r00fie1
Well-known member
Its that time again>>>>>>>>
What an end to Boro year. What an end to the first half of the 2022 / 23 season! What a difference a decent Gaffa makes! What a turn-around for Chuba! What a superb fight-back from all the players and the Coaching Team! From 21st just over 2 months ago up to as high as 6th and more! What more is there to say? Well......
12 months ago - January 2022: We welcomed the New Year on the back of a six-game unbeaten run. A late 2-1 victory at Bloomfield road saw the fans going wild. Bedlam! Had we really turned the corner? Two months earlier, Boro had said cheerio to Neil Warnock after a 1-1 draw away to West Brom. All seemed to be going well - until the beginning of April when Boro appeared to have hit a sand-drag. Before that we hit the highs of a late penalty win at Old Trafford, saw our Josh score a superb goal against Spuds and had thrashed Derby County 4-1 at home [Take that].
But the wheels started to fall off and somehow the team lost its consistency and its bite. With woeful displays against Barnsley at Oakwell, at home to Hull and total collapse at Preston was a foretell of what was to continue at the start of the 2022/23 season. Coventry was the last gasp for Chris Wilder - who had lost control of himself - never mind the team - and we said goodbye.
Up stepped Leo the Lion to steady the ship and bring order to the procedings. Five games later, with 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats, he gave us chance to take a breath, whilst we anticipated the coming of the new messiah. Being Boro fans, we`ve grown used to being offered a loaf and ending up with the crumbs. A 4-1 victory away at Wigan included a superb first senior strike for Hayden Hackney - and a "reborn" striker was coming out of the shadows - scoring the winner home to Brum and a penna at Wigan. We had come out of the sand-drag. We were ready for a fresh start. Ready to go together in the right direction. To do what we all knew we were capable of - start putting in a shift. Re-ignite the spark. Get behind the lads and start winning again. Little did we know, just where the red and whites were going next?
October 29th 2021 saw Michael carrick take to the dug-out at Preston, where an extra time goal saw us miss out on a valuable point. Noticably it was Chuba Akpoms first goal under the new Gaffa`s tenure. We know what happened next: from 21st in the Championship - [licking our wounds and looking like relegation fodder rather than promotion candidates] - to the last play-off spot with victory at Ewood Park! Chuba is top of the Championship Scorers and Ryan Giles is second in the Championship "assists". Won 6 Drawn 1 Lost 2 - sounds a pretty good return with a squad who`d lost self-belief.
How great to see our young lads getting an opportunity - including our "development player" Marcus Forss. Haydn Hackney looks like hes been playing first team for more than a few months. Johnny Howson appears to be getting younger every match and the likes of our World Cup Aussie is scoring stupendous game winners.
Chuba has to be the success of our season, so - far. The player many of us expected to be shown the exit, has been essential to Carricks winning team. Woody, Grant, Leo, Catts and the backroom staff, appear to be "happy" in their work and actually doing a brilliant job - not always acknowledged for their efforts behind the scenes.
Today we face a Birmingham side, who sit 16th in the table, having just come away from a 1-0 home defeat to struggling Hull City - who have conceded over 40 goals this season so far. Consistently inconsistent best sums up Brums season. We showed real character coming back after that forgetable experience at leaders Burnley. Forss goal straight after the restart nearly took the string out the net and Riley`s rocket wasnt completely unlike his pre-world-cup winner at Norwich.
Us fans deserve to take a few compliments besides: Michael Carrick hasnt just mentioned the importance of our support in passing, but made it clear the impact we have on players and on their performance. Everywhere we go, we sell out and show up the home supporters. There`s a sea of red and white in the stands, whether its Blackburn, Wigan, Hull, Preston...you know. Marcus Forss said after the Blackburn game "...that felt like a home game to me.....with the crowd..."[pointing to the Darwen stand].
Keep Calm and Carrick On!
UTMB
What an end to Boro year. What an end to the first half of the 2022 / 23 season! What a difference a decent Gaffa makes! What a turn-around for Chuba! What a superb fight-back from all the players and the Coaching Team! From 21st just over 2 months ago up to as high as 6th and more! What more is there to say? Well......
12 months ago - January 2022: We welcomed the New Year on the back of a six-game unbeaten run. A late 2-1 victory at Bloomfield road saw the fans going wild. Bedlam! Had we really turned the corner? Two months earlier, Boro had said cheerio to Neil Warnock after a 1-1 draw away to West Brom. All seemed to be going well - until the beginning of April when Boro appeared to have hit a sand-drag. Before that we hit the highs of a late penalty win at Old Trafford, saw our Josh score a superb goal against Spuds and had thrashed Derby County 4-1 at home [Take that].
But the wheels started to fall off and somehow the team lost its consistency and its bite. With woeful displays against Barnsley at Oakwell, at home to Hull and total collapse at Preston was a foretell of what was to continue at the start of the 2022/23 season. Coventry was the last gasp for Chris Wilder - who had lost control of himself - never mind the team - and we said goodbye.
Up stepped Leo the Lion to steady the ship and bring order to the procedings. Five games later, with 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats, he gave us chance to take a breath, whilst we anticipated the coming of the new messiah. Being Boro fans, we`ve grown used to being offered a loaf and ending up with the crumbs. A 4-1 victory away at Wigan included a superb first senior strike for Hayden Hackney - and a "reborn" striker was coming out of the shadows - scoring the winner home to Brum and a penna at Wigan. We had come out of the sand-drag. We were ready for a fresh start. Ready to go together in the right direction. To do what we all knew we were capable of - start putting in a shift. Re-ignite the spark. Get behind the lads and start winning again. Little did we know, just where the red and whites were going next?
October 29th 2021 saw Michael carrick take to the dug-out at Preston, where an extra time goal saw us miss out on a valuable point. Noticably it was Chuba Akpoms first goal under the new Gaffa`s tenure. We know what happened next: from 21st in the Championship - [licking our wounds and looking like relegation fodder rather than promotion candidates] - to the last play-off spot with victory at Ewood Park! Chuba is top of the Championship Scorers and Ryan Giles is second in the Championship "assists". Won 6 Drawn 1 Lost 2 - sounds a pretty good return with a squad who`d lost self-belief.
How great to see our young lads getting an opportunity - including our "development player" Marcus Forss. Haydn Hackney looks like hes been playing first team for more than a few months. Johnny Howson appears to be getting younger every match and the likes of our World Cup Aussie is scoring stupendous game winners.
Chuba has to be the success of our season, so - far. The player many of us expected to be shown the exit, has been essential to Carricks winning team. Woody, Grant, Leo, Catts and the backroom staff, appear to be "happy" in their work and actually doing a brilliant job - not always acknowledged for their efforts behind the scenes.
Today we face a Birmingham side, who sit 16th in the table, having just come away from a 1-0 home defeat to struggling Hull City - who have conceded over 40 goals this season so far. Consistently inconsistent best sums up Brums season. We showed real character coming back after that forgetable experience at leaders Burnley. Forss goal straight after the restart nearly took the string out the net and Riley`s rocket wasnt completely unlike his pre-world-cup winner at Norwich.
Us fans deserve to take a few compliments besides: Michael Carrick hasnt just mentioned the importance of our support in passing, but made it clear the impact we have on players and on their performance. Everywhere we go, we sell out and show up the home supporters. There`s a sea of red and white in the stands, whether its Blackburn, Wigan, Hull, Preston...you know. Marcus Forss said after the Blackburn game "...that felt like a home game to me.....with the crowd..."[pointing to the Darwen stand].
Keep Calm and Carrick On!
UTMB
