[mulliganstired]

We look a bit "over coached" at times as people have said.  In many ways it wasn't that dissimilar to the Plymouth and Swansea games, except that they got the single goal, not us. 

[Hull Baggie]

I thought Doak had him on toast a few times

Yeah, that was why I said 'generally'. Certainly first half Doak got very little out of Heggem.

[Hull Baggie]

Fellows and Johnston were both very poor when they came on tonight.

They were (although Fellows was better) but both still need to start against Millwall.

 Fellows has been our best (only?) source of creating goals. Johnston needs to start, we know what he can do we need to give him the chance to do it.

[mulliganstired]

Yeah, that was why I said 'generally'. Certainly first half Doak got very little out of Heggem.

Except a boot to the knee he left in - Heggem very lucky to get away with that one

[NJS]

I thought Boro were very good, defended well and moved the ball quickly. Contrast how they move the ball out to how we do. Fast intricate passing, pass and move to receive the ball, then compare it to the slow plodding 5 yard passes with no movement from Semi and Kyle. Watching the game Saturday and last night reminded me off the Harvey Barnes show at Wednesday, when i spent half the game in stitches due to how bad Kyle was at playing out from the back. He has improved, but not much. Our centre half pairing really does hamper how Carolos wants us to play.

We are weak in midfield,  Racic is cumbersome and has poor control and seems lost at times - will he ever get up to the pace of the English game?  CC doesn't seem to trust Frabotta or Diakite although I see more potential in the latter.  It's possible all three were the only available players for the money we don't have.

Ajayi is better than Bartley whose attempts at long forward balls last nigh were risible.  At one  point we seemed to be fielding about 4-5 wingers.  Good performances from Mowatt, Palmer and Furlong.

Middlesbrough had a mid-press so that their forwards didn't waste their energy running back and forwards after balls passed along our back line.  They had an energetic set of players who were back in position as soon as possession was lost.  As for their goal: we do seem to be vulnerable to strikes from incoming midfielders

It's early days; 10th to 6th is still my prediction.

[zippyandbungle]

We are weak in midfield,  Racic is cumbersome and has poor control and seems lost at times - will he ever get up to the pace of the English game?  CC doesn't seem to trust Frabotta or Diakite although I see more potential in the latter.  It's possible all three were the only available players for the money we don't have.

Ajayi is better than Bartley whose attempts at long forward balls last nigh were risible.  At one  point we seemed to be fielding about 4-5 wingers.  Good performances from Mowatt, Palmer and Furlong.

Middlesbrough had a mid-press so that their forwards didn't waste their energy running back and forwards after balls passed along our back line.  They had an energetic set of players who were back in position as soon as possession was lost.  As for their goal: we do seem to be vulnerable to strikes from incoming midfielders

It's early days; 10th to 6th is still my prediction.

Really good assessment
Racic is a concern at the moment,he seems to be being shoehorned in .

[Albion79]

I think overall we would of all accepted 3rd place after 8 games.

That said the last two results and performances have been poor, last night was more concerning that Saturday, on Saturday we just had one of those days and didnt turn up.

Following on from Leeds, Middlesboro are the only other team we have played who you could say are expected to be around the playoffs and in both games we failed to score and created very little in chances.

Teams who come at us we can pick off comfortably, we did v QPR, Portsmouth and even Plymouth first half we should of had more goals (second half they were a lot better) what Middlesboro did well was get themselves behind the ball, organised but also possesses a real threat going forward and i felt they were the much better team and deserved the win.

I am a big CC fan but my main issue the last two years and last night is we dont seem to find a way of breaking teams down when they do setup a certain way, i know we dont have a Koumas or Pereira who were were ideal for situations like that but we do have to try something different.

I am no football expert but i know nearly all our attacks is based on getting the ball wide and a cross in, so any opposition will know that tol,  we pass the ball and keep it well but with little purpose, its very predictable against teams who sit back.

On saturday one of our best chances was when we played through the middle, a couple of one two's and Grant was through but the keeper saved it, we tried one of them last night and it didnt quite work but we have to vary how we play.

The number 10 role is so crucial, thats the link man to Maja and the wingers, that number 10 should be looking to take people on, play a killer ball, its not easy but there job is to open the opposition up, Swift on his day can do it but those days are about 1 in every 5 and although a nice footballer, he is coming upto 30 and probably not going to get any better.

With Grady injured again i would be tempted to give Johnstone a run in the number 10 role, i believe when we signed him CC said he could play there, he is direct, shown he can score goals and i feel in games where teams sit back, its worth a try.

I expect Millwall to be organised and defensive so satuday would be a good time to try it, i would go back to Mowatt and Molumby in the centre but i feel in the long run (and what i remember from his Barnsley days) then Styles can do the Molumby but us better technically.

Its looking like a typical championship season, there isnt an outstanding team, we are in a cluster of those who could finish top to 10th!

[LiamTheBaggie]

A very flat, uninspiring performance whereby Middlesbrough looked far fitter and more energetic than us. I thought the game was very reminiscent of our defeat against Southampton where we never really laid a glove on them.

The starting line up was wrong from the outset - I do not understand the reason for dropping our genuine goal threat. Swift can count himself very look to start because the axis of Swift - Racic and Mowatt looks far too cumbersome. The energy of Molumby was greatly missed.  Whenever we tried to press, Boro played round us.

Fellows came on and at least some half opportunities happened.  Johnston stunk the place out on the other side. Either falling over or his crosses hit the back of the Brummie.  Styles appeared to be brighter.

Boro looked a decent side on that showing and I was impressed with their number 9 who caused us no end of problems all night. There's not many forwards that get much change from us in aerial duals, let alone a forward who looked like he should have been a mascot.

[LiamTheBaggie]

My disappointment is that when it works it’s the manager, when it doesn’t it’s the players.

You quote this perception quite a lot and I'm really not sure its warranted.

Especially in a thread where the manager is being criticised for his starting line up.

[BaggieBoy04]

I send Get well Soon wishes to Rob Smith, he felt drowsy and was taken to Sandwell Hospital by Land Ambulance for further tests, May I also say the ref and his Assistants were class last night stopping the game to join in the minutes applause for Mark Townsend.

Mr Smith has been discharged and is recovering at home, he was taken to the Manor Hospital  in Walsall apparently not Sandwell, Sky said Sandwell Hospital. Either way great to hear he is now back at home

[zippyandbungle]

You quote this perception quite a lot and I'm really not sure its warranted.

Especially in a thread where the manager is being criticised for his starting line up.

Well it’s my opinion and perhaps you feeling the need to mention it ,reinforces my point ?
Across various threads there are calls for various players to be dropped due to their performances across the last few games ,many more than there are critics of the manager.
The manager sets the team up and picks/directs the personnel?
Would any of us have dropped fellows?
Do we all believe that Swift isn’t under instruction to come deep ?
Does anyone think that a 3 of Racic/Swift/Mowatt has anywhere enough energy ?
Did anyone think Ajayi was the one of the two CB’s that needed hooking at half time on Saturday ?

It’s pretty clear that Racic looks lost and either doesn’t understand what is being asked of him or the information isn’t clear .
Wallace ….just shocking to start him yesterday

[SmethDan]

Hi There,

I am super excited to be seeing The Albion for the first time at the Hawthorns in October. I will be in attendance for both the Middlesborough and Millwall matches.

I'm after some information on where the WBA supporters gather pre-match/post match as I'd love to meet some of you.

I can't wait. BOING BOING

Well I can't speak for anyone else but if last night's performance was anything to go by I'd be 'superduper' excited if you could do the decent thing and sell your ticket for the Millwall game and stay in a pub somewhere  .

[Albionfan1983]

We didn't play awful or bad. We was decent but Middlesbrough were better they broke better and created better chances so on the balance of the game i think they deserved it

We are going to get this from time to time, We should know what the championship is like now but we will be fine and i don't see any reason why people are going to panic

[KN22]

We didn't play awful or bad. We was decent but Middlesbrough were better they broke better and created better chances so on the balance of the game i think they deserved it

We are going to get this from time to time, We should know what the championship is like now but we will be fine and i don't see any reason why people are going to panic

I totally agree with your assessment and as I said when I posted after the game, Middlesbrough were excellent on the night. It is only the selection of Wallace to start that I strongly disagreed with.

[SmethDan]

We didn't play awful or bad. We was decent but Middlesbrough were better they broke better and created better chances so on the balance of the game i think they deserved it

We are going to get this from time to time, We should know what the championship is like now but we will be fine and i don't see any reason why people are going to panic

Personally thought it was a dull, flat, uninspiring performance lacking the guile and imagination to break down an organised side which did the basics better than we did on the night. I agree we weren't awful so much as plain boring and generally quite predictable. That said with better finishing the chips could have fallen our way on the odd occasion our final ball was up to the mark. As it was had I been sitting down I'd have been more likely to fall asleep than panic  .