Championship - 22-23

[ItsRoverZ]

What a weird season it's becoming, we battered Swansea 3-0 and they looked like relegation candidates, now are on very good form 

We beat QPR first game of the season and I didn't think they had much about them but are joint top 

I love the championship its such a brilliant league, maybe not of high quality but just the sheer randomness of it 

[chaddyrovers]

Carrick appointed as Boro head coach and Woodgate has joined his staff there 

 

 

[Blue blood]

Who would want Woodgate on their staff? He's done crap as a manager and stepped in when his former boss got the boot. Hardly that experienced either. Not sure what he brings. 

[chaddyrovers]

17 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

Who would want Woodgate on their staff? He's done crap as a manager and stepped in when his former boss got the boot. Hardly that experienced either. Not sure what he brings. 

Interesting question there. I think Carrick and Woodgate are close friends and he knows the club. I wonder if who else he brings in. Last week it was reported he wanted Mike Phelan, Rene Meulensteen and Alex Bruce on his staff. 

[roversfan99]

Carrick a bit of a strange appointment, but god knows why Woodgate is back, maybe a sympathy vote.

"He knows the club!" Deary me, he does indeed having failed as a manager there very recently, bizarre logic. Surely they want a new perspective.

Edited October 24, 2022 by roversfan99

[Upside Down]

3 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Carrick appointed as Boro head coach and Woodgate has joined his staff there 

 

 

Middlesbrough, have you met League One?  League One, this is Middlesbrough. 

[Blue blood]

35 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Interesting question there. I think Carrick and Woodgate are close friends and he knows the club. I wonder if who else he brings in. Last week it was reported he wanted Mike Phelan, Rene Meulensteen and Alex Bruce on his staff. 

Sad if appointing on friendship rather than ability. I'm not sure knowing the club or similar really helps unless it's a basket case or particular set of circumstances. 

I'm all for an experienced number 2 rookie manager with the right background research but my word if Woodgate is the experience it's a worrying lookout.  

[chaddyrovers]

6 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

Sad if appointing on friendship rather than ability. I'm not sure knowing the club or similar really helps unless it's a basket case or particular set of circumstances. 

I'm all for an experienced number 2 rookie manager with the right background research but my word if Woodgate is the experience it's a worrying lookout.  

Woodgate isn't Carrick number 2 but on the coaching staff. Most managers/head coaches appoint a people who they know and trust like Mowbray with Venus, Bowyer with McPhillips, Hodgson with Lewington for 3 examples. 

[chaddyrovers]

29 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Carrick a bit of a strange appointment, but god knows why Woodgate is back, maybe a sympathy vote.

"He knows the club!" Deary me, he does indeed having failed as a manager there very recently, bizarre logic. Surely they want a new perspective.

failed manager? Didn't Woodgate get Bournemouth to the playoffs place? Mowbray couldn't even get us playoff place whilst having us second after the January transfer window ended. 

[arbitro]

2 hours ago, Blue blood said:

Who would want Woodgate on their staff? He's done crap as a manager and stepped in when his former boss got the boot. Hardly that experienced either. Not sure what he brings. 

I'm actually pleased he got the job because now I won't have to listen to him droning on in radio commentary on 5 Live. 😂😂

That said they'll just wheel out another ex pro who is condescending to listeners.

[JacknOry]

Carrick has been putting in his name for just about every job going and only now just got one. Ballsey move to take the chance on him but i imagine they already know they aint doing much this season anyway. 

[Mike E]

I do actually understand having Woodgate on the coaching staff. Same reason manager after manager after manager kept Parkesy here 22 years after he finished playing.

[Mattyblue]

Finishing 6th with a club with a huge budget an achievement?

[Dreams of 1995]

Carrick had a good football brain. It will be interesting to see how he makes it as a manager 

Compare with Lampard and Gerrard, two ultra talented players, who seem to be missing that managerial spark. Roy Keane another example of that 

Carrick was intelligent and knew how the game should be played. I kind of hope he makes a good head coach, he was one of my favourite non-Rovers play growing up. 

 

[davulsukur]

17 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Carrick appointed as Boro head coach and Woodgate has joined his staff there 

 

 

Risky appointment when you're sat 21st.

Carrick has been in the running for most managerial vacancies, including ours. Be interesting to see how he gets on.

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, davulsukur said:

Risky appointment when you're sat 21st.

Carrick has been in the running for most managerial vacancies, including ours. Be interesting to see how he gets on.

Was Carrick interviewed for the Rovers head coach job? 

I agree with your comment it's a risky appointment 

[jim mk2]

Carrick was a fine player - he should have won far more England caps than he did but was unlucky to be around at the same time as Gerrard and Lampard. He was as good as either of them

I'll be surprised if he's a success as a manager though. Have Boro appointed him only because he's a North East lad - it seems likely.

[Exiled_Rover]

1 hour ago, davulsukur said:

Risky appointment when you're sat 21st.

Carrick has been in the running for most managerial vacancies, including ours. Be interesting to see how he gets on.

Boro - such a massive club that they've appointed a rookie manager to save their season.

Mowbray will be rolling in his grave.

[Admiral Nelsen]

1 hour ago, jim mk2 said:

Carrick was a fine player - he should have won far more England caps than he did but was unlucky to be around at the same time as Gerrard and Lampard. He was as good as either of them

I'll be surprised if he's a success as a manager though. Have Boro appointed him only because he's a North East lad - it seems likely.

 

Would have complemented them too if we played 433, as was becoming more common in the mid 2000s. 

To be fair to Sven, that would've also meant dropping Beckham and Scholes (or playing them badly out of position) which would've been a massive call. 

After 2006 though, he should've started every game as a key player. Scholes retired. Beckham not exactly retired but on his way out and increasingly playing in more centrally anyway. Only Rooney as a genuinely top class striker, so no real need to keep two up top. Yet somehow we carried on playing 442, handing out caps to far worse players and squandering one of the few areas that we could claim to be world class from 2006-2012 or so. 

 

Gareth Barry has almost 20 more caps than Carrick. Absolutely insane. 

[Mattyblue]

Scholes retired because he kept playing him out of position, to persevere with the ineffective Lampard/Gerrard combo…

[smiller14]

2 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Scholes retired because he kept playing him out of position, to persevere with the ineffective Lampard/Gerrard combo…

Saw an interesting Scholes interview recently where he (perhaps modestly) said the left-wing element wasn't an excuse for him as he played there frequently with United. He said he struggled being away from home for long periods etc.

You're still right though, Scholes would have improved that centre midfield. Could even have considered a change in formation to encompass all 3. No doubt that Lampard and Gerrard underperformed together for England. 

[roversfan99]

Yeah Scholes has come out and said that the theory that he retired from England because of where he was played is totally untrue. He thought that Sven should have dropped him for his poor performances and suggested that he quite liked playing from the left because he had more space.

[Admiral Nelsen]

1 hour ago, smiller14 said:

Saw an interesting Scholes interview recently where he (perhaps modestly) said the left-wing element wasn't an excuse for him as he played there frequently with United. He said he struggled being away from home for long periods etc.

You're still right though, Scholes would have improved that centre midfield. Could even have considered a change in formation to encompass all 3. No doubt that Lampard and Gerrard underperformed together for England. 

 

In retrospect, one hundred percent. To be fair a lot of big teams across Europe were still playing 442 until after the 2006 World Cup, so it wasn't just England being slow on the uptake. 

 

I think even putting Scholes to one side, playing 442 was most harmful because it meant that we weren't even getting the best out of the other two that we had left. There was an interview a couple of years ago with Rio, Lampard and Gerrard. It hit the headlines because Ferdinand said something about putting club before country and the players not really getting on, but Lampard was more insightful when he said that they were constantly being outnumbered in midfield, even by more minor nations. Playing Carrick (or a fully fit Hargreaves) behind them solves that problem and would've allowed them to focus more on hurting the opposition. 

 

It probably wasn't realistic to expect this during the Sven era, but the way the game was going after then, McClaren then Capello had every chance to make more out of the players they had. Either of the below going into the 2008 qualifiers would've been far better for me. Carrick is central to both. 

 

 

                           Robinson

          Campbell    Ferdinand     Terry

Neville                   Carrick                      Cole

                 Lampard             Gerrard

                     Rooney        Crouch

Or

 

                           Robinson

Neville      Ferdinand     Terry      Cole

                            Carrick                      

              Lampard             Gerrard

            Cole         Rooney        Downing

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

 

In retrospect, one hundred percent. To be fair a lot of big teams across Europe were still playing 442 until after the 2006 World Cup, so it wasn't just England being slow on the uptake. 

 

I think even putting Scholes to one side, playing 442 was most harmful because it meant that we weren't even getting the best out of the other two that we had left. There was an interview a couple of years ago with Rio, Lampard and Gerrard. It hit the headlines because Ferdinand said something about putting club before country and the players not really getting on, but Lampard was more insightful when he said that they were constantly being outnumbered in midfield, even by more minor nations. Playing Carrick (or a fully fit Hargreaves) behind them solves that problem and would've allowed them to focus more on hurting the opposition. 

 

It probably wasn't realistic to expect this during the Sven era, but the way the game was going after then, McClaren then Capello had every chance to make more out of the players they had. Either of the below going into the 2008 qualifiers would've been far better for me. Carrick is central to both. 

 

 

                           Robinson

          Campbell    Ferdinand     Terry

Neville                   Carrick                      Cole

                 Lampard             Gerrard

                     Rooney        Crouch

Or

 

                           Robinson

Neville      Ferdinand     Terry      Cole

                            Carrick                      

              Lampard             Gerrard

            Cole         Rooney        Downing

Hargreaves was a big loss.

[Mattyblue]

Scholes says that now obviously, ‘Sven wouldn’t play me where I wanted so I chucked my toys out the pram and quit’ doesn’t put him across in the best light, does it! But it was a pretty open secret at the time…