Boro (friendly)

[Redalert1970]

Looks like this possible line up ...

Ripley

Melbourne. Delaney. Rawson. Gibson

Taylor. Love. Fane. Connolly

Hunter. Stockton

[marky No.1]

Derek moved dugouts

[Keith]

Derek moved dugouts

Tell us more?

Has Derek moved them or is it a 'response' to the Bolton game?

[marky No.1]

Quite slick these lot, lucky to be only 2.0 down really, Jake Taylor had a decent headed chance.

Dunno Keith, all i know is he's swapped dugouts

[P/T Indie]

Hopefully Boro will bring on their 2nd eleven and we get a touch in the second half.

Not sure about Gibbo in midfield guessing Derek wanted to shore up the midfield is Watts more an attacker?

[Redalert1970]

Only a friendly but still lots of work to do before the real stuff starts in 10 days

We need at least 2 more defenders in my opinion

[marky No.1]

We need at least 2 more defenders in my opinion

Yep, back 7 would have helped

[Angler1]

We were poor in the first half but Middlesbrough are a great team. Second half we made a few changes and were much better. I still think we need a centre back ... but it looked promising.

[glagys]

Plus points
Max
Farrend
Jake
Fane
Hunter
Almost there
Donald but lacks pace
Connolly good game just outshone by ash
Cole not his best game
Connor don’t like keepers as captains
Subs
Arthur look sharp as did Obika
Caleb looks like he could be a good signing
Glad I don’t have to pick 11 for the first game

[Freez]

We opened with a 4-5-1.
Ripley
Love Faz Delaney Melbourne
Connolly Taylor Fane Gibbo Hunter
Cole.

Second half 4-3-1-2
Ripley
Love Faz Delaney Melbourne
McLaughlin (Shane) Fane Taylor
Hunter
Watts Cole.

Then Obika and Arthur swapped for Cole and Ash.
And finally Ryan C replaced Love and Wes came on for Taylor.

Looked a lot better second period.

[mrpotatohead]

What was Delaney like?

[P/T Indie]

Actually thought we looked better when Cole went off and it was as if we had more options with Watts and Arthur.

I think going forward we will be ok but the defence still worries me. Guessing Derek doesn't fancy Shane to start Gibbo ahead of him.

[Relapsed_Shrimp]

Watts was a class apart in 2nd half. He would have looked at home in the Boro team without a doubt. We've got something really special for a year there.

Gibson, had a go but not his position for me.
Fane - will do a job this year if he puts in the effort he did tonight. Against a slightly least midfield I think he's have controlled.
Ryan D at the back not up to this level.
Ripley showed signs but his kicking is poor. Looks nice and long/high but nowhere shunts.

Cole looked like he was scared of putting any effort in. Just didn't move up a gear at all not did he appear to want to.

Hunter, watts, Connolly and fane look sharp.

I still think we could do with a CB and a power house somewhere in the middle.

[Redalert1970]

Maybe Cole doesn`t want to get injured - especially if there is a move imminent ???

[black morse]

Maybe Cole doesn`t want to get injured - especially if there is a move imminent ???

If there's a move imminent I'm a bit surprised that DA played him at all. Unless he wants to scupper the move!

[Gone_Shrimping]

Watt is going to be a key man this season , lets hope he stays for the full season and isn't recalled at Christmas to be loaned to a bigger club.

I was sat near Chris Wilder and he looked impressed when Watt did a quick turn , left 2 Boro defenders in his wake and ran to the box before slipping the ball to a striker.

[BerlinWaller]

Very impressed with 'Boro and their style of football. We couldn't figure them out at all and they attacked us from all angles. Wilder has a pretty unique style of football and it was a joy to watch. I was most impressed with the ex Stanley lad Matt Clark.

I thought Gibbo looked in poor nick and not like a lad coming to the end of pre season. He looked heavy and sluggish. Cole is a puzzle. Does he look arsed? Does he want to be here? Is he giving his all? Quite impressed with Love, he is all action. Delaney will be one to watch. I can see why Derek likes him but can he work his magic on him? Watt looked like he was 2 yards ahead of everyone else! Obika still can't run.

[Little Shrimp]

Looks like Wilder's really got his stamp on Boro - their movement and rotation in attack was really excellent. As strong as some sides in our division are, I doubt we'll see any L1 teams with that good a combination of player quality and attacking movement this season.

Quite interesting that DA sees a diamond as the way to go to combat a 3-5-2 sometimes. Did it vs Cheltenham in our promotion season at home, and then last night after about 20 mins. Thought the personnel change for second half gave us better suited players to the formation and we competed pretty well - could well have nicked a goal or two with some slightly sharper finishing/final balls.

I was torn between whether we should prioritise bringing in a more attacking or more defensive midfielder (could ideally do with both), but I think last night showed DM may have to be the priority. Thought Gibson looked good on the ball in midfield but the change in the space you have to cover compared to full back when defending seemed to catch him out. Thought McLoughlin covered the areas he needed to in that position better when he came on in the second half - which isn't really a surprise or a slight against Gibson given that McLoughlin is actually a midfielder and Gibson isn't. I get why DA has been giving it a go though, maybe Gibson will adapt better with time and against less tricky opponents?

Agreed that Watts was very much the standout. Very intense player which I think is a huge positive, and lots of positive intention and bravery when he gets the ball. Compare that to Jones and McCalmont last season, it's something they lacked. Thought Melbourne did well handling the left flank, and Hunter looked lively again.

Big shoutout to Delaney though! I'd pretty much given up on him after last season, but that was a very good performance last night. Was far more aggressive, competed far better aerially and won some good headers, and his decision making on the ball was improved. The one heavy touch he took he happily steamrollered into and won a 50/50 with that massive No25 for Boro (ex-Stanley of course!). Hopefully last night's performance wasn't a one-off for him.

[RapidShrimp]

Big shoutout to Delaney though! I'd pretty much given up on him after last season, but that was a very good performance last night. Was far more aggressive, competed far better aerially and won some good headers, and his decision making on the ball was improved. The one heavy touch he took he happily steamrollered into and won a 50/50 with that massive No25 for Boro (ex-Stanley of course!). Hopefully last night's performance wasn't a one-off for him.

Hope last night’s performance WAS a one-off to be honest. No reading of the game at all, rushed into at least three tackles that the Boro player skipped round, and didn’t track his man on the crosses. As you say, he won his headers which shows he’s actually a footballer and not a competition-winner, but I struggle to believe that Derek will play him over O’Connor, despite him being left-footed and Derek mentioning that these last two games are ‘more serious’.

Agree with everything else in the thread, good run-out against an excellent side - Derek’s gameplans often rely so much on patience and keeping concentration so that will have done a world of good, even if the first half just seemed a complete disaster on the face of it.

[Little Shrimp]

Hope last night’s performance WAS a one-off to be honest. No reading of the game at all, rushed into at least three tackles that the Boro player skipped round, and didn’t track his man on the crosses. As you say, he won his headers which shows he’s actually a footballer and not a competition-winner, but I struggle to believe that Derek will play him over O’Connor, despite him being left-footed and Derek mentioning that these last two games are ‘more serious’.

I thought him, Rawson and our whole midfield got pulled around a lot by Boro. I do need to watch the goals back though and have a proper unpick. Think it's noteworthy they all came down the right. I agree his tackling can still be clumsy - for me it's his body shape, he puts himself in a position where if someone steps round him or tries to go for pace then he gets flat footed rather than being able to recover and keep after them.

But last night he showed the key things that I thought were missing in his game in that aggression, proactively stepping into (and winning) challenges, and properly competing aerially. Agreed that one good performance doesn't just leapfrog him over AOC but it's positive that he's actually upped his game a fair bit, even if he does end up 3rd/4th choice. I'd rather he be a competent reserve choice than one we completely can't rely on.

[redrobo]

Let's put last nights game in perspective.

Here was a squad that had failed against its last opposition and whose manager had told them in no uncertain terms that they HAD to show him what they are capable of and no mistake they did that.

'Boro a club who will be in the mix come the end of this season for promotion to the Premiership whilst we are a team just about holding ourselves in the middle of EFL1. No slight on our squad what so ever but 'Boro are a club both on and off the field that are far superior than we will ever be.

For me it will be interesting to see how those EFL1 clubs promoted last season cope in the Championship.

However it's not all gloom. Therewere some good performances last night.

Watt looks a class above what we normally have. Rawson looks a good CB and despite my previous concerns about Delaney he actually looked far better last night up against a highly mobile forward line.

Hunter was as expected excellent and for me the sings are promising despite being totally out classed in the first 45.

Cole was well marshalled throughout sometimes against the rules of the game so no criticism of him from this poster.

DA has still a number of calls in for additional players so let's wait and see how we go on v Carlisle as they are more of what we can expect this coming season. Carlisle have had an excellent pre season so a good game is in prospect.

[red shrimp]

Hope last night’s performance WAS a one-off to be honest. No reading of the game at all, rushed into at least three tackles that the Boro player skipped round, and didn’t track his man on the crosses. As you say, he won his headers which shows he’s actually a footballer and not a competition-winner, but I struggle to believe that Derek will play him over O’Connor, despite him being left-footed and Derek mentioning that these last two games are ‘more serious’.


I honestly believe Ryan Delaney will have more chance of being a starter than AOC, I can't see a way back for AOC under DA, it shows that he has only been involved briefly in pre season.

[BerlinWaller]

You can see Delaney being a starter, he has Derek Adams written all over him. The CB's last night looked massive and very much what Derek is after. It is hard to judge them as a pair after last night just because Boro were that good. I doubt we will see many L1 teams play with a style like that. Love looked very solid and Melbourne has height and seemed mobile.

[marky No.1]

I can't see a way back for AOC under DA, it shows that he has only been involved briefly in pre season.

He has been recovering from injury, didn't feature last night as he still has a niggle

[CityShrimp]

Our performance on the whole didn’t overly impress me, but perhaps we just struggled/were mitigated by a very good championship side.

I was pleasantly surprised by Delaney - I’d written him off but he played ok. Rawson looks like a committed player.

Gibson was ok but a bit flat footed - midfield is definitely not his position.

Watts looked lively. Jake Taylor quiet.

Hunter looked very tidy but had to drop incredibly deep to see any of the ball. Hopefully he’ll get into some better positions against lesser opposition.

Cole struggled to have any impact but he was on his own against championship defenders.