[Archived] Middlesbrough Preview

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Not through the middle please - No way Jose!!

I know we are limited but we will be even more predictable than we already are we haven't got the nous to play directly down the middle.

Personally, I would play Olsson down the left and put Warnock back at LB, Bert on the right with Carlos just behind whoever we have up front.

Have Middlesboro' got some excetional right sided player we've to be afraid of. Why two left backs. Lets take the game to them

Robinson

Simpson Nelson Samba/Ouijer Warnock

Emerton Grella

Derbs Villaneuva

McCarthy Santa Cruz

With the Austrailians playing, this would allow both full backs to push forward allowing Derbs and Villanueva to float and be 3rd and fourth attackers.

Lets not worry about other teams .....lets give them something to think about from the start

[CAPT KAYOS]

Have Middlesboro' got some excetional right sided player we've to be afraid of. Why two left backs. Lets take the game to them

Robinson

Simpson Nelson Samba/Ouijer Warnock

Emerton Grella

Derbs Villaneuva

McCarthy Santa Cruz

With the Austrailians playing, this would allow both full backs to push forward allowing Derbs and Villanueva to float and be 3rd and fourth attackers.

Lets not worry about other teams .....lets give them something to think about from the start

Who's worrying?

I can see where you are coming from on this but playing Sir Matt where you have him just nullifies his use as we have already seen, so we lose out straight away with that formation - he needs to be kept upfront as a direct striker and poacher- not the plug in route to creativity - personally if you where playing that formation - I would put Roberts or Tugay there - the other issue I could envisage is what sort of cover would Emerton and Grella (what is his position anyway?) then provide for the on rushing full backs.

Yes go at them, but as we have seen over the last couple of season Boro have had the upper hand at Ewood and with a decent striker would have buried us

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Who's worrying?

I can see where you are coming from on this but playing Sir Matt where you have him just nullifies his use as we have already seen, so we lose out straight away with that formation - he needs to be kept upfront as a direct striker and poacher- not the plug in route to creativity - personally if you where playing that formation - I would put Roberts or Tugay there - the other issue I could envisage is what sort of cover would Emerton and Grella (what is his position anyway?) then provide for the on rushing full backs.

Yes go at them, but as we have seen over the last couple of season Boro have had the upper hand at Ewood and with a decent striker would have buried us

Personally i would not have Roberts within 50 miles of Ewood tomorrow but if you were to play him I can't him being effective out wide. As for Matty it is either there or subs bench. He is not strong enough to play 90 minutes against big strong defenders and is often nulified and is not as effective as when coming on as sub. Tugay can't play wide so I'm presuming you'd put him in the middle and Emerton wide. This again nulifies him as he tends to become periphal to the match as a whole.

Playing Emerton and Grella [i believe he is a Defensive Midfielder] is that they would stay and offer defensive cover should either Warnock or Simpson are caught upfield.

[Mozzer]

boro will be looking to bounce back-quotes from their manager is that he is sure they will..

we need to be on top of our game..

id play

......................robinson....................

simpson...samba..nelsen....warnock...

emerton.....grella...tugay....olsson..

.........roberts........mcarthy..............

obviously if santa cruz is fully fit we should play him-but if he isnt we should save him for the aston villa game-mcarthy and roberts can work as a partnership as they have shown before..

as for tugay-i think this game would be better suited to him then playing against aston villa..

[T4E]

With the Austrailians playing

I hope we attempt to make a long term CM partnership out of Emerton and Grella. I think that has a lot of potential.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Sky reporting Santa Cruz more than likely to miss the Boro game

[Majiball]

I hope we attempt to make a long term CM partnership out of Emerton and Grella. I think that has a lot of potential.

It could work, but Brett out wide has good potential too. I want to see MGP in the middle he just seems to remind me of Barry at Villa.

[modes98]

Sky reporting Santa Cruz more than likely to miss the Boro game

Benni must play and score then.

[Presty On Tour]

i'd line up

..................robbo

simpson samba nelsen warnock

.......grella tugay pedersen

emerton......................carlos

...............mCcarthy

[T4E]

It could work, but Brett out wide has good potential too. I want to see MGP in the middle he just seems to remind me of Barry at Villa.

Emerton out wide has NO potential. He's terrible at RM/RW.

[Majiball]

I think you have to expect to see Roberts up with Benni for this one.

I am more concerned over who will face up to Downing? With it being Simpson or Ooijer I think it will prob be Ooijer but Simpson has the better athletic qualities to handle him. I'd also like to see grella start to see if Brett's right about him.

As Nelsen said who would be Ince!

[92er]

My most vivid memory of last season's home game was of the 2 Boro centre halves-Wheatter and Huth ?-systematically pushing the striker they were marking-Rocky and Roberts?-in the back approx 1 sec before the balll was due to come to them. It wasn't once or twice, it was all the way through the match. Roberts kept complaining but the ref never gave anything.

I'll be watching out to see if it happens as consisitently tomorrow.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Personally i would not have Roberts within 50 miles of Ewood tomorrow but if you were to play him I can't him being effective out wide. As for Matty it is either there or subs bench. He is not strong enough to play 90 minutes against big strong defenders and is often nulified and is not as effective as when coming on as sub. Tugay can't play wide so I'm presuming you'd put him in the middle and Emerton wide. This again nulifies him as he tends to become periphal to the match as a whole.

Playing Emerton and Grella [i believe he is a Defensive Midfielder] is that they would stay and offer defensive cover should either Warnock or Simpson are caught upfield.

I thought you said through the middle.... who said anything about playing wide ... ooooooh picky

I like Roberts for what he is but is usefulness is detracting gradually.

As for Derbs - I dont understand the condemning -he has been played out of position more times than in his natural position for anybody to give fair judgement. The guy is a natural finisher and also fairly decent in the air with the added bonus of having a decent pace - give him the run and I am positive he would score goals and would only get stronger and better from the experience.

Tugay - appears to have had a bit of a rebirth

Grella - still an unknown quantity

Bert Mk I, II, III, IV - still the enigma since his first game against Wolves - appears to have better form for Australia at the moment - but still the only one we have that can get up and down the right hand side.

But if Boro are no major worry and we shouldn't be worrying - why the hell go with x2 defensive midfielders at home?

Olsson to me is a better winger than full back so for me it would still be the 442 with Warnock back at LB and Olsson in front

[92er]

On Radio Lancs Ince is quoted as saying he is hopeful that both Rocky and Samba will play tomorrow.

[rover6]

Emerton out wide has NO potential. He's terrible at RM/RW.

Disagree slightly with that. Too extreme.

Emerton and the Right Wing Position have a relationship of depreciation.

The more he plays right wing, the worse he gets. So, if your regular right midfielders are out, and you're scratching around for a fill-in - Emerton, fuelled by novelty, will be an excellent deputy. However, if you give him that role for continuous games, his performances will steadily decline until he is playing like Keith Gillespie without the ability to run.

Basically, Emo defies the natural (?) human capacity to get better with practice.

[Mozzer]

emerton this season has played most of his games out on the wing-i must say hes doing a really good job-some of his crossing has been really impressive aswell-for me hes been our stand out player so far-i do think a right winger is still needed in january-but emerton has done nothing wrong there and to be quite honest-hes probably the best player we have to play in that position..

[Ozz]

We've not lost to Boro for what seems like ages, another tradition I would like to see continued! Can't see there being a bumper crowd for this, but looking forward to it.

My most vivid memory of last season's home game was of the 2 Boro centre halves-Wheatter and Huth ?-systematically pushing the striker they were marking-Rocky and Roberts?-in the back approx 1 sec before the bowl was due to come to them.

What sort of bowl was it? Sick or begging?

[92er]

We've not lost to Boro for what seems like ages, another tradition I would like to see continued! Can't see there being a bumper crowd for this, but looking forward to it.

What sort of bowl was it? Sick or begging?

Essentially it was a senior moment bowl.

I'd be happy to have you put something in it-cash?

Or maybe I should just edit the previous posting??

[dingles staying down 4ever]

I thought you said through the middle.... who said anything about playing wide ... ooooooh picky

I like Roberts for what he is but is usefulness is detracting gradually.

As for Derbs - I dont understand the condemning -he has been played out of position more times than in his natural position for anybody to give fair judgement. The guy is a natural finisher and also fairly decent in the air with the added bonus of having a decent pace - give him the run and I am positive he would score goals and would only get stronger and better from the experience.

Tugay - appears to have had a bit of a rebirth

Grella - still an unknown quantity

Bert Mk I, II, III, IV - still the enigma since his first game against Wolves - appears to have better form for Australia at the moment - but still the only one we have that can get up and down the right hand side.

But if Boro are no major worry and we shouldn't be worrying - why the hell go with x2 defensive midfielders at home?

Olsson to me is a better winger than full back so for me it would still be the 442 with Warnock back at LB and Olsson in front

Derbs .....I said if the full backs can attack so allow the likes of Matt to play more as a traditional inside right and hopefully get into box and he can avoid being picked up and as such can use his ability to finish.

Playing two defensive midfielders allows both full back to attack but also it gives one of them the ability to move forward and attack from deep, safe in the knowledge that the other is covering. I agree Grella is an unknown quantity so Tugay could play in this position but he has played a lot of games recently.

Anyway Rovers to win 3-1.

[1864roverite]

Emertons passing and crossing, as well as his overall game has improved tenold.

He is the supply line to the front man as well as running his legs off through the middle and flanks. he is the one single Rovers player who has earned his place in the team.

If only Roberts and co could finish off the final ball we would be flying.

[Ozz]

Essentially it was a senior moment bowl.

I'd be happy to have you put something in it-cash?

Or maybe I should just edit the previous posting??

The mental image made me laugh, Rocky and Roberts being passed a big bowl

[roversmum]

Re Emerton - agree absolutely. But the Bert Bashers won't let facts detract them

[CrazyIvan]

Anybody want a laugh? Their rating for Roque is very odd indeed and if they'd like Fowler they're welcome to him. Right now I'd swap him for a cheesy sock.

[T4E]

Disagree slightly with that. Too extreme.

Emerton and the Right Wing Position have a relationship of depreciation.

The more he plays right wing, the worse he gets. So, if your regular right midfielders are out, and you're scratching around for a fill-in - Emerton, fuelled by novelty, will be an excellent deputy. However, if you give him that role for continuous games, his performances will steadily decline until he is playing like Keith Gillespie without the ability to run.

Basically, Emo defies the natural (?) human capacity to get better with practice.

So, potential wise, (ie a possible ability that could bear out over time) Emerton has none at RW.

[Majiball]

OK T4E who would you put out wide right?? Derb's, MGP perhaps even Simpson Emerton is all we have out there. He put in a great cross for roberts header he's doing OK and will contiue to do so until we bring in another.

I agree that the way he runs at people could be better used in the middle he has drive to his play so to speak. Alas though we have no-one who can cut out wide if he moves inside.