Forget the meeting, we should be more concerned that Luzon has dropped Bikey and Vetokele. Both are on the bench so can't be injured! Ogeywu at centre half, Watt and Church up front. Simon Church. He's one of our own... Bet Fred had Boro, Norwich and Massive all to win today at 3/1
'Boro 2 Addick 0 Shows declining interest that we only have a match thread half hour before kick-off. Earlier in the season we would have had three pages of posts by now. Of course the feuds between different groups and boards purporting to represent supporters are much more interesting than the football these days.
No. It's very cold in England at the minute Eddie. Also it'd be a bit weird with Henry the Hoover following me around the room.
Doesn't look like anything is happening here. Igor is on. Peter Finch might have said something. I guess we'll never know for sure.
The loanee from Tottenham dislocated his shoulder apparently. So Jackson is now watching the game from the pitch instead this week.
Yes, but in this case Richard Murray has not said that he would be judged by results. There are now more important things, like doing what you're told.
Full time. Look forward to hearing from those who were there although I believe my astute analysis has covered pretty much everything.
Not great. Most of us are too sensible to have bothered. In fact if anyone did I go I will ignore their opinions as they are clearly mad.
Brave though, given the recent events. I suppose the 'better' performance might cheer some, given Boro's league position, but really it's just another defeat. I was prepared to be cheered by the 0-0 at Wolves, but we've now had three matches under the new guy, and really, the slow descent goes on.
Look at the upturn in results when other managers took over at clubs in our League, Huddersfield, Bolton, Brighton , Norwich, Fulham and now Forest all got wins early on after changing managers, we have not and it is arguable whether the performances have even improved
I went, and I am madder than Mad... you know the rest. The start was awful. Bamford got a free header from a corner and without a man on the far post it dropped in, showing that the set piece marking problems that have plagued us all season have not been resolved. Boro continued to dominate without playing at their best and might have had a couple more, before Watt and Church combined to set up Gudmunsson to score with a terrific left-foot drive into the roof of the net. The goal rattled Boro and we played our best stuff between then and half time. Not that we looked like scoring even then, you understand. Another defensive lapse saw us fall behind even earlier in the second half than we had in the first. Onyewu's clearance from a cross was woeful and fell to Lee 'Dennis Bergkamp' Tomlin. His shot was charged down but two defenders but he nonetheless emerged with the ball and squared for Vossen to tap in. Once again we seldom threatened, one long-range effort apiece from Jackson and Solly being more or less all we could muster. Boro's defence dealt comfortably with what little threat we posed and their midfield is streets ahead of ours, commanded by Leadbitter and orchestrated by Tomlin. He scored their third with a superb volley from a corner played to the edge of the penalty area, and that was that. Solly and Gudmunsson were pretty good, whilst everyone else was outplayed by their Middlesbrough counterpart. Fox in particular played some very poor passes and Buyens showed as much stomach for a fight as I do. Church did OK and might still have something to offer (how far have we sunk that I'm saying that), whilst I'm still figuring out what kind of player Watt is. He has no real pace and relies on jinking past his opponents, with only partial success. Nor has he a hope in hell of winning any long balls on which we are increasingly reliant. There is a player in there, but this team probably isn't the best place for it to show. So another game without a win, stretching our run to three months (thanks eddie) without one. I can't see one coming soon either. It says so much that I came away from today without feeling particularly disappointed. That's how low my expectations have become.
