Maybe HHB cant recall... just a thought,. expensive signing Lundstram ....Wasn't there but wasn't he a bit of a liability when he played against Blackburn?
Maybe HHB cant recall... just a thought,. expensive signing Lundstram ....Wasn't there but wasn't he a bit of a liability when he played against Blackburn?
Middlesborough had 3/4 first teamers injured as well.

Thank you for your fantastic support ….half of them were at home when that announcement was made.
If we hadn’t have been scoring lots he would have changed it. If we stop scoring he’ll have to change it.We’re conceding almost 2 goals a game on average now. Only Wednesday are worse. We can keep saying it’s individual errors, but at some point you have to admit it’s more than that.
We barely seemed to have and keep the ball, they were all mobile and seemed to know where to be , but we looked ponderous and devoid of ideas . Semi wanted to play out but they’d closed the space down and none of our players were looking for it , not sure why seemed to be playing full back ?The only ones to come out of that with any credit for me are Giles, Belloumi, Gelhardt and possibly Destan. The rest were utter ****e, particularly Ajayi, Egan, Slater and Crooks.
Tactically I'll agree that we need to do more to stop it being too easy to pass straight through the midfield so easily because it does happen too often, but as for the majority of the goals and chances we're conceding, yet again they're just catastrophic individual **** ups by and large - and from players that should know better. **** decision making, fatigue, too casual on the ball, poor communication, full blown brain farts, passing straight to the opposition - what's behind it?
I don't think it's a tactical issue at all as we rarely get repeatedly rinsed down our left on Giles' side, but down our right and straight through the middle we're like a sieve and its always down to misjudgements. The opposition break through the middle or down the right and we can't keep up. The opposition apply a bit of pressure in those areas and we turn the ball over, sometimes under no pressure at all. Midfield positional awareness is poor to say they don't have the pace to cover for it - it's like they're not paying attention. The right side never gets stuck in until it's 'last ditch tackle' time so we just end up inviting them onto us. There's just very little composure and concentration in too many areas at once.
Even with the midfield being more dog **** than usual tonight, if you take the blatant defensive errors out of that game and the ref calls the third one for a foul (which it looked like it was) then it's a far tighter game and theres a chance we get something out of it. They'd had 5 shots by half time. It's not like we were tactically outclassed from the moment the whistle went - instead we just gifted them the 3 points by doing ridiculous things on the ball again.
We’re conceding almost 2 goals a game on average now. Only Wednesday are worse. We can keep saying it’s individual errors, but at some point you have to admit it’s more than that.
I'll say it again (and I'll make it the last time) but those who were rubbishing xG differential tables while we were sat 5th are those now declaring these are our worst performances just because the ball is going in the net rather than being blazed wide by Sargeant or someone else.
One of the first things Sergei said when he arrived was that he'd been studying our games and identified the space between midfield and defence was too big. I love the guy but how the **** has he managed to make it worse?The issue is the midfield.
Lads, I’ve been saying it for over three years now but this team still hasn’t sorted out one of the key positions and that is a proper defensive midfielder.
I like Hadžiahmetović. He’s a tidy player but he is not a defensive midfielder. Notice that he and Slater both join the press and like to pop up in slightly advanced areas. A defensive midfielder’s job is to sit back in front of the defence. All of our midfielders like to ‘wander’. At least one of them needs to not do that and just stay back. We also need a bit more athleticism in midfield. Crooks, Hadžiahmetović and Lundstram all move like oil tankers. Slater’s a bit more agile but lacks the physicality.
The space between the defensive line and the midfield is absurd. Boro have a lot of technical players, Hackney especially, so it was even more apparent tonight but it is far too easy for opposition centre-backs and midfielders to drill straight passes along the ground straight to their strikers who have time and space to turn and carry the ball forward and/or play it to their wingers. Teams can just bypass our midfield with a single pass. That’s not normal. There’s no compactness between the lines. As bad as Ajayi was tonight coughing up possession and making mistakes, I think our defensive issues are tactical and Jakirović needs to address it.
One of the first things Sergei said when he arrived was that he'd been studying our games and identified the space between midfield and defence was too big. I love the guy but how the **** has he managed to make it worse?
The only ones to come out of that with any credit for me are Giles, Belloumi, Gelhardt and possibly Destan. The rest were utter ****e, particularly Ajayi, Egan, Slater and Crooks.
Tactically I'll agree that we need to do more to stop it being too easy to pass straight through the midfield so easily because it does happen too often, but as for the majority of the goals and chances we're conceding, yet again they're just catastrophic individual **** ups by and large - and from players that should know better. **** decision making, fatigue, too casual on the ball, poor communication, full blown brain farts, passing straight to the opposition - what's behind it?
I don't think it's a tactical issue at all as we rarely get repeatedly rinsed down our left on Giles' side, but down our right and straight through the middle we're like a sieve and its always down to misjudgements. The opposition break through the middle or down the right and we can't keep up. The opposition apply a bit of pressure in those areas and we turn the ball over, sometimes under no pressure at all. Midfield positional awareness is poor to say they don't have the pace to cover for it - it's like they're not paying attention. The right side never gets stuck in until it's 'last ditch tackle' time so we just end up inviting them onto us. There's just very little composure and concentration in too many areas at once.
Even with the midfield being more dog **** than usual tonight, if you take the blatant defensive errors out of that game and the ref calls the third one for a foul (which it looked like it was) then it's a far tighter game and theres a chance we get something out of it. They'd had 5 shots by half time. It's not like we were tactically outclassed from the moment the whistle went - instead we just gifted them the 3 points by doing ridiculous things on the ball again.
Had the feel of a really big night beforehand. There were even a few chants going off in the car park! Just made what followed even more disappointing.Frustrating night.
Coming off that Stoke result I expected a full blown derby last night but inexplicable mistakes combined with more rank bad defending quickly killed the crowd and any hope of that happening.
Not the time to panic.
UTT.
Big parka, still damp despite been on the rad...Boots will require a blast furnace to get them dry. Spirit deflated, mood very grim...I'm already fearing a bumming from ferking Wrexham.Anyone still not dried out?
These are there for the taking, Nowt special, Not in the best of form. Inferior to us.
The Tree will stick a Chinese burn on Jones’ neck
City 3-0 Favourites to Fall Away