I thought childish remarks were beneath you ptc... I am merely pointing out that you can't moan about a great performance where we scored 4 good goals and 2 from set plays! How many corners do we normally score from? Most of the time we aren't capable of taking a decent corner as it always seems to hit the first defender and gets cleared! I'm not saying that we should get carried away by this result and I know that MM will certainly not be but on the other hand its really nice to have a weekend where the Town deservedly handed out a tonking at home! To question how we scored those goals is just nit picking in the extreme imo!
Im not moaning about the type of goals we scored and to be honest having re-read my post I cant see where you get that impression from but to clarify my view. Im very happy with 2 decent goals from set pieces. I loved David McGoldricks goal. Mcleans looked scruffy but again Im not complaining. In all honesty I thought you would know exactly where I am coming from as you made the same kind of comments before the weekend. Its great scoring 4 goals but other than smiths they werent 'bread and butter goals' which are what we need if we want to continue to win and move out of danger. We need to be able to put away 6 and18 yard box chances from open play to ease our cause.
I don't think McGoldrick will actually miss that many KOPR, if we're going for this Stead thing, Stead if he was one on one or in a position to score rarely missed or the GK pulled off a very good save both are good finishers just they are rarely in the position to finish off a move or cross. McGoldrick and McLean are both good at running the channels but neither are the type of striker to attack the ball from a cross or be in the right place to score that tap in in the box regularly. Both of their goals were great goals and down to their own hard work and good finishing (although the McLean one got a deflection), but that's the point they made it themselves it wasn't from an good attacking move, both were screamers. The past few matches it is concerning that we haven't actually created many penalty box chances it seems our chances have come from shooting outside the box. Now that's down to more than 1 reason, lack of creativity from the midfield to me Creswell is the only player who ever looks like getting an assist in a match from open play and then if we do start creating chances I'm not sure we've got the strikers to get into the positions to finish off these chances. But we are looking far better off the ball than perhaps I've ever seen a Town team, it's on the ball we have problems
Sorry perhaps I should have just said: You say something even a few weeks ago then you shout someone down for alledgedly saying something exactly the same as you would have said, you are very hypocritical. And also tend to not read or interperate post properly, it's all about being critical not continuously saying everything was crap under Jewell and that Mick can do no wrong, it's not as black and white as that!! But I agree about the set plays. Have to say it's nice for the first time in a while that we had players who could actually take decent set pieces taking them. Why for the past 4 years have we had Leadbitter and Martin continuously take them when there are far better players at set pieces in the team? Great headers from Smith looks like a different player now!!
TB yes I did have concerns last week about where the goals were coming from but football is a funny old game! Confidence is king and after this result confidence will be high amongst the players and especially among the strikers. It felt great walking away from the ground afterwards as we were entertained and for once we got value for money after a good result. Middlesborough aren't mugs as their league position shows and if we can turn in a performance like that on a regular basis we shouldn't have many problems.
JWM. I agree with everything you have said. High confidence - yep, great feeling - yep, good value for win - yep, Boro not being mugs - yep, but based on their games in a town shirt so far we still lack a true penalty box striker and that is worrying long term. You cant rely on Smith to score for us every match and the other two, whilst not being flukes are hardly likely to be repeated on a regular basis. Im not trying to take anything away from the win, I would just feel a lot more confident if we had a player who looked lively in and around the penalty area.
TB we still have Chopra don't we? If its not working surely we can bring him on for a change up front? Whatever problems he has on his day he is our best 6 yard finisher!
As PTC has pointed out if I was relying on Chopra to score goals to keep us up I would be consulting my atlas on how to get to the likes of Yeovil etc! He has not looked like a penalty box striker yet in a Town shirt. To be honest he normally fails to look like a sunday morning footballer in my opinion but I know that is not a widely accepted opinion so no insults are required!
I know how he feels but he is our only "fox in the box" type player! Personally I would have given anything to have Kevin Phillips in a Town shirt til the end of the season as he could have done a great job for us!
I agree if he gets his head right he can be a top top player. Technically he's very good, good touch, good finishing, very good movement better than any of our current lot. But he is definitely a confidence striker and I think he pretty much sums up PJ's time at the club when good very good, stylish and quality when bad very bad and mentally fragile I still think he could do a job and has impressed in his brief cameos under Mick. Would like to see him given a chance in a 442 IMO this has always been when he's been at his best!!
Well I guess we just have to hope that McGoldrick and McClean can keep scoring 20 yard screamers every week!
Itâs all Spanishâs fault.! Is that better.? On the game on Saturday, it was pretty even & TBH a ****e game up until we scored. We almost yet again conceded at the start of the 2nd half but after that it was one way traffic. As for the goals; McGoldricks was an awesome strike, I was sitting directly in line in SBR lower, it was hit with venom and the ball was moving about all over the place, no surprise the keeper did not get it. Two excellent corners both brilliantly dispatched by Smith, the second clipped the bar on its way in. Mclean got lucky with his goal, massive deflection, just as well because he would have got slaughted if not as we had two players square for a tap in. After the fourth we stopped playing, we had a number of corners in the last 15mins but Smith & Chambers both stayed back, disappointing as I honestly think that Boro were there for at least 1 or 2 more goals, especially from set pieces. Edwards was poor again 1st half but was transformed in the 2nd had a couple of good efforts on goal & actually ran forward with the ball. Nice little cameo from Wordsworth, good strike at goal, is going to be ideal in a 5 man midfield playing just in front of Ndaw & Hyam. On that performance we need to sign Stearman, no nonsense full back hoofed it a couple of times but also put in a blinding cross towards the end of the 1st half. Lets not get carried away with this result we played pretty well but Boro played pants.! Summary; Loach - was a spectator for the most part, my problem with him he does not come out for stuff I think he should do & he needs to be more vocal. Cressy â good steady game, is for me getting back to his best. Stearman â excellent debut, much better on this performance than Orr. Smith & Chambers â partnership is really blossoming, plenty of cover for each other Smith is on target for 6-7 goals this season. Edwards â poor first half but much better 2nd (see above) Murphy â did ok, won his fair share in the air, TBH I did not really take that much notice of him. Ndaw & Hyam â after an even 1st half took control in the 2nd, started to run out of steam towards the end but were bolsted with thr addition of Wordsworth. McGoldrick â for me was MOM, he holds the ball up well, plenty of movement & running to create space, couple of errors and ran down a couple of âblind alleysâ Excellent first goal for us. Mclean â best game for us, he is a handful and difficult to knock off the ball, got lucky with his goal though. Would we have won 4-0 if Mick had been sat on the bench, would we have sat back for the last 15mins TBH I donât really careâ¦.So long as we back this up with a good performance away at Rovers next week, maybe a point or three and I/we will be happy.
Excellent summary Hoppers You are so right about Loach in particular! He was exactly the same against Villa. A very good shot stopper but needs to command his box and come out for things! On the whole a very satisfying performance and result.
I am well aware of what his current remit is, I wasn't really talking about that though. I was trying to point out that although Micks brand of football might not be to everyones taste it is the type that gets teams promoted. People like to moan about style of play etc but unless playing pretty football gets you promoted then what's the point. At the start of a new season all you should be looking to do is get promoted unless you're happy watching great football and remaining where you are.
I have to say I like to watch good football. People seem to think that good football means that you don't get results but does it really? and playing percentage hoof football gets you promoted? I think most of the teams who have got to the PL in past few seasons have played good attacking football bar West Ham and the teams who have continued to play this sort of football seem to have done the best once they have got up. I have to say I like to watch good football because at the end of the day football is an entertainment and I would actually prefer us to be a top of the table Championship team over being a team like Stoke, I just couldn't watch that type of football it doesn't appeal to me at all. I could not sit and watch the football we had under Keane even if it got us to 5th in the PL!! Now Mick certainly isn't percentage football or negative but he builds workmanlike teams who do the basics well and can mix it up but it's not an expansive passing game, I struggle to warm to this even if we do win. I think Mick has got us good out of possession but in possession passing expansive football IMO is more effective because you usually need players with a good touch, confidence on the ball and with good positional sense. Plus as everyone says you're more likely to keep the ball if you keep it on the floor!! Though no teams do well without getting the basics right and Mick is a pro at this!! The analogy I use is that for example with PJ he always tries to get his teams to run before they can walk, which is why he did well at Wigan and why he struggled with us because Wigan were not a club on the down and why he struggled with us and Derby because both needed to get the basics right before if they had a hope of progressing. Mick never gets his clubs to run before they can walk but at the same time once they can walk he never gets them to run. If you could put together the good points of both managers to me you'd probably have a near perfect manager!!
A football team that can mix it up by playing attractive football but at the same time be prepared to grind out results by playing percentage football is the team that will more than likely get promoted. Yes it is a cliche but the sign of a decent team is one that can win when not playing particularly well. Graeme Souness got it right when he was asked what made the Liverpool teams of the 70s so successful. He basically said that if the opposition wanted to play football we were more than ready to match them but if they came for a fight we would match them at that as well. What Keane got wrong is that he wanted us to fight more than we played and Jewell got it the complete way around! I believe that Mick will get the balance right!
It's still early days in his tenure. The balance or make up of the team is still not right. We're getting there with the back four. Hyam and N'Daw aren't creative enough in the centre so it's great that he's bought Wordsworth in. He needs to make a decision on his goalkeeper and back him fully. Our wide men are not good enough. Carlos blows too hot and cold. Lee Martin is probably not a winger and Murphy is more effective up front. Carson's gone backwards. The forwards are bedding in admittedly but we've got some huge decisions to make. At Brizzle away I was stunned at our lack of leadership on the pitch. Hyam is trying to fulfil a role that an experienced hardened pro would be doing (Shaun Derry esque).
