The Official Boro Thread

[Boro]

Looks like we've done some solid business so far....we really needed a keeper imo and Valdes should be a good signing. De Roon and Fischer look like they're worth the gamble and could work out really well and Espinosa also looks a solid pick up. Not sure how realistic the RvP rumours are, but he's worth the risk if rumours are true, then probably a midfielder and another defender away from a pretty solid squad.
I wonder who'll be heading out the door?

 

[Bulldog1954]

Signing RVP would be amazing. I know he is getting on but I'm sure he would still be effective.

It's nice being in the premier league again and having transfer rumors about players I've actually heard of

 

[Mooch]

Yeah I'm pretty happy with business so far. If RvP is really interested then that would be a coup. I still think he would bag a few goals. My only concern would be over his attitude but hopefully we can manage that.

 

[Boro]

Anyone willing to have a guess at our best 11 atm?

With Subotic, assuming it happens, we have Gibson, Ayala, Subotic and Espinosa challenging for two spots...not a bad 4 CB's right there! Then Fry and McGhee as young up and comers... Barragan, again if he comes, challenging Nsue. Friend hasn't got competition...DeSart, DeRoon, Clayton, Leadbitter Forshaw looking for two DM spots...Fischer, Downing, Adomah, Stuani, De Pena as wide mids ... Ramirez, Downing as AM...Negredo (if it happens) Rhodes, Nugent as striker... Then the likes of Husband, Reach, Carayol, Baptiste who might struggle to get a spot...Not a bad starting squad, although a bit more talent out wide and at AM would probably finish things off very nicely.

 

[Mooch]

             1. Valdes
2. Nsue 4. Ayala 5. Subotic 3. Friend
         6. Clayton 7. Leadbitter
11. Adomah 8. Ramirez 10. Fischer
             9. Negredo

 

[Mooch]

It's a tough one. I can't see all the new signings starting. I've stuck Fischer in there as a hope more than an expectation to be honest. I can see Stuani playing on the right at home and Adomah away.

 

[Bulldog1954]

             1. Valdes
2. Nsue 4. Ayala 5. Subotic 3. Friend
         6. Clayton 7. Leadbitter
11. Adomah 8. Ramirez 10. Fischer
             9. Negredo

Looks good

Only change that I think might be made, would be De Roon starting. With the amount of cash we spent on him I can't see him not starting.

Apparently Leadbitter might miss the start of the season, so maybe De Roon for Leadbitter?

 

[Mooch]

Looks good

Only change that I think might be made, would be De Roon starting. With the amount of cash we spent on him I can't see him not starting.

Apparently Leadbitter might miss the start of the season, so maybe De Roon for Leadbitter?

I'm looking forward to seeing De Roon so yeah that works

 

[Mooch]

             1. Valdes
2. Barragan 4. Ayala 5. Subotic 3. Friend
         6. Clayton 7. De Roon
11. Adomah 8. Ramirez 10. Fischer
             9. Negredo

IN: Barragan, De Roon
OUT: Nsue, Leadbitter

 

[JD Tomahawk]

I'm nervous. I know it's only early in the season but it would ruin me to see us drop out again.
Up the smoggies!

 

[Mooch]

View attachment 310929 I'm nervous. I know it's only early in the season but it would ruin me to see us drop out again.
Up the smoggies!

I've said elsewhere that we need to pick up a few more points at home but overall I'm quite happy with our start. We're hard to beat on the road that's for sure.

 

[Boro]

Merry Xmas Boro fans! I haven't posted in ages but just saw a bloody Sunderland and thought we deserved to be above their thread seeing as it's Sunderland and well, they should always be below us.

Anyway, 2016 has been a brilliant year to be a Boro fan! Hopefully we do enough to stay up this season and push on from there. I'm spending Xmas in beautiful Whitby and will be heading to a couple of Boro matches for the first time since the League Cup Final! Can't wait! UTFB and best wishes to all Boro fans on big footy!

 

[Mooch]

Merry Xmas Boro fans! I haven't posted in ages but just saw a bloody Sunderland and thought we deserved to be above their thread seeing as it's Sunderland and well, they should always be below us.

Anyway, 2016 has been a brilliant year to be a Boro fan! Hopefully we do enough to stay up this season and push on from there. I'm spending Xmas in beautiful Whitby and will be heading to a couple of Boro matches for the first time since the League Cup Final! Can't wait! UTFB and best wishes to all Boro fans on big footy!

Merry Christmas!!

Whitby?!?! We always end up in Whitby when we go back. It's not far from the inlaws. I'm jealous you're getting to some games. It's will be about 18 months before I next get to one. Hopefully that will be an EPL game

 

[Mooch]

Seems like last night's game has polarised Boro fans somewhat. You're either "we played well and were unlucky" or "why don't we try to win games?". I'm in the latter. I thought we controller large parts of last nights game without really creating any decent chances. I commented on FB at about 70 minutes after we had a flurry of corners and free kicks that we needed to change it up. But of course Mr Karanka didn't see fit to change anything until we were 1-0 down and only had 3 minutes left to salvage a point.

Instead of pushing on and making the most of our advantage, we just parked the bus and hoped for 0-0. Which leaves us open to a (rare, admittedly) defensive utensil-up and lose a game we should never have lost. Extremely frustrating.

 

[JD Tomahawk]

Watched the man u game on SBS last week. Haven't jumped up and down on my couch at 2:30 in the morning like that before. Shattered we lost that.

 

[Mooch]

Although we can't really argue over the result, we were so close to a famous victory.....

 

[Mooch]

Well, so after just over half a season, I'd say I'm reasonably happy with where we are. We're not scoring but we certainly aren't conceding. We've certainly missed out on a couple of games we should have won but we have picked up some unexpected points too. I love that we're not hard to beat, even though like everyone else I'd like to see us bag a few more goals.

Which brings us to Bamford. He's a known quantity to us and was obviously very successful with us. Untested in the prem, sure, but he has quick feet, is decent in the air, moves into space well and knows where the goals are. What's not to like? Now having bought him, surely he has to play. Maybe not up alongside Negredo but being the player that he is, when he is out wide he will certainly cut in to the centre when the ball is on the other wing - something we've been crying out for our wide men to do all year. If he can finish the year on 8 goals and Negredo gets 12-15 then this will be seen as a successful move. Maybe the roles will be reversed? Time will tell.

I wasn't overly excited when we signed Bamford, I'll be honest. Largely because I just expected him to be another bench warmer. But the realiy is that AK really will want to play him, and that can only be good for our attacking options, while still maintaining the workrate and defensive structures.

 

[Boro]

So are we at the pants wetting, sack Karanka stage of the relegation battle or have we got a calm bunch in here that think we'll just stay up on the way to FA Cup glory???

Personally I'm still backing Karanka to sneak enough points to keep us up...a league win fairly soon would certainly be handy though.

 

[Mooch]

I still think we can do it. I think the threshhold will be pretty low this year anyway. Maybe 32 points. We have to take points off Hull, Swansea and the mackems. Even better if we can catch Palace and Bournemouth on a bad day at their home.

 

[Bulldog1954]

We are in big trouble Unless we find a way to start scoring we are going down. Draws won't keep us up and we aren't going to eek out enough 1-0 wins. Something has to change in our approach to games.

 

[Mooch]

I've beem behind Karanka all the way but after last week at Palace I faltered. Last night I fell completely off the wagon. We were losing 2-0 and getting nowhere near goal, so he subs off a midfielder for another midfielder. Utterly utterly weak, stupid and pointless. His race is run now as far as I'm concerned. We need somebody in tomorrow who can give us half a chance of staying up because Karanka is too damn stubborn to see that his way is taking us straight back down.

Reading between the lines on what he said about Bamford and then him not playing Negredo last night, it is clear Karanka thinks the lack of goals is the strikers fault. Mind you, he thinks everything is somebody else's fault. He's got to go.

 

[Milang_Panthers]

I reckon you guys can still do it. I haven't fully looked at it but i think you have a slightly better run of fixtures than us, another positive is your goal difference. For a team that has only won four games this season -11 is pretty good compared to other teams around us.
Good luck guys.

 

[Mooch]

I reckon you guys can still do it. I haven't fully looked at it but i think you have a slightly better run of fixtures than us, another positive is your goal difference. For a team that has only won four games this season -11 is pretty good compared to other teams around us.
Good luck guys.

We have a horror run. Though we play Hull, Swansea and Sunderland, we also play United, City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. If by some miracle we did beat the teams around us then we might have a chance but honestly I'm struggling to see that.

When the fixtures came out, I said we needed 40 points by mid March with that run in. As it is I think the safety mark will be very low this year - maybe 32-34 points but right now I can't see us hitting that.

I think we're going down with a whimper and will finish 19th on about 28 points.

 

[Mooch]

Proper 6-pointer tonight. Lose and we're as good as down. Win and we give ourselves confidence to take on Hull, Burnley and Sunderland. I think we're probably down already but trying to stay positive while we're still mathematically in it.

 

[Mooch]

Well it's goodnight Vienna now. 1 point from gettable 6-point games against Palace, Swansea and Hull and 12 goals shipped in the last 6 games has sealed our fate.