Deja Vu Defeat Shows Gulf In Class

CRUELLY deflected own goal… penalty… poor defending… Gary O’Neil… Steve McClaren… there was more than a hint of deja vu at Loftus Road.
All we needed was a sending off and Boro would have ticked off all the boxes on the mandatory matchday check list. And a draw. But even a draw was way beyond Tony Mowbray’s side on a very bad day at the office

No Case For The Defence As Boro’s Battered Backline Buckles

TONY MOWBRAY is finding it very hard to make a case for the defence.
Eight goals leaked in three games (and it could have been more) … three spot kicks conceded (and it could have been more) … two red cards (and it could have been more) … three winning positions let slip amid moments of slapstick chaos.
And just two points. And it could – and should – have been more. That it isn’t is entirely down to Boro’s fatal flaw, an almost institutional inability to hold onto a lead.

Take Aim: Boro – Turning Self Inflicted Foot Wounds Into An Art Form

BORO should be congratulated for finding ever more elaborate and outlandish ways to shoot themselves in the foot.
How do you surpass losing a two goal lead in midweek? Easy. Give the opposition two early penalties, fight back to lead,,, then throw it away. Preferably in comic fashion.
The Heath Robinson contrived chaos of the Bournemouth game was mayhem constructed from far-fetched planks of implausibility, lashed together with strands of predictable frailty and left over cogs and sprockets from previous cock-ups. Then all balanced precariously on top of a big red self-destruct button.
Seriously, this is award winning stuff…. for a sit-com. Boro’s matchday plot-lines are badly scripted with groans greeting the predictable set-piece moments and most of the laughs coming from slapstick moments, well signalled mix-ups and cack-handed acting.
Who’d have believed it? Trailing to two penalties in the opening 12 minutes Boro showed real resolve to battle back playing some exciting, enterprising stuff to deservedly level and then take the lead – only to then fumble at the crucial moment, mistakenly grabbing a pistol in a farcical firearm misunderstanding and put a dum-dum bulletright through their own size nines. Who is writing this stuff? It’s like something out of the Brittas Empire (one for the teenagers there).
Who else but Boro could concede three to a side who didn’t create a single chance from open play? Steele never had a save to make. He barely touched the ball except to pick the ball out of the net. Throw in some suicidal defending, an own goal and a red card and you have all the ingredients of a classic ‘typical Boro’ moment.
One day we’ll look back at this and laugh. Remember that week when we shipped five goals, gave away three penalties (and it could have been three more) and then rounded it off with an own goal and a second red card in four days. Ho bloody ho. It will become a badge of honour like Andy Dibble’s one week, two game, nine goal nightmare and losing a 4-1 lead at Norwich in the last eight minutes.
On the plus side Boro showed real spirit to come from two down and look good going forward: Jacob Butterfield played some exquisite searching balls down the channels and when he syncs with the movement of the front three he will be a very useful player.
Muzzy Carayol was a real threat today after a couple of off days showing pace and trickery and a couple of fantastic crosses as well as scoring a goal – although it would be nice if him and Adomah could both do it on the same day.
The biggest positive of the day though was Kei Kamara. The livewire front runner has the makings of a serious cult hero with his hard work, instinct to get into good positions and ability to stick it in the net. And a real sense of joy about his game too. That’s nice. At the minute he is a goal a game striker after scoring on his away and home debuts in a dramatic week. I hope he doesn’t think it is like this all the time.
Although to be fair, it is.
More later…

Billy Fury Fuels Forest Fire

WHAT a fantastic match! It was an emotional draining. action-packed encounter fought out in an atmosphere that rarely dropped below hysterical.
It was a magnificent chaos, a dramatically charged confusion of pulse-racing passion and physicality, jammed to bursting point with incident and controversy and punctuated with outbreaks of some really breath-taking football.
Boro may have dropped two points at Forest and that was frustrating and disappointing – and predictable – but it was a brilliant encounter that had tingling supporters of both sides reaching for the valium.

Mogga’s Emerging Boro Jigsaw Ploughed Up By Tractor Boys

BORO’S promising picture was ripped apart on a demoralising day when the pieces of Mogga’s jigsaw just didn’t fit.
The early season signs of progress on the pitch – balance, shape, width, pace, penetration, spirit – were nowhere to be seen as a limp Boro were ploughed by the Tractor Boys at Portman Road.
They were routinely and roundly beaten by a functional side that were better organised and more direct and played in a no-frills fashion that Boro were incapable of dealing with. Boro switched off after getting the opener and the paid the price with defeat.
But the crushing reverse could also cost them dearly on the Teesside street as an unconvinced and unforgiving faction of frustrated fans will see the second half slump as evidence that very little has changed from last term’s trauma.

Free Kicks: Boro’s Fatal Flaw?

EXACTLY how many goals do Boro concede from set-plays? That is one of the FAQs when stopped by supporters for an animated chinwag. The answer is of course: “Most of them.”
So far this season every goal leaked in the league since the opening day defeat to Leicester has come from a dead-ball of some sort.
And the two in the red-faced League Cup exit to Accrington Stanley.

Deadline Day 2013: Live

COME ON Boro! Haven’t you signed anyone YET? Get your finger out.
Welcome aboard our breakfast to bongs rolling 24 hour news style scrolling ticker tape of destiny. It’s going to be a long one. Mogga said after the game on Saturday that he “had bids in at clubs” and that he had “permission to speak to the players concerned” – and that they were “new names, not on the radar or mentioned in the press before.”
And he suggested it would go right down to the wire.
So let the speculation begin….