[Archived] Boro Match Thread

[arbitro]

Its ok I'm sure wonderful fans like this will be there since he didn't get banned and it was conveniently ignored on here. Clearly not being captivated by the most unmarketable name in the whole Football League is worse than this.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/11121961.East_Lancs_teen_sparks_fury_after_vile_twitter_message_to_Burnley_player/

Anyway I will take Tom's suggestion on board...I didn't even say anything wrong anyway just stated the players were professional. Plus I was commenting on how the players might feel. After all some of them may well have played in more prestigious places such as Wembley for instance.

You have posted a link to that story several times now but I still don't get your point. It was one (immature) person out of many thousands. Just accept that for the vast, vast majority of Rovers fans this is our biggest game, always has and always will be.

[yoda]

Its ok I'm sure wonderful fans like this will be there since he didn't get banned and it was conveniently ignored on here. Clearly not being captivated by the most unmarketable name in the whole Football League is worse than this.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/11121961.East_Lancs_teen_sparks_fury_after_vile_twitter_message_to_Burnley_player/

Anyway I will take Tom's suggestion on board...I didn't even say anything wrong anyway just stated the players were professional. Plus I was commenting on how the players might feel. After all some of them may well have played in more prestigious places such as Wembley for instance.

Taking Tom's suggestion after posting sh1t yet again,

manc WUM

[BlueMonday]

Its ok I'm sure wonderful fans like this will be there since he didn't get banned and it was conveniently ignored on here. Clearly not being captivated by the most unmarketable name in the whole Football League is worse than this.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/11121961.East_Lancs_teen_sparks_fury_after_vile_twitter_message_to_Burnley_player/

Anyway I will take Tom's suggestion on board...I didn't even say anything wrong anyway just stated the players were professional. Plus I was commenting on how the players might feel. After all some of them may well have played in more prestigious places such as Wembley for instance.

If you were a Rovers fan, you'd get it.

[aletheia]

Gomez, Grimes give you composure but are not water carriers. So it’s all about getting the blend right and making subs work at the right times. There were times when a simple through ball from them caught Gomez, Grimes and Akpan on the wrong side, so because you also have 2 up front, you only have Lenihan trying to stop the charge. I guess it depends on how attacking you want to be. The initial team worked well for us because they gave us some respect. Once we were ahead, they obviously came at us and we looked a little lightweight to me with that shape

[Butty]

Couldn't make last nights game, it was the first home game I've missed all season and by all accounts one of if not the best performance of the season!! Gutted I missed it, how was the atmosphere last night and were the players a bit more responsive to the crowd at the end? Seen the highlights and Akpans "shhhh" celebration was probably aimed at all the fans who absolutely destroyed him on Twitter after the West Ham game. Fair play to the guy.

[ABBEY]

Its ok I'm sure wonderful fans like this will be there since he didn't get banned and it was conveniently ignored on here. Clearly not being captivated by the most unmarketable name in the whole Football League is worse than this.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/11121961.East_Lancs_teen_sparks_fury_after_vile_twitter_message_to_Burnley_player/

Anyway I will take Tom's suggestion on board...I didn't even say anything wrong anyway just stated the players were professional. Plus I was commenting on how the players might feel. After all some of them may well have played in more prestigious places such as Wembley for instance.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[davulsukur]

What are we in the 1950's? Come up with something modern and contemporary. No got to admit I don't really "grasp it" would have thought you might want your son to have something more exciting to look forward to but to each his own.

In Tom's defence, i don't think he came up with the phrase "Derby day".

That's what it is called, so i don't see why he needs to come up with something else.

[VinjayV4]

OK I'm sorry but when you have suffered from severe depression for years its hard to easily forget issues that largely contributed to it. It does not help when Abbey and Yoda continue their relentless campaign of bullying and hatred against me when there's far worse people out there who they never mentioned at all. Yes I used an extreme example with that LT link but what can you expect under constant cruel provocation?

I'll tone things down and stick to other threads for this week. Hope that satisfies all concerned.

[K-Hod]

Right- I've had to hide several posts from Abbey and Vinjay in 2 threads now. Will you both please ignore each other if you can't play nicely?

Many thanks.

[Mark Atkins' Bald Patch]

Thanks all who have contributed to this thread ... thoroughly enjoyed reading some positive content after a cracking result and (it seems) performance.

Onwards and upwards. Roll on saturday!!

[Lancaster Rover]

Right- I've had to hide several posts from Abbey and Vinjay in 2 threads now. Will you both please ignore each other if you can't play nicely?

Many thanks.

I'm still searching for the ignore button!

[rog of the rovers]

Performance of the season, no question about it. Full of hard work and two moments of real quality (the cross from Grimes and the composure from Graham)

Steele - 8 - Looked like he had a point to prove being a Middlesbrough lad. Brilliant timing and decision making after Hanley's slip first half and a wonderful save from Rhodes in the second half.

Marshall - 7 - Said it before, but right back (in this system) is the best position for him. Defended well against Downing

Hanley - 8 - Mistake aside a fine performance from him, we look so much more composed with him in the centre of defence.

Duffy - 8 - Meat and drink at times, with all the long balls to him. Still got a 50 pence head and could be more threatening from set pieces, but assured throughout.

Spurr - 7 - Adomah a real handful, but grew into the game. He's a bit slow at times with distribution and decision making, but worked hard.

Lenihan - 7 - Another dogged performance. Not in the team to spray passes all over the park, but more than capable with ball at feet.

Akpan - 7 - Divides opinion, but works hard for the team, like Lenihan should rely more on the skillful players than trying to dictate the tempo himself. Nice header.

Gomez - 6 - First touch let him down throughout, not as effective as Saturday, but worked hard.

Grimes - 7 - On a different wavelength from most, took him a while to get going, and certainly more to come you'd think, but an absolute dream of a cross for the opener.

Watt - 7 - Worked so hard, like Grimes, took him a while to get up to speed, but looked a threat running the channels and hunting down the ball with Graham.

Graham - 9 - The King is dead, long live the King! Worked his socks off, held the ball up brilliantly, chased lost causes, never gave Fry or Gibson a moments peace and took the goal like Jordan Rhodes in his pomp!

Subs

Jackson - 6 - Like so many, still a little raw, but nice flick on for Graham's goal, I'd expect more 25/30 minute cameos from him going forward.
Conway/Bennett - 6 - Both sent on to work hard in the final stages, which is what they did.

N.B. Nice to hear that the fans didn't boo Jordan Rhodes. In return, nice to see Jordan applaud the Rovers fans at the end, and get a nice hand in response. Touch of class from all concerned.

[Colt Seavers]

"Seen the highlights and Akpans "shhhh" celebration was probably aimed at all the fans who absolutely destroyed him on Twitter after the West Ham game"

Akpan's "shhhh" follows on the heels of Duffy's identical celebration after finally scoring a header the other week.This show of defiance is disrespectful towards paying customers but is, to my mind, indicative of a general malaise towards supporters by many of our current squad. I mostly blame the ridiculous Twitter epidemic for much of it.

However, if there is some kind of siege mentality being fostered, it may prove beneficial as a motivator to some.

My daughter works at Ewood on match days so I have to skulk around for half an hour or so after matches until she finishes. This gives me the opportunity to watch all the players leave the field, during which time I can observe the apathy of some of the team towards us.

I then hang around inside the club shop pretending to be a prospective customer,but in reality trying to warm up!

[Claytons Left Boot]

What are we in the 1950's? Come up with something modern and contemporary. No got to admit I don't really "grasp it" would have thought you might want your son to have something more exciting to look forward to but to each his own.

Every true Rover knows that this is THE game. A chance to put one over the old enemy. Bragging rights. Any Rover brought up in Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn, The Ribble Valley or The Rossendale Valley would know this and would have had it drummed into them from birth, at school and into adulthood.

Citeh fans (fans my arse) on the other hand....

[Dean]

What are we in the 1950's? Come up with something modern and contemporary. No got to admit I don't really "grasp it" would have thought you might want your son to have something more exciting to look forward to but to each his own.

You are a genuinely odd fellow.

[Atomicrover]

Royston Vassey was based on Wakefield and Wooly Edge.

...and is the real name of Roy "Chubby" Brown, but I guess you all knew that

[Pedro]

Royston Vassey was based on Wakefield and Wooly Edge.

And Bacup

[AJW]

Quite happy to stand corrected on Lenighan , so a few of his games early on his career , thought he was nowt better than league 1 standard , but if he can repeat last nights performance on a regular basis , i think we might have a very good player in that D/M role

[Amo]

"Seen the highlights and Akpans "shhhh" celebration was probably aimed at all the fans who absolutely destroyed him on Twitter after the West Ham game"

Can't say he didn't deserve it. His half-assed attempt at tracking back for West Ham's first goal was disgraceful.

Also, although our chances of signing Grimes are slim to none, we could do with Swansea staying up this year and try taking him on loan for another season.

[Cherry Blue]

Couldn't make last nights game, it was the first home game I've missed all season and by all accounts one of if not the best performance of the season!! Gutted I missed it, how was the atmosphere last night and were the players a bit more responsive to the crowd at the end? Seen the highlights and Akpans "shhhh" celebration was probably aimed at all the fans who absolutely destroyed him on Twitter after the West Ham game. Fair play to the guy.

You missed one of the best wins in years. Middlesbrough tried to give us a lesson in signing and must admit their coordinated left side right side chants from the 3k+ was good, but once we showed we were in charge on the pitch they faided and Rovers fans began to make the noise that's been missing lately.

16,601 was attendance (probably a little high compared to bums on seats) but with second half 2 mins old Hope gave us hope and home crowd responded. The last 10 minutes doesn't do my nerves any good especially when they scored but thats one of the things that made this a fantastic win. The ball was played around the bbn end/riverside corner very professionally and the crowed in that corner as did all Rovers fans contributed to the pressure.

Never expected us to win this game but if PL can produce a performance like this, let's get behind the team because we are not far away from getting back on a good run.

[Lancaster Rover]

Lenihan reminds me very much of Phil Jones when he broke into the team. Not in terms of playing style but more his total lack of fear. Jones was a joy to watch in his first season as he seemed to be playing on a mix of pure adrenaline and enjoyment. I remember a game against Arsenal where he went through 3 consecutive 50/50's down the middle of the pitch, each time leaving the Arsenal player in a crumpled heap on the deck (fairly I might add). He played purely on instinct and was a real blood and guts type centre half. Such a shame that he left and had that coached out of him, playing percentages and game management.

[Amo]

Quite happy to stand corrected on Lenighan , so a few of his games early on his career , thought he was nowt better than league 1 standard , but if he can repeat last nights performance on a regular basis , i think we might have a very good player in that D/M role

Seconded. When I watched him against Newport he looked like another young prospect destined for lower league obscurity, but credit to the guy and the manager, as he's come on leaps and bounds in the last month or so.

[donnermeat]

Lenihan reminds me very much of Phil Jones when he broke into the team. Not in terms of playing style but more his total lack of fear. Jones was a joy to watch in his first season as he seemed to be playing on a mix of pure adrenaline and enjoyment. I remember a game against Arsenal where he went through 3 consecutive 50/50's down the middle of the pitch, each time leaving the Arsenal player in a crumpled heap on the deck (fairly I might add). He played purely on instinct and was a real blood and guts type centre half. Such a shame that he left and had that coached out of him, playing percentages and game management.

Oh Lord don't mention Phil Jones! What have you done?!

[Lancaster Rover]

It's ok, I've found the ignore button

[den]

really great performance tonight.

Graham was outstanding tonight. Work rate is phenomenal, he used his strength to use the ball very well, plus run the channels and in behind their defence. Plus he showed his class by his class finish

As did Watt Chaddy. Not so long ago, suggesting a centre forward works hard and runs the channels was scoffed at. Not so much now.

Graham will hopefully inspire those around him, as if he can retain possession and find a colleague under such extreme pressure, the others will put a higher price on ball retention and accurate, effective passing.

Top performance, and my concern about him looking less effective in the box than outside it, was well and truly answered. He is also more effective doing the heavy work on his own than alongside Browny.

Yep. The front lads leading the way with tremendous application is infectious.

Great result by a team that clearly has a purpose. Boro coach said best.

Middlesbrough head coach Aitor Karanka:

"It's taken 75-85 for us minutes to wake up. It's really difficult for me to understand why a team like Blackburn, who is in the middle of the table and which had played five games in the last two weeks, and their players wanted it more than us.

Their players are jumping more than us, they were quicker than us, even when they were winning 2-0 they were desiring to score the third one.

"When we are playing to get promotion, or at least to be in the play-offs, it is difficult to understand."

BBC website

That could be pinned up in the dressing rooms for future reference. Can their be a bigger compliment to the players professionalism and teamwork?

While their is still much to be done, I thought the way the lads went about their work last night was brilliant.