Game management

I think as good as morris has been since joining us he seems to run out of steam by about 65 - 70 minutes he made some awful tired lunging tackles today. Time for howson to come in for him later in matches until he gets to the fitness levels required to last a full 90.
Was a big mistake by Carrick not bringing Howson on for him sooner. Should have been the first change he made.
 
This is where we miss having a Leadbitter or a Clayton in the side. I like Morris but he is young and inexperienced and was poor in the lead up to their 2nd goal.
Another poor decision was bringing jones on for Doak. Jones didn’t find a pass to a team mate or offer any support defensively which I assume was the plan.
 
Another poor decision was bringing jones on for Doak. Jones didn’t find a pass to a team mate or offer any support defensively which I assume was the plan.
I could understand that decision to an extent. Away at WBA he made the same change and it worked really well, as Jones did some excellent defensive work.

Not sure what was up with Jones today but something didn't seem right. Hope it's not a mentality thing due to him not getting much game time these days.
 
One thing to consider might be to change the system during the game to try and affect the flow of the game, it's something Carrick rarely does. Carrick always seems to make like for like changes.

We've been successful playing with wing-backs on the road so maybe he should have considered switching to wing-backs after Conway missed the penalty. He could have brought Jones on for Doak and played him RWB and then Howson for Azaz, who would helped us to retain the ball a bit better and take the sting out of the game. Having a player like Azaz in the side is great when you're wanting a goal and need that player who can play the killer ball, but is he really needed when you're trying to kill a game?
 
I could understand that decision to an extent. Away at WBA he made the same change and it worked really well, as Jones did some excellent defensive work.

Not sure what was up with Jones today but something didn't seem right. Hope it's not a mentality thing due to him not getting much game time these days.
For me we looked good for 60 mins but doak and morris both ran out of steam. When doak goes off like Watford it frees their left back to support the attack and puts us instantly on the retreat. We need to keep the ball better and take the steam out of situations. Its still a young team doak Hackney morris conway rav. plenty for them to learn. Maybe Hackney needs to sit back a bit more and just try and retain possession rather than trying to press for more goals
 
One thing to consider might be to change the system during the game to try and affect the flow of the game, it's something Carrick rarely does. Carrick always seems to make like for like changes.

We've been successful playing with wing-backs on the road so maybe he should have considered switching to wing-backs after Conway missed the penalty. He could have brought Jones on for Doak and played him RWB and then Howson for Azaz, who would helped us to retain the ball a bit better and take the sting out of the game. Having a player like Azaz in the side is great when you're wanting a goal and need that player who can play the killer ball, but is he really needed when you're trying to kill a game?
We could go 3 in midfield with howson supprting Hackney and morris
 
For me we looked good for 60 mins but doak and morris both ran out of steam. When doak goes off like Watford it frees their left back to support the attack and puts us instantly on the retreat. We need to keep the ball better and take the steam out of situations. Its still a young team doak Hackney morris conway rav. plenty for them to learn. Maybe Hackney needs to sit back a bit more and just try and retain possession rather than trying to press for more goals
Yeah I remember in the build up to Watford's first goal our midfield got bypassed with one pass because our midfielders were too high up, then suddenly the Watford man is running at our defence. Maybe we should be taking Hackney off for Howson and going with two sitters when we're ahead in games. A big reason why we hardly ever conceded under Karanka was because of Clayton and Leabitter sitting and protecting the defence.
 
I thought it was the completely wrong decision to bring the subs on when we missed the penalty. Would've made sense of we had scored it but that change with the missed penalty didn't work. It was like a completely different game without Doak. Should've waited 5 mins to let things settle before the changes.
 
I thought it was the completely wrong decision to bring the subs on when we missed the penalty. Would've made sense of we had scored it but that change with the missed penalty didn't work. It was like a completely different game without Doak. Should've waited 5 mins to let things settle before the changes.
The first sub should probably have been Howson too, to try and settle everybody back down again.

Easy in hindsight but I did think it at the time too tbf.
 
I think as well you can't underestimate how much of it is down to player mentality. I don't think it's just about how we're set up when we're ahead in games.

9 times out of 10 Dieng would have got his positioning right and wouldn't have conceded that 3rd goal but when players are nervous it more than likely affects their decision making.

It's not neccessarily about needing more leaders on the pitch for me, it's about players simply being mentally stronger when the going gets tough.
 
The game management after the penalty miss was telling, we absolutely fell apart and immediately taking our two best players off was likely the cause of this.
 
It wasn't the subs fault that Sainz scored a worldy and then they score a fluke. I find talk of whether he should have done this or that a search for an excuse - in football things don't always go your way unfortunately.
 
A big problem from yesterday nobody has mentioned is that Morria was half as effective after he was booked as he pulled out of every single 50/50

Best player on the pitch until he was booked then you could see he was reluctant in the 50/50's

Always an issue that for me early bookings for competitive players, i think he should havce been subbed early than he was was Howson
 
I agree. We are far too nice. Under a more Wiley manager Sainz wouldn't have been on the pitch to score the second. Someone would have done him before he had the chance.
Thank God, I thought I was the last fan in that world. No winners in our team. Big Dan Ayala would have sorted him.
 
It wasn't the subs fault that Sainz scored a worldy and then they score a fluke. I find talk of whether he should have done this or that a search for an excuse - in football things don't always go your way unfortunately.
He could have got remotely near him
 
There is game management, going long, taking it into the corners, RVDB not attacking when 1-0 at home from CB, and there is cheating, feigning a head injury, kicking the ball away, subs going off the wrong side of the pitch, keeeprs taking 30 seconds to release the ball etc.

Happy for Boro to be a little more savvy and deploy game management, but don't want us to cheat. It is the single worst thing ruining the game imo. Referees need a big shake up of how they apply the rules.
 
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There is game management, going long, taking it into the corners, RVDB not attacking when 1-0 at home from CB, and there is cheating, feigning a head injury, kicking the ball away, subs going off the wrong side of the pitch, keeeprs taking 30 seconds to release the ball etc.

Happy for Boro to be a little more savvy and deploy game management, but don't want us to cheat. It is the single worst thing ruining the game imo. Referees need a big shake up of how they apply the rules.
From a moral perspective it might be cheating, but as it isn't clamped down upon I'd say it's fair game (excuse the pun :)

Was massive part of Karanka's promotion and I'm here for it. Everyone else does it so it seems strange to artificially hamstring yourself by not following suit! When/if it gets clamped down on, move on to find the next "edge".
 
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