Middlesbrough Post Match 1-0 Defeat

[Dr The Singh]

Just now, bovril said:

The football gods are real and they didn't like the 'would you be happy with second?' thread.

I am the sex god, i already have.put a good word for us

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, foxinsox said:

We need someone better on our free kicks. Ricardo or Winks maybe.

...I really think Fatawu would be a good player to use in a similar situation!!!

[Ric Flair]

16 minutes ago, ARTY_FOX said:

I would bet a hefty sum they didn't go into total meltdown questioning everything about the team and stating that whatever recent success they had was down to essentially luck though. 

But again, there's sustained and prolonged unrivalled success that you'd have to be certified insane to do so. We've achieved absolutely nothing so far, except a record breaking opening third of the season. 

 

The calm and considered approach would be that there's clearly warning signs we are starting to toil and teams are gaining confidence that its not a forgone conclusion we score and win every game. It shouldn't be panic stations yet but I really hope those involved on the football side of the football club don't just assume our dominance is untouchable. 

[Vazman]

6 minutes ago, Wymsey said:

Heard that a couple of their supporters were throwing eggs towards the away section..

Can you find out if they were rotten eggs or boiled eggs?

[Lillehamring]

1 hour ago, HankMarvin said:

Yeah a 3rd 1-0 defeat and being nullified and having attacking players doubled up on was more the point. 

That alone is no sign that teams know how to beat us.

Besides, the fact that we had 43 shots in those defeats suggests that we have never been 'nullified'.  Hull and Leeds got their tactics right and all three teams had a shade of luck.  As Enzo says, we will lose games, but just because we do doesn't suddenly mean that we're easy to beat.

[jmono84]

23 minutes ago, Wolfox said:

There are always going to be peaks and troughs

 

I think even the most ardent Boro fan would agree we were better…. 

I’m still excited by the team and am looking forward to coming back stronger

 

This is the problem, we are better than most teams in the division and the onus is on us to create chances against deep blocks and men behind the ball but when in the final third you haven’t got that top quality you’re gonna struggle to create good chances and it’s quite easy for teams to defend against us.

[Lillehamring]

16 minutes ago, sacreblueits442 said:

...Justin has been poor and has done a  few good things in games and probably why he has not had the crowd on his back!!!

But you are right, I find him frustrating and in the last game every time he received the ball he was either giving it away or making some ridiculous foul on the opposition. He is right footed so struggling on the left to push us forward.

I've been very critical of Justin and i still don't think he's that good, but i thought he actually had his best (ie. a bit above average) game of the season today!

[bovril]

12 minutes ago, bovril said:

The football gods are real and they didn't like the 'would you be happy with second?' thread.

Also 'HMS Piss the League', spaff jizz job done, discussing which players will be good enough for the PL.

 

We have angered the football gods.

[Dr The Singh]

If we had won today,.there would be no criticism.  We weren't good but we didnt deserve to lose.

[Rigga]

We are going to have blips along the way..

As well as we have started the season, the league quality as a whole is pretty shite..

A couple of teams behind us have finally got going and will push us all the way.. im quite grateful for the gap we have to 3rd place at present.

we have a style of play that won’t change.

 

[Dahnsouff]

16 minutes ago, Lillehamring said:

"No plan B" is the new "When it clicks" 

You are a plan A guy, I can tell…

[Lillehamring]

11 minutes ago, Dr The Singh said:

Slightly disagree both team nullified out wingers.  And we all know thats where our attack force comes from.

Then we differ on the meaning of nullify - today Mavididi led the team in key passes, as did fatawu against leeds, he also managed 5 shots in that game (no leeds player managed more than 3).  Granted, Leeds did switch to double up on our wingers which did slow things, but then surely that should have freed up our #8 - annoyingly, rather than responding to this, we played into it, that's on enzo and our players.

 

I think the point is, this has little to do with the opposition and almost everything to our own shortcomings.

[Dahnsouff]

16 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

No plan b means ‘I want 4 4 2 hoof ball’.

Yes, bring back the gung ho, 90 minutes of passion murder ball we used to play, you know our true style that all these useless charlatan managers keep withholding from us

[jbflcfc]

Ah I see there’s a massive over reaction from the “I told you so” section today!

 

We are going to lose games, this is football!

 

We had more than enough to win that game today, but we lost to a worldie of a free kick, I’ve even seen people saying mads positioning was wrong…what!!

 

We’ve lost 3 games all season, the good times will return, we are still top of the league & 8 points from third. Teams around us will drop points also.

 

Thank you & good night.

[Lillehamring]

3 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

You are a plan A guy, I can tell…

Well, yes, but at the same time we were teased with the idea that plan A was so flexible we wouldn't need a Plan B.  That if they went narrow, we went wide; if they pressed our CMs we'd play through it, if they pressed fully, we'd go more direct.

 

It's still early days, but we seem to have become a little uninspired and one dimensional just lately; patience for patience sake.

[Dr The Singh]

1 minute ago, Lillehamring said:

Then we differ on the meaning of nullify - today Mavididi led the team in key passes, as did fatawu against leeds, he also managed 5 shots in that game (no leeds player managed more than 3).  Granted, Leeds did switch to double up on our wingers which did slow things, but then surely that should have freed up our #8 - annoyingly, rather than responding to this, we played into it, that's on enzo and our players.

 

I think the point is, this has little to do with the opposition and almost everything to our own shortcomings.

Absolutely, our shortcomings are the issue, but we do not have a attacking midfielder eg a Madisson, we do not play to that, Maresca plays to having wingers and runners in the box, but teams sit back so it doesnt work unless the wingers and runners are top form.

[goody2028]

I’m disappointed as the rest but a massive overreaction from some in that away end at full time. 
 

That game could have gone either way and at the end of the day it was decided by a great free kick. Cba to get into our final third issues right now. 

[sacreblueits442]

3 minutes ago, Lillehamring said:

Well, yes, but at the same time we were teased with the idea that plan A was so flexible we wouldn't need a Plan B.  That if they went narrow, we went wide; if they pressed our CMs we'd play through it, if they pressed fully, we'd go more direct.

 

It's still early days, but we seem to have become a little uninspired and one dimensional just lately; patience for patience sake.

..."third man running" seems to be missing from our play of late, no one making the run or looking to implement it!!!

[Dahnsouff]

3 minutes ago, Lillehamring said:

Well, yes, but at the same time we were teased with the idea that plan A was so flexible we wouldn't need a Plan B.  That if they went narrow, we went wide; if they pressed our CMs we'd play through it, if they pressed fully, we'd go more direct.

 

It's still early days, but we seem to have become a little uninspired and one dimensional just lately; patience for patience sake.

Agree that it was felt by some (me certainly included) that the style Enzo was instilling would be adaptable enough to always be able to “find a way” (to success)

 

But I am realising this is not feasible, as there are other parties involved and some of these parties are just as capable, some perhaps even more so, and our early stratospheric performances/league position has raised the bar (of our expectations) even as other teams laboured to reach a more comparable velocity not dissimilar to our own earlier in the season.

[Lillehamring]

9 minutes ago, Dr The Singh said:

Absolutely, our shortcomings are the issue, but we do not have a attacking midfielder eg a Madisson, we do not play to that, Maresca plays to having wingers and runners in the box, but teams sit back so it doesnt work unless the wingers and runners are top form.

Yes, doubling up on our wingers should have been something we capitalized on - we have no madders, sure, but between the wingers we had KDH, Vardy & casadei/ricardo - that switch from leeds should have been a key for us to press the middle - which we did towards the end but it wasn't enough or of a good enough quality.

 

Again, going back to the original point - we haven't been found out, teams are having the odd bit of joy tactically, but these losses aren't the result of us being 'found out'.

[Lillehamring]

9 minutes ago, sacreblueits442 said:

..."third man running" seems to be missing from our play of late, no one making the run or looking to implement it!!!

Yeah - regardless of the approach play the philosophy is based around 'getting bodies in the box' and we simply haven't been doing that enough in the last four games.

[CH1_Fox]

Maybe I’m going mad but I thought that was a far better performance than the last three games. Far from perfect, and we’re nowhere near clinical enough but we’ve played far worse and won

[Lillehamring]

2 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Agree that it was felt by some (me certainly included) that the style Enzo was instilling would be adaptable enough to always be able to “find a way” (to success)

 

But I am realising this is not feasible, as there are other parties involved and some of these parties are just as capable, some perhaps even more so, and our early stratospheric performances/league position has raised the bar (of our expectations) even as other teams laboured to reach a more comparable velocity not dissimilar to our own earlier in the season.

Sure - and the last two games are against two of the better teams in the division; i'm prepared to accept that other teams are capable, my concern is that we still should have had enough to combat them - as i posted elsewhere, leeds doubling up on our wingers should have allowed us to overload the middle and get the #8s and nacho/vardy in the box, but we didn't really adapt, we just sort of carried on going wide until the last 10 minutes or so.

[Dahnsouff]

1 minute ago, Lillehamring said:

Sure - and the last two games are against two of the better teams in the division; i'm prepared to accept that other teams are capable, my concern is that we still should have had enough to combat them - as i posted elsewhere, leeds doubling up on our wingers should have allowed us to overload the middle and get the #8s and nacho/vardy in the box, but we didn't really adapt, we just sort of carried on going wide until the last 10 minutes or so.

Can see that, but don’t you also think how niggly the last two teams were allowed to be played a part? We certainly have a soft underbelly, and that’s a concern.

[SheppyFox]

Cracks and fragility are beginning to show in our performances. The cloak of invincibility has been shattered, they know we can’t cope with being pressed. It’s slow and ponderous, far too respectful of the absolutely appalling standard of this league.
 

We should not accept another loss this year as a club.