After last weeks demoralising 0-3 reverse to Brentford at home, which saw Guy Luzon lose his job a couple of hours later, we face the daunting task of traveling to high flying 'boro. The new man in the hot seat is Karel Fraeye, who though not unfamiliar to CAFC fans, he definitely is to the footballing world. He arrives from the Belgian third division, where he leaves them 12th position from a possible 18. His appointment was met with widespread criticism from fans and corners of the media and a media black out imposed by the club has done very little to ease the tension in South East London. Timing wise - it wasn't a surprise. Some chairmen opt to pull the trigger before a difficult fixture as it's more the performance the fans will be scrutinising than the result itself. If it was the right decision is something we will know come 16:55 on Saturday. Will the fans be happy with a battling defeat? I'd hazard a guess, whilst not happy they might find the first bit of optimism since Fraeye was appointed. The task at hand is definitely one of the trickiest trips we will make all season. Middlesborough are strong in attack (the divisions 3rd highest scorers), and boast the second best defence, conceding only 9 in 13 games. They've also just pulled off one of the bigger upsets in the Carling Cup, toppling Man Utd on penalties on Wednesday night. Some will argue it would be a good time to be playing 'boro as their might be an issue with fatigue - however, talented manager Aitor Karanka pulled off brilliant result whilst shuffling his pack. I expect Clayton, Nugent and Fabbrini to be restored to the starting XI, giving boro some fresh legs. Number 1 Konstantopoulos will definitely return. So how do we line up? Last week saw the return off several faces, but the performance remained at the same standard. There are rumours of Vetokele returning, but I don't think he'll be risked for this fixture. My team would be: Henderson Cousins - Bauer - Sarr - Fox Diarra JBG - JJ - Kashi (Ba if unfit)- Moussa Big Mac Fraeye mentioned we have to be hard to beat, and a 4-5-1 is usually the first step. Diarra I feel can be more influential if he sits in front of the back 4. It shouldn't be forgotten he is one of the better passers at the club also. The big omission from that team is Solly, and I'm by no means making him a scapegoat - however he hasn't been himself this season. Luzon seemed a bit more gung ho in his approach to Solly, rarely resting his injury. Saturday might be the time to do so. Prediciton: The best we can hope for is a draw, and most likely a 0-0 at that. My opinion is we don't have enough to secure that. 2-0 to 'boro. Some bets I've highlighted are as follows: Boro half time/full time @ Evens Boro -1 @ 11/10 Leadbitter anytime @ 14/5 If you're feeling optimistic, then Charlton to not lose is 19/10.
SuperC- I notice that when you printed the team you put a big space between Big Mak and the rest of the team. I am tempted to think this was a Freudian slip, because he does look isolated in that line-up. I agree with resting Solly, in fact I think it's time to bring Edwards in for Fox, although Holmes-Dennis is ahead in the pecking order. I thought Moussa was pitiful against Brentford, even McAleny was a big improvement, although there isn't a proper LM in the squad. However you shuffle the pack all I am hoping for is that Boro legs will be tired, and so it will only be 2-0 to them.
Agree with resting Solly even though he has always been committed to the club (partly not his choice due to t he injury) Luzon did not give him time to recover between playing and his pace and his psychological fear of further injury if he stretches to hook the ball as he used to are problems that need to be addressed by rest and counsel. The pace will recover with greater breaks but this season he has been content to try and shepherd the opposition player rather than take the ball as he used to. This may be the way that Luzon wanted him to play but it might be another issue to be addressed. Agree with Big Mac up front as the only one to win and hold the ball up with the possibility of getting it in a lucky position to take advantage for himself (pig just flew across my screen as I typed that) and was disgusted when he was subbed last Saturday. However with the new manager we could be fronting up with Reza!
The only bet I would fancy would be Charlton HT/Boro full time @7/2 with betvictor although 3's is available quite widely
Dead cat bounce? I don't see it as we've been dead for weeks, but I do expect us to get something truely useless, An unlucky 2-1 defeat, where we play a bit better, get no points, and some of those who still worship Roly see it as an immediate vindication of Karel being manager.
Fraeye masterminds our escape from the relegation spot as Bristol C. go 4 down and we overtake them on GD,
To be fair, it would have been tough with a decent squad and a manager from the Belgian 1st division. With the reamins of our summer aquisitions, we're not in the same league as Boro.
It's pathetic. To lose three consecutive games is bad. To lose them 3-0, and registering 3 shots per game average is inexcusable. I really don't know where we go from here.
