Boro preview

Okay Hurst, fair play to you, not change central today so I can take my hat off to you in that regard. Lets see what you do v Boro.

First question, will Bart come back, or will Gerken be kept faith with!? Apparently made an error today, but some clean sheets - I'll say Gerken will keep the shirt.

Maybe Donacien RB for Pennington - will he be suspended for this, or not!?

Otherwise, appears we're now at the stage of roughly knowing who will / may do what.

I'm a lot happier in that regard.

Boro are poor away. Pulis sides often win at home, draw away kind of sides.

I can see 1-1 for this one. They've only won one on the road so far this season.

Out of this / Swansea game - this I would class as the more winnable fixture - could be wrong just what's in my head.

 

Bart and Donacien need to come back in but that's as far as I would take the changes.

Not been beaten at home yet, Boro weaker away, a little unbeaten run starting to form,

Score first we'll win, Boro score first we'll draw.

 

Before I even cast a prediction, what is our record in front of the cameras over the past few years? Recall a last gasp 1-0 win over Charlton (Noel Hunt was it?) since then, not a single win if I recall correctly. I would take a draw against a team near the top of the table. 1-1 with Jackson scoring.

Bart and Donacien to come in, Dozzell and Morris to hopefully make the bench, and a focus on playing like we did the second half. Hopefully if we do take a lead, we can actually defend it and keep it for the first time this season. I think that’s a massive psychological barrier to overcome and, when we do, we should see us start winning more matches.

 

Sorry Mike, Ward has to be dropped, he offered barely anything again today.

Agree that Bart should come back in (he was passing out from the back way more than Gerken does) and from what I've seen so far from the three players that have played RB, Donacien is my pick.
Chalobah is a bit hot and cold and I would have Skuse in there for now.
4-1-3-2 for me would look like this -

Bart
Donacien, Toto, Chambers, Jonas
Skuse
Edwards, Dozzell, Graham or Edun (haven't really seen enough of either yet but they both at least try positive things)
Sears, Jackson

3-5-2 I'd go

Bart
Toto, Chambers, Knudsen
Donacien, Edwards, Skuse, Edun, Graham
Sears, Jackson.

Nolan misses out because he is not pulling the strings enough at the minute. I can see Dozzell possibly becoming that player for us but Hurst won't drop Nolan

 

Reason I wouldn't make anymore changes is we've been affected negatively by all the changes in the starting 11. Not because any one particular player has really demanded a starting place

 

We need to sort that left side.

 

We do, although I'm not convinced changing the personnel is the answer at this point. They've all been as ineffective as each other. Wards not been terrible so let's give him an opportunity to form an understanding with the others.

 

I'm going to disagree with you on that Mike.
I think Ward has offered nothing, he has done barely anything of note since joining us and I would rather we sold him. I don't know what the answer is down the left but Graham has potential and attempts forward passes that Ward doesn't. I don't see Ward as an attacking player because he makes no assists or goals so if he's not an attacker what is he in the team for?

I think he's a waste of space.

 

Agree with you SD Ward's too lightweight in both attack and tracking back, with very little end product (barring the flash in the pan debut hat trick!)

I feel this is going to be another hard fought draw.

 

If we manage to hold Boro to a draw that would be a hellova result and quite the performance.

 

Agreed, I’d take a draw all day long against Boro and call it a good result.

 

Lee Martin Mark 2

 

The game is there to be won but I have to say a point would be an achievement against a multi million pound squad.

 

Sadly that's where we're at since ££££ has wrecked football.

Boro have a miles better side than us, and sadly - it would be a good result if we could draw at H to them.

Unfortunately, these draws perhaps more than losses are killing us. We need wins. To go 11 without a win,,,,,,,,, well yeah ( in the league ) doesn't bare thinking about.

Losses to Hull / Rotherham / draw at home to 10 man Bolton for goodness sake...... have put more pressure on games like this. We need a win, and we need a win now.

 

On paper a point would be good, but as others have quite rightly said, we need 3 points - not only to climb the table, but to get the monkey off our backs.

Normal instinct tells me we're going to lose this one - oir customary 2 nil against Boro - but i have a sneaky suspicion we'll get the three points tomorrow - but only if Sears plays (yes, i'll get my white coat). I'm baffled how little he has been used this season. We're struggling for goals, we have little experience in the team - surely give him 90 mins to prove himself.
Forget all the ridiculous formations - ie, 3-5-2, 5-3-2, 4-1-1-3-1-1...etcetera etcetera...go with the standard 4-4-2.

Bart
Donacien
Chambo
Nsiala
Knudsen
Edwards
Chalobah
Dozzell
Edun
Jacko
Sears

We need to attack, as if we sit back, Boro will eventually get the better of us. I'd rather lose and give it a go, then do a Mick and hope to nick a draw.
Boro are a tough physical team, and apart from Assambolonga, are not the quickest, so we need to counteract that and be quicker in our attacks to catch them out.
I see a hard earned 2-1 victory - 2 up at hlaf time again, but this time holding on for the victory. Sears MotM.

 

While on paper I like that midfield - in reality, it would be men against boys.

Boro would absolutely batter us.

 

Agreed, to an extent - but we can't play them at their game, otherwise they'll rip us a new asshole.

we need to move the ball quicker, add a bit of pace to our attack. Boro's midfield, as strong and physical as it is, are not the most mobile.
Don't get into a scrap with them and make them chase back 30/40 yards. If Edun and Edwards can push their full backs back, and not let them get forward, we can then use Jacko as the target man, with sears dropping off his shoulder to get the scrappy knock downs.
Our players also need to learn to do more inter-changing - maybe get Jacko to drop back a bit whilst Edun pushes up. At the moment we're too predictable - give the ball to Edwards and let him run at the opposition. The opposition then stick two men on him, and as we only have one up top, maybe even a third as cover as we don't fill the opposition box with enough players.

 

The defence picks itself tomorrow.

This won't happen, but the wingers are not playing as wingers (for the first goal against Brum it was Jackson out wide where Edwards should have been) so I really think if we are going to play five across the midfield then one of them needs to be more attack minded, we need someone playing off Jackson in a free Gazza / McManaman / Wark / Sterling attacking midfield role and the best man for that job is clearly Edwards.

This is how I would like us to line up:

Bart
Donacien / Nsiala / Chambers / Knudsen
Edun / Chalobah / Dozzell / Nolan
Edwards
Jackson

This is how I think we will line up.

Gerken
Donacien / Nsiala / Chambers / Knudsen
Edwards / Chalobah / Skuse / Nolan / Ward
Jackson

 

Interesting view from the other side by HarryFromBath on TWTD. If this is the mood in the dressing room and our players fight like they did against Brum then maybe we will do better than a draw.

“It has become an absolute chore to watch Boro lately. It’s pretty depressing heading to matches knowing you are not going to be excited”, “These recent games have been atrocious”, “The most disappointing thing for me now is that I feel like I couldn’t care less. I’m just completely bored.”

“Pulis will try to grind out a 1-0 win against Ipswich.” Several Boro fans have highlighted our record of five consecutive home draws. “Boro typically end team's bad runs, so it's not looking good and a draw may be the best we can hope for. Hope I'm wrong and the team returns to winning ways.”

https://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/34582/

 

Those opinions could have easily applied to us last season.