I started by asking Chris Wilder about Andraz Sporar as I was picking up from the previous questions about our Slovenian forward asked by Northern Echo's Scott Wilson.
Q: Does it help Andraz Sporar having the fans behind him chanting his name almost non stop?
CW: Yes but he's got to produce performances and score goals because. It's a catchy little song but he's got to produce performances and bring his qualities to the team.
So, we are looking for a big second part of the season from Andy as we are looking for a big second part of the season from everyone. We are demanding more. He should be impacting more, in my opinion from where he has played at international level and club level. I know, looking at his personality and getting to know him he wants to do well here, he wants to do well in English football, he wants to do well at Middlesbrough and hopefully he can.
Q: Looking at the Championship goal scoring charts, Middlesbrough are well down the list. You mentioned how you would like to see your team getting 75 goals for the season but Fulham are already on that level, aren't they?
CW: Yes. I would like to think that we could get 75 goals given Marco Silva's budget and what they have had in the last 3 years with Mitrovic and Harry Wilson and Carvalho and all that lot. It is not a bad group and that is why they will comfortably win and that is why sometimes when the power that some of these clubs have gives them a massive advantage over everybody else.
But we've got to find our goals. 75 from the start of the season and that is to go up or to which automatically which obviously is difficult to do. If it was that easy Middlesbrough would have done it 5 years ago. Garry Monk would have done it 5 years ago. The advantage that these relegated teams have when they come down to go back up is incredible but he didn't do it and that is why everyone has found it double difficult.
But we will start have a go at it. And we will have a go at it next year but I still think there is life in this season, left for us. But we are creating chances. The hardest part of the game, we understand that ( is taking those chances). The stat of us, the third highest chance makers is encouraging. That stat obviously isn't just over one or two games it is over the period we have been here. It shows we are dominating the ball which I wanted us do. That we are creating chances which I wanted us to do. If you dominate the ball you give yourself the opportunity to create chances.
I do believe, looking and obviously from the stats point of view, that we have missed some big chances. I think you can look back over the last 8 or 9 games, going back to the Millwall game, into the Preston game, even into the Huddersfield game. We were 2-0 up, we should have been 4 or 5 in that one. And even Monday we had good chances. So, the hardest bit is.. But we have to keep faith, keep believing, keep producing big chances and hopefully we can have a positive goal scoring record in the last 18/19 games of the season.
Q: Does it help Andraz Sporar having the fans behind him chanting his name almost non stop?
CW: Yes but he's got to produce performances and score goals because. It's a catchy little song but he's got to produce performances and bring his qualities to the team.
So, we are looking for a big second part of the season from Andy as we are looking for a big second part of the season from everyone. We are demanding more. He should be impacting more, in my opinion from where he has played at international level and club level. I know, looking at his personality and getting to know him he wants to do well here, he wants to do well in English football, he wants to do well at Middlesbrough and hopefully he can.
Q: Looking at the Championship goal scoring charts, Middlesbrough are well down the list. You mentioned how you would like to see your team getting 75 goals for the season but Fulham are already on that level, aren't they?
CW: Yes. I would like to think that we could get 75 goals given Marco Silva's budget and what they have had in the last 3 years with Mitrovic and Harry Wilson and Carvalho and all that lot. It is not a bad group and that is why they will comfortably win and that is why sometimes when the power that some of these clubs have gives them a massive advantage over everybody else.
But we've got to find our goals. 75 from the start of the season and that is to go up or to which automatically which obviously is difficult to do. If it was that easy Middlesbrough would have done it 5 years ago. Garry Monk would have done it 5 years ago. The advantage that these relegated teams have when they come down to go back up is incredible but he didn't do it and that is why everyone has found it double difficult.
But we will start have a go at it. And we will have a go at it next year but I still think there is life in this season, left for us. But we are creating chances. The hardest part of the game, we understand that ( is taking those chances). The stat of us, the third highest chance makers is encouraging. That stat obviously isn't just over one or two games it is over the period we have been here. It shows we are dominating the ball which I wanted us do. That we are creating chances which I wanted us to do. If you dominate the ball you give yourself the opportunity to create chances.
I do believe, looking and obviously from the stats point of view, that we have missed some big chances. I think you can look back over the last 8 or 9 games, going back to the Millwall game, into the Preston game, even into the Huddersfield game. We were 2-0 up, we should have been 4 or 5 in that one. And even Monday we had good chances. So, the hardest bit is.. But we have to keep faith, keep believing, keep producing big chances and hopefully we can have a positive goal scoring record in the last 18/19 games of the season.
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