Boro V Rovers match thread

[Fife Rover]

Well to be fair to Fife, what he is saying is true. I personally don't think Benni is pretending; however he COULD be. No one can prove it one way or the other. Of course the medical staff can check him over etc etc, but I could quite happily go to my boss and say I still feel dizzy after banging my head a week ago, when I don't, and he can't prove it. I can't however say 'I have broken my leg boss' and get away with it. It's all very well saying 'I can't believe your suggesting a player would do that!', but players aren't moral superhumans, it is a possibility.

Like I said, I don't think Benni is pretending. From all reports, from seeing the incident and from trusting the medical staffs judgements, I have come to that conclusion.

We can endlessly discuss this, but it is just simply two different opinions. Like Fife says, why not just wait and see if he plays, and subsequently, if he is still at the club when the window shuts!

Thank you Pugg. You have more or less understood what I have been saying and implying all along. I have never said, implied, or even thought for one second that Benni was feigning injury in the incident at Boro, and where anyone has got that idea from I just cant understand. However what I think may be the problem is the fact that on Aug 8th I posted a half tongue-in-cheek , half believing suggestion that I would not be at all surprised if Benni were to pick up an injury before the trip to Finland and therefore cup-tie himself. Then of course on Saturday he really does get injured (not feigned, or deliberately engineered) but a genuine in-match incident leading to an injury, which turns out to be a head injury leading to concussion. What then followed with the Hospital discharging him immediately led to me wondering if what I had predicted in my Aug 8th post was actually coming true, and could it just possibly be that fate had played things the way that Benni hoped for? Not that he did anything underhand in regard to the injury, but rather that my assumption that he does in fact want to leave for a CL club had (from his point of view) moved a step closer to happening. That is all it was, and why people should choose to see any malevolence in any of my posts I have no idea.

I hope that clarifies the situation and we can all move on. As I said before ....time will tell.

[bellamy11]

Nicely done Benni, especially as no one can prove a thing!

I have never said, implied, or even thought for one second that Benni was feigning injury in the incident at Boro, and where anyone has got that idea from I just cant understand.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Fife, as mentioned I agree and understand with your points but honestly the way you have posted (as MBstates)reads in an agressive manner on the responses to your original posts which I feel has been the problem.

Don't know if you where at the game but to be fair to Benni , can assure you he did take a clatter on the head - he went up between two defenders in the air and threw his head backwards whilst the defender was heading forwards and after seeing it on replays it actually looks worse than it did at the time.

Whatever the situation , as you say time will tell.

On another note as not seen posted anywhere -Hughes on the radio this morning said Bert was missing as he has picked up an eye infection but was hoping it would respond to treatment and hopefully he would be available for Thursday.

[Roost]

Must admit, feigning swallowing your tongue must be quite difficult FFS, I think trying to wrap this into a conspiracy theory is stretching matters a bit far don't you? He got clattered, got up, rolled his neck round and quite clearly collapsed, the physio didn't pi** about so he must have known it could have been serious!

As for other matters:

I agree, Dunny seems off the pace still, I still very much hope to be proven wrong on our dunny (Please!) , however, Sav looked in good shape and put in his usual workrate, anyone know how far Reidy is off still?

ooijer, why does he fall over or lose the plot at such vital stages so much, that slip at the death nearly cost us !

Agree, sounds like we got away with that, but the finishes were excellent!

Anyone who went rate the other positives?

Can't wait for the Arsenal match TBH !

I watched the game from an exec(?) box and thought Savage was very poor. I dont think we can afford to waste a midfielder as easy - we need pure strength in midfield. Mokoena would have been a much better option IMO.

Dunny still a little wasteful with the ball and Oojier looked out of sorts at RB.

I thought that we actually controlled a lot of the game up until Boro scored and then went to pieces until Benni fainted.

Its a good job that Boro are poor.

3 points from the first game is a brilliant result - however we played, but we wont get away with it too many times playing like that.

As for Santa & derbs - FANTASTIC. I thought they were brilliant together.

It was great to see santa telling Dunny to 'hang on' until he got in the box rather than a quick free kick, and it paid off hansomely.

we need to take control of our midfield and we will be a force to be rckined with

[pleasure]

2. Despite that I still reckon one of Benni or Roberts will be off by the end of August. No facts, no links, nothing..

you've not been reading my posts in nicko's thread then ? :ph34r: "there's more chance of roberts leaving than his strike partner."

in all seriousness, if fulham bid around 5M, roberts will be off.

4. Have to agree with Den - The Sav / Dunny combo didn't look too hot. It's a tricky one. There's defintely a case of The Axe to start and then you can pick one from three for me.

i'm with you both. boro ran through us, and i was horrified when savage and dunn were kept back defending, when we had a corner!

i'll defend dunn a bit, he needs games.

savage doesnt help matters when he chases shadows, playing ''kabbadi'' (professional TIG) instead of football.

IMO, the savage & reid partnership isnt great either (from a creative point of view) and i think it'll be savage OR reid (in most games) when reidy returns.

[Fife Rover]

I have been doing a revue of my last 10 posts to see if what i am accused of could possibly have any justification, and I can now see where the misunderstanding has arisen. My post timed at 14-50 yesterday seems to be it. I can now see on reading back where people could easily get the meaning that I have been accused of; it was in my last sentence.

Before we go any further may I offer my sincere apologies for that. It reads very badly and does appear to be an accusation of a deliberate act on the part of Benni. All I can say in mitigation (not defence,as there is none) is that when I wrote that I was intending the last sentence to be a sarcastic rather than literal statement. I know it was still wrong and accept that. But it would seem that that is where a lot of people have taken it to be literal and hence (rightly) seen red. Unfortunately I did not understand where exactly everyone was coming from, because obviously I knew what was actually going through my mind, and I knew I had not actually accused Benni of anything (feigning injury etc), so naturally I was taken aback by the reactions I got from several directions which in turn made me answer in a somewhat aggressive manner. For this I unreservedly apologise, it was my own fault, and I am sorry.

I hope this now clears up the misunderstanding and we can all move on from here.

[brfcs5359]

The Midfield is difficult at the moment. We're not keeping enough possession and we're not supporting the strikers enough (and filling the box and getting goals). All the players we have, have pluses and minus's. I think Dunny can improve, whether he will is up for debate. Tugay, Mokeona and Savage won't improve much. Reid needs to be brought back carefully and eventually is an automatic.

I would pick Tugay and Dunn because Tugay is no longer an attacking player. His age has left him occupying the area of a defensive midfield role, but unlike Sav and Axe, we'll have more possession and creativity from there, although we'll lose a bit of bite and harrying. Similarly I'd bring in Emerton for Ouijar. Whichever combo we're unlikey to be much better or worse in reality.

[Florida Rover]

Very thoughtful response Fife.Well done,sir.

[thenodrog]

Very thoughtful response Fife.Well done,sir.

Yes very well said Fife.

When I am in the firing line as you were I usually just refuse to believe that I can ever be wrong and bollokc on regardless! Must be the Generation Gap.

[mike at picture]

Yes very well said Fife.

When I am in the firing line as you were I usually just refuse to believe that I can ever be wrong and bollokc on regardless! Must be the Generation Gap.

Really?

Cant say that I'd noticed that.

[bob fleming]

you've not been reading my posts in nicko's thread then ? :ph34r: "there's more chance of roberts leaving than his strike partner."

in all seriousness, if fulham bid around 5M, roberts will be off.

No I didn't read that, it wouldn't have mattered though. It wouldn't surpise me.

I hope this now clears up the misunderstanding and we can all move on from here.

You're a gentleman sir. I thought it all a bit strange.

[92er]

On another note as not seen posted anywhere -Hughes on the radio this morning said Bert was missing as he has picked up an eye infection but was hoping it would respond to treatment and hopefully he would be available for Thursday.

I'm sure I posted that-maybe on Nicko's post.

[Beta Ray Bill]

I hope this now clears up the misunderstanding and we can all move on from here.

It's big man who can look at himself and retract a comment.

I guess it's one of the perils of t'internet. Sometimes something gets blown out of all proportion because communication can take hours to get a discussion across. In the real world we'd all have been laughing about it in minutes; either that or beating 7 shades of hell out of everyone.

[Manchester Blue]

Fair play Fife, nowt wrong with opinion's just sometimes they get misconstrued on here. Big of you to accept blame, i'm usually more like the drog described in that respect.

[Nayef]

A great day out at the Riverside.

From where we were sat, we could see Derbyshire's effort was going in no matter what. My friends who I'd dragged along (and who don't even like Rovers!) started celebrating at least 2 seconds before it hit the net!!!!

Being the only guy wearing the Rovers colours in the train carriage full of Boro shirts back to Redcar = priceless.

What a change from the first half where we had to see Warnock's awful defending costing us consecutive corners, a disappearing wall act that Harry Potter could be proud of and a very swift Boro counter attack that would have been a goal had it not been for Savage's intervention.

And as for Tuncay, diving git. For every turkish delight, there's a turkish stink out there.

[roversmum]

Benni and the MyPa trip

[philipl]

Sparky has effusively praised the Rovers and Boro medical staff for their work with Benni on the pitch at Boro on Saturday.