* The Unofficial "Official" Boro v West Brom Match-Day Thread *

I am a bit concerned after that game. Engel can really cross a ball and seems like he can defend. But he passed us into danger a few times in the first half and did it again for their goal. Like I said at half time, he needs to be more composed with the ball in our half.

I'd be tempted to have Silvera and Jones next week. Jones was very good when he came on and caused a lot of problems. They were our best players going forward along with Latte Lath.

We need a defensive midfielder. Big fan of Howson and he's still getting up to full fitness but he's not going to be able to do it forever and we could have done with bringing him off in the second half. But we just don't have a ball winner on the bench.

Smith getting himself sent off was very silly. The first one shouldn't have been a yellow but he's an experienced player and he knows better than that.

I do feel like we've gone back to the Woodgate days, just suicidally throwing players forward. You have both full backs pushed high, the midfielders both playing very high up and the defenders holding a very high line and we just keep getting caught on the break.

Another thing to note, I think the biggest thing we're missing from Akpom is that the ball usually stuck when we cleared it to him. Rogers and Latte Lath don't really give us that. So when the ball is cleared up it usually ends up coming straight back at us.

Well. Let's hope for some good news in the last week of the transfer window. And then we really need to get back to winning ways next weekend.
 
Disappointing. No chance after the sending off really, although we did give it a go after changes.
Silly individual errors and poor refereeing I would say.
 
Shafted by the officials. Crooks, sorry mate, but time to give it up.

Lennihan, Fry, grow a spine and be the defenders we need.
 
Weird weird game. West Brom looked toothless at times but scored 4. Smith was a little unprofessional but shouldn’t have had the first yellow and maybe not the second. Confidence looks pretty low, but we can play it about a bit.

I’m not going to over react from this result, despite how disappointed I am at it, chalk it up to experience, and move on.

Dieng 6 - not a lot he could do about the goals

Smith 4 - his job is to bring experience and a bit of defensive solidity to the side. He failed. The first yellow wasn’t a yellow but for the second he should know better at 31 and 350 games i don’t think an actually shirt pulled, he tried to stiff arm him, the ref bought it, Smith shoulda known better than to give a poor ref a decision to make. Killed the game

Fry 5 - should have closed Swift for his goal but kept backing off. Closest man goes to the ball.

Lenihan 5 - struggled to handle their CFs movement and strength

Engel 5.5 - terrible mistake with the back pass, nearly redeemed himself 2 mins later but good save from their GK. Put in some sumptuous crosses and won the penalty. But the back pass, look then play.

Howson 5 - looks rusty, looking his age today. Needs competition

Hackney 5 - needs to bucks his ideas up, seems to run out of stern after 79 mins. Kept shooting at the wrong time first half and gifting the ball. Keep it simple and play like last year. Switched off for the 4th

Silvera 6 - playing as a proper winger instead of inverted suits him. Keep it simple, drop the shoulder run at fullback cross goal

Rogers 6 - some neat touches bringing the ball under control in tight areas and releasing it at the right time. Victim of Smiths red

McGree 5 - anonymous largely, poor game. Oh he did have that one chance when he stole it from kipre but then just toe poked it

Lath 8 - great header, worked his ass off, unlucky not to get a second, tired after 65 but loan striker when down to 10 is energy Wapping. Need a proper back up

Subs
Jones 8 - I’ve been on his back the last 2 years, but he was excellent today, direct, dangerous, pacey. Should start Vs Bolton

Crooks 4 - I’d do better and I’m 51

Forss 6 - works hard buried the pen but he lacks a trick to play out wide

McNair 6 - offered little support at RB and he’s out of position

All in all, despite the result, I’m happy with Dieng, brain fart aside Engel looked dangerous, needs to quicken his thought process now. Lath was excellent. Jones looked confident. Rogers and Silvera offered something.

We just need to start defending better
 
Well that was frustrating, we played some great football first half and we looking the better team until we conceded two softs goals. The first was probably a foul but he did get pushed off the ball softly. From my angle Smith's first yellow looked like a clean tackle where he got to the ball first. So two debatable calls went against us. Did well to get back into the game and was looking like we would equalize until the brain fart for the gift of a third goal and the stupid 2nd yellow. If Mcgree had taken his chance first half would of been a different game. Jones looked great an was unlucky not to score. Latte looked immense espeically how isolated he would of been amazing him to see him scored the 2nd where he muscled their cb off the ball and then turned the 2nd cb.

Coulda, shoulda, woulda. Football is a funny game and can be a very fine line between a win and loss. Definitely need to solid up the backline, roll up the sleeves and start grinding out points instead of losing with attractive football.... well at least until we stop the rot.
 
Four games in.
Three defeats.
Its not what we wanted, but we have to deal with where we are and what we`ve got.
We need to suck it in, get off our arzes and push on.
The only way to victory is to taste defeat.
Get the mistakes out of the way early.
we move on.
In Carrick and the lads we trust.(y)
 
BoroMart said:
Weird weird game. West Brom looked toothless at times but scored 4. Smith was a little unprofessional but shouldn’t have had the first yellow and maybe not the second. Confidence looks pretty low, but we can play it about a bit.

I’m not going to over react from this result, despite how disappointed I am at it, chalk it up to experience, and move on.

Dieng 6 - not a lot he could do about the goals

Smith 4 - his job is to bring experience and a bit of defensive solidity to the side. He failed. The first yellow wasn’t a yellow but for the second he should know better at 31 and 350 games i don’t think an actually shirt pulled, he tried to stiff arm him, the ref bought it, Smith shoulda known better than to give a poor ref a decision to make. Killed the game

Fry 5 - should have closed Swift for his goal but kept backing off. Closest man goes to the ball.

Lenihan 5 - struggled to handle their CFs movement and strength

Engel 5.5 - terrible mistake with the back pass, nearly redeemed himself 2 mins later but good save from their GK. Put in some sumptuous crosses and won the penalty. But the back pass, look then play.

Howson 5 - looks rusty, looking his age today. Needs competition

Hackney 5 - needs to bucks his ideas up, seems to run out of stern after 79 mins. Kept shooting at the wrong time first half and gifting the ball. Keep it simple and play like last year. Switched off for the 4th

Silvera 6 - playing as a proper winger instead of inverted suits him. Keep it simple, drop the shoulder run at fullback cross goal

Rogers 6 - some neat touches bringing the ball under control in tight areas and releasing it at the right time. Victim of Smiths red

McGree 5 - anonymous largely, poor game. Oh he did have that one chance when he stole it from kipre but then just toe poked it

Lath 8 - great header, worked his ass off, unlucky not to get a second, tired after 65 but loan striker when down to 10 is energy Wapping. Need a proper back up

Subs
Jones 8 - I’ve been on his back the last 2 years, but he was excellent today, direct, dangerous, pacey. Should start Vs Bolton

Crooks 4 - I’d do better and I’m 51

Forss 6 - works hard buried the pen but he lacks a trick to play out wide

McNair 6 - offered little support at RB and he’s out of position

All in all, despite the result, I’m happy with Dieng, brain fart aside Engel looked dangerous, needs to quicken his thought process now. Lath was excellent. Jones looked confident. Rogers and Silvera offered something.

We just need to start defending better
Click to expand...
Agree with all of that except Rogers….very underwhelmed so far. Hope he proves me wrong!
 
Otto42 said:
Agree with all of that except Rogers….very underwhelmed so far. Hope he proves me wrong!
Click to expand...
He didn’t impose himself on the game enough, but some of his first touch, control and dribbling and short passing was superb. I think he needs to work on his physical side though, needs to be fitter and quicker.
 
The trouble is we've signed young inexperienced players and expect them to be stars on day one. It will take time and it's wrong of us as a football club to expect them to produce from day one. They should be built up but we are throwing them completely into the deep end with a expectant fan base who doesn't take defeats well
 
Carrick [Thursday]:

New players. New surroundings. How do you help them settle in?

Part of it is time. Listen, we`re not different from any other teams, [who`ve] got players that are settling in as well. At the start of the season, it is what it is. Once you settle into it and get results, find your rhythm...coming into September, this season starts taking shape a little different[ly]. It takes time. We obviously spend time in meetings, on the training pitch. Time and experience is a great thing [Smile]. Unfortunately you don’t get enough time. Its here and now it counts. There`s an understanding from us as staff with new signings [of] what they need and what we need to give them.

...... (y)

​
 
r00fie1 said:
Carrick [Thursday]:

New players. New surroundings. How do you help them settle in?

Part of it is time. Listen, we`re not different from any other teams, [who`ve] got players that are settling in as well. At the start of the season, it is what it is. Once you settle into it and get results, find your rhythm...coming into September, this season starts taking shape a little different[ly]. It takes time. We obviously spend time in meetings, on the training pitch. Time and experience is a great thing [Smile]. Unfortunately you don’t get enough time. Its here and now it counts. There`s an understanding from us as staff with new signings [of] what they need and what we need to give them.

...... (y)

​
Click to expand...
So why do you think we are taking longer than other teams in getting the new players and ultimately team up to speed?
 
Boro4life said:
The trouble is we've signed young inexperienced players and expect them to be stars on day one. It will take time and it's wrong of us as a football club to expect them to produce from day one. They should be built up but we are throwing them completely into the deep end with a expectant fan base who doesn't take defeats well
Click to expand...
A lot of people are overreacting though. I'm concerned about today's performance, but I'm not writing the season off or the plan as a whole off like some people are. Today was bad, but the side never gave up and that's good, it shows the character is there. I've said all along that it's not worth making any judgements until we see what players come in and see how they perform together. I don't expect many players to come in this week but I'm sure there'll be some movement. And then we can see where the squad is and we'll hopefully have a more positive performance next weekend.
 
BumTrumpet57 said:
So why do you think we are taking longer than other teams in getting the new players and ultimately team up to speed?
Click to expand...
Ask Michael Carrick - those are his thoughts and words from Thursday`s Media Conference.
Its up to individual fans to draw their own conclusions.
 
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