Welcome back to The Boro Blog, and a lot has happened since the Derby game.
Lets go chronologically, Boro fans traveled down to Suffolk with high hopes after beating table-topping Derby, but still aware of the danger Ipswich would pose. There was, however, a rather lack luster performance put in by some of the Boro players, which was backed up by AK's refusal to pull any punches in his post match interview, saying he was 'embarrassed' by the 2-0 defeat. Which, in truth, could have been a lot worse from a Teessider's perspective.
He also said that some players weren't up for the fight against Ipswich. Now at the time I was beginning to become concerned. Karanka has said that a lot of times after lacking performances. I was worried he was making up things, which is more a feature of the man still currently in the Newcastle hot seat (but for how much longer is uncertain.)
The next game, however, vs Nottingham Forest would've proven me wrong. (If I had actually wrote this at the time.) The whole town was looking forward to Boxing Day. Which gave me all the more reason to worry. Would it be another performance which failed to deliver in front of the packed Riverside?
No
After a shaky first half where no-one took charge of the game, and which went by without much goal mouth action, the second half was a vast improvement. Even though Forest switched to a 1-up-top. The deadlock was broken 8 minutes into the second half, as Friend's Ayala-esc run, that George only made due to Ayala's absense, was perfectly timed as he headed home from Leadbitter's corner.
From that moment on, we never looked back and the introduction of Jelle Vossen only helped the cause. He was going to come on anyway, but a rash challenge from Kelvin Wilson, which saw the ex-Celtic player given his second yellow of the day, meant Kike was taken off as a precaution.
11 minutes later a good passing move, a dummy from Bamford and a rather fortunate deflection was rounded off with a powerful curling shot from outside the box. This was Jelle Vossen's first goal at the Riverside.
The goal scoring was complete in the 88th minute as Bamford was tripped by Darlow (even though he was going away from the goal, hence why the referee didn't brandish the red card for the second time) and Leadbitter did what Leadbitter does from 12 yards. Score. Low and composed into the bottom right hand corner - where all 3 goals went! Funny, hey! Well perhaps not from a Forest point of view.
The evening was topped off by the return of Rhys Williams from injury. He look a little out of sorts in the centre of midfield, but he dug himself out of a hole on more than one occasion. A chorus of 'Olay's rang out as Boro controlled the final stages and soon enough the game was over.
(Not before the North and South stands vied for Karanka's attention with a round of 'Aitor, give us a wave!' Each.)
So, once again spirits were high as 7,000 Boro fans made their way across the width of the country to Ewood Park. Smoggies made up just under a third of the 22,000 attendance, but not all were in the stands for the 3 o'clock kick off, as issues on the motorway delayed arrival times.
They saw a dominating first half from the boys in red, where yet again Simon Eastwood was in inspired from. The only time we have beaten him in 180 minutes was via a deflection. Vossen saw his good low shot tipped onto the post, whilst Adam Reach's touch let him down as he burst through the Rovers' back line and Kike refused to lay the ball back to Leadbitter. Greed is becoming a real flaw in Kike's game, a greed not seen in Bamford's or Vossen's play. One would hope that this dispels sooner rather than later.
When the second half came, it was a more open affair. This isn't good for Boro because they need to dominate games or we don't get a result. Our counter-attack seems to be rather weak, which is strange considering the pace in our team. And with a right-back in left-back and a right-midfielder in right-back you felt Blackburn were there for the taking. But then again, there was still Eastwood.
Due to our failures upfront, the defense was put under pressure and we have Leadbitter to thank for his captain's duty on the front post. So, equally, the only time Blackburn have scored past Dimi, was after a certain Chris Brown decided to injure him and a certain Mark Clattenburg decided not to give the foul.
But I'm not still mad about that.
What I am looking forward to in 2015 is a cup run. We have Barnsley on the 3rd and I hope we can get further than we did in the Capital One Cup, even though we had a very spectacular exit,
I also am looking forward to this promotion push. And I hope you are too! So onwards and upwards and I'll see you in 2015.
UTB
Tuesday 30 December 2014
Monday 15 December 2014
We Are (joint) Top of the League
Well that was what we call, a good day at the office.
2-0 vs Derby! In our previous encounters against those at the top of the table, victory had eluded us, with a 1-1 and 0-0 in home games vs Watford and Bournemouth respectively.
This game was different, however, this game was a statement of intent, much as the victory at Millwall the week before was. If you can put 5 past a team then it shows you are strong, but to hold the leaders and make them look like a team fighting relegation, not tipped for the top, then you can count yourself as either very good, or very lucky. And I'd like to believe it is the former.
Every single player on the pitch did their duty, even Leo on the touchline and Karanka up in the stands. (And the guy sat next to AK, who I did my work experience with!)
The tactics for the game were much appreciated on social media, by both sets of fans. But as Steve Claridge himself said, that is how to set up a team against a 4-3-3.
I disagree with Claridge over a lot of things, including his understatement of Boro. With him saying on FLS that we pressured 'the best team with the ball.' And although he did refer to us as the best team without the ball, I think we put Shteve's men to the sword and showed that we are even better than them.
From kickoff, however, it looked like AK was taking after his friend at Stamford Bridge as we sat back as Derby played it around their defense. That wasn't to be the case. As the first time we entered their half (basically) we got a goal out of it. As the ball was played to Reach and he showed the pace that us, the Boro faithful adore to see from our homegrown left wingers and he looked to pull the ball back from the byline. With only seconds to think, Bamford stroked the ball towards the net with a finesse that has endeared him to us smoggies and did endear him to the Derby fans. That endearing was soon undone as he wheeled off to celebrate,
Paddy received a lot of stick from the Derby fans for that. Despite going over to clap them at full time. Many also thought that his 'treatment' to his 'former teammates was appalling.'
But he was just on loan, you say. Well if he was like this, complementing the team etc at Derby and then leaves and tries extra hard against them, then I would feel aggrieved if the teams were reversed. But as Leadbitter once said 'That's football'
And the football did continue for 84 minutes after Bamford put the ball past the dive of Grant (their goalkeeper, not Leadbitter)
But he more than made up for his errors later in the match. 20 minutes after the goal, Bamford was set through and after making that save, proceeded to make another great save to deny Jelle from getting his first goal on Teesside. Grant was the only reason that Boro weren't up by a fair few by halftime, with the indignant Keogh's moaning and Shotton's giggling at pushing the neck of Bamford not doing anything to stop Boro's onslaught.
Now, I feel I'm writing 'Bamford' a lot in this post. I've tried to vary it with 'Paddy' but it feels very repetitive. But I'm not going to moan if it means that he plays how he does every week. He and Vossen pressurised the defense constantly in both halves, with the only difference between the two being Derby's formation. They went 2 up top with the Coldplay singer being partnered by th ex-Manchester United striker. Oh, no sorry that is LEON Best up top with Chris Martin (but not that one) This was a tactic to combat the dominance of Gibson and Ayala at the back, who had Martin in their collective back pockets. Jordan Ibe was also introduced.
Truth be told, they did little to enthuse the Derby faithful. Grant, therefore, felt the need to entertain them by 'dilly-dallying' on the ball and diving 'Jens Lehmann' style over Bamford's attempt to get the ball.
The giggling Shotton I mentioned before, whom all game was tormented by the Chelsea loanee, brought Bamford crashing to the floor 15 minutes after the interval. His smile was non-existent as a chorus of 'Cheerios' ushered him off the pitch. I don't know a time where i've been so confident in our penalty taker. He dispatched his 6th penalty of the season in similar style to the previous 5. Hard and low into the corner.
The only real threat that Derby posed to the goal came in the final minutes of the second half as complacency leaked into the back line and, luckily, Dimi was alive to the well struck shot.
But we were top, for a matter of a few hours, as Bournemouth (who I feel will be our nemesis throughout this season) dispatched Cardiff, who look a shadow of their former selves under Malky Mackay. Their is an air of hope that is now turning into genuine optimism around Teesside. And I hope that this is realised, when Karanka eventually looks at the table on the last day of the season.
2-0 vs Derby! In our previous encounters against those at the top of the table, victory had eluded us, with a 1-1 and 0-0 in home games vs Watford and Bournemouth respectively.
This game was different, however, this game was a statement of intent, much as the victory at Millwall the week before was. If you can put 5 past a team then it shows you are strong, but to hold the leaders and make them look like a team fighting relegation, not tipped for the top, then you can count yourself as either very good, or very lucky. And I'd like to believe it is the former.
Every single player on the pitch did their duty, even Leo on the touchline and Karanka up in the stands. (And the guy sat next to AK, who I did my work experience with!)
The tactics for the game were much appreciated on social media, by both sets of fans. But as Steve Claridge himself said, that is how to set up a team against a 4-3-3.
I disagree with Claridge over a lot of things, including his understatement of Boro. With him saying on FLS that we pressured 'the best team with the ball.' And although he did refer to us as the best team without the ball, I think we put Shteve's men to the sword and showed that we are even better than them.
From kickoff, however, it looked like AK was taking after his friend at Stamford Bridge as we sat back as Derby played it around their defense. That wasn't to be the case. As the first time we entered their half (basically) we got a goal out of it. As the ball was played to Reach and he showed the pace that us, the Boro faithful adore to see from our homegrown left wingers and he looked to pull the ball back from the byline. With only seconds to think, Bamford stroked the ball towards the net with a finesse that has endeared him to us smoggies and did endear him to the Derby fans. That endearing was soon undone as he wheeled off to celebrate,
Paddy received a lot of stick from the Derby fans for that. Despite going over to clap them at full time. Many also thought that his 'treatment' to his 'former teammates was appalling.'
But he was just on loan, you say. Well if he was like this, complementing the team etc at Derby and then leaves and tries extra hard against them, then I would feel aggrieved if the teams were reversed. But as Leadbitter once said 'That's football'
And the football did continue for 84 minutes after Bamford put the ball past the dive of Grant (their goalkeeper, not Leadbitter)
But he more than made up for his errors later in the match. 20 minutes after the goal, Bamford was set through and after making that save, proceeded to make another great save to deny Jelle from getting his first goal on Teesside. Grant was the only reason that Boro weren't up by a fair few by halftime, with the indignant Keogh's moaning and Shotton's giggling at pushing the neck of Bamford not doing anything to stop Boro's onslaught.
Now, I feel I'm writing 'Bamford' a lot in this post. I've tried to vary it with 'Paddy' but it feels very repetitive. But I'm not going to moan if it means that he plays how he does every week. He and Vossen pressurised the defense constantly in both halves, with the only difference between the two being Derby's formation. They went 2 up top with the Coldplay singer being partnered by th ex-Manchester United striker. Oh, no sorry that is LEON Best up top with Chris Martin (but not that one) This was a tactic to combat the dominance of Gibson and Ayala at the back, who had Martin in their collective back pockets. Jordan Ibe was also introduced.
Truth be told, they did little to enthuse the Derby faithful. Grant, therefore, felt the need to entertain them by 'dilly-dallying' on the ball and diving 'Jens Lehmann' style over Bamford's attempt to get the ball.
The giggling Shotton I mentioned before, whom all game was tormented by the Chelsea loanee, brought Bamford crashing to the floor 15 minutes after the interval. His smile was non-existent as a chorus of 'Cheerios' ushered him off the pitch. I don't know a time where i've been so confident in our penalty taker. He dispatched his 6th penalty of the season in similar style to the previous 5. Hard and low into the corner.
The only real threat that Derby posed to the goal came in the final minutes of the second half as complacency leaked into the back line and, luckily, Dimi was alive to the well struck shot.
But we were top, for a matter of a few hours, as Bournemouth (who I feel will be our nemesis throughout this season) dispatched Cardiff, who look a shadow of their former selves under Malky Mackay. Their is an air of hope that is now turning into genuine optimism around Teesside. And I hope that this is realised, when Karanka eventually looks at the table on the last day of the season.
Monday 8 December 2014
Take that Holloway.
If I had a fair crack at being a Premier League boss, with a budget as good as some, I believe I could do it. I am not one of these foreign fellas who gets a job just because he has known Jose Mourinho for 10 minutes or met him on a train
Holloway said this after he left Crystal Palace. He left on the 24th October 2013. AK started on the 13th of November 2013. And i'm not saying that this was directly aimed at Aitor, but it seems suspicious.
Even if it wasn't aimed at Karanka, then up putting 5 past his Millwallians won't have strengthened their relationship.
But that shouldn't be the headline, it should be he scores when he wants, does Jelle Vossen. Well, he does in December vs Millwall. We can say that for a fact. But hey it took a long time coming didn't it. And I'm tempted, for journalistic reasons, to say that it was worth the wait.
But the wait was nearly shorter, when Forde pushed Vossen's front post flick, lets not be biased and say 'away from the goal'. When it probably did cross the line. Well make your own mind up.
https://twitter.com/VossenJelle/status/541387259531235328/photo/1
(even though the quality is EXTREMELY poor)
But after 21 minutes, our number 21 showed us class is indeed permanent, dispatching Big Ken's delightful 40 yard pass. You got the sense then that this was going to be a good away day. But that sense only heightened after 7 more minutes had passed and we got the familiar face of Patrick Bamford celebrating another goal, his 5th in 6 games.
The last time (excluding Bournemouth where no-one scored) Bamford last failed to score on the 25th of October, around about the same time the previosuly mentioned Cherries were putting 8 past Birmingham.
Truth be told, we could have scored 8 or even more. Reach had a field day, in the no-mans-land that was between the 3 centre backs and right midfielder in Ian's 3-4-1-2.
How very continental of the Bristolian,
The afternoon got even worse for the great southern tactician as Jelle strode through the wobbly cockney defense and slid the ball home twice more before the interval. The first hattrick scored by a Boro player since the, now Millwall player, McDonald vs Hull in 2011. (both of which were first-half hattricks incidentally.
Unfortunately the half time interval seemed to take the sting out of our attacking presence.
Well from a goals point of view. We still dominated proceeding, even when the inevitable did happen and the little Aussie McDonald stole in with a goal.
OH NO!
Typical boro, we aren't going to let a 4 goal lead slip are we?!?!?!
No
Less than a minute later the striker formerly known as Enrique Garcia Martinez (or Kike to normal people) who had replaced Vossen minutes earlier, planted his right footed curling shot into the goal infront on the travelling Smoggies, The first goal at that end all game.
Kike had been dying to get on the pitch as he could smell goals even from the bench. Or so I was told by the BBC Tees commentary trio of Ali Maddo and Mark.
Boro are a strange team. Why oh why oh why couldn't we have not reserved one of those goals for last week? Like Vossen? But, hey, lets not moan. It's a 5-1 victory. Our biggest away victory since the same score against QPR in 2009. The game afterwards, however, we did lose 3-0 to Blackpool. But history never repeats itself, right?
Only time will tell, and one way we can tempt fate against doing that is by packing the riverside to the rafters and singing our hearts out for the lads.
So come on the boro, lets put on a show for the cameras!
Holloway said this after he left Crystal Palace. He left on the 24th October 2013. AK started on the 13th of November 2013. And i'm not saying that this was directly aimed at Aitor, but it seems suspicious.
Even if it wasn't aimed at Karanka, then up putting 5 past his Millwallians won't have strengthened their relationship.
But that shouldn't be the headline, it should be he scores when he wants, does Jelle Vossen. Well, he does in December vs Millwall. We can say that for a fact. But hey it took a long time coming didn't it. And I'm tempted, for journalistic reasons, to say that it was worth the wait.
But the wait was nearly shorter, when Forde pushed Vossen's front post flick, lets not be biased and say 'away from the goal'. When it probably did cross the line. Well make your own mind up.
https://twitter.com/VossenJelle/status/541387259531235328/photo/1
(even though the quality is EXTREMELY poor)
But after 21 minutes, our number 21 showed us class is indeed permanent, dispatching Big Ken's delightful 40 yard pass. You got the sense then that this was going to be a good away day. But that sense only heightened after 7 more minutes had passed and we got the familiar face of Patrick Bamford celebrating another goal, his 5th in 6 games.
The last time (excluding Bournemouth where no-one scored) Bamford last failed to score on the 25th of October, around about the same time the previosuly mentioned Cherries were putting 8 past Birmingham.
Truth be told, we could have scored 8 or even more. Reach had a field day, in the no-mans-land that was between the 3 centre backs and right midfielder in Ian's 3-4-1-2.
How very continental of the Bristolian,
The afternoon got even worse for the great southern tactician as Jelle strode through the wobbly cockney defense and slid the ball home twice more before the interval. The first hattrick scored by a Boro player since the, now Millwall player, McDonald vs Hull in 2011. (both of which were first-half hattricks incidentally.
Unfortunately the half time interval seemed to take the sting out of our attacking presence.
Well from a goals point of view. We still dominated proceeding, even when the inevitable did happen and the little Aussie McDonald stole in with a goal.
OH NO!
Typical boro, we aren't going to let a 4 goal lead slip are we?!?!?!
No
Less than a minute later the striker formerly known as Enrique Garcia Martinez (or Kike to normal people) who had replaced Vossen minutes earlier, planted his right footed curling shot into the goal infront on the travelling Smoggies, The first goal at that end all game.
Kike had been dying to get on the pitch as he could smell goals even from the bench. Or so I was told by the BBC Tees commentary trio of Ali Maddo and Mark.
Boro are a strange team. Why oh why oh why couldn't we have not reserved one of those goals for last week? Like Vossen? But, hey, lets not moan. It's a 5-1 victory. Our biggest away victory since the same score against QPR in 2009. The game afterwards, however, we did lose 3-0 to Blackpool. But history never repeats itself, right?
Only time will tell, and one way we can tempt fate against doing that is by packing the riverside to the rafters and singing our hearts out for the lads.
So come on the boro, lets put on a show for the cameras!
Thursday 4 December 2014
Points Sheer-ed
Thanks for taking for taking the time to read this post, and I hope your head isn't too bad from drinking away your sorrows from the *technically* last minute equaliser. I say *technically* because Dimi was down injured for 5 minutes. This obviously had nothing to do with the elbow in the back. Not since 2009 has someone called Chris Brown inflicted such pain ( Ba dum tss )
I'm sure these words have been voiced by every Boro fan since Saturday's encounter, but HOW IS THAT NOT A FOUL. In fact there were 3 fouls, one on Dimi, one on Gibbo and a handball by Brown! Eeh Marky you've fluffed your lines here mate. May be the blame lies with Mr Sheeran and not Clattenburg, after all he did sing 'Don't' and that may have been Clattenburg's though when asked 'Shall I give a free kick?.'
Protest we may, it was a draw. 1-1. According to Sky Sports 'an even match' and the equaliser came ' when Konstantopoulos did not deal with the ball in to his box late on.' Obviously. But hey, we are still in the playoff places. We have only experienced defeat once in 14 games. But that 5th place spot we occupy looks unappealing when you're looking up at that 2nd spot. Everything would look so much rosier.
But now the 'typical Boro' doubts seem to creep in with people thinking the post Crimbo decline has come early this year. Even before the game, an air of uncertainty hung around, well it was in the East, where I heard one guy say he wishes Danny Graham was starting instead of Vossen. So after I had picked up my jaw from the floor I began thinking that this wasn't something we had experienced for a while, Last year perhaps when people thought Juke should start over Main, but someone we don't have? And Danny Graham? Well I guess you can't account for some.
As the game kicked off, you could see what kind of game it was going to be. It was a Watford game. You can tell it'll be that kind of game from the line-up. With Bamford wide, you know you're going to get him and Adomah will get in and around the Striker, with the fullbacks pushing up. In this formation too, you get 'Tomlinho' pushing deeper and deeper with Leadbitter and Clayton. But on Saturday Clayton was suspended so Deano took his place. And with Whitehead acting as a 3rd centre back at times, it isolates our lead goal scorer, Grant. Grant Leadbitter has definitely benefitted from Clayton as he now has licence to get forward. Now you'd think - surely Whitehead does that too? But the difference in mobility between the two and the positioning. These little differences can majorly affect Leadbitter's style of play, he feels he has to stay back and gets lost in the 3 ahead of him when he goes forward.
Even with MY questions about formation, we started well, keeping the ball and the man I was talking about staying back, Leadbitter, had the best chance from the opening stages. His long range strike stopped by Eastmond, which became a feature of the game. The only time Eastmond was beaten in the half, Jelle found Duffy in his way, otherwise he had an open goal in front of him after collecting the rebound from his previous shot, which followed a goalmouth scramble. These chance, along with Rhodes attempted bicycle kick were the best chances of a slow first half, where Ayala, Omeruo, Deano and Tomlin probably had the most touches of the ball by far.
The second half started rather similarly, but increased in tempo as it wore on. Chances fell to that man again, Vossen who is still looking for his first goal for Boro. Although he must be cursing some back luck after he saw his point blank header tipped over the top by Eastmond. He might have been able to direct it somewhere else, but he thought he had scored with any touch and it was just the heroics from Steeley's replacement who couldn't play due to the terms of his loan.
It took until the 83rd minute for Boro to get the ball in the back of the net. This followed a good little run and shot from Tee Lomlin (see what I did there?) and the corner was headed down by Friend at the back post (with the hint of a foul there, but nothing compared to what was to come) and Bamford hit the ball sweetly into the back of the heel of the Blackburn player which helped the ball on the way into the back of the net. That's it. 9/10 times an goal in the minutes 80-90 win a team the game. But brilliantly, this was the 1 time it doesn't.
In fairness there shouldn't have been an opportunity for Blackburn to draw level. Our attempts to retain the ball in the corner were pretty poor and in retrospect, a pass inside to Kike from Adomah would've been the better option, but at the time it didn't look like it would lead to us losing 2 points. But, helped by a few other things (including a referee with a poor haircut - not that i'm still upset) it did.
The 94th minute came and the ball had gone out for Blackburn's second corner in succession. And I'm sure you know the story now. It ended with Dimi face down in pain and the Blackburn players celebrating like they had just won a point against Liverpool in the Capital One Cup! (Which they didn't do by the way)
This lead to 'Karankatoa' as Anthony Vickers put it. The Spaniard flipped his lid and rushed like the bull from his native country to confront the 4th official. Suggestions of a push have been dismissed by Karanka, but from a fans point of view, I love to see that.
I mean, no I don't like that he may be missing on the touchline for a number of weeks after this. But seeing someone with so much passion for the club is so endearing to us fans. Mowbray is a Boro lad through and through but he wasn't likely to 'fight 100%' for the club as he wasn't that kind of manager, player yes, but not manager.
'Apparently' this confrontation ultimately led to Higgy's departure. Yes, news just in from Sky Sources! No, it's probably one of those 'through the grape vine' rumours. But apparently Karanka hasn't been best pleased with Higgy. I can only imagine this is in reference to the fact he has a different way to Karanka, and the fact that he didn't 'back him up' in the questioning of the official and that was the straw that broke the camels back.
Now i'm not for one minute saying that this is the definitive answer, because I don't think I fully believe it, but I just wanted to let you know because it seems like an interesting view on the whole confusing situation.
But we can't let thoughts of the lovely scouser shroud our vision as we head towards Millwall. I'm more than sure that Karanka will send out the lads to attack, because Millwall are 20th and a team we should be wiping the floor with, if we have any hope of gaining promotion.
Ooh this is a long one, by my standards. Well I missed the report on the Wigan draw so I feel I have to make up for it. I just hope that this situation is sorted out soon and that this won't have a damaging affect on our season. After all, before Higgy we were really struggling for goal. But again, that was with Danny Graham spearing our attack so hopefully we won't slump back.
We can be nothing but optimistic now because Karanka has shown no reason for us not to believe him in the past so why start now? Lets look forward to Saturday and more importantly, the 13th where we can hopefully pack the Riverside and put on a show for the cameras, another Norwich would be amazing, Aitor cheers mate!
Up the boro!
I'm sure these words have been voiced by every Boro fan since Saturday's encounter, but HOW IS THAT NOT A FOUL. In fact there were 3 fouls, one on Dimi, one on Gibbo and a handball by Brown! Eeh Marky you've fluffed your lines here mate. May be the blame lies with Mr Sheeran and not Clattenburg, after all he did sing 'Don't' and that may have been Clattenburg's though when asked 'Shall I give a free kick?.'
Protest we may, it was a draw. 1-1. According to Sky Sports 'an even match' and the equaliser came ' when Konstantopoulos did not deal with the ball in to his box late on.' Obviously. But hey, we are still in the playoff places. We have only experienced defeat once in 14 games. But that 5th place spot we occupy looks unappealing when you're looking up at that 2nd spot. Everything would look so much rosier.
But now the 'typical Boro' doubts seem to creep in with people thinking the post Crimbo decline has come early this year. Even before the game, an air of uncertainty hung around, well it was in the East, where I heard one guy say he wishes Danny Graham was starting instead of Vossen. So after I had picked up my jaw from the floor I began thinking that this wasn't something we had experienced for a while, Last year perhaps when people thought Juke should start over Main, but someone we don't have? And Danny Graham? Well I guess you can't account for some.
As the game kicked off, you could see what kind of game it was going to be. It was a Watford game. You can tell it'll be that kind of game from the line-up. With Bamford wide, you know you're going to get him and Adomah will get in and around the Striker, with the fullbacks pushing up. In this formation too, you get 'Tomlinho' pushing deeper and deeper with Leadbitter and Clayton. But on Saturday Clayton was suspended so Deano took his place. And with Whitehead acting as a 3rd centre back at times, it isolates our lead goal scorer, Grant. Grant Leadbitter has definitely benefitted from Clayton as he now has licence to get forward. Now you'd think - surely Whitehead does that too? But the difference in mobility between the two and the positioning. These little differences can majorly affect Leadbitter's style of play, he feels he has to stay back and gets lost in the 3 ahead of him when he goes forward.
Even with MY questions about formation, we started well, keeping the ball and the man I was talking about staying back, Leadbitter, had the best chance from the opening stages. His long range strike stopped by Eastmond, which became a feature of the game. The only time Eastmond was beaten in the half, Jelle found Duffy in his way, otherwise he had an open goal in front of him after collecting the rebound from his previous shot, which followed a goalmouth scramble. These chance, along with Rhodes attempted bicycle kick were the best chances of a slow first half, where Ayala, Omeruo, Deano and Tomlin probably had the most touches of the ball by far.
The second half started rather similarly, but increased in tempo as it wore on. Chances fell to that man again, Vossen who is still looking for his first goal for Boro. Although he must be cursing some back luck after he saw his point blank header tipped over the top by Eastmond. He might have been able to direct it somewhere else, but he thought he had scored with any touch and it was just the heroics from Steeley's replacement who couldn't play due to the terms of his loan.
It took until the 83rd minute for Boro to get the ball in the back of the net. This followed a good little run and shot from Tee Lomlin (see what I did there?) and the corner was headed down by Friend at the back post (with the hint of a foul there, but nothing compared to what was to come) and Bamford hit the ball sweetly into the back of the heel of the Blackburn player which helped the ball on the way into the back of the net. That's it. 9/10 times an goal in the minutes 80-90 win a team the game. But brilliantly, this was the 1 time it doesn't.
In fairness there shouldn't have been an opportunity for Blackburn to draw level. Our attempts to retain the ball in the corner were pretty poor and in retrospect, a pass inside to Kike from Adomah would've been the better option, but at the time it didn't look like it would lead to us losing 2 points. But, helped by a few other things (including a referee with a poor haircut - not that i'm still upset) it did.
The 94th minute came and the ball had gone out for Blackburn's second corner in succession. And I'm sure you know the story now. It ended with Dimi face down in pain and the Blackburn players celebrating like they had just won a point against Liverpool in the Capital One Cup! (Which they didn't do by the way)
This lead to 'Karankatoa' as Anthony Vickers put it. The Spaniard flipped his lid and rushed like the bull from his native country to confront the 4th official. Suggestions of a push have been dismissed by Karanka, but from a fans point of view, I love to see that.
I mean, no I don't like that he may be missing on the touchline for a number of weeks after this. But seeing someone with so much passion for the club is so endearing to us fans. Mowbray is a Boro lad through and through but he wasn't likely to 'fight 100%' for the club as he wasn't that kind of manager, player yes, but not manager.
'Apparently' this confrontation ultimately led to Higgy's departure. Yes, news just in from Sky Sources! No, it's probably one of those 'through the grape vine' rumours. But apparently Karanka hasn't been best pleased with Higgy. I can only imagine this is in reference to the fact he has a different way to Karanka, and the fact that he didn't 'back him up' in the questioning of the official and that was the straw that broke the camels back.
Now i'm not for one minute saying that this is the definitive answer, because I don't think I fully believe it, but I just wanted to let you know because it seems like an interesting view on the whole confusing situation.
But we can't let thoughts of the lovely scouser shroud our vision as we head towards Millwall. I'm more than sure that Karanka will send out the lads to attack, because Millwall are 20th and a team we should be wiping the floor with, if we have any hope of gaining promotion.
Ooh this is a long one, by my standards. Well I missed the report on the Wigan draw so I feel I have to make up for it. I just hope that this situation is sorted out soon and that this won't have a damaging affect on our season. After all, before Higgy we were really struggling for goal. But again, that was with Danny Graham spearing our attack so hopefully we won't slump back.
We can be nothing but optimistic now because Karanka has shown no reason for us not to believe him in the past so why start now? Lets look forward to Saturday and more importantly, the 13th where we can hopefully pack the Riverside and put on a show for the cameras, another Norwich would be amazing, Aitor cheers mate!
Up the boro!
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