Middlesbrough (A) - Match Thread

[Fraserkirky]

When is Butterworth back? Won’t be long until Vale is in the fray too at this rate.

Any manager relying on the health of Holtby needs a check up from the neck up. Quality player but will spend more time on the treatment table than playing, that’s been pretty obvious since he signed, has always looked 70% fit at best.

Watch Mowbray will come out and act shocked about the Holtby injury, and sight bad luck with injuries.

Edited February 1, 2020 by Fraserkirky

[Husky]

11 minutes ago, Pedro said:

Tony giving the excuse-ometer a damn good charge as we speak.  Holtby's injury the day after the window closed will be referenced as frequently as Shakespeare.  

 

I seriously wouldn't put it past him referencing Tottenham not buying anyone in a transfer window and making it to the Champion's League final (and comparing it to our Jan).

Tony or Tosh? Who'd even know. ?‍♀️☺️

[G Somerset Rover]

Judging by the highlights we were lucky not to lose at least 5-1.

[bluebruce]

18 minutes ago, Tom said:

My question is if there’s a muscle injury like that why the hell did they send him back on to try and run it off? Seems a recipe to make things worse 

Because we did the exact same dumb shit with Cunningham and that worked out swimmingly too....

Physios or whoever makes a call like that need to give their heads a wobble.

[bluebruce]

18 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Be interesting how we lineup next week.

Buckley in behind the striker?

Or do we play Downing there with Johnson in with Travis?

I highly doubt JRC starts next week unfortunately.

Buckley doesn't even make the bench at the moment so I can't see him starting the next game. TM seems to have realised he isn't ready.

Tosin and Nyambe had unusually poor games today. Lenihan and Bell (!) played well. I haven't looked back to see who the two that abandoned the men for the rebound goal were though.

Walton mixed. I feel he should have done better with the goal, but it's one of those that just happens sometimes. The defence were more culpable. Fabulous save later on from Rudy. Best I've seen him make.

JRC didn't scintillate, but did enough to show he fits into senior football already, unlike Buckley. I look forward to seeing him develop. Worked hard and looked to make things happen. Hard to say what impact the head injury may have had on his mental side of his game today, if any.

Edited February 1, 2020 by bluebruce

[stinny1]

4,4,2  next home game Gallagher  and Armstrong  up front with two banks of four behind them

[AAK]

30 minutes ago, stinny1 said:

4,4,2  next home game Gallagher  and Armstrong  up front with two banks of four behind them

Sounds awful.

[Proudtobeblue&white]

2 minutes ago, AAK said:

Sounds awful.

India and Barclays?

[Atko's Engine]

In isolation this is a good result away to a team unbeaten at home in 8 games; the problem is it leaves us 6 points off the playoffs (albeit also 8 off 3rd) and puts a helluva lot of pressure on beating Fulham (that 3rd team, also in good form) next week.

There's still a lot of drama to play out yet over the next few months. I don't think we should be defeatist like a lot seem to be (admittedly  somewhat understandably after yesterday), especially if we can get 4 out of 6 points in the next 2 home games.

Holtby's injury is of course yet another setback in the "artists" section of the team. It's sounding like he'll be out a similar period of time to Rothwell, at least. 

[Ossydave]

On 30/01/2020 at 23:07, Ossydave said:

Stats point to a 1-1 here folks. Not an absolute disaster by any means really but not much use if we're serious about any top 6 ambitions 

I really hope he does unleash JRC after bigging him up so much recently, I do however find it had to imagine sadly...

Not so far off

[tomphil]

2 hours ago, Wegerleswiggle said:

 

Get that shite off here.

[Roverthechimp]

3 hours ago, matt83 said:

Why so?

Sorry for late reply. Just felt Bennett was the best option given it was relatively early in the game - meant we still had options for all positions/situations.

[AAK]

1 hour ago, bluebruce said:

Buckley doesn't even make the bench at the moment so I can't see him starting the next game. TM seems to have realised he isn't ready.

Tosin and Nyambe had unusually poor games today. Lenihan and Bell (!) played well. I haven't looked back to see who the two that abandoned the men for the rebound goal were though.

Walton mixed. I feel he should have done better with the goal, but it's one of those that just happens sometimes. The defence were more culpable. Fabulous save later on from Rudy. Best I've seen him make.

JRC didn't scintillate, but did enough to show he fits into senior football already, unlike Buckley. I look forward to seeing him develop. Worked hard and looked to make things happen. Hard to say what impact the head injury may have had on his mental side of his game today, if any.

Mental side id worry more about how he will adapt to playing centre half or left back.

[only2garners]

1 hour ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Judging by the highlights we were lucky not to lose at least 5-1.

Judging from the side of the pitch a draw was a fair result.

[Stuart]

9 minutes ago, only2garners said:

Judging from the side of the pitch a draw was a fair result.

Sky left out 4 or 5 good chances for Rovers out of the highlights then.

And they have seriously massaged the stats...

[only2garners]

Boro did have plenty of shots but quite a few were speculative and miles away. In the first half Rovers had a few scrambles in the box which probably haven't been counted as shots but could easily have led to a goal.

Lies, damned lies and statistics.

[Wood26]

I’d of taken a draw at the start of the game. 3 winnable games coming up, should have a better idea where we stand at the end of the Charlton game.

[tomphil]

Hard earned point it's always tough up there and two hardworking sides it was always going to be tight.  When you can chuck someone like Gestede on for the last ten or so it shows what we are up against and what we lack in our squad.

As mentioned we'd have lost that last season the resilience has improved quite a bit that's why i don't ever want Mulgrew back in unless desperate.

Happy they kept the settled side again to help gel, unhappy with too much jerking around with formations in game again. Felt that hindered us yet again and could have proved costly, trying Bennett in every position just to have him on the pitch is tiresome now.  Can't fault the lad himself though.

Happy with the point.

[Trinidad Rover]

5 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Hard earned point it's always tough up there and two hardworking sides it was always going to be tight.  When you can chuck someone like Gestede on for the last ten or so it shows what we are up against and what we lack in our squad.

As mentioned we'd have lost that last season the resilience has improved quite a bit that's why i don't ever want Mulgrew back in unless desperate.

Happy they kept the settled side again to help gel, unhappy with too much jerking around with formations in game again. Felt that hindered us yet again and could have proved costly, trying Bennett in every position just to have him on the pitch is tiresome now.  Can't fault the lad himself though.

Happy with the point.

Good post. Look at WBA and Leeds for recent form and we’re doing just fine. 

Edited February 1, 2020 by Trinidad Rover

[arbitro]

I thought that in a pretty dire match we got away with a point which I would have taken at 3 pm. The swirling wind made things difficult as players from both teams continually over hit passes. For me Travis was our best player and his vision to see the give and go for his goal shows how he is developing an understanding of the game and his role. I hope Holtby isn't going to be out for long as he is one of our best technicians with the already absent Dack and Rothwell. From my vantage point he didn't look right after his first bout of treatment and I hope that sending him back on hasn't made it worse. I also saw Williams stripped and ready to come on. I thought it was going to be for Lenihan who appeared to be injured and not moving right after a challenge. Thankfully he stayed on. Points gained away from home like today can be valuable if we can win at home. That will be tested to the full next week against a really good Fulham team.

[Darwen Rover 007]

Would love Rudy back at Rovers..

[bluebruce]

2 minutes ago, OnePhilT said:

I liked him when he was here - a sort of talented arrogance about him that got the job done. Not sure that's the case anymore. Think he'd take a up a whopping wage and I get the feeling that his application is lost. Funny, isn't it... Players do well here, and we always hear about how much they love the club and the camaraderie, but when they leave, something goes missing from their working lives and they seem to crash and burn. 

In general he doesn't seem to have gone on to better things like we all expected and has probably regressed. You're right about the wages too. But he did look good today and it had me wondering the same as Darwen Rover whether he'd do a decent job here. With Graham on the wane we have nobody anywhere near his league for heading ability. He nearly did us twice in about a minute.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

3 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

In general he doesn't seem to have gone on to better things like we all expected and has probably regressed. You're right about the wages too. But he did look good today and it had me wondering the same as Darwen Rover whether he'd do a decent job here. With Graham on the wane we have nobody anywhere near his league for heading ability. He nearly did us twice in about a minute.

There's a reason why he's only good to be chucked on at the death. He's had his fair share of injuries since he left Rovers.We need to be looking elsewhere.

[darrenrover]

4 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

In general he doesn't seem to have gone on to better things like we all expected and has probably regressed. You're right about the wages too. But he did look good today and it had me wondering the same as Darwen Rover whether he'd do a decent job here. With Graham on the wane we have nobody anywhere near his league for heading ability. He nearly did us twice in about a minute.

A centre forward who plays in gloves at the end of August was never going to rip up trees on Teeside.

[Amo]

14 minutes ago, Darwen Rover 007 said:

Would love Rudy back at Rovers..

Spent force. Bringing old players back rarely works out. Time to move on.

Also, Rudy had Conway and Cairney whipping in crosses for him. Rudy would have to set himself up.

Edited February 1, 2020 by Amo