Middlesbrough v Leeds Utd - Post Match Discussion

[Kennyb41]

I think that was likely the main reason that Byram started at right back rather than Gray so that we could almost be a 3 man defence and give Firpo the freedom to simply pop up anywhere. Byram has much more defensive awareness than Gray, not a knock on Gray just an experience thing.

Noticeable also that the Rutter penalty came from Rutter getting the ball in the left wing area, also Gnonto goal saw him in a left wing area. Seems we had a huge plan to overload our left, possibly to expose Dijksteel's weakness (gave the penalty away last night and got sent off against us at ER and is seen as not as good as Ayling).

We created good chances whereas in all honesty Boro got a lot of luck with their first, the second should have been saved and likely the third one if he tried that 100 times he'd only score it a handful of times.

I was left thinking eBygum performs better on our left than right last night, but that's probably coz he was required more defensively.

You think their second should've been saved ? I'll have another look, but i thought it was well struck and seemed to come from nowhere, unexpected angle anorl, pulled and whipped into the not so obvious side, which wrongfooted Mes a bit and he couldn't get a good hand on it. What did you think of Rutters foul for the pen ? I haven't watched any highlights yet, but i thought on second viewing on TV that he bought it superbly, cut across his man on entering the box, then dangled his leg out to get clipped, very clever.

I'm still worried and panic like fck about the space between our lines, the timing of when to push up an extra 5-10yds is bugging me to fck, especially away from home, it seems to leave oooooooodles of space for the oppos to exploit, especially coz we're playing 4-2 and not 4-3-3 or 4-4-2. And i know our wingbacks push on to create a 2-4-3-1 at times, but summerts not reet.

[Kennyb41]

Well said. The bashing of him over the substitutions is just bizarre. He gets slagged off if he waits too long and slagged off if he does make changes. We were controlling it at 4-2 and they score a bit of a freak goal from a long ball, doesn't really matter which 11 we had on the pitch that goal would have stilled happened. Without that goal we likely see out the game comfortably and maybe score a 5th.
As it is goals change matches. Chelsea beat Everton 6-0 last week but Everton missed an absolute sitter at 0-0, if they score that goal then that match could have had an entirely different outcome.

Like you say Farke brought us stability quickly with his calmness. This season could easily have gone into a tailspin several times.

Certain people are good at shouting from the rooftops in hindsight.

At 2-4 up, the subs appeared spot on, ok i would've preferred Joseph to Piroe, and that's abart it. We have to accept that mistakes WILL be made, things will be gotten wrong at times.

He could've put Cooper and Shackleton on for a total block and shut up shop, he didn't, so we've no idea or hindsight how that may've turned out.

But God forbid he did and we lost.

[DDB220]

I think Mes will be disappointed with the second also. He got a hand to it, but the two factors were his hand got a connection on the bottom of the ball and it wasn’t strong enough. It was a good height for the keeper.

The first was lucky for them in terms of how the ball broke in the melee - the 3rd was a fantastic header - great execution - Left Mes with no chance. He looks a handful Latte. Reminds me a bit of Toney with his athleticism.

I do not think Mes had a bad game last night. He dealt well with a number of dangerous crosses. Got caught on the ball taking too much time to clear on one occasion. Happens to all keepers who are required to play with their feet frequently. Boro did a good job pressing us and they deserve credit taking the game to us. However we carved out all the best openings and should have scored at least 5.

They are the perfect team to play counter against. I was confused by the subs as we were containing them well and restricting them to half chances at best and looking dangerous on the break. DF prefers to have more possession and control in a game, which I can understand but for me those subs unbalanced us. Arguably he was probably worried that we would not have held out under the constant barrage. But it is all about 3 points

[CUSSIE01]

Well said. The bashing of him over the substitutions is just bizarre. He gets slagged off if he waits too long and slagged off if he does make changes. We were controlling it at 4-2 and they score a bit of a freak goal from a long ball, doesn't really matter which 11 we had on the pitch that goal would have stilled happened. Without that goal we likely see out the game comfortably and maybe score a 5th.
As it is goals change matches. Chelsea beat Everton 6-0 last week but Everton missed an absolute sitter at 0-0, if they score that goal then that match could have had an entirely different outcome.

Like you say Farke brought us stability quickly with his calmness. This season could easily have gone into a tailspin several times.

I said on the match thread that Boro looked knackered at 4-2 but 1 goal could change things ( Coventry against The Scum ) but it was a one in a million goal and I can’t put blame on either the defenders or Mes, no keeper is going to be standing on the goal line in that situation and it was a brilliant piece of improvisation from the striker. We got an away win at one of the leagues in form teams after going a goal down and being low in confidence after a couple of poor results so let’s take it and move on to QPR.

[The Subhuman]

Well said. The bashing of him over the substitutions is just bizarre. He gets slagged off if he waits too long and slagged off if he does make changes. We were controlling it at 4-2 and they score a bit of a freak goal from a long ball, doesn't really matter which 11 we had on the pitch that goal would have stilled happened. Without that goal we likely see out the game comfortably and maybe score a 5th.
As it is goals change matches. Chelsea beat Everton 6-0 last week but Everton missed an absolute sitter at 0-0, if they score that goal then that match could have had an entirely different outcome.

Like you say Farke brought us stability quickly with his calmness. This season could easily have gone into a tailspin several times.

You want us, the likes of CJay and I, with alternative analysis, to just shut the f**k up then?

[Broad Ford]

Leeds back to winning ways with those fast attacking counters and goals, 4 of them.

Controlling the game and slowing the pace at 4-2, yet Latte puts a cat amongst the pigeons making for a panicky last 5 mins.

The forwards were back to their clinical ways, Firpo put another shift in and our defence managed some very skilled Boro players. It was a case of they'll score goals, but we'll score more.

As the table stands Ipswich travel to must win Hull then Coventry, which means both of these teams need to play offensively to get the win they desperately need. Will the offensive play favour Ipswich on the break?

Ipswich then play Huddersfield a team fighting to avoid relegation. It may be too late by then meaning they'll have nothing to lose, but if there's still hope then Huddersfield will be playing like lions right until the final whistle.

If Leeds continue to produce last nights form for the last remaining fixtures they're on course for the autos. It's looking good for DF and Leeds United.

[weasel]

Certain people are good at shouting from the rooftops in hindsight.

At 2-4 up, the subs appeared spot on, ok i would've preferred Joseph to Piroe, and that's abart it. We have to accept that mistakes WILL be made, things will be gotten wrong at times.

He could've put Cooper and Shackleton on for a total block and shut up shop, he didn't, so we've no idea or hindsight how that may've turned out.

But God forbid he did and we lost.

To be fair I think given the 4-2 scoreline Piroe was likely the better choice as he is more likely to hold the ball up and keep possession. Joseph is more of a bull in a chine shop and we have seen several times him giving away freekicks in our half when we have been holding onto a lead.

Like you say we could have gone down the 'pack the defence' route but that simply invites pressure and allows the opposition to dictate proceedings and limits our threat. Maybe the sort of thing to do with 5 minutes left and holding a one goal lead.

4 goals scorerd coming from 3 different scorers, all of which were our attacking players and yet some fans complain. Hopefully those 3 all have their confidence up and our defence can go back to being it's usual self, maybe in Kamara's absence we get to see why he is important, albeit the Boro goals weren't them cutting us open and they probably looked better in terms of cutting us open when we beat them at ER.

[weasel]

You want us, the likes of CJay and I, with alternative analysis, to just shut the f**k up then?

Not at all I just feel sometimes people seem to have a need to find fault or apportion blame. We all do it but sometimes it gets a bit predicatble like people are just waiting for any small thing to pick fault with.

I made mention of the Sheff Utf game in the 1992 title triumph and sometimes it is more about holding your nerve in a crazy game. We adopted a tactic in the second half which gave Boro a lot of meaningless possession and we scored 1 on the break and could have scored more whereas Boro carried little threat until they scored.

This match also reminded me of us beating Ipswich at their place and for me that was also an example of turning the opponent's strength into a weakness. We let Boro, and Ipswich, play knowing that we could then exploit them.

Farke got a lot more right than he got wrong last night.

[weasel]

I was left thinking eBygum performs better on our left than right last night, but that's probably coz he was required more defensively.

You think their second should've been saved ? I'll have another look, but i thought it was well struck and seemed to come from nowhere, unexpected angle anorl, pulled and whipped into the not so obvious side, which wrongfooted Mes a bit and he couldn't get a good hand on it. What did you think of Rutters foul for the pen ? I haven't watched any highlights yet, but i thought on second viewing on TV that he bought it superbly, cut across his man on entering the box, then dangled his leg out to get clipped, very clever.

I'm still worried and panic like fck about the space between our lines, the timing of when to push up an extra 5-10yds is bugging me to fck, especially away from home, it seems to leave oooooooodles of space for the oppos to exploit, especially coz we're playing 4-2 and not 4-3-3 or 4-4-2. And i know our wingbacks push on to create a 2-4-3-1 at times, but summerts not reet.

Used his strength well and made the defender panic. Very good play and thankfully the ref made the right decision. Well taken penalty by Summerville too considering the keeper went the right way. Hit with enough power to beat the keeper.

[Finnatic]

By the way, I didn’t notice us being so left-dependent tonight - am I right in thinking that we were more balanced in our attacking?

I think Gnonto has better ball retention and skill than James and that’s maybe why.
James is marginally better at tracking back but overall I prefer Gnonto to start.

[The Subhuman]

I think Gnonto has better ball retention and skill than James and that’s maybe why.
James is marginally better at tracking back but overall I prefer Gnonto to start.

I’m not sure the latter is true, Gnonto gets back a lot, and has been a difference maker in defence recently. If we play James/Gnonto top trumps James wins on pace but not much else

IMO

[1964white]

We can't even waste time efficiently.

[Cjay]

You want us, the likes of CJay and I, with alternative analysis, to just shut the f**k up then?

I haven't actually said anything about DF this time bar I don't like the sit back thing (nothing new I've always said that)

I liked the wingers swapping more and Gray being given more license to get forward (whether by design or instinct) so if those 2 things were tactical choices from DF I'm pleased.

But still don't like the sit back , invite pressure thing, we always concede and bar an offside goal we don't win that

But we did so happy days.

This seems to stem from a comment from another poster about Michael Carrick anyhow.

[1964white]

I haven't actually said anything about DF this time bar I don't like the sit back thing (nothing new I've always said that)

I liked the wingers swapping more and Gray being given more license to get forward (whether by design or instinct) so if those 2 things were tactical choices from DF I'm pleased.

But still don't like the sit back , invite pressure thing, we always concede and bar an offside goal we don't win that

But we did so happy days.

This seems to stem from a comment from another poster about Michael Carrick anyhow.

Going to the wire in what has been a bonkers season.

[Cjay]

Going to the wire in what has been a bonkers season.

Southampton win last day for 2nd

[Cjay]

Don't know if anyone agrees or it was in my head (or influenced by Gnonto and Jimmy swapping more).

But felt like we used more of the pitch vs Boro?

Used the right more, not so much Byram but it felt like it wasn't always just left left left?

[The Subhuman]

Don't know if anyone agrees or it was in my head (or influenced by Gnonto and Jimmy swapping more).

But felt like we used more of the pitch vs Boro?

Used the right more, not so much Byram but it felt like it wasn't always just left left left?

Again, apart from the two defensive lapses, I thought we played well till the substitutions. Second game in a row where those have seen us just fall apart.

We’ve lost both games 0-1 after the substitutions and looked a hot mess

[The Subhuman]

We’d be top if we hadn’t made those subs v Blackburn, either by 2 points or on goal difference

[1964white]

Again, apart from the two defensive lapses, I thought we played well till the substitutions. Second game in a row where those have seen us just fall apart.

We’ve lost both games 0-1 after the substitutions and looked a hot mess

We did look a mess after the substitutions were made.

I suppose Farke had the QPR on Friday night in mind, especially after making his fourth substitution with a two goal lead & four minutes of official time remaining.

I personally felt very uneasy, as we'd missed opportunities to put the game to bed, you could guarantee we'd have another lapse, true to form we did & that third goal inspired Boro' in front of a half-empty stadium. We were fortunate not concede an equaliser as we defended with little composure, running around like headless chickens as we did our best to chuck the points away.

We can't even waste time efficiently, as other clubs have shown us how to do it all season.

Thank god the referee blew his whistle, as we wouldn't have held on for much longer.

[mentalcase]

We're home tickets a tenner last night !!