected to beat Wigan. Now is the best time to play us from their point of view.

I'd be much happier with this gap and 2 games of the season left, still plenty of time for teams below us to go on a run.

I dunno...I don't want to give Gibson too much stick for this.

Apparently Pulis left because he was asked to stay on, taking a 50% salary cut. As I said on another thread, how many experienced managers would want to go to a club in Boro's financial position?

Woody wasn't the first choice, but he was the only candidate willing to do the job for the money on offer. I don't think it was simply a case of "jobs for the boys". A cheap option was a financial necessity - although there may have been a better one out there.

Ideally, we needed to find another Karanka...but there aren't many of those around.

[Changing Times 12,343]

24 minutes ago, AnglianRed said:

Woody wasn't the first choice, but he was the only candidate willing to do the job for the money on offer. I don't think it was simply a case of "jobs for the boys". A cheap option was a financial necessity - although there may have been a better one out there.

And yet we appear to be setting up a move for his nephew.  Gibson always finds money for his vanity projects it seems.  I don't believe for a second that the only candidate willing to do the job for the money on offer was Woodgate.  I believe that out of Pulis, Jokanovic and Woodgate he might have been the only one willing but that's not the same thing, is it?

[Changing Times 12,343]

I don't think we'll be relegated though.  I don't believe we are one of the three worst teams in the league, although a few more performances like last night and I might change my mind.

[RiseAgainst 3,793]

42 minutes ago, AnglianRed said:

As I said on another thread, how many experienced managers would want to go to a club in Boro's financial position?

 

Honestly, I think quite a lot! We're still seen as a big club, with a healthy fanbase and a chairman who hasn't bankrupted us or pulled dodgy stunts like selling the stadium to his goldfish. We have a good stadium, one of the best academies in the country, and enough of a recent reputation to attract players like Jon Obi Mikel. Plus, our FFP situation will improve with every passing transfer window. And even if we let some of our senior players go, there are plenty of others here for the long haul.

If you're managing in League One or League Two (or not managing at all at the moment), wouldn't you fancy a crack at getting a club like Middlesbrough back up the table and maybe have a chance of PL riches in a year or two? Aitor did it from a similarly grim starting point - it's not an impossible ask. Though I do think it's beyond Woodgate, given we don't appear to be one inch further forward than we were after playing Luton back in August.