Middlesbrough post-match thread

[crazyg]

Oops. same horse different jockey..

You should be put out to pasture! ;-)

 

[Deleted member 13905]

when i saw the name barragán on their teamsheet i thought about this excellent album.

i expect everybody else did too but just didn't mention it.

 

[the blue panther]

Just thought i'd pop on a Boro forum to see what they thought. Generally they're not happy with
the team and manager. But found this one funny :-

"If ever there was a man grateful that he was born human it is De-roon,lets face it if he was born a horse he would have been dog food by now. What a totally useless waste of space that guy is."

Maybe so, but still, it was De Roon they cheered to the rafters when he equalised for them at the Etihad.

Great performance by us yesterday. They got away with murder and were saved by Guzman - who always seems to raise his game against us - and poor officiating all round. Miraculously we appear to have got away injury free. Doesn't matter who we get from now on - we'll be gracing Wembley against tough opposition who will attack us - and that's when we are at our best. I just hope that Pep ditches Bravo from now on.

 

[ono]

Was sat in the Boro end and their fans take on it was the Dean gave us everything. To be fair, I know he missed the Clayton tackle, but I thought he reffed well. He let some things go from our end that really annoyed the home fans.

Thought we were largely excellent. Their only threat came in the air which you have to just accept when they have Gestede and Negredo and we are mainly made up of midgets. Bravo was ok for a change although still don't think he can pass anything over ten yards.

Zabba had his best game for a while. Yaya was great, Silva exceptional and Sane again outstanding in bursts. Sergio worked hard again and looks to have turned a corner. Was really impressed with Stones and Otamendi too, although they weren't really stretched.

Minor concern is our finishing at it seems to actually just be getting worse. I don't think I've seen a team who collectively finish as poorly as we do. Sane and Silva were terrible in front of goal and Sterling is ridiculously poor at trying to time a first time shot from a cross. Other than, we were exceptional. One of these days we will smash someone by 6 or 7.

 

[Vic]

End of the day it doesn't matter, I thought Sterlings was onside......whatever happened to the "clear daylight rule" of a few seasons ago.

There never was such a rule. Just the media getting a firm grasp of the wrong end of a very big stick.

 

[Newman Noggs]

Daily Mail in full flow in their admiration of this convincing victory...

"They may have kept club-record sixth consecutive clean sheet away from home but frailties remain for Manchester City. Any side who give Middlesbrough chances are far from watertight.
And that is why City risk crashing out of the Champions League this week as they go to Monaco with a precarious 5-3 advantage"... and so on..and so on...

 

[blue b4 the moon]

Daily Mail in full flow in their admiration of this convincing victory...

"They may have kept club-record sixth consecutive clean sheet away from home but frailties remain for Manchester City. Any side who give Middlesbrough chances are far from watertight.
And that is why City risk crashing out of the Champions League this week as they go to Monaco with a precarious 5-3 advantage"... and so on..and so on...

Haha the pain of it all.

 

[prestonibbo_mcfc]

There never was such a rule. Just the media getting a firm grasp of the wrong end of a very big stick.

As per. Their current one is, well it hit his hand. When appealing a hand ball.
Exactly why the penalty was not given. His hand did not hit the ball.

 

[Cotton Weave Blue]

Pretty comfortable performance. Boro were poor and didnt offer anything really - QF of FA Cup should be going for it with 20 minutes to play!
We've hardly got into 3rd gear which is perfect for the Monaco game which will be full on for 90 mins.
My 1 bugbare is the amount of slips on the pitch which couldve cost us at both ends - bloody infuriating!!!

 

[Father Paul]

We played well up to putting the ball in the net and frankly, that was our worst performance of the season in that regard. We could easily have had 6 or more if we had been more accurate in the box. Not sure what the answer to that is because all of the front 5 were guilty. As for Middlesbrough, they deserve nothing and I hope they go down. Set of filthy bastards and could have put Kun and Raheem out for lengthy periods. If that's how Karanka wants his team to play then he deserves a short career. Nice to see Mike Dean giving us the protection we deserve.

Seem to remember something very similar in the league against Boro and we were forced to pay the price.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Excellent win in what could have been a tough game but apart from the usual profligate finishing one thing that did annoy me was the subs.

Once we went 2-0 up, he swapped Sane for Nolito, which was OK but wouldn't have been my first priority. He should have made made the 2 other subs at that point to rest key players. De Bruyne was looking a bit heavy-legged and Silva should have been protected. I'd have brought the two Ferns on for two of KDB, Yaya and Silva at that point. The last sub (swapping Sergio for Kelechi with seconds remaining) was completely pointless.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Excellent win in what could have been a tough game but apart from the usual profligate finishing one thing that did annoy me was the subs.

Once we went 2-0 up, he swapped Sane for Nolito, which was OK but wouldn't have been my first priority. He should have made made the 2 other subs at that point to rest key players. De Bruyne was looking a bit heavy-legged and Silva should have been protected. I'd have brought the two Ferns on for two of KDB, Yaya and Silva at that point. The last sub (swapping Sergio for Kelechi with seconds remaining) was completely pointless.

Know what you mean. I was very concerned that he took YaYa off. It suggests he's playing on Wednesday which for me is a mistake.

He's doing the flat track bully thing just fine, spraying passes about, but he's still getting run past every week. Fernandinho should be holding for me.

 

[Marvin]

Know what you mean. I was very concerned that he took YaYa off. It suggests he's playing on Wednesday which for me is a mistake.

He's doing the flat track bully thing just fine, spraying passes about, but he's still getting run past every week. Fernandinho should be holding for me.

Really agree about Yaya. He dictates our game from deep and against Boro he was able to effect and control the game at times, but against better teams who play with a lot more energy he is a defensive liability. Fernandinho should be playing in his place for the biggest games.

Regarding Boro subs I think Guardiola would have made the changes earlier had we got a 3rd. At 2-0, 1 goal could have totally changed the complexion of the game and lifted them.

 

[SilverFox2]

Minor concern is our finishing at it seems to actually just be getting worse. I don't think I've seen a team who collectively finish as poorly as we do. Sane and Silva were terrible in front of goal and Sterling is ridiculously poor at trying to time a first time shot from a cross. Other than, we were exceptional. One of these days we will smash someone by 6 or 7.

I would say a major concern not minor as you posted.

I am still at a loss to understand how the final pass that puts the ball between such large goal area is so difficult for a team that trains and uses passing as its vehicle to generate chances to score.
We even rejected JH in favour of Bravo because our manager prefers passing ability to goal stopping skills.

Surely Pep cannot condone this final pass failure with those who choose to shoot. Does our strike force like to be too clever with their good chances or are they all simply not good enough when it comes to scoring making a simple striker without any frills our next priority.

We are not clinical but for the first time in several games at least our shots were hitting the target.

 

[Marvin]

Excellent win in what could have been a tough game but apart from the usual profligate finishing one thing that did annoy me was the subs.

Once we went 2-0 up, he swapped Sane for Nolito, which was OK but wouldn't have been my first priority. He should have made made the 2 other subs at that point to rest key players. De Bruyne was looking a bit heavy-legged and Silva should have been protected. I'd have brought the two Ferns on for two of KDB, Yaya and Silva at that point. The last sub (swapping Sergio for Kelechi with seconds remaining) was completely pointless.

I don't think I have seen a City team miss so many chances in the game. Could have very easily been another 6-0. Sane has added something to City's attacking play even though against Stoke and Boro he wasn't quite at his best.

 

[Tom_mcfc]

I would say a major concern not minor as you posted.

I am still at a loss to understand how the final pass that puts the ball between such large goal area is so difficult for a team that trains and uses passing as its vehicle to generate chances to score.
We even rejected JH in favour of Bravo because our manager prefers passing ability to goal stopping skills.

Surely Pep cannot condone this final pass failure with those who choose to shoot. Does our strike force like to be too clever with their good chances or are they all simply not good enough when it comes to scoring making a simple striker without any frills our next priority.

We are not clinical but for the first time in several games at least our shots were hitting the target.

It is a major worry when we are unable to put teams to bed. I couldn't believe how twice it was on a plate for Sterling and he completely missed the ball or miss kicked it completely. Despite having fantast attacking talent we seem to struggle with actually putting it in the net. Against crap teams we will manage, against better opposition will become an issue.

 

[Marvin]

I would say a major concern not minor as you posted.

I am still at a loss to understand how the final pass that puts the ball between such large goal area is so difficult for a team that trains and uses passing as its vehicle to generate chances to score.
We even rejected JH in favour of Bravo because our manager prefers passing ability to goal stopping skills.

Surely Pep cannot condone this final pass failure with those who choose to shoot. Does our strike force like to be too clever with their good chances or are they all simply not good enough when it comes to scoring making a simple striker without any frills our next priority.

We are not clinical but for the first time in several games at least our shots were hitting the target.

We have a number of players like Silva, Navas, Sterling whose finishing is poor. Silva even mis-hit his goal, although everything else he does is just about perfect. Aguero should be scoring a lot more goals than he is doing at the moment although he was a bit unlucky against boro (when he hit the post). Sterling also had a goal ruled out that I think should have stood. So we could quite easily be talking about another big away win

 

[Marvin]

It is a major worry when we are unable to put teams to bed. I couldn't believe how twice it was on a plate for Sterling and he completely missed the ball or miss kicked it completely. Despite having fantast attacking talent we seem to struggle with actually putting it in the net. Against crap teams we will manage, against better opposition will become an issue.

It is an issue now

We commit a huge amount to attacking inevitably leaving ourselves open at the back, so taking so few chances is costly. Should have beaten Spurs and Chelsea at home this season but for poor finishing

I feel we may have partly addressed this though Sane and jesus though bit too soon to say for sure

 

[Gareth Barry Conlon]

I also though the subs could have been better used. Sane and sterling are becoming key players, he got Sane off and I thought Silva would soon follow! Silva was left on all game and the other subs were at the death when it made no real impact. Nacho is left footed and i would like to see him given a go in Sane's role in the last 20mins of these sorts of games as it would give a knackered full back a whole different set of problems to deal with.

 

[SilverFox2]

We have a number of players like Silva, Navas, Sterling whose finishing is poor. Silva even mis-hit his goal, although everything else he does is just about perfect. Aguero should be scoring a lot more goals than he is doing at the moment although he was a bit unlucky against boro (when he hit the post). Sterling also had a goal ruled out that I think should have stood. So we could quite easily be talking about another big away win

We at least hit the target more often so now perhaps we were unlucky with some of the non scoring chances. Lets hope so but I remember Bony being bought presumably for his goalscoring capability yet he failed miserably with us.

I think even Jimmy Greaves in his heyday would have struggled playing for us at the moment.