Bees V Middlesbrough Match report

[mhead bee]

Just watched the highlights and I am even more pi55ed off than I was last night. It is always hard to blame a ref when you have so many of your own flaws but once again an industrial team with nothing but muscle have been allowed to use the dark arts to win a game by a totally spineless ref. Because I knew what was coming I counted the fouls and they got away with 9 tactical fouls in the first half all of which should have been yellows, the only yellow was for an awful elbow that was a stone wall red and from the player who went on to score their goal. He could easily have picked up 2-3 more yellows afterwards too and they should have had another red for the elbow on Maupay and a penalty on Marcondes.

So utterly sick of seeing this happen and the constant ineptitude of refs allowing it to happen, TF was in the 4th officials ear and our players were all over the ref so you can't accuse us of rolling over.

We pretty much played them off the pitch, nobody had a bad game but we let the "knew it was going to happen" goals in before Judge pulls one back.

I am focusing on the positives.

Judge was excellent, looking better all the time, Sergi was good, NM ran them ragged and his hold up play was exceptional, JM was quality, Rico is back and EM had so much zip. He looks like the missing link to me in someone who can take it from the midfield and spin and be the link up man, this is what we have been missing this season as we have too many midfielders going sideways.

I know we wont press the panic button because we were good last night and should have won the game. Mcleod and Nico aren't good enough to be in a top 6 side and Dasilva looks like he is so more good news. Ollie, Said and Kamo on the mend as well so I am hopeful of a great second half to the season.

 

[abellbee]

Just watched the highlights and I am even more pi55ed off than I was last night. It is always hard to blame a ref when you have so many of your own flaws but once again an industrial team with nothing but muscle have been allowed to use the dark arts to win a game by a totally spineless ref. Because I knew what was coming I counted the fouls and they got away with 9 tactical fouls in the first half all of which should have been yellows, the only yellow was for an awful elbow that was a stone wall red and from the player who went on to score their goal. He could easily have picked up 2-3 more yellows afterwards too and they should have had another red for the elbow on Maupay and a penalty on Marcondes.

So utterly sick of seeing this happen and the constant ineptitude of refs allowing it to happen, TF was in the 4th officials ear and our players were all over the ref so you can't accuse us of rolling over.

We pretty much played them off the pitch, nobody had a bad game but we let the "knew it was going to happen" goals in before Judge pulls one back.

I am focusing on the positives.

Judge was excellent, looking better all the time, Sergi was good, NM ran them ragged and his hold up play was exceptional, JM was quality, Rico is back and EM had so much zip. He looks like the missing link to me in someone who can take it from the midfield and spin and be the link up man, this is what we have been missing this season as we have too many midfielders going sideways.

I know we wont press the panic button because we were good last night and should have won the game. Mcleod and Nico aren't good enough to be in a top 6 side and Dasilva looks like he is so more good news. Ollie, Said and Kamo on the mend as well so I am hopeful of a great second half to the season.

If I hadn't been at the game last night I'd take positives from your comment but without anyone accusing me of being in the D&G brigade I have to question some of your comments:

I thought Sergi was poor last night (no tracking back & no end product) - The midfield selection was all wrong for so many reasons & it is plain to see we are so lacking in confidence going forward that any break at pace is non existent due to little or no movement up front other than Maupay who is totally isolated & resulting in most attacks slowing down with sideways & backward passing allowing teams to re-group.

Your comment that no one had a bad game should have read that all 11 were decidedly average at best & to say we played them of the pitch is not how I saw it. I think there will be changes on Tuesday so lets go again, as you say its too early to push the panic button.

 

[IDontBeeLieveIt]

If I hadn't been at the game last night I'd take positives from your comment but without anyone accusing me of being in the D&G brigade I have to question some of your comments:

I thought Sergi was poor last night (no tracking back & no end product) - The midfield selection was all wrong for so many reasons & it is plain to see we are so lacking in confidence going forward that any break at pace is non existent due to little or no movement up front other than Maupay who is totally isolated & resulting in most attacks slowing down with sideways & backward passing allowing teams to re-group.

Your comment that no one had a bad game should have read that all 11 were decidedly average at best & to say we played them of the pitch is not how I saw it. I think there will be changes on Tuesday so lets go again, as you say its too early to push the panic button.

I agree with a lot of what mhead says but yeah playing them off the park is way OTT.
They sat back with most of their team behind the ball and were content to leave us to try to break them down.
They knew they'd likely get counter-attacks or balls into the box to nick a goal or two from and did.
Their tactics got them three points.
Judge was trying to make things happen. Canos was OKish but little more than that (as he has been most of the season). Maupay was top draw and held things up amazingly but needed support runners that often never came.
Quite simply we lost that because we had no running from midfield supporting the front three. MacLeod has been poor all season, and looked worse than usual, barely interested. Yennaris looked similarly lacking in some "get up and go" and was coasting around, going through the motions, rather than making anything happen.
The only one looking liable to set people free with a quick turn and sharp pass was McE. However he was limited in his effectiveness with no runs to aim for.
We fix those two midfield positions ahead of McE and we may turn this season around pretty quickly.
We just can't keep carrying one or two people in those roles who don't contribute in both attack and defence (most crucially attacking runs and movement).

 

[jlove]

What we witnessed was a Tony Pulis team that was incredibly well orchestrated; it was like watching a production of the Royal Ballet for thugs. From Thomas' comments it was clear we knew what to expect but it's frustrating that basic defending errors cost us the game. At least Judge admitted his error for the second goal – they'll all know what they did wrong. Our one goal came from a couple of their defenders failing to obey the trained instructions and without conceding we may have got the opportunity as we pulled them about. The positives are seeing players who all look to be capable of improving us when they're match fit; it can't come quickly enough.

 

[Norfolk Bee]

At championship level Middlesbrough are a good side and will be in the mix at the end. But like their previous brief stay at the top table, they won't be good enough, a PL place will be wasted on them. The money they will pick up will allow them to do it again, and probably again and again.

 

[shouldbee]

At championship level Middlesbrough are a good side and will be in the mix at the end. But like their previous brief stay at the top table, they won't be good enough, a PL place will be wasted on them. The money they will pick up will allow them to do it again, and probably again and again.

They had a good manager and replaced him with that p**** Pulis.

 

[sonofabee]

Just watched the highlights and I am even more pi55ed off than I was last night. It is always hard to blame a ref when you have so many of your own flaws but once again an industrial team with nothing but muscle have been allowed to use the dark arts to win a game by a totally spineless ref. Because I knew what was coming I counted the fouls and they got away with 9 tactical fouls in the first half all of which should have been yellows, the only yellow was for an awful elbow that was a stone wall red and from the player who went on to score their goal. He could easily have picked up 2-3 more yellows afterwards too and they should have had another red for the elbow on Maupay and a penalty on Marcondes.

So utterly sick of seeing this happen and the constant ineptitude of refs allowing it to happen, TF was in the 4th officials ear and our players were all over the ref so you can't accuse us of rolling over.

We pretty much played them off the pitch, nobody had a bad game but we let the "knew it was going to happen" goals in before Judge pulls one back.

I am focusing on the positives.

Judge was excellent, looking better all the time, Sergi was good, NM ran them ragged and his hold up play was exceptional, JM was quality, Rico is back and EM had so much zip. He looks like the missing link to me in someone who can take it from the midfield and spin and be the link up man, this is what we have been missing this season as we have too many midfielders going sideways.

I know we wont press the panic button because we were good last night and should have won the game. Mcleod and Nico aren't good enough to be in a top 6 side and Dasilva looks like he is so more good news. Ollie, Said and Kamo on the mend as well so I am hopeful of a great second half to the season.

Sorry we didn’t play them off the park, they allowed us to have possession in our own half when it suited.
How many clear cut chances did we create?
I recall three decent long range shots, one went in and Randolph was equal to the others as well as one good header that was also well saved.
We lacked creativity until Emiliano and Da Silva came on, Yennaris and McLeod were just poor. McEachran was tidy but ineffective and worryingly Judgy by far the best of an ordinary starting midfield.

 

[moribee]

We were poor. Judge looked isolated first half and a bit prone to a tantrum. Josh had good first 45. No forwards.
Moses was not good enough

 

[IslandBee]

Just watched the highlights and I am even more pi55ed off than I was last night. It is always hard to blame a ref when you have so many of your own flaws but once again an industrial team with nothing but muscle have been allowed to use the dark arts to win a game by a totally spineless ref. Because I knew what was coming I counted the fouls and they got away with 9 tactical fouls in the first half all of which should have been yellows, the only yellow was for an awful elbow that was a stone wall red and from the player who went on to score their goal. He could easily have picked up 2-3 more yellows afterwards too and they should have had another red for the elbow on Maupay and a penalty on Marcondes.

So utterly sick of seeing this happen and the constant ineptitude of refs allowing it to happen, TF was in the 4th officials ear and our players were all over the ref so you can't accuse us of rolling over.

We pretty much played them off the pitch, nobody had a bad game but we let the "knew it was going to happen" goals in before Judge pulls one back.

I am focusing on the positives.

Judge was excellent, looking better all the time, Sergi was good, NM ran them ragged and his hold up play was exceptional, JM was quality, Rico is back and EM had so much zip. He looks like the missing link to me in someone who can take it from the midfield and spin and be the link up man, this is what we have been missing this season as we have too many midfielders going sideways.

I know we wont press the panic button because we were good last night and should have won the game. Mcleod and Nico aren't good enough to be in a top 6 side and Dasilva looks like he is so more good news. Ollie, Said and Kamo on the mend as well so I am hopeful of a great second half to the season.

Never been a doom and gloomer, but this is more positive than I felt about yesterday's game tbh. Sure, there were some things that didn't go our way, but I thought it all worked out in a way that was entirely predictable: we had lots of pedestrian possession, made a few half-chances, but were hit by a couple of sucker-punches largely as a result of our defensive vulnerabilities. The ref was not great, but I don't think his decisions are the first place I would look to explain our defeat.

 

[Glenisterbee]

At championship level Middlesbrough are a good side and will be in the mix at the end. But like their previous brief stay at the top table, they won't be good enough, a PL place will be wasted on them. The money they will pick up will allow them to do it again, and probably again and again.

As has been said, they are a bunch of thugs who take gamesmanship to a new level and the refs seem happy to let them do it. Crap to watch and i agree, they will like last time, very quickly get found out at the next level. Their last foray into the PL was disastrous. It is sad that a dinosaur like Pulis gets a team up with tactics like this.

 

[BaildonBee]

Just watched the highlights and I am even more pi55ed off than I was last night. It is always hard to blame a ref when you have so many of your own flaws but once again an industrial team with nothing but muscle have been allowed to use the dark arts to win a game by a totally spineless ref. Because I knew what was coming I counted the fouls and they got away with 9 tactical fouls in the first half all of which should have been yellows, the only yellow was for an awful elbow that was a stone wall red and from the player who went on to score their goal. He could easily have picked up 2-3 more yellows afterwards too and they should have had another red for the elbow on Maupay and a penalty on Marcondes.

So utterly sick of seeing this happen and the constant ineptitude of refs allowing it to happen, TF was in the 4th officials ear and our players were all over the ref so you can't accuse us of rolling over.

We pretty much played them off the pitch, nobody had a bad game but we let the "knew it was going to happen" goals in before Judge pulls one back.

I am focusing on the positives.

Judge was excellent, looking better all the time, Sergi was good, NM ran them ragged and his hold up play was exceptional, JM was quality, Rico is back and EM had so much zip. He looks like the missing link to me in someone who can take it from the midfield and spin and be the link up man, this is what we have been missing this season as we have too many midfielders going sideways.

I know we wont press the panic button because we were good last night and should have won the game. Mcleod and Nico aren't good enough to be in a top 6 side and Dasilva looks like he is so more good news. Ollie, Said and Kamo on the mend as well so I am hopeful of a great second half to the season.

Thank you I needed that. I was thinking about returning players and had completely forgotten about Kamo. We need some luck on the injury front to help kick us on.

 

[teesbee]

We really are getting no luck at the moment - their first goal looked distinctly offside on the highlights.

Match report: there's a time and a place for patient build-up at the back, and the 80th minute when you're 2-1 down is not it.

 

[Voice from the Braemar]

we were average at best and once again allowed a team which isnt a football team to bully us and the ref to get the result they wanted......its happened before and no doubt will happen again very soon.....we never seem to learn how to play these sort of teams.....no plan b when its needed against these non football boreboys......we need certain players in certain games and macleod yennaris and josh mac just dont cut the mustard against the likes of boro.....too weak and too slow........TF really needs to sort out the physical side of our game as thats where we get done mostly

 

[peterwey]

<the only yellow was for an awful elbow that was a stone wall red and from the player who went on to score their goal>

Agreed. Just watched the highlights and do not understand why "referee" only gave yellow card.

 

[PJ]

If the oppo keeper isn't busy then we haven't played well in my book.
It's a recurring theme game after game. Lots of people making excuses but the fact is we have big problems at the moment, they are there for all to see and have been for some time.
The January transfer window needs to be our busiest ever Jan window imho, as what we've got collectively as a squad this season will not see us through.
Balance of the squad is wrong and too many players we cannot rely on to remain fit .

 

[Longhope Bee]

He gave three - including one for a moment of madness by Mepham at the end

 

[Lionel Bart-At]

What we witnessed was a Tony Pulis team that was incredibly well orchestrated; it was like watching a production of the Royal Ballet for thugs. From Thomas' comments it was clear we knew what to expect but it's frustrating that basic defending errors cost us the game. At least Judge admitted his error for the second goal – they'll all know what they did wrong. Our one goal came from a couple of their defenders failing to obey the trained instructions and without conceding we may have got the opportunity as we pulled them about. The positives are seeing players who all look to be capable of improving us when they're match fit; it can't come quickly enough.

Your first sentence says it all. The fact that most premier league teams would struggle to prize this dull lot apart is something which has been conveniently missed by so many gloomy bastards on this website in the last 24 hours. Yet we managed to engineer 9 shots on target, which would be way more than most teams. We obviously have to improve our conversion rate against misers like this. Just one point about the second goal... Judge may have taken the blame, but don't let us miss the fact that our central pair were outsmarted in the air by one player (smaller than both ours), and that this is also one of our key issues at the moment.

 

[Lionel Bart-At]

If the oppo keeper isn't busy then we haven't played well in my book.
It's a recurring theme game after game. Lots of people making excuses but the fact is we have big problems at the moment, they are there for all to see and have been for some time.
The January transfer window needs to be our busiest ever Jan window imho, as what we've got collectively as a squad this season will not see us through.
Balance of the squad is wrong and too many players we cannot rely on to remain fit .

See my comments above.

 

[Lionel Bart-At]

we were average at best and once again allowed a team which isnt a football team to bully us and the ref to get the result they wanted......its happened before and no doubt will happen again very soon.....we never seem to learn how to play these sort of teams.....no plan b when its needed against these non football boreboys......we need certain players in certain games and macleod yennaris and josh mac just dont cut the mustard against the likes of boro.....too weak and too slow........TF really needs to sort out the physical side of our game as thats where we get done mostly

See my comments above, and look at the general match stats.

 

[Nige150]

If I hadn't been at the game last night I'd take positives from your comment but without anyone accusing me of being in the D&G brigade I have to question some of your comments:

I thought Sergi was poor last night (no tracking back & no end product) - The midfield selection was all wrong for so many reasons & it is plain to see we are so lacking in confidence going forward that any break at pace is non existent due to little or no movement up front other than Maupay who is totally isolated & resulting in most attacks slowing down with sideways & backward passing allowing teams to re-group.

Your comment that no one had a bad game should have read that all 11 were decidedly average at best & to say we played them of the pitch is not how I saw it. I think there will be changes on Tuesday so lets go again, as you say its too early to push the panic button.

Sergi, Neal and Alan made runs all game waiting for the killer pass, but never received that pass. There was movement but maybe people didn’t see it as the ball was constantly in midfield and defence going forward, sideways and back. Need more of a driving physical midfielder - Dasilva and Marcondes could be those missing pieces

 

[sonofabee]

See my comments above, and look at the general match stats.

Stats don’t tell the whole story.
They came to do a job on us and we allowed them to, that is the most ordinary Boro side I’ve seen in recent years with a very limited forward line led by that thug Hugill.
They allowed us possession where it didn’t matter or hurt them, we tested their keeper about four times but three were from long distance shots, one from the sub, plus one header created from a cross from another sub.
We didn’t do anywhere enough to win the game, we lacked leadership and experience and for the second game running from being in control, through naivety and inexperience we switched off for 10 minutes and we conceded again.
I think some of us recognise that to bring out the best of the kids you need experienced heads alongside, Meps and Ezri are huge talents but I believe they’d develop even quicker and make less mistakes with a wise head on the pitch with them.
I know it’s not our strategy but without strong characters like Dean, Bjellend and Woods, all leaders we are weaker as a collective.
Let’s hope we address in the window

 

[Wise old Bee]

We knew what to expect from Boro and we have previous with Hugill. When Canos got done early on we lacked a McCormack or a Douglas type who would warn the perpetrator that that was his free shot and a repeat offence would result in severe retribution. We lack both mental and physical strength and get no protection from officials. If it means compromising our passing game sometimes to meet these Neanderthals then I think we should do so.

 

[North London Bee]

Remember Hugill on Yennaris at Preston last season.

 

[Hamburger Hill]

My Boro supporting mate calls it anti-football and reckons 90% of their fans hate Pulis. He thought we deserved a point but quality of finishing let us down.

 

[Holysmit]

Remember Hugill on Yennaris at Preston last season.

First thing I said when he did it again. The new Paul Mcshane

 

[Lionel Bart-At]

Stats don’t tell the whole story.
They came to do a job on us and we allowed them to, that is the most ordinary Boro side I’ve seen in recent years with a very limited forward line led by that thug Hugill.
They allowed us possession where it didn’t matter or hurt them, we tested their keeper about four times but three were from long distance shots, one from the sub, plus one header created from a cross from another sub.
We didn’t do anywhere enough to win the game, we lacked leadership and experience and for the second game running from being in control, through naivety and inexperience we switched off for 10 minutes and we conceded again.
I think some of us recognise that to bring out the best of the kids you need experienced heads alongside, Meps and Ezri are huge talents but I believe they’d develop even quicker and make less mistakes with a wise head on the pitch with them.
I know it’s not our strategy but without strong characters like Dean, Bjellend and Woods, all leaders we are weaker as a collective.
Let’s hope we address in the window

And yet, if we had defended properly and not switched off for 10 minutes, as you correctly say, we would have done enough to have won the match! You're right about stats, but they had only conceded 8 before yesterday for a reason, and it has absolutely nothing to do with flair!

 

[Lionel Bart-At]

My Boro supporting mate calls it anti-football and reckons 90% of their fans hate Pulis. He thought we deserved a point but quality of finishing let us down.

This (+ poor defending, obviously).

 

[sonofabee]

And yet, if we had defended properly and not switched off for 10 minutes, as you correctly say, we would have done enough to have won the match! You're right about stats, but they had only conceded 8 before yesterday for a reason, and it has absolutely nothing to do with flair!

No argument, I didn’t rate them despite the huge amount of experience on the pitch, with the exception of the hugely influential Clayton.

 

[GP200]

My Boro supporting mate calls it anti-football and reckons 90% of their fans hate Pulis. He thought we deserved a point but quality of finishing let us down.

............sounds like Cardiff fans with Warnock.............

 

[Lionel Bart-At]

............sounds like Cardiff fans with Warnock.............

If Neil Warnock is Colin W&nker, surely Tony Pulis has an alter ego? I've dabbled for a little while and only come up with Lou Pistyn. Not good enough, I'm afraid.

 

[IslandBee]

And yet, if we had defended properly and not switched off for 10 minutes, as you correctly say, we would have done enough to have won the match! !

But we didn't - and haven't been for a while now! It isn't a fluke; we are just not very good at defending at the moment!

 

[Lionel Bart-At]

But we didn't - and haven't been for a while now! It isn't a fluke; we are just not very good at defending at the moment!

I totally agree. The context of my post was to defend the productivity of our players at the other end of the park, but I have mentioned several times elsewhere that defending, especially defending in the air, is a real achilles heel at the moment.

 

[big neil]

He gave three - including one for a moment of madness by Mepham at the end

Nothing mad about it, Hugill had been fouling him all afternoon he knew it was almost full time so gave him one back.

 

[mhead bee]

I agree with a lot of what mhead says but yeah playing them off the park is way OTT.
.

Yeah I know, after reading all the negative garbage I was trying to equal it up a bit by going over the top. We were pretty good versus Borough and had we taken our chances and could we stop letting one or two sloppy goals in we would beat them.

Looking at the players coming back in I am not worried too much, I think the automatic promotion expectations are on a ship that has sailed but if we can get a result tomorrow then we could make a push for the play offs but it is not going to happen until we get the new CB, Henry, Kamo and Marcondes all in the team and firing and Ollie and Said fit again. Currently players who have been mainly on the bench like Mcleod and Nico are not going to get us through this rough patch I am afraid.

As for the game a lot of criticism regarding the selection but with the injuries there is not much else he could have done, throwing Dasilva and Marcondes in against a physical borough side was never an option, in hindsight they offered far more when they came on but after their injuries and lack of games I am not sure may would have stared them.

 

[Lionel Bart-At]

Yeah I know, after reading all the negative garbage I was trying to equal it up a bit by going over the top. We were pretty good versus Borough and had we taken our chances and could we stop letting one or two sloppy goals in we would beat them.

Looking at the players coming back in I am not worried too much, I think the automatic promotion expectations are on a ship that has sailed but if we can get a result tomorrow then we could make a push for the play offs but it is not going to happen until we get the new CB, Henry, Kamo and Marcondes all in the team and firing and Ollie and Said fit again. Currently players who have been mainly on the bench like Mcleod and Nico are not going to get us through this rough patch I am afraid.

As for the game a lot of criticism regarding the selection but with the injuries there is not much else he could have done, throwing Dasilva and Marcondes in against a physical borough side was never an option, in hindsight they offered far more when they came on but after their injuries and lack of games I am not sure may would have stared them.

Spot on, all that. And full marks for your OTT positivity. Very pleasant antidote to D & G, as well as your customary grumpiness on the complaints thread. lol

 

[Lionel Bart-At]

If Neil Warnock is Colin W&nker, surely Tony Pulis has an alter ego? I've dabbled for a little while and only come up with Lou Pistyn. Not good enough, I'm afraid.

Or maybe stick to rhyming slang and call him Aitor.

 

[IDontBeeLieveIt]

Yeah I know, after reading all the negative garbage I was trying to equal it up a bit by going over the top. We were pretty good versus Borough and had we taken our chances and could we stop letting one or two sloppy goals in we would beat them.

Looking at the players coming back in I am not worried too much, I think the automatic promotion expectations are on a ship that has sailed but if we can get a result tomorrow then we could make a push for the play offs but it is not going to happen until we get the new CB, Henry, Kamo and Marcondes all in the team and firing and Ollie and Said fit again. Currently players who have been mainly on the bench like Mcleod and Nico are not going to get us through this rough patch I am afraid.

As for the game a lot of criticism regarding the selection but with the injuries there is not much else he could have done, throwing Dasilva and Marcondes in against a physical borough side was never an option, in hindsight they offered far more when they came on but after their injuries and lack of games I am not sure may would have stared them.

Agreed. In recent weeks I've been saying much the same (sort the two positions ahead of McE and we'll look much better). Hence I argued we needed to be bolder for that match and chose Da Silva and Marcondes to start rather than Nico and MacLeod who I thought would see us lose......so no hindsight from me

The more concerning part is actually probably these goals we keep conceding and whilst we can all see Mepham's and Konsa's obvious talent there's been numerous goals we've conceded now from mix-ups at the back or the ball just sailing over one of their heads unchallenged with someone nipping in behind. I don't know if this is solvable via training but it would seem a regular enough issue the defence should be watching videos of all the goals we've conceded (or near-misses) and discussing their positioning / approach with the coaches to resolve this. We'll never stop every goal but a lot of these goals are soft.

 

[Guildford Bee]

Just watched the highlights and I am even more pi55ed off than I was last night. It is always hard to blame a ref when you have so many of your own flaws but once again an industrial team with nothing but muscle have been allowed to use the dark arts to win a game by a totally spineless ref. Because I knew what was coming I counted the fouls and they got away with 9 tactical fouls in the first half all of which should have been yellows, the only yellow was for an awful elbow that was a stone wall red and from the player who went on to score their goal. He could easily have picked up 2-3 more yellows afterwards too and they should have had another red for the elbow on Maupay and a penalty on Marcondes.

So utterly sick of seeing this happen and the constant ineptitude of refs allowing it to happen, TF was in the 4th officials ear and our players were all over the ref so you can't accuse us of rolling over.

We pretty much played them off the pitch, nobody had a bad game but we let the "knew it was going to happen" goals in before Judge pulls one back.

I am focusing on the positives.

Judge was excellent, looking better all the time, Sergi was good, NM ran them ragged and his hold up play was exceptional, JM was quality, Rico is back and EM had so much zip. He looks like the missing link to me in someone who can take it from the midfield and spin and be the link up man, this is what we have been missing this season as we have too many midfielders going sideways.

I know we wont press the panic button because we were good last night and should have won the game. Mcleod and Nico aren't good enough to be in a top 6 side and Dasilva looks like he is so more good news. Ollie, Said and Kamo on the mend as well so I am hopeful of a great second half to the season.

As many others have said, we did not 'play them off the park'. They let us have possession and allowed us to knock it about in front of them in areas where we couldn't do any damage. Other than Maupay's header we created no meaningful chances inside the box.

I admire your positivity but we have one win in 12 and are not getting better as the games go by. The trend is pointing downwards rather than up.

 

[halibutbee64]

As many others have said, we did not 'play them off the park'. They let us have possession and allowed us to knock it about in front of them in areas where we couldn't do any damage. Other than Maupay's header we created no meaningful chances inside the box.

I admire your positivity but we have one win in 12 and are not getting better as the games go by. The trend is pointing downwards rather than up.

The Canos sidefoot when he was through was another created chance

 

[Brentford_till_die]

I know it’s not our strategy but without strong characters like Dean, Bjellend and Woods, all leaders we are weaker as a collective.
Let’s hope we address in the window

 

[unBEEliveable]

The Canos sidefoot when he was through was another created chance

Judge unmarked at the back post when wildly vollied it over (not realising he had time to bring it down first) was another..

 

[Griffingreen]

A lot of fouls from Boro were to prevent us getting a breakaway opportunity. If the ref had been a lot firmer and booked some of the early offences we surely would have had some good chances?

 

[Voice from the Braemar]

See my comments above, and look at the general match stats.

the only stat that matters is we lost 2-1.....the rest is just background

 

[Mr Cynical]

We played a lot better than people are making out on here. There’s a kind of collective hysteria at the moment on the gpg which is reflected a little at gp too. We created enough in that game to at the very least get a draw. Maupay guilty of blowing 2 v good chances, along with Canos and their keeper made a couple of really good saves. The one from DaSilva in particular.. there’s talk on here of no heart or desire and that we’re getting worse each game and I don’t see that at all. We came out firing second half and were well on top until they got their goal. You could see the frustration in Konsa as the goal went in. They do care. They’re young and they’re making mistakes but credit to them we came back at it again and could and prob should have got an equaliser.

We’ve played a lot worse than yesterday and won. We’re not that far off, we just need something to go our way for once, give everyone a lift. Hopefully that will come tomorrow night...

 

[IDontBeeLieveIt]

A lot of fouls from Boro were to prevent us getting a breakaway opportunity. If the ref had been a lot firmer and booked some of the early offences we surely would have had some good chances?

They were cynical fouls to break up play......but let's not kid ourselves either. All teams do this to a large degree and it only becomes the stand-out thing when we don't create much else.
Yes the ref should be stronger and start carding people sooner but generally they don't and so we can't cry foul as the same will be going on in matches up and down the league.
This isn't going to change and we have to create more to win or become tighter at the back (ideally both).

 

[doctor_bee(MBBS)]

It’s like Groundhog Day reading this.

 

[IDontBeeLieveIt]

We’ve played a lot worse than yesterday and won. We’re not that far off, we just need something to go our way for once, give everyone a lift. Hopefully that will come tomorrow night...

Only problem is Sheff Utd are a well-rounded team these days and will present more of a threat than Boro whilst being no pushovers all over the pitch or at the back.
Big win if we manage it.

 

[gbems92]

I think bjelland is our biggest miss this season so far, yes he had his flaws and we still conceded a reasonable amount with him back there but I don't remember feeling so unstable and unbalanced at the back consistently when he was back there

 

[Shirley Bee]

All about fine margins. Both teams produced a very good cross between the two centre backs that fell to a little guy five yards out. Tavernier buried theirs; Maupay headed it straight at their keeper.

 

[mhead bee]

If Neil Warnock is Colin W&nker, surely Tony Pulis has an alter ego? I've dabbled for a little while and only come up with Lou Pistyn. Not good enough, I'm afraid.

Loo Pi55ed in, it might have legs.