If that OG didnt go in

Think of any of our promotion sides over the years, there is always an air of "we are going to win this match", whether it be at home or away.

Unfortunately this season we all feel that it's more likely not to win games (and I suspect that subconsciously applies to the players too).

With the run of games coming up, I fear we are now at the highest league position we will be in for the rest of the season. We just aren't a "promotion side" mentally.
 
Starting Conway over Forss could have had the match sewn up by half time.
He would have had he been fit enough but he may not have taken up the excellent positions that Forss did prior to missing his chances.

Nothing wrong with the substitutions at all. Too many over estimate the quality of our squad, and we were without two of our better performers from the first half of the season.


Sunderland were better than us, their left flank player exceptional. Their keeper was the busier keeper on the night though.
 
Not sure I'd be feeling that different to be honest.

The OG aside, the substitutions were baffling, too many players underperformed, and we looked shaky at the back for a good chunk of the match.
Question, what other substitutions would you have made, what was wrong in taking off Forss and Azaz and changing for Illing Junior and Conway?
 
Think of any of our promotion sides over the years, there is always an air of "we are going to win this match", whether it be at home or away.

Unfortunately this season we all feel that it's more likely not to win games (and I suspect that subconsciously applies to the players too).

With the run of games coming up, I fear we are now at the highest league position we will be in for the rest of the season. We just aren't a "promotion side" mentally.
This season reminds me of the monk/ pulis one. I didn't really care whether we made the playoffs or not as I knew we just weren't that good a side.
The first Carrick team and karankas team on the other hand were easily good enough.
 
Sunderland could have scored 4 yesterday without the own goal. They missed some big chances. We were wide open in defence several times.thsy was the biggest worry for me. They were breaking through our lines very easily
 
Sunderland could have scored 4 yesterday without the own goal. They missed some big chances. We were wide open in defence several times.thsy was the biggest worry for me. They were breaking through our lines very easily
Really? Name them? I don’t recall any “big chances”. Sunderland broke quickly and were very good at seeing the pass especially wide.
 
Today I spoke with 3 people. All of whom had watched the game and are neutrals. One went corporate so was at the ground. All them felt:-

Boro were very unlucky to be drawing at HT. Should have been easily 2 up.
Our defenders hold the ball too much and just kick it in panic
The first Sunderland goal seemed to have impacted our confidence
Sunderland were better side in second half. A draw would have been a fair result.

I think we will make the playoffs and hopefully finally get some luck!!
 
We wouldn't have conceded that sort of goal late in a game under Karanka. He would have recognised that Le Fee was pulling Ayling's pants down and would have tried to do something about it, even if that just meant having a word with Ayling and telling him not to keep committing himself to try and win the ball. It didn't happen and although Giles was unfortunate with the goal, it wouldn't have happened had Ayling not been roasted down that side.
 
Sunderland could have scored 4 yesterday without the own goal. They missed some big chances. We were wide open in defence several times.thsy was the biggest worry for me. They were breaking through our lines very easily
Absolutely. Their finishing was poor but Giles managed to win the game for them anyway.
Our keeper made six saves. Theirs made 2. He did have plenty of goal kicks to take mind.
Indeed. They managed 9 shots on target to our 4.
 
Half our squad was missing or not really ready. We were actually underdogs on Betfair when the teams were announced. Sunderland caught us at a good time for them and as said the match stats were 12 goal attempts a piece i.e draw would have been the fairest result on the balance of play.
 
I think some people need to grow a pair. It's a good job some of you weren't around in 1986, there would be a queue of "Boro" fans at the bottom of the Transporter ready to dive into the Tees.
We took one of the best sides in this division to within a decent point. A lucky deflection for their first, and an unlucky own goal for their third.
We're following the Boro, it goes like this at times.
People are gutted because, as you say, Sunderland our nearest rivals are one of the best sides in the division with more or less the same squad as last year - and we are rightly asking the question - how come?
 
I think some people need to grow a pair. It's a good job some of you weren't around in 1986, there would be a queue of "Boro" fans at the bottom of the Transporter ready to dive into the Tees.
We took one of the best sides in this division to within a decent point. A lucky deflection for their first, and an unlucky own goal for their third.
We're following the Boro, it goes like this at times.
There's a lot of doom and gloom around and I don't want to add too much to it, but I want to try and tackle this perspective because I see it regularly on here. I often wonder why, in the psyche of boro fans, the spectre of '86 looms so large. To extent that its the yard stick against which you've measured people's response to yesterday's game.

Disclaimer - I wasn't born and wouldn't be for several years. But we've come a long way since then. We're closer to a cup win and a European cup final than we are our liquidation. I'm not implying here that we should expect those things. Only that they are two extremes of our existence as a club, and that one is no more realistic a barometer for where we should be now than the other.

Is the argument here, or implication maybe, that because we nearly didn't exist 40 years ago, we should accept less than the sum of our parts / capability now? That underachieving is acceptable so long as we're not fighting for our very existence? The reality is that in the league, we're on a run of 4 wins in 14. We're staring down the barrel of yet another season in a division we historically have been able to escape semi-regularly. It will mean we've spent 1 year in 15 in the top flight. That is well below par historically for the club. That's also the first time Sunderland have done the double over us since the 60's. I don't think this is an overreaction. I don't think people need to 'grow a pair'. Fans are despondent over those things and I think understandably so.
 
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There's a lot of doom and gloom around and I don't want to add too much to it, but I want to try and tackle this perspective because I see it regularly on here. I often wonder why, in the psyche of boro fans, the spectre of '86 looms so large. To extent that its the yard stick against which you've measured people's response to yesterday's game.

Disclaimer - I wasn't born and wouldn't be for several years. But we've come a long way since then. We're closer to a cup win and a European cup final than we are our liquidation. I'm not implying here that we should expect those things. Only that they are two extremes of our existence as a club, and that one is no more realistic a barometer for where we should be now than the other.

Is the argument here, or implication maybe, that because we nearly didn't exist 40 years ago, we should accept less than the sum of our parts / capability now? That underachieving is acceptable so long as we're not fighting for our very existence? The reality is that in the league, we're on a run of 4 wins in 14. We're staring down the barrel of yet another season in a division we historically have been able to escape semi-regularly. It will mean we've spent 1 year in 15 in the top flight. That is well below par historically for the club. That's also the first time Sunderland have done the double over us since the 60's. I don't think this is an overreaction. I don't think people don't need to 'grow a pair'. Fans are despondent over those things and I think understandably so.
Well said.
 
The own goal did go in though. Just like if we hadn’t played ourselves into trouble and watched Ayling try to drag-back his way out of bother in his own box at Preston, or if we hadn’t thrown a 3-0 lead away against Sheffield Wednesday, or if we hadn’t missed a penalty and thrown away a 3-1 lead at Norwich, or conceded absolutely appalling goals at Derby, Sunderland, Leeds, Plymouth and Portsmouth.

Or, to put it frankly, if we hadn’t dropped 19 points from winning positions this season.

That’s proof of what we can all see happening in front of us. We are not a ruthless football team, we are a disjointed mess that has a tendency to crumble under pressure.

We are 7th and in with a shout of the playoffs not because of some sort of grand, managerial or playing philosophy, but because we’ve invested very large sums of money in some quality attacking footballers for our level, each of whom can produce moments of class that allows us pick up enough points to keep the wolves from the door. In this case, in touch with the top 6.

Last night was indicative of not just this season but the last one as well.
Nailed it Viv!
 
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