1) Notable performances. Beckford, Nugent, Peltier and Koncheskey all played brilliant tonight but were not helped by the inept midfield. We cried out for Marshall to come on. Having said that Delfouneso looks a hell of a player and Drinkwater just oozed class. 2) Chances created. Lots of chances that were created were mainly down to the skill of the forward although credit where it's due, Wellens' flick to Nugent for the opener was class. 3)Atmosphere. The best i've seen it for ages at the KP. Keep L1 buzzing like they were and that'll keep the players going. 4)Attitude. The new players wanted to prove a point and they did. 100% effort (from most) until the bitter end. 5)Inept refereeing. We all saw the game and we all know that that man should be sacked tomorrow morning. A truly woeful performance. Double standards with his decision making and he had absolutely no control of the game so he hid behind the cards. How Jutkiewicz stayed on the pitch is beyond me. 6) A point closer to our goal. 6 points off now, we need to keep the pressure on the top 6 and we're playing a lot of teams above us in a short space of time, it's a fabulous opportunity. 7) Nugent. Into double figures now, is it asking to much to ask for 20? He's capable.
The ref walked in on pearsons half time team talk and interupted it unannounced..then when pearson reacted, sent him to the stand..ive never heard the like of it before.. but you couldn't put anything past this clown... you would think mr. ward had an agenda from the start... some of his decisions were bizarre along with his lines men...the boro players were allowed to virtually run the game themselves...what could of been a really good game,was destroyed as a spectacle..by a man totally out of his depth...I hate to speak about the officials..but what else can you do when you get one like this.. Im sure mowbray will think the ends justify the means. good luck to him...glad I don't follow his team...
Boro boss Tony Mowbray said about the ref- "He had an uncomfortable night and seemed scared to make decisions."
I think Nigel will make changes for the weekend. Any of the midfield 4 could be dropped IMO although Danns was the better of the 4. I thought Mills had a shocker too and wouldn't be surprised if Wes Morgan comes in for him.
Ive said it many times before and no doubt will say it many more times too, for me Wellens and Gallagher should be warming the bench at best , one is past his best and far too slow, and the other is a lighweight luxury.Mills i think could be an ok def, tho nothing special in my book, and we def paid well over the odds for him without any doubt, specially when you consider, as stated above, his passing is S***E..............
Matt Mills is a solid defender and had a good game last night. Yes his long range hopeless passing is sunday league standard but his defending is prem standard
We had quite a bit of debate on this subject yesterday - Nigel just needs to drum into him to go short on every pass - but that also requires options and Wellens and Gallagher are not currently coming short often enough or quickly enough (it requires energy and both seem to lack it for different reasons!) - ideal player to have in front of Mills would be a Neil Lennon type - to come receive and disribute - Drinkwater looks promising - and he ought to, given his pedigree and proximity to the imperious Paul Scholes.. Neiil Danns will do it but we actually need all 4 mids doing the same (not all together of course) ...
Drinkwater always tries make himself available and gives himself space to receive the ball and turn with it to. He looks like a class player from what i have seen so far from him. With Ben Marshall now available aswell now we should have even more options across the midfield
Take that back, my long range passes from the back are a hell of a lot better than mills on a Sunday morning!! Why does he keep trying it when he has midfielder dropping into space to play a simple 5 yard pass? Our last offensive play before boro's 2nd goal came from a mills punt that went straight to there keeper.
Can I just say that first half he didn't. Second half when Drinkwater bothered to show for the ball Mills passed it neatly to him every time. Wellens was beyond poor, yesterday.
got to say I'm a fan of Wellens but have to agree he was very poor. He did create the goal for Nugent but after that!!
Im a big fan of Wellens but recently he has gone down hill, he has looked better since King went out of the team but still not his normal self. I think Drinkwater should be given a chance tommorow
Agree about Wellens and Gallagher. Wellens seems only to be able to pass sideways or backwards and Gallagher thinks he's better than he is. Think Mills is a good defender but feel he should have the captaincy taken off him - not vocal enough. We need someone like M'Boros Robson to give us a bit of bite and organising on the pitch.
Mills is a good defender, but a sh I te distributor. Plus he has a "girly" screechy voice when he's shouting. Watching Kasper on wed nite, you can see he has all the qualities to be captain, constantly geeing up the players running up to the middle of the field to make himself heard (even running past mills waving his arms whilst the ball was in play with mills in possession in the last 10 mins!!) However, stripping the armband of mills will probably have a detrimental effect on him, and i believe the captaincy will change in the summer. With regards to Gallagher, I don't really know what to say. He has tremendous ability, but it only shows once in a while and he can be a very frustrating player to watch. With Marshall and drinkwater (a marketers dream for Evian) in the squad, he should hopefully improve with the threat of losing his place. Ok, so I had something to say about Gallagher...... I thought Beckford was our best player, he looks hungry, more than that, he was hungrier than a fat man in KFC!! When the east stand started singing his name after the half volley in the 1st half which went just over, his right hand with the finger pointing out circling and the head nodding like "yes, that's what I wanna hear" just seemed to fire him up.
I think Mills is a very good captain, He leads the back and keeps team organised. People was moaning when Matt Oakley had the armband and when Andy King had the armband. I dont like keepers being captains. You dont need an armband on your arm to lead, all of the players should be leading as a team. Every player is capable of leading themselves and some are capable of leading others aswell. Mills is a very good defender and is arguably the best DEFENDER in the league, defensively he is solid, he makes no end of tackles and blocks, wins his headers and leads the back well (When Sol Bamba isnt playing anyway as he is pretty much impossible to play with at times). His passing is pretty awful but the midfield need to make themselves available for Mills doesnt have to make them long hopeless balls forward. Danny Drinkwater was forever moving on tuesday and making space for himself, he was always available for a pass something which Wellens, Danns and King dont do enough
Mills doesn't do one thing that really aggravates me. Whenever a player of ours is arguing with the referee it's his responsibility to go over and sort it out and drag the player away. Bamba, Nugent, Koncheskey, Danns and Peltier have all been booked as a result of arguing with the referee this season and Mills should be sorting that out.
