Match Day Thread Middlesbrough FC v Sunderland AFC – Sunday 4th February 2024 - KO 12:00

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Annoyingly, I’ve woken up feeling more ‘Derby day’ than the ****ing derby.

Massive game this and I think if we win it we go on a run and be a solid chance of playoffs.

We were great last week, and the gaffer got it right. New lads won’t feature but will have been around the training ground.

The 4-0 was a farce, was a fake 4-0 due to a referee being a **** ****. This will be tight as a puppies bollocks but I’m going 2-1 the lads.
 
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Nads said:
Annoyingly, I’ve woken up feeling more ‘Derby day’ than the ****ing derby.

Massive game this and I think if we win it we go on a run and be a solid chance of playoffs.

We were great last week, and the gaffer got it right. New lads won’t feature but will have been around the training ground.

The 4-0 was a farce, was a fake 4-0 due to a referee being a **** ****. This will be tight as a puppies bollocks but I’m going 2-1 the lads.
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They were ruthless when we went down to 10 men and we fell apart. I can't remember seeing many matches where a man sent off has created such a clear advantage.

I think it was heading for a scrappy win one way or other before that and we looked most likely. I wonder if we would have been beat so easily and heavily had it been a bad challenge or a clear second yellow that resulted in the red? The silly nature of the sending off must have had some effect like.

Second yellow for shouting **** off at the ref for **** sake! See it every ****ing week! And that's after he said he would ref the match with Empathy of it being a "derby".
 
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young2077 said:
They were ruthless when we went down to 10 men and we fell apart. I can't remember seeing many matches where a man sent off has created such a clear advantage.

I think it was heading for a scrappy win one way or other before that and we looked most likely. I wonder if we would have been beat so easily and heavily had it been a bad challenge or a clear second yellow that resulted in the red? The silly nature of the sending off must have had some effect like.

Second yellow for shouting **** off at the ref for **** sake! See it every ****ing week! And that's after he said he would ref the match with Empathy of it being a "derby".
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Aye. Credited them at the time, utterly ruthless is the correct description and fair play to them for that.

Mogga didn’t help leaving us wider and wider open chasing it but I get why he did that too.
 
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young2077 said:
They were ruthless when we went down to 10 men and we fell apart. I can't remember seeing many matches where a man sent off has created such a clear advantage.

I think it was heading for a scrappy win one way or other before that and we looked most likely. I wonder if we would have been beat so easily and heavily had it been a bad challenge or a clear second yellow that resulted in the red? The silly nature of the sending off must have had some effect like.

Second yellow for shouting **** off at the ref for **** sake! See it every ****ing week! And that's after he said he would ref the match with Empathy of it being a "derby".
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Football is primarily an entertainment and the referee put paid to that.
 
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Nads said:
Bothers me the gap to WBA. Don’t want a 3 into 1 situation like last season when we got very lucky.

We need to be tight to WBA. Top 4 gap is too big even with Ipswich spectacular collapse.
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Only 5 points though and we do have to play them still. That being said we have to play a lot of the top sides away still so will be a tough ask, but this is safc where the ridiculous is always possible!
 
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Hudson92 said:
Only 5 points though and we do have to play them still. That being said we have to play a lot of the top sides away still so will be a tough ask, but this is safc where the ridiculous is always possible!
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As Ipswich are aptly demonstrating, form can suddenly changed for no apparent reason ...


... Sunderland were quite ordinary, in the first half of last season, but suddenly improved when we lost half of our team to injury <laugh>
 
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Smug in Boots said:
As Ipswich are aptly demonstrating, form can suddenly changed for no apparent reason ...


... Sunderland were quite ordinary, in the first half of last season, but suddenly improved when we lost half of our team to injury <laugh>
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Exactly mate, there’s always hope until it’s mathematically impossible, if that happens then so be it we can then look to blood in the newer lads for another push next year
 
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Hudson92 said:
Exactly mate, there’s always hope until it’s mathematically impossible, if that happens then so be it we can then look to blood in the newer lads for another push next year
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We became so used to last season's injury list that I sometimes forget who we're missing now.

Our defence and midfield is in a constant state of flux, not all of which is by choice.

My hope is that Beale settles on the basis of the team and only makes minor changes, home and away, etc.

It's easy to forget that young lads, like Hume, have had three different managers playing them in various positions and flinging all kinds of information at them. But they just get on with it and do their best. You don't see them arguing with each other, on the pitch, even when it goes wrong. That's why I'm wary when people want more changes, they've come through a lot already.

This is a big match today, the rest of February doesn't look too frightening.
 
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This is our closest “derby” now for me. Newcastle didn’t feel like a derby in the build up or the post match. None of the derby “banter” from them before or after.
 
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