BFTG Boro Home

[Lower West]

Mc Cleary and Swift, 2 of our better players recently left on the bench-why?

McCleary has had his best days.

Swift is a luxury player. Loader provides more all round playing in the no 10 role.

[Snowball]

Swift is our (very, very, very, very poor) poor man's Ozil

Yes he CAN find a pass, can sometimes show nifty footwork
to get out of trouble, but overall, week-in, week-out and for 90-95
minutes he rarely does enough



Which is a damn shame because when he's good he's very, very good.

[biff]

Annoying me that the highlights don't show that lovely passage of play early on (where predictably, Baldock shot at the keepers feet). Genuinely felt exciting to watch and lifted the crowd. Osho and Rinomhota's lung busters also notable. Gave us something to cheer, which felt very alien.

[Zip]

How do you get match fit then if you can't play 30 mins you shouldn't be on the bench. How will he be any nearer match fit for the next games? Marshall for the first time wasn't making sense with his after match comments.

Would much rather see key players start the game, hopefully put us in a strong position and then be subbed if necessary, rather than be brought on when we are chasing the game (particularly when team confidence is currently so low).

Absolutely-IMHO you are far more likely to get injured after doing a few strolls alongside the touchline and coming on than by starting a game with all the intensive warm-up.

Knowing that 'Boro have a back 4 of giants (it seems so often that we don't know the strength of the opposition and presumably the new manager will know even less-btw Cooper is about 6ft 7in. and comes up for corners) I would have started with Bod to have a semblance of an aerial attacking threat.
He would also have been useful defending set-pieces which we somehow got away with in the first half.
Thank goodness also that Shotton got injured.

Mc Cleary and Swift, 2 of our better players recently left on the bench-why?
It was as if Marshall was keeping in with his U23 players by giving them a game, knowing that he would have some of them back for the rest of the season.
I don't rate O'Shea but we are paying £1million in wages-why on earth did we buy him?

A lot of the BFTG comments are the same as in recent weeks, on the lines of "we played o.k., deserved a point and would definitely have got something out of the game if the ref hadn't been so biased".
Apparently that was the tone of the recent Sunderland film fans thought it would all come good next week-one day Rodney etc.

The new manager has a massive job-he will be a hero if he can get us to avoid relegation.


BTW, on the youngsters, a really good performance from Osho (that run alone will last in the memory for some time and endear him to the fans), Rhino good again, Loader non-descript but looks to be being played out of position and Sims just doesn't do enough and needs to toughen up.

McCleary has lost pace and doesn’t offer a threat any more. It’s a shame but time to move him on. You’re right regarding Sims. He can’t tackle for toffee.

[Victor Meldrew]

Mc Cleary and Swift, 2 of our better players recently left on the bench-why?

McCleary has had his best days.

Swift is a luxury player. Loader provides more all round playing in the no 10 role.

I know we all want Loader to do well because he is one of our own but are you serious?

Loader has had a run in the side but so far hasn't shone and as another poster has said he probably needs to go out on loan at a lower level and play as a striker.
By all accounts Swift was our best player at Rotherham and even if GMac has seen better days he is still currently our best winger IMHO.

The shame about this season is that our saviour last season Mo Barrow just hasn't been the same player.

[Snowflake Royal]

I agree McCleary isn't the same player anymore. Sadly, I think he's still by far and away our most effective and reliable winger.

[Hound]

Yep, McCleary still offers plenty enough to be first winger in the teamsheet for me

[Zip]

Yep, McCleary still offers plenty enough to be first winger in the teamsheet for me

What’s he offered this season? He certainly can’t beat his man on the outside with pace any more. I see him as very ineffective these days.

[muirinho]

Yep, McCleary still offers plenty enough to be first winger in the teamsheet for me

What’s he offered this season? He certainly can’t beat his man on the outside with pace any more. I see him as very ineffective these days.

He may be less effective as an attacking winger than he used to be, but he is still at least as effective than Sims and Barrow, who do a lot of running/dribbling, but with very little end results.

Also much better defensively than either of them - I dont' think the situation with Barrow following Richards across and leaving his own man completely free leading to the goal, would have happened if it had been McCleary that side.

McCleary is a good squad option - the real problem is he should only be backup. It's the choices (or lack of them) ahead of him that are the issue.

[Zip]

Yep, McCleary still offers plenty enough to be first winger in the teamsheet for me

What’s he offered this season? He certainly can’t beat his man on the outside with pace any more. I see him as very ineffective these days.

He may be less effective as an attacking winger than he used to be, but he is still at least as effective than Sims and Barrow, who do a lot of running/dribbling, but with very little end results.

Also much better defensively than either of them - I dont' think the situation with Barrow following Richards across and leaving his own man completely free leading to the goal, would have happened if it had been McCleary that side.

McCleary is a good squad option - the real problem is he should only be backup. It's the choices (or lack of them) ahead of him that are the issue.

That’s a fair assessment. Yes he does more defensively but still switches off on occasions which he did against Sheffield United. As you say he is a back up these days. We need more from all of our wingers. None of them are creating anywhere near enough. Barrow has fallen into the same trap as Aluko and is happy at just winning a few corners rather than causing any real damage.

[leon]

What’s he offered this season? He certainly can’t beat his man on the outside with pace any more. I see him as very ineffective these days.

He may be less effective as an attacking winger than he used to be, but he is still at least as effective than Sims and Barrow, who do a lot of running/dribbling, but with very little end results.

Also much better defensively than either of them - I dont' think the situation with Barrow following Richards across and leaving his own man completely free leading to the goal, would have happened if it had been McCleary that side.

McCleary is a good squad option - the real problem is he should only be backup. It's the choices (or lack of them) ahead of him that are the issue.

That’s a fair assessment. Yes he does more defensively but still switches off on occasions which he did against Sheffield United. As you say he is a back up these days. We need more from all of our wingers. None of them are creating anywhere near enough. Barrow has fallen into the same trap as Aluko and is happy at just winning a few corners rather than causing any real damage.

Indeed. Sims and Barrow were shit yesterday. Sims particularly was abject, should have been off early second half.

[Zip]

He may be less effective as an attacking winger than he used to be, but he is still at least as effective than Sims and Barrow, who do a lot of running/dribbling, but with very little end results.

Also much better defensively than either of them - I dont' think the situation with Barrow following Richards across and leaving his own man completely free leading to the goal, would have happened if it had been McCleary that side.

McCleary is a good squad option - the real problem is he should only be backup. It's the choices (or lack of them) ahead of him that are the issue.

That’s a fair assessment. Yes he does more defensively but still switches off on occasions which he did against Sheffield United. As you say he is a back up these days. We need more from all of our wingers. None of them are creating anywhere near enough. Barrow has fallen into the same trap as Aluko and is happy at just winning a few corners rather than causing any real damage.

Indeed. Sims and Barrow were shit yesterday. Sims particularly was abject, should have been off early second half.

Yep.

[URZZZZ]

What’s he offered this season? He certainly can’t beat his man on the outside with pace any more. I see him as very ineffective these days.

He may be less effective as an attacking winger than he used to be, but he is still at least as effective than Sims and Barrow, who do a lot of running/dribbling, but with very little end results.

Also much better defensively than either of them - I dont' think the situation with Barrow following Richards across and leaving his own man completely free leading to the goal, would have happened if it had been McCleary that side.

McCleary is a good squad option - the real problem is he should only be backup. It's the choices (or lack of them) ahead of him that are the issue.

That’s a fair assessment. Yes he does more defensively but still switches off on occasions which he did against Sheffield United. As you say he is a back up these days. We need more from all of our wingers. None of them are creating anywhere near enough. Barrow has fallen into the same trap as Aluko and is happy at just winning a few corners rather than causing any real damage.

Slightly off topic but with regards to our wingers, apparently there was a serious allegation against Popa, perhaps explains his limited gametime

Interesting point about our wingers, they have certainly regressed, especially when considering how strong (on paper) they were meant to be last season with

Aluko - shone with Fulham, paid a lot for him
Barrow - had prem experience, looked pacy and direct
McCleary - on form, one of the best wingers in the league, injuries and age have unfortunately curtailed that
Beerens - had an aura of class that none of our other wingers possessed, but drifted out of games miles too often to play as much as he did
Popa - had Champions league experience, looked a handful for defenders

I still think had we not messed up pre season last year or faffed around with Beerens/McCleary up front, we really could have pushed for top 6 but by the time he figured it out, confidence was shot to pieces. Gomes has to reinstall some confidence in this team, the ability is there, we just need to show it

[Zip]

He may be less effective as an attacking winger than he used to be, but he is still at least as effective than Sims and Barrow, who do a lot of running/dribbling, but with very little end results.

Also much better defensively than either of them - I dont' think the situation with Barrow following Richards across and leaving his own man completely free leading to the goal, would have happened if it had been McCleary that side.

McCleary is a good squad option - the real problem is he should only be backup. It's the choices (or lack of them) ahead of him that are the issue.

That’s a fair assessment. Yes he does more defensively but still switches off on occasions which he did against Sheffield United. As you say he is a back up these days. We need more from all of our wingers. None of them are creating anywhere near enough. Barrow has fallen into the same trap as Aluko and is happy at just winning a few corners rather than causing any real damage.

Slightly off topic but with regards to our wingers, apparently there was a serious allegation against Popa, perhaps explains his limited gametime

Interesting point about our wingers, they have certainly regressed, especially when considering how strong (on paper) they were meant to be last season with

Aluko - shone with Fulham, paid a lot for him
Barrow - had prem experience, looked pacy and direct
McCleary - on form, one of the best wingers in the league, injuries and age have unfortunately curtailed that
Beerens - had an aura of class that none of our other wingers possessed, but drifted out of games miles too often to play as much as he did
Popa - had Champions league experience, looked a handful for defenders

I still think had we not messed up pre season last year or faffed around with Beerens/McCleary up front, we really could have pushed for top 6 but by the time he figured it out, confidence was shot to pieces. Gomes has to reinstall some confidence in this team, the ability is there, we just need to show it

Not heard about the Popa stuff. Our wingers have become a real weakness for us. Barrow is a shadow of the attacking threat from last season. We have two strikers who when fit will score goals if they get the service. Harriott is worth a shout but is likely to be loaned out.

[Platypuss]

Barrow is continually doubled up on now, and 9/10 times he has no one showing for him or making an overlapping run to make it harder for the defenders. it's criminal tbh.

[Hound]

I actually thought Barrow played pretty well and caused problems. Won a number of corners and had them on the back foot quite a lot. Best I've seen him for a while

Sims was dreadful. He has an amazing knack of coming out of every 50/50 situation without the ball.

[3points]

Barrow is continually doubled up on now, and 9/10 times he has no one showing for him or making an overlapping run to make it harder for the defenders. it's criminal tbh.

His positioning on Saturday was terrible. He stayed far too wide (the opposite problem of Aluko, I know) and didn’t attack the box when we were attacking down our right.

[Zip]

Barrow is continually doubled up on now, and 9/10 times he has no one showing for him or making an overlapping run to make it harder for the defenders. it's criminal tbh.

Yep. We have a player free and never make it count. It happened on Saturday. He had two players on him yet our lot were static and not offering for the ball. Totally unacceptable.

Zip jnr had shown me footage of one of the handball calls from Saturday. It was clear cut. We could do with a few breaks.

[Hound]

Barrow is continually doubled up on now, and 9/10 times he has no one showing for him or making an overlapping run to make it harder for the defenders. it's criminal tbh.

Yep. We have a player free and never make it count. It happened on Saturday. He had two players on him yet our lot were static and not offering for the ball. Totally unacceptable.

Zip jnr had shown me footage of one of the handball calls from Saturday. It was clear cut. We could do with a few breaks.

was directly behind both the handballs. First I wouldn't have given (but it could have been), second looked nailed on

[Victor Meldrew]

Barrow is continually doubled up on now, and 9/10 times he has no one showing for him or making an overlapping run to make it harder for the defenders. it's criminal tbh.

Yep. We have a player free and never make it count. It happened on Saturday. He had two players on him yet our lot were static and not offering for the ball. Totally unacceptable.

Zip jnr had shown me footage of one of the handball calls from Saturday. It was clear cut. We could do with a few breaks.

was directly behind both the handballs. First I wouldn't have given (but it could have been), second looked nailed on

Not sure which was the definite.
To me it looked as though one shot was hit too hard for the player to get out of the way and I thought the other one hit Baldock.

The shame is that we are looking desperately for refereeing decisions to go our way and for the ref to favour us-both are signs of teams heading downwards (see the Sunderland film).

If ever you wanted a game to sum up The Championship it was Saturday's-plenty of effort from both sides but so little in terms of craft and flair.