Middlesboro(home)predictions

[seventwo]

2-1 away win

[Despair]

I forgot to touch on the BB thing.
My feeling about that was not a negative one with respect to the player, but to the fact that he was unlikely to be ready to take a real part this season .
Added to which, we’ve seen before how ridiculous valuations affect some players (moreso the younger ones). With that you then add our supporters lack of patience with almost anything and everything. As has happened in the last couple of weeks.
That is where the real gamble lies.
However, full praise to TM on sticking his neck out, even though it may not turn out eventually as well as he had hoped.
Yep, there are no guarantees with player buys, or life.
Oh yes and I meant JW (not Mr Rhodes &#128527 obviously.
You both should read the piece I mentioned re: Fred Pickering 👌
https://blueyedboy.wordpress.com/

[AucklandRover]

I forgot to touch on the BB thing.
My feeling about that was not a negative one with respect to the player, but to the fact that he was unlikely to be ready to take a real part this season .
Added to which, we’ve seen before how ridiculous valuations affect some players (moreso the younger ones). With that you then add our supporters lack of patience with almost anything and everything. As has happened in the last couple of weeks.
That is where the real gamble lies.
However, full praise to TM on sticking his neck out, even though it may not turn out eventually as well as he had hoped.
Yep, there are no guarantees with player buys, or life.
Oh yes and I meant JW (not Mr Rhodes &#128527 obviously.
You both should read the piece I mentioned re: Fred Pickering 👌
https://blueyedboy.wordpress.com/

Just read it, Despair. What an excellent piece! He was one of my earliest heroes.
A bizarre side-note: my brother-in-law, an American with no interest in football, once told me that he actually attended that international at Randall's Island. He couldn't even remember why, but he thought it might be something to do with a girl!

[Despair]

I always thought that AS , even though he was a demon striker in his ‘era’, would have fared even better if his era had been say 1 or 2 decades earlier. Having said that, as Dougie alludes to, 2 to 4 decades earlier an forget it.
His physical stature would not have held up against the muscle ‘employed’ those days. 😳
Duncan Ferguson is / was another.

[AucklandRover]

I always thought that AS , even though he was a demon striker in his ‘era’, would have fared even better if his era had been say 1 or 2 decades earlier. Having said that, as Dougie alludes to, 2 to 4 decades earlier an forget it.
His physical stature would not have held up against the muscle ‘employed’ those days. 😳
Duncan Ferguson is / was another.

A different game. I wonder if there were more broken legs. The slide tackle, the late tackle and the tackle from behind were pretty standard, and that's not to mention the use of the elbow or the "legitimate" shoulder-charge.
I think we could do with Mike England now. (I wouldn't even mind John McNamee, as long as he wasn't expected to pass!)

[alfinyalcabo]

No you aren't.

[Despair]

Alf, they just couldn’t put the game to bed, an if that had been us we’d have been complaining like mad as per usual.
At 2:04 I could but dream 😏
The way they fluffed their lines in front of goal those last 20 mins or so would you have been at all surprised if we’d flooked an equaliser at least.

[AucklandRover]

Lenihan was roundly criticised in December, but I think we miss his drive and enthusiasm.
Let's be honest, though: four of our most consistent players - Mulgrew, Bennett, Evans and Dack - had absolute shockers in the first half. This meant we had no rhythm at all.
Clearly, Brereton will have to be shelved for now, because his confidence is so low.
It is a puzzle, though. While I was on holiday, I read a lot of criticism of Travis and Bell for their recent performances, but they both had decent second halves.
It's this inconsistency thing again. It has plagued us all season. I don't buy this argument that it's all about managerial decisions, however. If the players are going to show such up-and-down form (look at Reed, for example), any pre-match plans are going to disappear in smoke.
I would personally always start with Nyambe and Smallwood, but I have been openly mocked on the Telegraph site for suggesting that.
At least we saw a reaction from the players in the second half, but Graham and Dack have both lost that ***** sharp edge at the moment.
Fair play to Boro, though. You could clearly see why they have conceded so few goals this season.

[champs95]

Lenihan was roundly criticised in December, but I think we miss his drive and enthusiasm.
Let's be honest, though: four of our most consistent players - Mulgrew, Bennett, Evans and Dack - had absolute shockers in the first half. This meant we had no rhythm at all.
Clearly, Brereton will have to be shelved for now, because his confidence is so low.
It is a puzzle, though. While I was on holiday, I read a lot of criticism of Travis and Bell for their recent performances, but they both had decent second halves.
It's this inconsistency thing again. It has plagued us all season. I don't buy this argument that it's all about managerial decisions, however. If the players are going to show such up-and-down form (look at Reed, for example), any pre-match plans are going to disappear in smoke.
I would personally always start with Nyambe and Smallwood, but I have been openly mocked on the Telegraph site for suggesting that.
At least we saw a reaction from the players in the second half, but Graham and Dack have both lost that ***** sharp edge at the moment.
Fair play to Boro, though. You could clearly see why they have conceded so few goals this season.

7 defeats in 11 games. Playing 2 of the worst sides in the division. And only finding 3 points against both. This isn't good enough. For me, he has 3 games now, or he's gone.
He is very much a 2 season manager throughout his career. And things have gone very very wrong.
If he starts another game with Brereton sack him there and then. For me he couldve gone yesterday. He set us up to fail yesterday. The performance was remiscent of Coyle days. The current run is as bad.
Playing our top goalscorer in his own half picking up balls from the centre half tp plsy 5 yard passes to a centre mid. Pathetic.
Mulgrew ....Pathetic.
Starting with 2 in midfield....Pathetic.

Mikel ran the game, with ease. He's someone we haven't had since Tugay left. While we stick with Evans, we are missing out on some class. And as for leaving us with just Lenihan, Mulgrew and Rodwell. That's the biggest mistake of all.

Simply not good enough.

[champs95]

the next 3 games are crucial.
Birmingham (away) - I can only see another loss. They are no better than us, pretty evenly matched. Only we are no longer doing what we have all season. And neither is the manager. - DEFEAT

Rotherham - (away) - I can only see a draw at the very most. They are battling like mad, not the best side, but one who are currently playing quite well. You fee we would need to score 3 goals to win any game at the moment. Graham is dead on his feet, and Dack is uninterested. Brereton is being ruined by the manager more and more each week passes. DRAW

Preston (home) - They are a better side than us, they just started the season badly. Above us now, and it will stay like that. Local derby, they will come with a game plan and be highly motivated to get all 3 points over us, and do the double. I just can't see us laying a glove on them. We where matching these sides (in most, not ALL games) but not anymore. DEFEAT

if ....and it remains an IF ....we only get 1 point from the next 3 games, we will be at real risk of finishing 1 place outside the bottom 3. Which is actually a disgrace. There is no excuse for this complete falling apart. But facts are facts, something has gone horribly wrong. I'm not buying his pre and post match comments anymore, he is talking absolute nonsense. All this will prevent a good season next year. If Dack left now, we'd be lucky to get £2m. He is that bad. He probably wants to go, infact I'm 100% he does. We wont attract anyone decent. And as I stated last week, its all becoming clear we are going nowhere.