Middlesborough away Sat 8th Dec

[Leonard Venkhater]

Just now, OJRovers said:

Rothwell looks good, needs more game time.

BB nothing of note again.

Hardly any time to be fair....

[Bigdoggsteel]

That was frustrating. 

My thoughts 

Armstrong was pathetic. Strolling around. I can forgive mistakes, attitude I can't. 

Evans needs to either practice his shooting or stay the hell out of the box

We could easily have lost that and they were poor and down to 10 men. 

I can understand leaving Graham on, but he was shattered. Brereton should have been on sooner 

Annoying game now.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Just now, Hasta said:

We broke them down and got key men on the ball in the right place insisde the box. We just were poor at finishing or the final ball.

How many times did we break them down second half?  Players hugging the touchline, stretch the game.

[bluebruce]

5 minutes ago, Butty said:

F**k sake. You’d have taken a point before the game but we should have won that game, they’ve had one chance and scored. Why take the corner short when it’s the last kick of the f**king game?!!

They had quite a few chances they could have scored from. The game could have gone either way in the end, which only makes it more disappointing really. Credit to Boro though, they did come out fired up for that second half. We should have been able to finish the game off though for sure.

[skous18]

2 points dropped. What a shame

[joey_big_nose]

Disappointing considering where we were at half time. By the end of the game we were holding on to a draw against 10 men and that should never happen.

We've got some talented young players, but they have some pretty significant weak areas. Armstrong has pace to burn but picks the wrong passes all the time. Rothwell oozes technical class but has major lapses of concentration, Dack is a fabulous attacking mid but can be man-marked out of a game. Onthe upside they are all young so should improve. 

On a side note I can see why Mowbrays chooses Smallwood over Rothwell. Smallwood was very solid. But I think there's something of Cairney about Rothwell, hes not physically strong but he is fantastic on the ball. I think we have to accept that he will make mistakes as he learns, but let him have a run of games at cm as in terms of his ability he looks like he could turn into a premier league player. It's about making a strategic investment.

I fear like Cairney under Bowyer Rohhwell wwillonly play a marginal role and have to move for his career to kick on.

 

[Oldgregg86]

3 minutes ago, Mr. E said:

Missed opportunity.

Armstrong is so, so frustrating. He has pace and beats his man, which is a luxury we don't often have - but what on earth has happened to his final ball and finishing this season? Completely gone. It's not just the change in league, because again he is creating chances that not many other players can - but then it's all for nothing because of how dull and wasted his deliveries are.

Honestly I don't see what we have to lose by giving Nuttall another chance.

Because he's a striker. His strength beating a man with his pace and shooting not crossing. You need wingers for that.

Nuttall is terrible.

[Stuart]

Always frustrating when the game opens up as an opportunity and we don’t capitalise. No doubt we’ll have folk saying “great point away from home” but you have to take your chances when they present themselves.

Fallen another place in the table with Stoke winning. We may be glad of that decent start by the time the season ends. That said, still only 4 points off the play-off shows how tight a league this is.

It’s a result we’d all have taken at 3pm but I expect Mowbray will be disappointed this evening.

[blueboy3333]

 

Just now, joey_big_nose said:

I fear like Cairney under Bowyer Rohhwell wwillonly play a marginal role and have to move for his career to kick on.

Cairney's career kicked on under Bowyer. He was a regular here and got player of the season in his first season. 

[Stuart]

4 minutes ago, OJRovers said:

Rothwell looks good, needs more game time.

BB nothing of note again.

A regular post-game lament...

[Amo]

Sounds like a fairly even contest despite our numerical advantage for 70mins.

Would've taken a draw beforehand but with the sending off it has to be points dropped.

[Ewood Ace]

A decent point even though it feels like two dropped. The thing that this teams lacks the most is a tough winning mentality. Today not for the first time we have not put a game to bed when we have been in the ascendency and paid for it. Also you look at games we have lost to the likes of Swansea, Preston and Bristol City they scored one goal then put us to the sword and in within a 5-10 minute spell the game is over. We seem to lack the mentality to do that and I say mentality as I don't think it is ability. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

2 minutes ago, Stuart said:

A regular post-game lament...

He was on for around 3 minutes 

[blueboy3333]

6 pts off the play offs if Sheff Utd win their game in hand. It would have been 3 if we'd held on against 10 men. Frustrating, but mid-table is probably about where we are as a team which is a good effort. 

[Butty]

The first thing Armstrong did when he came on was bolt down the wing and take it past two players then after that he was awful, poor decision making in his passing and giving silly fouls away. There were times when the ball went over the top and he just stopped as though he couldn’t be arsed. I love DG but he was gone after 60 minutes, but instead of swapping him for Brereton, Brereton only gets 10 minutes invisible on the wing. Rothwell as tidy as ever when he came on and other than missing that chance and that stupid dummy which nearly put them through on goal, I thought Evans had a good game today. Disappointing not to come away with all 3 points today, would have been huge to take into the tough run of games we have coming up.

[Stuart]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

He was on for around 3 minutes 

Talking about Rothwell but thanks for the stat.

[yellowsubmarine]

Just now, Ewood Ace said:

A decent point even though it feels like two dropped. The thing that this teams lacks the most is a tough winning mentality. Today not for the first time we have not put a game to bed when we have been in the ascendency and paid for it. Also you look at games we have lost to the likes of Swansea, Preston and Bristol City they scored one goal then put us to the sword and in within a 5-10 minute spell the game is over. We seem to lack the mentality to do that and I say mentality as I don't think it is ability. 

Then it has to be Mowbray's job to train this mentality and putting out the right players to put opposition teams to the sword when we have the advantage.

[USABlue]

COME ON.

[Bigdoggsteel]

15 minutes ago, Stuart said:

Talking about Rothwell but thanks for the stat.

Oh right, that wasn't clear as the original post mentioned both Rothwell and Brereton and you didn't specify which one you meant 

[bluebruce]

So in our last games, we've conceded, in order: 4, 3, 2, 1...

Does a clean sheet beckon against Birmingham? If it does, I hope we don't then repeat the cycle.

[Ewood Ace]

A worrying reoccurrence is that today for the third game in a row we have conceded from 20+ yards out. Some will say that they are brilliant strikes that nothing could be done about and maybe that's fair enough if it happens once but this is 3 games in a row, you have to ask how players are constantly getting enough time and space to shot from that range consider we are playing with two holding midfielders. 

[G Somerset Rover]

10 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

So in our last games, we've conceded, in order: 4, 3, 2, 1...

Does a clean sheet beckon against Birmingham? If it does, I hope we don't then repeat the cycle.

They just lost 1-0 at home to Bristol City so we really really need to be winning this one what with our two away fixtures to come.

[Exiled in Toronto]

53 minutes ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Because he's a striker. His strength beating a man with his pace and shooting not crossing. You need wingers for that.

Nuttall is terrible.

Not sure I agree with that, he has easily the worst goals to shots ratio. He’s greedy and shoots when there are too many defenders in front of him. Today he was played through by Dack, perfect position and pass, but didn’t even get a shot away.

[Bigdoggsteel]

4 minutes ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

Not sure I agree with that, he has easily the worst goals to shots ratio. He’s greedy and shoots when there are too many defenders in front of him. Today he was played through by Dack, perfect position and pass, but didn’t even get a shot away.

Ya, that was brain dead. People say he should be played centrally, but if ever there was a time to just pull the trigger, it was then. Even if he reached his second touch, he had made the angle worse. 

He had a stinker today 

[Ewood Ace]

Armstrong's record at this level prior to signing suggests he's not up to it and his performances this season for us suggest the same. I don't think he is strong enough or intelligent enough to be effective consistently at this level. His main attribute is his pace and down in league one that will frighten defences but in the Championship you need more to your game.