BFTG/TV - M'bro H

[Gunny Fishcake]

One other thing. For all the ridiculous jibes about Ince from pundits and fans, he has us battling for every ball, dangerous going forward, fit and very very organised. Also has the fans back in great voice with a cracking atmosphere today

Not trendy to say this nowadays but him and his coaching team have started the season very well. Don’t buy this poor tactics stuff. Come and watch us and you’ll see he’s getting it right

+1

[Mid Sussex Royal]

One other thing. For all the ridiculous jibes about Ince from pundits and fans, he has us battling for every ball, dangerous going forward, fit and very very organised. Also has the fans back in great voice with a cracking atmosphere today

Not trendy to say this nowadays but him and his coaching team have started the season very well. Don’t buy this poor tactics stuff. Come and watch us and you’ll see he’s getting it right

+1

Yes agree completely with last point - streams are like sky red button - one camera angle only and its impossible to pass a proper judgement on tactics as the camera follows the ball.

I rarley post my opinions on the games anymore as I get irritated by the stream/red button crew

[karbota]

All you really want of your team is for the players to give 100% and put a full shift in. That happened today with one exception. The lads really did work their socks off and though Boro had by far the most possession, our work rate and never say die attitude was a joy and the fans responded with some great support.

The exception was Joao, who when he came on looked like a flogged donkey, slow, lethargic, not remotely interested and unable to hold the ball up and give our magnificent defence a breather. If he wants to leave, which I think he does, get rid as soon as possible.

As for the rest of the team, well played boys, well played indeed.

Normal business resumes then, best just get rid.

[Millsy]

Bouzanis - 7 Did fine. Clean sheet. Did enough to keep it away. A couple of times I wish he'd fully caught instead of patting away BUT when absolutely needed he caught it very well in a great save which would've been a goal had he pushed it instead. Not sure what the issue with kicking was, don't remember it going out of play once or too short, good powerful kicks when needed and even almost set Long off. Basically not a liability (YET) and so I know we won't but on that basis alone I'd say the position is his to lose.
Yids - 8 Typical class
Holmes - 7.5 - Did good, Helped keep clean sheet.
Hutchinson 7.5 - Did good, Helped keep clean sheet. Especially impressive given Ince say he didn't even have a chance to train with them yet.
Mac 7.5 Did good. Helped keep clean sheet.
Loum 6.5 - I was all ready to be unpopular not giving him the 10 he seemed destined for after Wednesday but I counted 5x he gave the ball away. I probably counted the same excellent tackles though to win it back though.
Fornah - 8 For the goal if nothing else but he was generally quite a threat. Pleased that he was the only player I picked out against Blackburn. Rino who? Laurent who? Swift who? This boy is class.
Jimmy Hendrix - n/a didn't play, sorry Tim Dellor.
Hendrick - 6 alright, nothing special. Heard so many good things about him from preseason but just didn't seem to be great, just average today.
Holiett - 7.5 Another good performance
Ince - 9. The one player who seemed to play no differently to Wednesday night. Full of energy, gave his all till the end.
Long - 6 Really should've scored. Did some good running but seemed ineffectual.

Joao - 5 Seemed disinterested but then that's just Joao. He's crap until he scores.. and that's all we want
Clarke - 7 Some great defending, promising!

Paul Ince - 8 apparently never beaten a Chris Wilder side as manager... until today. I think he had it spot on. This time seemed to choose not to go for full on press against them and risk being hit on the break (or maybe players were just shattered!?) despite it working so well for him against Blackburn. Instead more happy to carve out chances and it paid off beautifully as he clearly has faith in his team.

Club1871 - 10 I heard you well on the internet. You lifted the team when it was needed. Nice one chaps you're doing us proud!

[ILoveMoonPig]

I thought first half Boro were completely exposed on the wings, they had everyone sat in the middle just trying to lift it over our defense for the runners in behind.

Second half our tiredness really started to show and we just let Boro have the ball outside the area. I thought fornah and Hoilett started to look tired, about 65mins, credit to them both for keeping it up.

As they got tired, I was worried that fornah and Loum were getting pulled out of position too easily, which I suppose it's natural when you're too tired to get back in place, but they did well. Not afraid to commit a foul to break up play, risking a card. Boros ability to bring on fresh legs kept them in it for longer than it should have done. With a more experienced bench (meite, ejaria etc), we could have kept possession better.

Boros finishing was poor and they were determined to over play it all the time. Several occasions they could have had an easy shot and just kept passing onto the next player, ending up out wide on the wing.

All in all, a good win. A point would probably have been fairer, but we're not in a position to settle, whilst morale is so high.

[Snowflake Royal]

Bouzanis - 7 Did fine. Clean sheet. Did enough to keep it away. A couple of times I wish he'd fully caught instead of patting away BUT when absolutely needed he caught it very well in a great save which would've been a goal had he pushed it instead. Not sure what the issue with kicking was, don't remember it going out of play once or too short, good powerful kicks when needed and even almost set Long off. Basically not a liability (YET) and so I know we won't but on that basis alone I'd say the position is his to lose.
Yids - 8 Typical class
Holmes - 7.5 - Did good, Helped keep clean sheet.
Hutchinson 7.5 - Did good, Helped keep clean sheet. Especially impressive given Ince say he didn't even have a chance to train with them yet.
Mac 7.5 Did good. Helped keep clean sheet.
Loum 6.5 - I was all ready to be unpopular not giving him the 10 he seemed destined for after Wednesday but I counted 5x he gave the ball away. I probably counted the same excellent tackles though to win it back though.
Fornah - 8 For the goal if nothing else but he was generally quite a threat. Pleased that he was the only player I picked out against Blackburn. Rino who? Laurent who? Swift who? This boy is class.
Jimmy Hendrix - n/a didn't play, sorry Tim Dellor.
Hendrick - 6 alright, nothing special. Heard so many good things about him from preseason but just didn't seem to be great, just average today.
Holiett - 7.5 Another good performance
Ince - 9. The one player who seemed to play no differently to Wednesday night. Full of energy, gave his all till the end.
Long - 6 Really should've scored. Did some good running but seemed ineffectual.

Joao - 5 Seemed disinterested but then that's just Joao. He's crap until he scores.. and that's all we want
Clarke - 7 Some great defending, promising!

Paul Ince - 8 apparently never beaten a Chris Wilder side as manager... until today. I think he had it spot on. This time seemed to choose not to go for full on press against them and risk being hit on the break (or maybe players were just shattered!?) despite it working so well for him against Blackburn. Instead more happy to carve out chances and it paid off beautifully as he clearly has faith in his team.

Club1871 - 10 I heard you well on the internet. You lifted the team when it was needed. Nice one chaps you're doing us proud!

How can Hutchinson not have had a chance to train with them... he played most of pre-season and he can't have come back from an injury and played without training, surely... that would be madness!

[URZZZZZZZZ]

One question from me - what the actual oxf*rd is that half time game about? And who is that absolute tit on the microphone for it?

[Jack Celliers]

I missed Wednesday, but heard all about it, so I was expecting a better performance than we gave, particularly in the second half when we gave the ball away so cheaply. What I wasn't expecting was the commitment, energy and passion from everybody. Ince was just phenomenal and Hendrick and McIntyre kept cropping everywhere to stop Middlesbrough really threatening.

Seeing Joao ducking out of the lap of honour and slinking off down the tunnel was a slight downer at the end. It's understandable if West Brom really have offered £10 million for him. He can go, and I would wish him well for the future.

[Millsy]

Bouzanis - 7 Did fine. Clean sheet. Did enough to keep it away. A couple of times I wish he'd fully caught instead of patting away BUT when absolutely needed he caught it very well in a great save which would've been a goal had he pushed it instead. Not sure what the issue with kicking was, don't remember it going out of play once or too short, good powerful kicks when needed and even almost set Long off. Basically not a liability (YET) and so I know we won't but on that basis alone I'd say the position is his to lose.
Yids - 8 Typical class
Holmes - 7.5 - Did good, Helped keep clean sheet.
Hutchinson 7.5 - Did good, Helped keep clean sheet. Especially impressive given Ince say he didn't even have a chance to train with them yet.
Mac 7.5 Did good. Helped keep clean sheet.
Loum 6.5 - I was all ready to be unpopular not giving him the 10 he seemed destined for after Wednesday but I counted 5x he gave the ball away. I probably counted the same excellent tackles though to win it back though.
Fornah - 8 For the goal if nothing else but he was generally quite a threat. Pleased that he was the only player I picked out against Blackburn. Rino who? Laurent who? Swift who? This boy is class.
Jimmy Hendrix - n/a didn't play, sorry Tim Dellor.
Hendrick - 6 alright, nothing special. Heard so many good things about him from preseason but just didn't seem to be great, just average today.
Holiett - 7.5 Another good performance
Ince - 9. The one player who seemed to play no differently to Wednesday night. Full of energy, gave his all till the end.
Long - 6 Really should've scored. Did some good running but seemed ineffectual.

Joao - 5 Seemed disinterested but then that's just Joao. He's crap until he scores.. and that's all we want
Clarke - 7 Some great defending, promising!

Paul Ince - 8 apparently never beaten a Chris Wilder side as manager... until today. I think he had it spot on. This time seemed to choose not to go for full on press against them and risk being hit on the break (or maybe players were just shattered!?) despite it working so well for him against Blackburn. Instead more happy to carve out chances and it paid off beautifully as he clearly has faith in his team.

Club1871 - 10 I heard you well on the internet. You lifted the team when it was needed. Nice one chaps you're doing us proud!

How can Hutchinson not have had a chance to train with them... he played most of pre-season and he can't have come back from an injury and played without training, surely... that would be madness!

I did find that odd. I wonder if I misheard Ince on that, but that's what I thought he said. Maybe he means not trained since coming back from injury?

[TiagoIlori]

The jury is still out on him, but at least Paul Ince has put in some fight into this squad and seems to have brought in the right sort of players. Six of those who started today were his own signings.

[tidus_mi2]

Not the most stellar of 2nd half performances but we held, perhaps 3 games in a week for an unchanged team was a bit much.

[tmesis]

Decent first half, without being amazing. Second half, not as good, but they looked tired.

Paul Ince has a lot of doubters, but I think he's doing about as well as could be expected, and he's got the players looking like they'll put in a shift for him. Whether he'll be able to avoid the curse of the players starting to not give a toss after about 6 months, remains to be seen, but maybe the issue was with certain players who are no longer in the squad.

[Pepe the Horseman]

ALOL @ a comment I read about us not winning the league.

[paultheroyal]

Bouzanis, poor kicking?

What angle did you watch your tv from?
From the ground….

His kicking (normally whilst being put under pressure) was pretty much spot-on.

Couple of crucial saves and claims

Happy with this #2 keeper

Hoilett 8/10 was brilliant in the first half

I was shocked at that comment too. We actually commented how good his kicking was. Funny how some see things totally differently

[Pepe the Horseman]

Bouzanis, poor kicking?

What angle did you watch your tv from?
From the ground….

His kicking (normally whilst being put under pressure) was pretty much spot-on.

Couple of crucial saves and claims

Happy with this #2 keeper

Hoilett 8/10 was brilliant in the first half

I was shocked at that comment too. We actually commented how good his kicking was. Funny how some see things totally differently

Pretty fab bday week for you lol ! xx

[paultheroyal]

Great feeling on penalty, overruled by the offside. Enjoyed that one but enjoyed more the boro player getting tripped up by corner flag and the bewildered players knowing what to do next lol.

[paultheroyal]

Bouzanis, poor kicking?

What angle did you watch your tv from?
From the ground….

His kicking (normally whilst being put under pressure) was pretty much spot-on.

Couple of crucial saves and claims

Happy with this #2 keeper

Hoilett 8/10 was brilliant in the first half

I was shocked at that comment too. We actually commented how good his kicking was. Funny how some see things totally differently

Pretty fab bday week for you lol ! xx

Yeah decent mate. Didn’t let me down. Would of been topped off with an AJ win but can’t have it all.

[Stranded]

One other thing. For all the ridiculous jibes about Ince from pundits and fans, he has us battling for every ball, dangerous going forward, fit and very very organised. Also has the fans back in great voice with a cracking atmosphere today

Not trendy to say this nowadays but him and his coaching team have started the season very well. Don’t buy this poor tactics stuff. Come and watch us and you’ll see he’s getting it right

+1

Yes agree completely with last point - streams are like sky red button - one camera angle only and its impossible to pass a proper judgement on tactics as the camera follows the ball.

I rarley post my opinions on the games anymore as I get irritated by the stream/red button crew

Royals TV has 4 camera angles, not Sky quality production but hardly one man with a camcorder.

No replacement for being there but an excellent service nonetheless. You do get a good feel for what's going on, you can form just as differing opinion in the stadium as watching online.

[Snowflake Royal]

+1

Yes agree completely with last point - streams are like sky red button - one camera angle only and its impossible to pass a proper judgement on tactics as the camera follows the ball.

I rarley post my opinions on the games anymore as I get irritated by the stream/red button crew

Royals TV has 4 camera angles, not Sky quality production but hardly one man with a camcorder.

No replacement for being there but an excellent service nonetheless. You do get a good feel for what's going on, you can form just as differing opinion in the stadium as watching online.

Yeah, TV vs stadium is the same as it's always been. Less good for off the ball related stuff and much less fun, but much better for on the ball moments in general and key incidents.

It also depends where you sit in the stadium for how well you can see game. Near the halfway line midway up the stand and you've got a pretty good view of everything. Either end of the stadium and you can't really see what happens at the other end clearly. Near the pitch and you can't really see the other side well and don't have the elevation for shape and off the ball stuff.

[Zip]

Bouzanis, poor kicking?

What angle did you watch your tv from?
From the ground….

His kicking (normally whilst being put under pressure) was pretty much spot-on.

Couple of crucial saves and claims

Happy with this #2 keeper

Hoilett 8/10 was brilliant in the first half

I was shocked at that comment too. We actually commented how good his kicking was. Funny how some see things totally differently

There were a couple of really poor kicks. With the players mostly positioned in a group on the right side of the pitch he managed to skew his kick so badly that it ended up on the other side of the pitch where there were only opposition defenders.