Boro (62 Viewers)

[edgy]

Excellent midfield but not much elsewhere. Their forward line isn't great.

Also been reading how this Hellberg and his coaches are far superior to our lot. No they aren't. They are just blessed with that excellent midfield.

 

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[clint van damme]

Always though the stick Conway gets is a bit unfair but he,slowed them down every time he got the ball.

 

[SeaSeeEffCee]

They passed it around very nicely, but created very little until they were 2-0 down. Can see that they’ve got some great players and I thought they played well tonight. I imagine they’ll finish in the mid 80s points wise.

 

[HuckerbyDublinWhelan]

As expected I thought Boro look a good side, could see why they were after Armstrong though. Definitely need a striker.

the game itself was an excellent championship game

 

[rob9872]

They must hate us. As much as we'll never beat Preston, they'll never beat us

 

[Ccfcisparks]

Fantastic team! Hope they go up and the Boro fans stick around on this forum forever <3

 

[nicksar]

They are very good at keep ball but in my opinion they are bang average in the forward department.... there's a reason we always beat them and have scored 16 more goals than them in 32 league games played this season.
Some of our fans can be ott on the internet but the absolute bollocks from their supporters online in the last week as been off the scale.

 

[CCFCSteve]

Great footballing side and some of the stuff they played tonight really was top quality, however, after seeing the SU game, they showed they can be got at and will give up chances. Our first half performance was immense and our intensity (and willingness to dish a bit out - I loved the 3-4 fouls in a minute) had them rattled.

Nothing between the teams really and same as the away game, felt it would come down to who was more clinical on the night. Boro will come again though

 

[ajsccfc]

All I remember Conway for is ballooning it over in the first game and then also in one of their games late last year that helped us make the playoffs. I'm sure he's decent otherwise, just thankfully not yet when we're involved.

 

[fernandopartridge]

It'll be interesting to see if any other teams press as aggressively as we did in the first 20. If they do, there is definitely some vulnerability about Middlesbrough.

Also interesting reading other forums, idiots who think that the team that has scored the most, had the highest xG, best goal difference usually plays long ball football on the break.

 

[Skybluefaz]

Never really rated Luke Ayling, but he's played in some good sides. Tonight though he made multiple mistakes for the Wright second goal, let the ball bounce, then didn't get his body across Haji Wright and then proceeded to give the keeper shit for not coming out.

If you are going to be attacking and open you can't be that soft at the back.

They are a good side but maybe a top striker and top CB away from being great in the Championship.

Every chance they get autos as it's so open and we also don't have that elite defence, but we have better striking options in my opinion.

 

[SeaSeeEffCee]

It'll be interesting to see if any other teams press as aggressively as we did in the first 20. If they do, there is definitely some vulnerability about Middlesbrough.

Also interesting reading other forums, idiots who think that the team that has scored the most, had the highest xG, best goal difference usually plays long ball football on the break.

The best sides play the game they’re in and play the opposition. Lampard has been guilty of trying to play the same way at the wrong times during this bad run but we played Middlesbrough perfectly tonight.

Felt a fairly similar game to our loss at Ipswich in a way.

 

[David O'Day]

Never really rated Luke Ayling, but he's played in some good sides. Tonight though he made multiple mistakes for the Wright second goal, let the ball bounce, then didn't get his body across Haji Wright and then proceeded to give the keeper shit for not coming out.

If you are going to be attacking and open you can't be that soft at the back.

They are a good side but maybe a top striker and top CB away from being great in the Championship.

Every chance they get autos as it's so open and we also don't have that elite defence, but we have better striking options in my opinion.

he's an aging attackng fullback trying to adapt to cb as he gets older, he was shite today.

 

[CovRes]

It'll be interesting to see if any other teams press as aggressively as we did in the first 20. If they do, there is definitely some vulnerability about Middlesbrough.

Also interesting reading other forums, idiots who think that the team that has scored the most, had the highest xG, best goal difference usually plays long ball football on the break.

I thought they looked getatable early on against the blunts last week. SU then shat the bed after going behind and Boro took control. They looked shaky again later on before the red card.

 

[Skybluefaz]

he's an aging attackng fullback trying to adapt to cb as he gets older, he was shite today.

Boro fans love him:

Ayling is the championship Bobby Moore, not particularly quick, heading could be stronger, but reading of the game, vision, technical ability and leadership are second to none.
Particularly against teams that sit deep and are very defensive, he’s undroppable for me.

 

[robbiethemole]

Boro fans love him:

but, we're not sitting deep and defending thats why he looked shit, the pikey fucker

 

[Ashdown]

Good side, they try and play a nice brand of football. On another day, they’re scoring a few tonight. We worked hard all over the pitch tonight though to stop them. I think they will murder Oxford by a few so we have to beat WBA.

 

[Cov98]

Excellent midfield but not much elsewhere. Their forward line isn't great.

Also been reading how this Hellberg and his coaches are far superior to our lot. No they aren't. They are just blessed with that excellent midfield.

Nah I don’t agree with this.
I’d have Hellberg as the best manager in the league.
You say excellent midfield and not much elsewhere.. to me that’s a testament to how well he’s doing with them.

The football they’ve been playing has been top class and thankfully today we got back to our best because the last 5 games or so they’ve played far better football than us.

 

[lord_garrincha]

Championship Bobby Moore... Has he recently stole a bracelet?

 

[steveo1987]

They're a good side, a little suspect at the back and did overplay a bit but pleasing on the eye

 

[Finham]

They're a good side, a little suspect at the back and did overplay a bit but pleasing on the eye

Sounds like one of my exes.

 

[skyblue025]

I thought they played very much like see did at the start of the season. Everyone attacks but leaves their centre halfs exposed. Good team to watch and hope they finish second behind us.

 

[Ipad Boro]

Excellent midfield but not much elsewhere. Their forward line isn't great.

Also been reading how this Hellberg and his coaches are far superior to our lot. No they aren't. They are just blessed with that excellent midfield.

As you say midfield is our strongest area, it dominates the league so Lampard did well to employ a succession of long punts from your half to a big lad, bypassing it.

We're actually very decent in defence too, but I feel it was was the wrong game to play Ayling in. He's 34 and has played every game this season so could do with a rest and Fry should have came in as he's bigger and better at dealing with long balls, barging and physicality which is a key part of your game so we'd have done well to include him.

Strikers...yeah, we could have done with getting an out and out poacher tbh. We don't tend to set up with strikers as our main goal threat so will feel it less than most, but it would have been ideal to bring one on in a game like tonight.

In terms of keepers, Bryn is ok, but he's not on Rushworth's level.

Hellball has been a revelation for us mind you. It's just you're never going to see it in any real full effect against yourselves for the same reason that you could play mediocre to good 5 times previously and have 1 absolutely awesome game against us..because Hoodoo. It therefore follows that our performance levels will drop, again because Hoodoo.

Against other decent sides such as the Blades obviously no Hoodoo exists so we were able to dominate to do the double over them no matter how well they played, which they did at theirs to give them credit. Against Ipswich whikst not guaranteed, we're also 3 or 4 times more likely to do the double over them than we were to get a single point off you. The reverse being true obviously for yourselves.

It remains that we've accumulated more points in the league than any other side since Hellberg rocked up, so it's doing him an injustice to claim that his methods aren't decent. A side with merely a good midfield and nothing else going for it including poor tactics racking up those kind of returns would be impossible and would render the entire league crap by comparison if that were the case. including yourselves. Which as both you and a clutch of other sides clearly aren't crap kind of refuses that theory.

Our PPG since he arrived and including tonight's result AND our christmas slump, expanded to a whole season would see us rack up 95 points plus. We may not get that high, but considering that, our manager's methods are certainly not slacking. And we only have 1 of our 4 Hoodoo games left to play. Other than that of course we expect to win most games.

 

[Ashdown]

City have to play at that intensity every game now. Yet again they’ve shown that when a good side come to town and are there to be shot down they can once again raise their game. Middlesbrough and Ipswich are still going to be hard to stop for me for most sides, so we can’t rely on anyone but ourselves. Starting at Albion

 

[Ccfcisparks]

As you say midfield is our strongest area, it dominates the league so Lampard did well to employ a succession of long punts from your half to a big lad, bypassing it.

We're actually very decent in defence too, but I feel it was was the wrong game to play Ayling in. He's 34 and has played every game this season so could do with a rest and Fry should have came in as he's bigger and better at dealing with long balls, barging and physicality which is a key part of your game so we'd have done well to include him.

Strikers...yeah, we could have done with getting an out and out poacher tbh. We don't tend to set up with strikers as our main goal threat so will feel it less than most, but it would have been ideal to bring one on in a game like tonight.

In terms of keepers, Bryn is ok, but he's not on Rushworth's level.

Hellball has been a revelation for us mind you. It's just you're never going to see it in any real full effect against yourselves for the same reason that you could play mediocre to good 5 times previously and have 1 absolutely awesome game against us..because Hoodoo. It therefore follows that our performance levels will drop, again because Hoodoo.

Against other decent sides such as the Blades obviously no Hoodoo exists so we were able to dominate to do the double over them no matter how well they played, which they did at theirs to give them credit. Against Ipswich whikst not guaranteed, we're also 3 or 4 times more likely to do the double over them than we were to get a single point off you. The reverse being true obviously for yourselves.

It remains that we've accumulated more points in the league than any other side since Hellberg rocked up, so it's doing him an injustice to claim that his methods aren't decent. A side with merely a good midfield and nothing else going for it including poor tactics racking up those kind of returns would be impossible and would render the entire league crap by comparison if that were the case. including yourselves. Which as both you and a clutch of other sides clearly aren't crap kind of refuses that theory.

Our PPG since he arrived and including tonight's result AND our christmas slump, expanded to a whole season would see us rack up 95 points plus. We may not get that high, but considering that, our manager's methods are certainly not slacking. And we only have 1 of our 4 Hoodoo games left to play. Other than that of course we expect to win most games.

fucking hell

 

[edgy]

Come on mate. Hoodoos arent an actual thing. It's a mentality and ultimately an excuse.

As stated you have an excellent midfield. If Hellberg was that brilliant, how come he couldn't prepare your team for anything remotely aggressive or physically? How come he couldn't change your game plan early?

Everyone knows (apparently) that to get success against us, you sit back and allow us to dictate and then hit us on the break over our full backs. But Hellberg didn't do that, or even change it when the game was getting away from you.

I get it, you were on the crest of a wave and everything was roses etc. But saying you expect to win most games is dangerous talk, we did exactly the same and look how that turned out for the last month or two. But like Lampard has just shown, it didn't seem to me that you had a plan B. The league will have seen that and I suspect most teams will now try to replicate that aggression and physicality against you. Let's see how Hellberg actually does over the course of a full season.

 

[ajsccfc]

I'd have to side with the boro fan about hoodoos, I believe in them fully as I set fire to my replica model of Deepdale

 

[Sick Boy]

As you say midfield is our strongest area, it dominates the league so Lampard did well to employ a succession of long punts from your half to a big lad, bypassing it.

We're actually very decent in defence too, but I feel it was was the wrong game to play Ayling in. He's 34 and has played every game this season so could do with a rest and Fry should have came in as he's bigger and better at dealing with long balls, barging and physicality which is a key part of your game so we'd have done well to include him.

Strikers...yeah, we could have done with getting an out and out poacher tbh. We don't tend to set up with strikers as our main goal threat so will feel it less than most, but it would have been ideal to bring one on in a game like tonight.

In terms of keepers, Bryn is ok, but he's not on Rushworth's level.

Hellball has been a revelation for us mind you. It's just you're never going to see it in any real full effect against yourselves for the same reason that you could play mediocre to good 5 times previously and have 1 absolutely awesome game against us..because Hoodoo. It therefore follows that our performance levels will drop, again because Hoodoo.

Against other decent sides such as the Blades obviously no Hoodoo exists so we were able to dominate to do the double over them no matter how well they played, which they did at theirs to give them credit. Against Ipswich whikst not guaranteed, we're also 3 or 4 times more likely to do the double over them than we were to get a single point off you. The reverse being true obviously for yourselves.

It remains that we've accumulated more points in the league than any other side since Hellberg rocked up, so it's doing him an injustice to claim that his methods aren't decent. A side with merely a good midfield and nothing else going for it including poor tactics racking up those kind of returns would be impossible and would render the entire league crap by comparison if that were the case. including yourselves. Which as both you and a clutch of other sides clearly aren't crap kind of refuses that theory.

Our PPG since he arrived and including tonight's result AND our christmas slump, expanded to a whole season would see us rack up 95 points plus. We may not get that high, but considering that, our manager's methods are certainly not slacking. And we only have 1 of our 4 Hoodoo games left to play. Other than that of course we expect to win most games.

Other teams will work out how to beat you - your players aren’t that superior to other teams in the league. Your lack of a proper striker upfront could well lead to you missing out, again.

 

[Jamesimus]

It’s Carrickball played at a marginally higher tempo, change my mind!

 

[Shannerz]

They're clearly a good team, but we got in their heads and they lost them.

because Hoodoo. It therefore follows that our performance levels will drop, again because Hoodoo.

Seriously, stop this fucking nonsense. It means everything else you may say can't be taken seriously.

You said it yourself, we got the tactics spot on, we also wanted it more, got in the Middlesbrough players' faces and heads (which they quickly lost), have much better forwards than you, and exploited your creaky defense.

We won because we were better than you, same as at the Riverside.

Perhaps when Middlesbrough play better than us in a game they may beat us, but stop going on about fucking hoodoos; it's lazy, boring, and they're no more real than the purple fucking people eater.

 

[PVA]

Hackney is a step above anyone in the league and McGree is a good player. Malanda looks excellent in defence.

But Conway is bang average and the keeper is shite.

 

[Potbellypig]

As you say midfield is our strongest area, it dominates the league so Lampard did well to employ a succession of long punts from your half to a big lad, bypassing it.

We're actually very decent in defence too, but I feel it was was the wrong game to play Ayling in. He's 34 and has played every game this season so could do with a rest and Fry should have came in as he's bigger and better at dealing with long balls, barging and physicality which is a key part of your game so we'd have done well to include him.

Strikers...yeah, we could have done with getting an out and out poacher tbh. We don't tend to set up with strikers as our main goal threat so will feel it less than most, but it would have been ideal to bring one on in a game like tonight.

In terms of keepers, Bryn is ok, but he's not on Rushworth's level.

Hellball has been a revelation for us mind you. It's just you're never going to see it in any real full effect against yourselves for the same reason that you could play mediocre to good 5 times previously and have 1 absolutely awesome game against us..because Hoodoo. It therefore follows that our performance levels will drop, again because Hoodoo.

Against other decent sides such as the Blades obviously no Hoodoo exists so we were able to dominate to do the double over them no matter how well they played, which they did at theirs to give them credit. Against Ipswich whikst not guaranteed, we're also 3 or 4 times more likely to do the double over them than we were to get a single point off you. The reverse being true obviously for yourselves.

It remains that we've accumulated more points in the league than any other side since Hellberg rocked up, so it's doing him an injustice to claim that his methods aren't decent. A side with merely a good midfield and nothing else going for it including poor tactics racking up those kind of returns would be impossible and would render the entire league crap by comparison if that were the case. including yourselves. Which as both you and a clutch of other sides clearly aren't crap kind of refuses that theory.

Our PPG since he arrived and including tonight's result AND our christmas slump, expanded to a whole season would see us rack up 95 points plus. We may not get that high, but considering that, our manager's methods are certainly not slacking. And we only have 1 of our 4 Hoodoo games left to play. Other than that of course we expect to win most games.

We've spent a good 80% of the season playing teams that have realised we've got a shaky defence and therefore kick it long, play for time and grind out a result. Boro came with a game plan of play it out from the back Man City style which didn't work and your coach didn't change it until it was too late.

Last night doesn't change a lot, it's still going to go down to the wire, but teams will be looking at last night and thinking hold a minute I think we might just have a way to beat these lot now (like teams have figured out how to beat us).

 

[Torquay Sky Blue]

Hackney is a very good player and like Grimes did earlier in the season for us ...runs the show. Until that is , you get found out. As Edgy said earlier , others will have watched how to unsettle Boro's midfield and employ a different tactic from now on.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

I enjoyed watching Boro, they reminded me of how we were playing before Christmas. One big difference though, they’re really lacking quality up top. One big similarity, they will give up good chances to teams prepared to take up the gauntlet. Talk of hoodoos is a nonsense though, we lost to Boro twice in our first season up and once more the following season. CCFC away at Deepdale however….that really is a curse.

I don’t actually think the sit deep and hit on the break approach is the way to go against sides like this. They’ll move the ball too quickly for you to get players in position and sit tight. You have to fight fire with fire.

 

[CovveeBreak]

Boro were very frustrated after like 15 minutes. Hackney winging after literally everything.

Sense there was an expectation from them of a very different game. Hoodoo or no hoodoo, think they lost their heads.