07/08/2009 - Middlesborough v. Sheffield United

[Sensiblade]

Defence - looked soild Walker had a fe iffy moments but always got back, Morgan & Killa excellent as usual, Taylor quiet but effective

Midfield - Monty did his job excellently as usual, Quinn looked better 1st half thatn he has for ages bit quieter i the second half, Howard went into hide and seek mode again (drop him asap)

Forward line - France was very quiet and didn't cross that well, Treacy was good I think the more he plays the better he will get, Relish was just Relish putting himself about didn't look fit evey decision given against him same old same old

Finally from the starting lineup

Keeper - Did what he needed to do, didn't look in trouble and talked to (shouted at) anyone he thought had not done their job right, which is exactly what he should do.

Subs cotts looked like he wanted to get forwrd whenever he could and he came back and defended (bonus!) Evans didn't really have hance to show what he was about as we still hit the ball to Hendo when playing it upfront direct and didn't proving crosses when we played down the wing so judgement is reserved on that one

MOTM - Hard but easy (Hard cos everyone pretty much did there jobs and we got a reasonabe result, easy cos the player i'm picking did his job as he should and as I expected him to) = Monty

 

[dingledog]

This is a good result for us, away from home, against a team relegated last season from the premiership and we more than held our own and it could be argued had the best chances. Nothing is won or lost in the first game nut we have had a good solid start to the season away from home.

 

[jodman]

Overall I think it was a good point tonight, and if we can kick on against what on paper are two inferior sides in the next two home games we can be delighted with the start we've made.

Bunn 7 - Great solid save in the first half which was creeping in, all other aspects very commanding and good kicking too.
Taylor 7 - Didn't do anything wrong, handled Johnson well and looks like we have our new long throw expert for the left.
Morgs 7 - no change
Killa 7 - no change
Walker 7 - Fine, a bit less impressive than his other performances for us.
Treacy 7 - I think I saw enough in him to think he can offer us something, could have scored early doors. Needs to put some balls in for the striker(s).
Monty 8 - Fantastic
Howard 6 - Generally poor
Quinn 8 - I'm not Quinny's biggest fan but I thought he looked a bit like the Quinny which first came onto the scene a few years ago.
France 6 - Poor, but to be fair to him I don't think he's an out and out winger or particularly attack minded, some of the dogs abuse he's getting on that weird site is a bit disturbing.
Hendo 7 - Did what Hendo does with little service, battled harried and held the ball up well.

Subs - Didn't really make a difference.

Yeah i would go along with most of that but i thought Quinn was poor today and would give him a 6. Monty was superb but i'm still really disappointed that another pre-season has passed without us adding a quality central midfielder.

Overall a good point and a good first 45 minutes; onwards and upwards

 

[Sensiblade]

I put this on Twitter about Quinn/Howard

'Howard keeps going missing. Making Quinn look bad by making him work twice as hard'

I stand by that, the overtanned twat should be benched till he can learn to be a team player!

 

[MAQ]

IMO was a good point. should and could have got more but although we didnt win, we didnt loose.

can only get better from here.

personally (and as i mentioned here) was surprised that bunn started ahead of bennett. however he made a good save, good punch and was confident. well worth his start and looks a good substitute.

And that not meaning that bennett wouldnt be

 

[Bladesman]

Yeah i would go along with most of that but i thought Quinn was poor today and would give him a 6. Monty was superb but i'm still really disappointed that another pre-season has passed without us adding a quality central midfielder.

Overall a good point and a good first 45 minutes; onwards and upwards

He was the only person on the pitch taking shots.

 

[Santos]

Yeah i would go along with most of that but i thought Quinn was poor today and would give him a 6. Monty was superb but i'm still really disappointed that another pre-season has passed without us adding a quality central midfielder.

Overall a good point and a good first 45 minutes; onwards and upwards

I know what you mean but Williamson who has always impressed me is still to come into the fold.

 

[kelham blade]

Top marks to Hendo tonight.

Considering he's had no pre-season I don't think the two big lads, Huth and Wheater, will get battered around like schoolboys by too many this season.

And a mention for Bunn whos accurate kicking and communication with his defence was a refreshing change.

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

I put this on Twitter about Quinn/Howard

'Howard keeps going missing. Making Quinn look bad by making him work twice as hard'

I stand by that, the overtanned twat should be benched till he can learn to be a team player!

Agree to a point Sensi, but that doesn't explain or excuse the extraordinary amount of times Quinn gives the ball away. Monty got/gets slated for his distribution but at times he looks like TC himself at the side of Quinn!

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

And Howard neshes most tackles - waste of space

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

I was very supprised that the last fifteen minutes wasn't an ariel bombardment after Evans came on and Hendo stayed on.

Didn't seem to want to win it although I do appreciate it is a marathon and not a sprint.

 

[Linz]

A scrappy game... our full backs hardly covered themselves in glory tonight but Morgs and Killa were rocks in the centre. I'm very pleased with Bunn too, and bloody hell, can that lad kick a ball!

It was clear midfield wasn't working, they weren't pushing up to support Hendo at all. Howard was far too nesh. I thought Quinny did a little better today than he did towards the end of last season, but it wasn't anything blinding.

Hendo again suffered from a referee who appears to only see fouls one way, and also see fouls when there aren't any.

Evans was playing very deep when he came on and didn't really get chance to show. Cotterill looks a little less nesh than he did last season too... can only do his game a bit of good.

Disappointed not to see Reid, can only imagine he's picked up a knock?

MOTM poll posted anyway...

 

[sitwell]

If there was a poll for worst player ,it would be a landslide.
Did Howard attend the Willie Falconer school of excellence ?

 

[puppet]

I thought we were terribly one-dimensional... looked like the third half of the play off final at kick off. certainly wasnt a game between two good teams so not really worth taking heart from it being a fairly even game. i thought hendo held it up well but playing the same old midfield again to pick up the scraps from the long ball is just ridiculous. quinn was awful, despite being the nearest to an attempt at getting the ball in the net, monty the terrier great, monty the passer, woeful. the system simply doesnt suit howard - though i dont think he neshed/hid anything like he used to. stupid decision to take him off, quinn/monty werent going to create anything. france, poor, treacy little better absolutely no end product whatsoever and lost the ball constantly. morgan solid, killa fairly solid, taylor looked promising, walker looked like he did in the play off final, shaky at first but came into it very well. bunn impressive debut. evans - did he touch the ball? cotts better defensively than previously, tried to get into the game but we just looked clueless.

im sorry but football is about getting the ball in the net and we never looked like scoring... again a follow on from last season. if we dont sign someone who DOES know where the net is, we're in trouble. one saving grace was the sight of a very average leroy lita. what a relief when mr mason emphatically waved his arms at the attempt at gaining a penalty too, seen slacker than that awarded against us in my time, pity he chose to penalise henderson every time we lumped the ball up to him.

where is kevin phillips these days? still at brum? he was sat in the sky studio tonight, if only it wasnt our bench he was sitting on.

UTB

 

[puppet]

If there was a poll for worst player ,it would be a landslide.
Did Howard attend the Willie Falconer school of excellence ?

I STILL think we dont play to his strengths, thereby rendering him ineffective... by no means the worst player on the pitch tonight.

 

[Hartyblade]

Hendo got my MOTM, he was tirelessly running about winning headers, holding the balling up very well and obviously as always, get no decisions his way.

The problem we have is that when Ched wasn't on he was knocking the ball down to either Quinn or Howard... Not the best of players to have receiving the ball there as alot of the time the attack came to nothing because of one of these two.

Walker didn't see very attacking this game, played well in defence against a toughy charachter in johnson.

France didn't seem all that good however me and my dad was rather impressed with Treacy, showed potential even though the commentators didn't seem a fan of him, was decent on the ball and has a eye for goal and a rare bit of pace now and again.

Bunn impressed me, hope he keeps it up, couple of good saves and commanded the box and his back 4 more than adequetly.

Monty had a good game i feel aswell, did his job well and also had a few runs here and there all of which helped us clear our lines.

 

[puppet]

hendo was my MOTM, despite as you say, his good work leading to nothing. i could cope with the style of play if we had the players to do the job but to attempt to play how we do without the right players is naive management at best, inept more like, given the level we are playing at.

 

[Jon Bon]

I STILL think we dont play to his strengths, thereby rendering him ineffective... by no means the worst player on the pitch tonight.

Quinn doesn't have any strengths. He can't pass a ball, he gives stupid fouls away, therefore he can't tackle and he only has one foot, which if he just happens to be standing on it, he's fecked..!

Monty is 10 times the player Quinn is and was tremendous tonight. Don't worry though pup, you can spend the afternoon watching the Charidee Shield tomorrow, there should be enough free flowing football there to keep you happy.

Edit: Sorry, I thought it was Quinn who was being discussed. My views still stand though..

 

[kelham blade]

I've never seen what strenghs Howard has that we can play to.

Poor in the air, soft in the tackle and precious little acceleration to leave a man if he ever beats him.

The only thing he has is an eye for a pass if he's given ten yards of space in which to look up which is rare in this division.

To end on a positive though, a point away from home against a team who will be up there when the season ends is good enough for me.

And what appeared to be a concious effort to pass the ball on the ground even with two six-foot-plus strikers on at the end.

 

[Greasy Chip Butty]

Not a bad start to a season, impressed by Taylor who looked solid and a bargain! Walker positionally isn't very good, but can only learn and his pace gets him out of many situations. Good to see Cotts getting back too!
Ref wasn't up to much, everything went against Hendo (Again), Dodgy decision against howard when he won the ball of Wheater and was free down the left and i'm still trying to work out why he gave that free kick against Monty for the tackle on O'Neill

 

[puppet]

Quinn doesn't have any strengths. He can't pass a ball, he gives stupid fouls away, therefore he can't tackle and he only has one foot, which if he just happens to be standing on it, he's fecked..!

Monty is 10 times the player Quinn is and was tremendous tonight. Don't worry though pup, you can spend the afternoon watching the Charidee Shield tomorrow, there should be enough free flowing football there to keep you happy.

Edit: Sorry, I thought it was Quinn who was being discussed. My views still stand though..

Actually, in all seriousness, I have NO interest in Match of the Day, Premier League football, The CS etc.. England games, I dont really care about football outside United and The Hope Valley League where the strapping pup jnr now plays. I dont care how great other teams are i just want us to play well OR if we arent going to play good stuff, at least play archaic tactics that bring results

UTB

 

[Jon Bon]

I dont really care about football outside United and The Hope Valley League where the strapping pup jnr now plays.

A great league. Who does he play for?

Jon Bon played around 5 seasons for Holmesfield in the mid-90's. :header:

 

[DuncDisorderly]

The view from the Temple of Positivitity, was...it was a decent start, but there will be better to come. We were a bit unlucky not to catch them with the early goal, but after we'd had our bright 20 mins it just became two heavyweights slugging it out. You can see the bit of quality in the Boro side, but it was ineffective, and one shot on goal (Yeates effort, which was actually drifting wide, I thought, told its own story)

The defence just carried on really. Walker made some errors, although he won that back with the superb tackle (not cast iron penalty, although we've all seen them given). Thought Taylor had a good game, but we need to be thinking about him more as the replacement for Naysmith, and not Naughton. He was steady and competent, but he's no flying fullback. Morgs, Killa and Monty in the triangle were all excellent.

Amazed that Hendo can train for a week after being out since April, and play like that. He was very unlucky with almost every decision given against him, and I fear that being the 'big, physical side' that they all keep going on about, referees are looking for us, and we will have to get used to it, and get cleverer.

It was the bit in the middle that didn't click for me. France, Treacy, Howard and Quinn looked like they'd been introduced in the car park before the game. We seemed to make a lot of misplaced passes, or needed an extra half second on the ball and will have to sharpen up. France and Treacy I could understand but not the other two. They know what CCC football is about. Howard in particular went missing for long periods. Quinny did try to play a bit. In fact they all tried to play a bit, rather than hoof and 'elpiton'. There were some nice interpassing movements and that is encouraging for our viewing enoyment at least. It looked a bit more like Preston in the play-offs than Forest at home, but giving the ball away so much, it didn't gel and it didn't flow. It will get better as they get used to each other.

Cotts did OK when he came on. Evans didn't get a chance, but if Speedo and his connections into the Welsh set-up, says he's the real deal, then we'll have to trust and give him the time to get going. Final word on Sky coverage. It is plain to see they set us up as the pantomime villian, the 'big physical side' (anyone count how many times that was said?). Any good football we play will be largely ignored I fear.

So Dunc says, one thumb up. Good performance overall, and a welcome point. Psychologically, I think knowing the significance of the 94th min goal at Brum last year, it will give us a nice boost to get the scoreboard moving. Better is to come, much better, but we do need to sharpen up in midfield and retain the ball better.

UTB, and come on you Barnsley..!!

 

[BladesMad]

I agree with much of what you said Duncs, but from my armchair, I thought Blackwell hasn't changed much from last season. I'm aware the he played with the lone striker, but he never seems to have a plan 'B' if things aren't working out.
The midfield is still non-existent, and when are the players going to learn to pass to one another?
I found it a very frustrating game, and I just hope that there are better displays to come

Just my tuppence worth

 

[shorehamview]

Well, that wasn't too bad. Having expected a spanking from Boro I think we could have easily nicked a goal. So could they, but I'm happy with a point from a side I thought would beat us easily.

 

[Stan]

One of the positives i took from last night was Bunn's kicking. It seemed much more accurate than Paddy's, with more power and less height.

 

[keenzy]

Bunn, Morgan, Killa, Monty were solid all the way through. The rest showed decent patches but still got caught out/went missing.

Walker and taylor kept wandering out of position at times, but its the first match... bedding in issues?

My main grumble is with the guy on the side line. Buys wingers and then still plays long ball. all the time. No plan B. last 10 mins, why not bring reid on? why not drop howard? why not play like we did against preston??

 

[DuncDisorderly]

I thought Blackwell hasn't changed much from last season. :

Well, it could be said that Blackie didn't really need to change much from last season. In fact you could say we're already one point ahead of where we were at this stage, , so it might be enough come the final day! His win record as manager is one of the best we've ever had, so although it might not be pretty, but its hard to argue that it isn't pretty effective.

We put Cotts and Evans on and went 4-4-2 for the last 15 mins, and I think that qualifies at 'Plan B', but by then I think it had turned into a game that was more important not lose, and so seeing it out for a point wasn't a disaster by any means. I think we'll see more 4-4-2 at home, and once these middies settle in with each other, I have a feeling it won't be bad to watch either...

 

[BladesMad]

Fair point Duncs...its just that I was frustrated (with my biased view) that everything seemed to be Middlesbrough this and Middlesbrough that. I wouldn't be surprised if Southgate and his team struggled for mid-table....or at least I hope so

 

[Currie on Radio]

I know what you mean but Williamson who has always impressed me is still to come into the fold.

Not for a while he isn't.......