[Archived] Middlesbrough Preview

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Larsson wasn't found getting splinters in his arse from Cardiff's subs bench was he?

No he was playing alongside fellow superstars in the uh, Swedish league.

[Florida Rover]

Waggy

you have to agree that at no point did SMD ever produce a ball capable of offering a scoring chance from the left side,

Actually Matty did produce one nice cross in about the 35 or 36 minute which Emo did not head well.Overall though,concur with what you are saying.as far as finishing,Matty definitely left his shooting boots at home Sat as on another he would have scored on that horrible shank at around the 13-15 minute mark.

[ABBEY]

No he was showcasing his talent in the Swedish top division, you know that great league where all the top players can be found

did you go on saturday imy ?

[Athlete]

playing 4-5-1 at home to a struggling team is baffling mate.

playing SMD at left wing is baffling mate.

To see a finisher like SMD stuck out left is unbelieveable, he is a finisher and a forward not a left winger and not a provider.

So, I would not be saying they are working that well at the moment.

totally agree with the above about the starting formation against a poor side ( don't anyone say boro aren't when they are perennial strugglers each season ) Ince does he know what he's doing ????

[tcj_jones]

Fact of the matter is that we played good football at a high tempo and created numerous chances. We just could not convert those chances.

We dominated the game from start to finish and were far, far superior. And the stats coroborate this (apologies for the weird layout - I copied and pasted from Sky Sports):

4

Shots on Target

2

7

Shots off Target

2

4

Blocked Shots

3

9

Corners

2

76.4

Passing Success

61.7

13

Tackles

23

84.6

Tackles Success

56.5

62.7

Possession

37.3

58.3

Territorial Advantage

41.7

Ince can hardly be faulted.

[ABBEY]

whose fault is the boring level tho,that first half was depressingly painful and hardly an ad for "getting fans in".

[AggyBlue]

whose fault is the boring level tho,that first half was depressingly painful and hardly an ad for "getting fans in".

Warnock thought the first half was the best we've played all season. I think he's not far out with that assessment.

We're you ######?

Edit : Drunk

[tcj_jones]

Agreed Aggy.

Saturday's first half performance, in particular, was better than most of what we played under Hughes last season. I find it staggering the amount of criticism being directed at the team and it's manager. To lose that game would have been a travesty, even a draw is difficult to swallow.

[Jan]

For the muppet slating SAF for signing Larssen- Henke is 1000 times the player Fowler ever was. He delivered at all levels over at least a 7 year period whereas Fowler was goodish for a couple of seasons. If I had the choice now, I'd say Larssen would still get more goals in the Premiership than Fowler can. At least he's fit and interested. Something Fowler hasn't been for YEARS (Liverpoo first time around?)

[imy9]

did you go on saturday imy ?

No I did not, but by the sounds of it from a large number on here we played well first half and then pretty average second.

[RevidgeBlue]

Where did I blame Ince in my post? All I said was that we need to nail the myth that the football is exciting, not pro Hughes or Anti Ince just based on the lack of numbers at the ground.

Don't particularly want to add fire to the tiff between you and Hughesey but you claim on the one hand you're not blaming Ince yet on the other you say the football is not exciting.

Whose fault is it then? Mark Hughes'? Dalglish's? Howard Kendall's?

Edit: To balance the debate up in one of Hughesey's posts (which seems to have been removed) he expressed the view your previous LT column was poor and that JW wasn't happy with some of your output. Well if JW wasn't happy with some of your columns that seemingly makes two of us, and I think your column was a lot better than the current ones of John Myles which I think are pretty poor.

[BuckyRover]

For the muppet slating SAF for signing Larssen- Henke is 1000 times the player Fowler ever was. He delivered at all levels over at least a 7 year period whereas Fowler was goodish for a couple of seasons. If I had the choice now, I'd say Larssen would still get more goals in the Premiership than Fowler can. At least he's fit and interested. Something Fowler hasn't been for YEARS (Liverpoo first time around?)

He was 35 years old, when he played at Man U barely touched the ball and looked ordinary. Anybody could see that apart from the red tinted media.

Larsson plied his trade at Celtic for all those years because he knew he couldn't cut it in a big league. Fowler was better in his prime.

He was playing for Helsingborgs FFS!

Cardiff got the FA Cup final last year!

[RevidgeBlue]

Never mind, being the big boy that you are I'm sure you'll want to discuss it with me face to face at the next game. In fact I think I'd quite look forward to that.

Better take a stool along to stand on then LD!

[imy9]

He was 35 years old, when he played at Man U barely touched the ball and looked ordinary. Anybody could see that apart from the red tinted media.

Larsson plied his trade at Celtic for all those years because he knew he couldn't cut it in a big league. Fowler was better in his prime.

He was playing for Helsingborgs FFS!

Cardiff got the FA Cup final last year!

Fowler scored masses of goals in the PL and is a legend at Liverpool. One of the best strikers the league has ever seen.

[philipl]

Oh dear, now we have a Paulette suggesting Larson was in some way an inadequate player.

There is a middle way in this debate although you end up being criticised by all sides and called inconsistent if you try to be a realist.

- Rovers are playing prettier football

- We have become surrender monkeys when playing the Big 4

- For whatever reason, the summer transfer activity was half-baked

- The two most controversial Ince signings are not first team regulars but it seems Ince chose to burn a heck of a lot of his credibility inside and outside the club in pursuing them

- There seems to be a collective memory blank that we are a UEFA Cup place challenging club on a consistent basis and that we had more resources available for team strengthening this summer than we have had for at least two seasons

- A casual look at the table and forthcoming fixtures unfortunately spells out a relegation scrap looks more likely than a UEFA scrap and if that happens we will lose RSC for sure and we will not be able to attract the calibre of players we need even though we might beable to afford them

- He has not been tested yet but I think most supporters doubt Ince is of the same stature as Hughes in his ability to attract Champions League winning centre forwards or their like to Ewood Park.

[RevidgeBlue]

Oh dear, now we have a Paulette suggesting Larson was in some way an inadequate player.

There is a middle way in this debate although you end up being criticised by all sides and called inconsistent if you try to be a realist.

- Rovers are playing prettier football

- We have become surrender monkeys when playing the Big 4

- For whatever reason, the summer transfer activity was half-baked

- The two most controversial Ince signings are not first team regulars but it seems Ince chose to burn a heck of a lot of his credibility inside and outside the club in pursuing them

- There seems to be a collective memory blank that we are a UEFA Cup place challenging club on a consistent basis and that we had more resources available for team strengthening this summer than we have had for at least two seasons

- A casual look at the table and forthcoming fixtures unfortunately spells out a relegation scrap looks more likely than a UEFA scrap and if that happens we will lose RSC for sure and we will not be able to attract the calibre of players we need even though we might beable to afford them

- He has not been tested yet but I think most supporters doubt Ince is of the same stature as Hughes in his ability to attract Champions League winning centre forwards or their like to Ewood Park.

Philip you constantly assume in your postings that we are sitting on a huge wad of transfer cash the manager chose not to spend in the summer but there's no actual evidence there's anything more available to him than what was actually spent.

All Ince's recent comments and the constant stream of loanees, trialists and free agents in and out of Ewood tend to suggest the cupboard is relatively bare. (Whether that should actually be the case is another debate)

Of course the manager could be just downplaying our financial situation but I get the impression he is just trying to be completely honest with the fans. When he comes out in the press and specifically says we can't go out and spend 12m on a player like Bolton, I believe him, even though there doesn't seem to be any earthly reason why that should be the case, especially having just sold another for 15-17m!

[CAPT KAYOS]

As for Derbyshire, he was quite clearly sulking about being put out on the left wing, Saturday, and hardly put any effort in. He gets put there by Ince because he has pace and can be dangerous cutting back inside on his stronger right foot.

We really don't have any better options to put out there at the moment,

I'd be sulking as well - given that he has proven he can score goals and keeps getting played out of position.

As for dangerous cutting back - if there is one thing that is definitely easy for a defender to read is a player that cannot kick or his not adept at playing a ball with the weaker foot - there is no danger there and a good defender will be able to combat this almost every time - which is what happened on Saturday when the advantage was lost as Derbs had to cut back and lose momentum all the time.

Yes we do, Warnock is abetter option even though I would put Olsson there , and at the end of the day despite is poor form - Pedersen is still left footed which provides balance.

[JAL]

Its clear that Philipl is passing the buck onto Paul Ince regarding lack of spending when the truth probably lies more with the trustees and board.

[broadsword]

Philip you constantly assume in your postings that we are sitting on a huge wad of transfer cash the manager chose not to spend in the summer but there's no actual evidence there's anything more available to him than what was actually spent

I may be wrong but I thought:

Trust's 3m+Transfer receipts+Manager compensation >> Transfer spending, no?

[philipl]

Revidge and JAL, are you saying the transfer budget target for this summer was to make an £8m profit?

Irrespective of the £16m jump in free Sky cash (after netting out the budgeted wage increase to £40m), the £4m profit on Manager dealingsand the £3m the Trustees put in to boost the transfer pot?

[RevidgeBlue]

I may be wrong but I thought:

Trust's 3m+Transfer receipts+Manager compensation >> Transfer spending, no?

Should be the case Bryan, but not if the Trustees say the manager can't have it.

I don't know the exact answer but it certainly doesn't appear as though we had anything like Trustees 3m + net 9m from Bentley + 5m compo from Hughes + 10m pre sales kitty (27m) actually available.

[BuckyRover]

A paulette? How very original. I see what you have done there philiplonker.

I was merely pointing out that signing Fowler is in no way any MORE desperate than Sir Alex Ferguson signing Larsson, which he was lauded for. He made little impact but people almost ****** themselves every time he touched the ball. Like Sir Alex was some kind of football messiah for signing a 35 year has been plying his trade in the Swedish league.

Why did they need him if he wasn't better than their main strikers? Everyone keeps saying we shouldn't sign players if we already have better.

That is absolute rubbish. Just because Hughes said it does not make it true. (Berner?). We need a squad. Stop being so negative all the time.

Why don't you all just come out and say that you would prefer it if we were in the bottom three then you could all justify your anti Ince vitriol, because at the moment it just sounds absolutely ridiculous.

[RevidgeBlue]

Revidge and JAL, are you saying the transfer budget target for this summer was to make an £8m profit?

Obviously not, because we spent a net 1m on Robinson and 4m Euros on Grella.

After Bentley was sold however, the target might have been revised to make a couple of signings and still make a 4m profit, (or break roughly even if you factor in the fee for Villenueva)

The point is we just don't know. I think it's a bit unfair to constantly criticise Ince for that without being in possession of any of the facts.

[CrazyIvan]

Oh dear, now we have a Paulette suggesting Larson was in some way an inadequate player.

There is a middle way in this debate although you end up being criticised by all sides and called inconsistent if you try to be a realist.

I find these two sentences coming from you to be comical and utterly ironic. Again you use the 'Paulette' tag for a Rovers fan who dares to be positive about the club, it's insulting and childish. You have been positive about the club in the past too but it seems you change you mind like most people change body position i.e. constantly. You are by far the biggest band wagon jumper I have ever read anything from. Your current 'middle' way is about as far removed from reality as you are from Ewood. It's time you stopped spouting rubbish and actually had an opinion and stuck to it. I'd respect that even if I didn't agree with you. (As long as it isn't as insane as Frisky Jim about John Williams...)

[philipl]

I did it deliberately because I think the Ince can do no wrong camp are probably driving some of the anti-Ince vitriol on here which issimplya reaction to their nonsense which is every bit as hyperbolic as some of Frisky Jim's caustic contributions.

Comparing Larsson so unfavourably is asking for a heap of trouble. You forgot he left Celtic to join Barcelona where he was a success, that he was averaging a goal every other game at Helsingborgs (24 in 51) and then was only on loan at Man U where he scored 3 in 7.

That is one heck of a lot more distinguished than Robbie F's recent career but nobody would be more pleased than me if Robbie starts knocking in a goal every other appearance for Rovers.

I find these two sentences coming from you to be comical and utterly ironic. Again you use the 'Paulette' tag for a Rovers fan who dares to be positive about the club, it's insulting and childish. You have been positive about the club in the past too but it seems you change you mind like most people change body position i.e. constantly. You are by far the biggest band wagon jumper I have ever read anything from. Your current 'middle' way is about as far removed from reality as you are from Ewood. It's time you stopped spouting rubbish and actually had an opinion and stuck to it. I'd respect that even if I didn't agree with you. (As long as it isn't as insane as Frisky Jim about John Williams...)

I have been 100% consistent on Ince- he is a very mixed bunch at the moment and there are serious issues still unresolved.