Match Day Thread Middlesbrough v Sunderland AFC – Monday 5th September 2022 - KO 20:00

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Your prediction:


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I get the feeling some expect us to be pushing for the playoffs this season.
Expectations are something that the club just have to live with. Over the last four years most people were happy just to get promoted and stabilise however as soon as we are promoted lose a game and it’s doom and gloom from the usual doom mongers. Personally I’m really enjoying this season the team is a work in progress but we’ve been more than competitive in every game Loads of young players who will have good and bad days now we have to deal with injuries which were always going to happen. Personally I’m Enjoying the ride fascinating to see how we develop but we are a far cry from where we were last time in this league and without doubt heading in the right direction
 
You must be easily pleased if listening to Mowbray cheers you up. Fair play.
I'm with Chunk on this...

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Speaks well again imo

Reading your posts from last night you seemed to have an anti TM stance, especially the one with TM getting his photo with a very young boro lass, wasn't to my liking.
 
Expectations are something that the club just have to live with. Over the last four years most people were happy just to get promoted and stabilise however as soon as we are promoted lose a game and it’s doom and gloom from the usual doom mongers. Personally I’m really enjoying this season the team is a work in progress but we’ve been more than competitive in every game Loads of young players who will have good and bad days now we have to deal with injuries which were always going to happen. Personally I’m Enjoying the ride fascinating to see how we develop but we are a far cry from where we were last time in this league and without doubt heading in the right direction
I believe TM mentioned the importance of managing expectations in one of his first interviews
 
My son and I had a brief exchange of words yesterday because of his criticism of Simms. You can't expect him to be Stewart though and Stewart makes anyone look lazy. What we miss without Stewart as much as goals is his hassling of defenders and goalkeepers which puts pressure on and frequently makes them make bad decisions. It would be good to see Simms do this a bit more but I do think he needs someone playing alongside him.
 
And Diallo and Dajaku need to play higher up the pitch when they’re on, not dropping too deep. They’ve both got plenty to offer and need to scare the back line

Last night was disappointing, but I'll settle for 1 bad performance in 8.

I felt we had 2 No.10's last night, both trying to the same thing. I would have liked to see Roberts making more runs in behind down the flanks and stretching their back line. Both of their wing backs pushed well up the field, particularly in the first half, leaving gaps in behind. Roberts running in behind could have made them think twice. I lost count in the first half of the long balls Boro played forward to their wing backs and found them, putting us straight on the back foot.

Hopefully there's some good news on the injury front and we can get back to winning ways against Millwall. We move on.
 
My son and I had a brief exchange of words yesterday because of his criticism of Simms. You can't expect him to be Stewart though and Stewart makes anyone look lazy. What we miss without Stewart as much as goals is his hassling of defenders and goalkeepers which puts pressure on and frequently makes them make bad decisions. It would be good to see Simms do this a bit more but I do think he needs someone playing alongside him.
Exactly what me and my mates have been talking about today Stewart leads the press quickly stopping quick turn over and allowing the midfield to squeeze up. We really missed that last night just shows how hard the lad works. Simms is a different player only really comes alive when we are in possession. But he’s a young lad he’ll learn. Going to be interesting to see how we set up without Stewart. Big call for TM
 
My son and I had a brief exchange of words yesterday because of his criticism of Simms. You can't expect him to be Stewart though and Stewart makes anyone look lazy. What we miss without Stewart as much as goals is his hassling of defenders and goalkeepers which puts pressure on and frequently makes them make bad decisions. It would be good to see Simms do this a bit more but I do think he needs someone playing alongside him.

I have said the same a few times on this thread (almost sick of the sound of my own voice), Stewart is a huge miss with his hassling of the opposition as much as anything. I think expecting Simms to do the same is going to lead to disappointment, I think you see a lot more strikers play like Simms (closing down now and again but never any real conviction they are going to get to the ball, conserving energy for when on the ball maybe?) than Stewart.

How does Stewart manage it for 90 minutes every week?
 
I have said the same a few times on this thread (almost sick of the sound of my own voice), Stewart is a huge miss with his hassling of the opposition as much as anything. I think expecting Simms to do the same is going to lead to disappointment, I think you see a lot more strikers play like Simms (closing down now and again but never any real conviction they are going to get to the ball, conserving energy for when on the ball maybe?) than Stewart.

How does Stewart manage it for 90 minutes every week?
Unbelievable isn’t it. In itself makes him an asset at any level. Add his goals to that and he becomes massive. Am having an argument about it on twitter with someone who thinks we should have a ready made player to come in. As they’re obviously ten a penny
 
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There are some teams you just can't seem to play well against and that happened last night ...

.... even Man City have games where it just doesn't click.

We got beat 1-0 against a well established, very decent Championship team. Its not the end of the world. As has been said, I'm much much more upset about the 2 injured players.
 
It's a funny old game is football.
Had we won Monday night TM would be lauded by one and all, back to back winning start, top six and every body ( well nearly everybody) thinking our new manager was the dogs gonads, instead half our team decide not to turn up, they score in the scheme of things a scruffy goal and in the eyes of some it all turns to rat sh1t.
Not to mention losing our top two performers for God knows how long.
Who'd be a football manager...just ask Mr Tuchel.
 
It's a funny old game is football.
Had we won Monday night TM would be lauded by one and all, back to back winning start, top six and every body ( well nearly everybody) thinking our new manager was the dogs gonads, instead half our team decide not to turn up, they score in the scheme of things a scruffy goal and in the eyes of some it all turns to rat sh1t.
Not to mention losing our top two performers for God knows how long.
Who'd be a football manager...just ask Mr Tuchel.
According to the commentators on Sky it was a beautiful, brilliantly worked goal, quality of commentators only bettered by the quality of Refs. !