First half saw us playing below par against Rotherham, mainly I think because of the way Rotherham were playing, and hassling us at every opportunity. I think Rotherham did their homework on us cos they weren't prepared to let us settle and play our usual game.............Have they been spying on us? We went into the break 1-0 down from what can only be described as a great goal by wotsisname. Can't take anything away from Rotherham for their first half performance. We picked it up in second half and started to control the game with much better passing, and most reaching their target. Our build up play was getting us closer and closer to a goal, and it came with Klich getting on the end of a mistake. Klich's second goal saw him calmer under pressure and slotted the ball home rather than blasting it goal wards. I personally feel the way he scored his second goal is one of his strong points, most of his past goals have all been in similar positions, and he scored them while staying calm under pressure. Rotherham still made it hard for us to play our normal game, I think that may have been due to the fact they were playing more hoofball than football on ground. I do have a soft spot for Rotherham cos that's where I was born. I think Ayling is getting closer and closer to his use by date, his passing seems to be getting worse, if he doesn't buck up he'll find himself losing his place. Roof had an off day, a bad off day. Some say it's cos he come up against a tall defence, well, difference between strikers and good / great strikers is, they work around it; Roof doesn't seem to have that know how / experience. Cassilla didn't really have a busy day as busy days go, but what he did he seemed to do with confidence backed up by his experience. Any keeper would've been hard pressed to save Rotherhams goal. What I was impressed with was Cassilla's willingness to come off his line, even a third way up the pitch, which can be seen as stupidity by some cos of the lob, or total confidence by others. Was impressed the way he barged through 4 or 5 players to punch away a cross. He commands his area well, and seems to have taken to Bielsa's playing from the back tactics straight away. His save from a Vaulks shot had skill and experience written all over it. I think the defence are going to feel more confident with Casilla than with BPF. While it's only Casilla's first game for us, it seems the fans have taken to him straight away, but BPF would do himself a favour by watching Casilla, and learning from him. All up, bit of a scrappy game, likely due to the way Rotherham were playing, but we fought back for the win, and once again our fitness was a big contributing factor. We're now 2 games ahead of Norwich, and 3 games ahead of Sheff U and West Brom. Very short highlights You'll see more highlights on this vlog. Took me ages to find Bielsa's post match press conference. Klich post match interview Bonus. NFL yank listens to funny English football chants.
I thought Casilla's positioning for their goal was ****e, BPF would have save that as would Douglas Bader, when I used to play in goal in the street outside my house my mate who was also my coach always told me about positioning, get it right and you wont go wrong
I agree that Casilla will hopefully improve the defence, but you are comparing a young goalkeeper with a player who has experienced the game at the highest level.
I was actually comparing 2 first team keepers. BPF at 22 is not a young keeper as such. Granted keepers can play longer than outfield players, but BPF has been playing a long time, Nearly 2 seasons for first team, plus a couple of internationals, and all the games played for the Boro youth team, and our under 18's etc. He's a professional footballer. He should know what he's doing by now, and should be playing far better than he has been. Bielsa probably hit nail on head when he said BPF is better in training. If BPF has any brains, he'll watch and learn from Casilla.
Sound vaguely familiar? More accidental goals, just like Wood. If only we'd kept Antenucci, we'd have won the Champions League by now.
BPF played once in a dead rubber for Steve Evans I think. Then made his became a regular last spring.. about 10 games last season and then 20+ this season. He turned 22 in November. If you followed his career and I have, you’ll know he was dumped by boro for being too small. He literally only stopped growing a couple of years ago. Ergo he’s physically a late developer... and he was chucked in at the deepend. Partly because of poor keepers ahead of him... partly because everybody at the club believes him to be a talent... but he showed enough for bielsa to want to keep him. He’s made a few mistakes, but he has ability... unless mr integrity bielsa is telling porkies. Truth is the real difference between successful sportsmen and those that don’t make it is not ability it’s what goes on between the ears. Whether BPF goes on to have a great career or fades into obscurity will be down to how he knuckles down learns, improves and most importantly handles the challenges ahead. He’s a level headed kid, I hope and think he’ll come back stronger but it’s always hard to predict.
Very good save from Casilla... but as for controlling his area? If BPF had flapped into no-man’s land like Casilla yesterday, it would have made it into the report!
To be honest are you surprised, I'm sure if any of the above goalkeepers had played on Saturday for us, LL would have told us how much better they were than BPF
How long are you prepared to make excuses for him Milky, that's all you're doing, making excuses for him. Here's the reality, we're on a promotion drive, BPF makes too many mistakes...............Bielsa has seen the same thing which is why he dropped him and brought Kiko in. Whatever road BPF chooses to go down is up to BPF.
Morning LL. Nah just a highlighting a few exaggerations in your assessment. I’m not making any excuses, i’m Providing explanations that you can choose to accept or not. Decusiin making, technical improvement, ability to handle pressure, often get better with age. But don’t always. All i’ve ever done is say he does have ability, and I don’t pretend he hadn’t made mistakes. Actually we both kind of make the same point at the end... where he gets to in the game is down to him.
All natural keepers have ability by instinct, and it's up to BPF what he does with those abilities. By all accounts, BPF should've chosen which road he goes down quite a few years ago and done a lot more with his abilities, which are limited. Personally, I think he'll follow Mowatt into lower leagues.
Strange statement. By all accounts? Whose accounts? What road should he have chosen? Ability? He’s always been rated by the club. Bielsa appears to think he’s a talent who hasn’t fully shown it on match day. Average age of keepers in top flight football: 29
