r00fie1
Well-known member
Its that time again>>>>>>
According to the statisticians, it was 2001 when Boro were last goalless in their first three games of a new season.*
Lets not forget the importance of supporting the Boro Lionesses this season. Sunday is the opening day of their campaign. This season will be a bench-mark in many ways. New team. New Manager. New hopes and aspirations.
The lads Under - 21`s have already kicked off [at the time of writing] with a good 2-2 draw against Forest at Meadow Lane earlier this week. If you can make any of their home or away games - its a great opportunity to see some of our talented youngsters pitted against decent opposition. There are plenty there knocking at the door to get a sniff of a chance with the first team!
As someone once said:
Its not how you start, but where you finish that matters!
Come On Boro!
* In 2001 a certain ex Assistant Coach to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, took over the helm at The Riverside. Borodid not score in the first three league games! He lead Boro into some unforgetable adventures across Europe, including the UEFA Cup Final and won us our first piece of domestic silver-wear in our history - The Carling Cup.
He was, of course, Steve McClaren.
According to the statisticians, it was 2001 when Boro were last goalless in their first three games of a new season.*
Last week, Michael Carrick was quizzed about how he gauged the success of the team and what he thought of the new look team so far. At that point, we had been beaten by Millwall and were to come away from Coventry empty-handed.
"The first few weeks of a season don’t always give you the true picture of what is going to end up come Christmas time and after Christmas. For many different reasons; some [clubs] are at different stages. Some have got the full squad set all summer. Some are still trying to do business. When we are ten, twelve games in, then you can start getting a picture of what the leagues looking like."
There was no hint of pessimism or dampening of his belief in the squad to compete. He acknowledged the transfer market didnt always work smoothly and sometimes patience was needed , before new players signed on the dotted line:
"I said last week before the start of the season – its a tough league. Good teams coming up, good teams that have came down. Its a challenge [big smile]. Thats why its such an entertaining league and thats why we`re looking forward to it. Every year someone says its the toughest one. Maybe it is. Maybe its not. Who knows? Its up to us to be good enough to be finishing close to the top.
I`m upbeat now! I really am. I think we`ve got some really good talent…...some good experience….within the group. I`m upbeat. I`m looking forward to the season. We just need to come out in the next few weeks in a better place than we`re going into it.
Its never easy to just go and identify who you want…...and make that happen, because there are a lot of moving parts [big smile]. We know that we`re patient to a point but we are conscious that certain things need to be done as well."
* Steve McClaren once said "In football two days is a long time and a week is a very long time" *
Thats certainly been the case for Carrick`s Boro this week: two new arrivals, a confirmed departure of last seasons Championship Top Scorer and work ongoing to bring in more players before the transfer window shuts. "We have plans. There is already work going on. We will just have to see how it pans out over the next couple of weeks [Big Smile]" Meanwhile the noise outside is deafening. Rumours? Speculation?..........
Huddersfield:
Its the chance to put right a few mistakes and start to tighten the screw. To sharpen up in attack and be ready to defend when need be. Carrick has no illusions about the task in hand, but put things in perspective when he asserted:
"I`m confident we will play better and results will turn round for sure. Two games into the season….it is what it is. Its not time to panic by any stretch."
Carrick knows Warnock by now, but wont be taking anything for granted. The team selection will be interesting. With Lukas Engel and Emmanuel Latte Lath having just dropped their bags off at Rockcliffe, the whole squad hasnt yet had a complete week to train together yet! No matter how good a player is, he has to find his feet - whether its playing at left-back or wearing the glittering No. 9 shirt.
Carrick commented in his long career as Coach, Assistant Manager and Player - there were campaigns which started poorly.......but finished with trophies, Champions League and Premier Medals. Lets bear that in mind before we all go into "melt-down".
"The first few weeks of a season don’t always give you the true picture of what is going to end up come Christmas time and after Christmas. For many different reasons; some [clubs] are at different stages. Some have got the full squad set all summer. Some are still trying to do business. When we are ten, twelve games in, then you can start getting a picture of what the leagues looking like."
There was no hint of pessimism or dampening of his belief in the squad to compete. He acknowledged the transfer market didnt always work smoothly and sometimes patience was needed , before new players signed on the dotted line:
"I said last week before the start of the season – its a tough league. Good teams coming up, good teams that have came down. Its a challenge [big smile]. Thats why its such an entertaining league and thats why we`re looking forward to it. Every year someone says its the toughest one. Maybe it is. Maybe its not. Who knows? Its up to us to be good enough to be finishing close to the top.
I`m upbeat now! I really am. I think we`ve got some really good talent…...some good experience….within the group. I`m upbeat. I`m looking forward to the season. We just need to come out in the next few weeks in a better place than we`re going into it.
Its never easy to just go and identify who you want…...and make that happen, because there are a lot of moving parts [big smile]. We know that we`re patient to a point but we are conscious that certain things need to be done as well."
* Steve McClaren once said "In football two days is a long time and a week is a very long time" *
Thats certainly been the case for Carrick`s Boro this week: two new arrivals, a confirmed departure of last seasons Championship Top Scorer and work ongoing to bring in more players before the transfer window shuts. "We have plans. There is already work going on. We will just have to see how it pans out over the next couple of weeks [Big Smile]" Meanwhile the noise outside is deafening. Rumours? Speculation?..........
Huddersfield:
Its the chance to put right a few mistakes and start to tighten the screw. To sharpen up in attack and be ready to defend when need be. Carrick has no illusions about the task in hand, but put things in perspective when he asserted:
"I`m confident we will play better and results will turn round for sure. Two games into the season….it is what it is. Its not time to panic by any stretch."
Carrick knows Warnock by now, but wont be taking anything for granted. The team selection will be interesting. With Lukas Engel and Emmanuel Latte Lath having just dropped their bags off at Rockcliffe, the whole squad hasnt yet had a complete week to train together yet! No matter how good a player is, he has to find his feet - whether its playing at left-back or wearing the glittering No. 9 shirt.
Carrick commented in his long career as Coach, Assistant Manager and Player - there were campaigns which started poorly.......but finished with trophies, Champions League and Premier Medals. Lets bear that in mind before we all go into "melt-down".
Lets not forget the importance of supporting the Boro Lionesses this season. Sunday is the opening day of their campaign. This season will be a bench-mark in many ways. New team. New Manager. New hopes and aspirations.
The lads Under - 21`s have already kicked off [at the time of writing] with a good 2-2 draw against Forest at Meadow Lane earlier this week. If you can make any of their home or away games - its a great opportunity to see some of our talented youngsters pitted against decent opposition. There are plenty there knocking at the door to get a sniff of a chance with the first team!
As someone once said:
Its not how you start, but where you finish that matters!
Come On Boro!
* In 2001 a certain ex Assistant Coach to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, took over the helm at The Riverside. Borodid not score in the first three league games! He lead Boro into some unforgetable adventures across Europe, including the UEFA Cup Final and won us our first piece of domestic silver-wear in our history - The Carling Cup.
He was, of course, Steve McClaren.
r00fie1 18/08/23
Last edited:
