Opposition Fan Forum: https://www.oneboro.co.uk/forum/ After a somewhat subdued display against Sheffield Wednesday, be that due to rusty international break fatigue or no real time to prepare - Watford travel to Teeside to take on Neil Warnock's Boro. Nothing is ever as traumatic as having Warnock shouting at you. See below. [ WARNING: Contains Bad Language ] Last Time Out A bullet header from Craig Cathcart settled the opening game of the season at Vicarage Road under then new coach Vladimir Ivic. Watford were average at best (due to hardly any pre-season) and just about deserved it overall. Seasons So Far Middlesbrough have reminded me of Watford of past Championship seasons. Very inconsistent. They have never been in danger in relegation and always hanging around near the playoff spots. Boro' have a knack of going on little spurts of form and then dropping off the face of the earth points wise. Hard to predict, their fans' must be tearing their hair out at times. At the time of writing, Boro' have an outside sniff of the playoffs despite losing heavily to a rejuvenated Bournemouth. It would mean them having to win at least five of their final seven games and hoping sides drop points. Can they do it? History seems to show Boro' generally bottle it towards the end of the season. Wherever they do finish, they can consider this season a success, almost being relegated to League One last season under a deluded Karanka. I won't bang on about Watford's season as we all know it inside out. Just let me say we are on our best run of the season with six straight wins - best run since 2011 under Malky - one defeat in 11 games - nine points clear of third place (Brentford have not played). The change in formation, the secret meeting, player confidence high and a smiling Sarr. Xisco has worked wonders since the Coventry game and deserves a lot of credit. Sights Around Middlesbrough Tees Transporter Bridge Middlesbrough Train Stati0n Middlesbrough Town Hall Where Windows Rest In Peace My Prediction This is a tough game to call. You do not know which Warnock side will turn up. Will they go hammer and tongs and attack us, still believing they can make the top six? Or will they park the bus and try to stifle us? I feel we will play better than we did yesterday, with the extra day of rest and bit more time for Xisco to plan for the game. Would a draw be a terrible result here? I would of taken a point at Cardiff that day. We won that, so an extra two points were recorded. We can afford to drop two points here if it comes down to it. I cannot see us catching Norwich despite their small blip in form currently. We can win this game of course, but we know how they will play. Middlesbrough 1 Watford 1
Boro have their best player Dael Fry out injured and no recognised strikers. Duncan Watmore should be meat and drink for our defenders. Warnock described their 3-1 defeat as a "good performance" so hopefully they've got another one in them.
Law of averages would suggest we'd drop points somewhere along the the final run of games. However, taking this game in isolation, there's no reason why we won't win this. Tough side, like they all are, and it's important to score the first goal. They are very beatable though and if we play well, control the game and get that early goal, we should have enough to secure another very important victory. The team will fly to the game, so travelling time shouldn't be an issue. If we win this one, and follow it up with another victory over Reading, then I think we'll be automatically promoted come the final game. That would give us 84 points with 5 to go, with the knowledge we can take points off Swansea and Brentford as a last ditch option if needed.
Probably in the minority here, but I’d take a point in this game. I reckon it’ll be similar to the Cardiff game.
Boro are effectively out of playoff contention. This really is the last chance saloon. They have to win and come at us. But they have players that can cause problems and some playing for their futures. Warnock always gets his teams motivated. Having said that will he use some of the younger players preparing for the next campaign to see what they are made of if he has decided that it will not happen ? Again rather unlikely. I doubt very much he would deliberately field a weakened side if only to spite Swansea who had the benefit of some ludicrous decisions in their 'win' against the Boro. We just have to be a lot better than against the Owls. However we did have a trio of players just arrived back from national duty and unable to train with the side. We looked a little off match sharpness and pace but that goes for all sides. Just need to ensure we maintain our defensive solidity and increase the tempo of our play and eliminate the sloppy passing from yesterday. No need for any changes I would think aside from Pedro who should be okay to play centrally with Sema on the left. Pedro's movement creates all sorts of space for the others. If Pedro is not up to speed then just bring in Gray as Success is also not at it. Another spot from the subs bench would be more appropriate. I hope we win because it will heap even more pressure on Swansea and Brentford in their efforts to catch up. One could see how frantic Swansea were yesterday in trying to win because they know at this stage of the season wins are the be all and end all. Dael Fry should be someone we ought to take a look at although his price will be at a premium and there are other options overseas. Tavernier is also out for the Smoggies and he is a creative outlet and both their absences were felt in the loss yesterday. Warnock certainly has a lot of rebuilding to do on Teeside.
Karanka was there from 2013 to 2017, just missing out on promotion when we went up, before getting promoted in 2016 and failing badly in the top flight the next season. They were heading towards League 1 last season with Woodgate in charge, Karanka himself was heading that way this season with Brum before Bowyer came along and got a tune out of them
Let's see how the Udders-Brentford game pans out, but if they win that, they'd go 7 pts behind with a game in hand, 2 dropped points and they'd have the chance to breathe right down our necks. These types of games are all must-win, especially as we have even more difficult games to come
We love beating Warnock sides. 0-1 but my vote goes to lovely Emma. What happened in the second half in front of the 2,000 drenched fans?
...OK, a draw might not be too bad now! Still, if Boro are spluttering now, with a few players out, we definitely should be looking to win
Too soon. I need to calm down from Wednesday and now the Brentford game. However didn't some of the Boro fans want to right the wrongs of their injustice against Swansea by having their tummies tickled against us? Wishful thinking from me I know.
Will be a battle but there's no reason to think we can't go there and pick up all 3 points. Cleverley hopefully back as well? I am quietly confident we will nick it 0-1. JP will be a loss, but a great opportunity for Gray to come in and prove himself. Success also has another 60 minutes sharpness under his belt. 0-1 win, tight game but we go 12 points clear before Swansea and Brentford play their next game.
Cleverley apparently not supposed to be back until Reading. I hope JP is back, but I wouldn't bank on it, suspect it'll be Success with Sema and Sarr, and Zinckernagel behind him
After today’s result I am more confident of us winning this game than before. The boys would have watched that game today and they will be massively encouraged by it. They know what needs to be done. There is a relentless mentality amongst our squad now, the players want to win. Success messed up that harmony yesterday, you could see the players around him getting frustrated with his lack of desire, poor touch and decision making. When PZ laid it off for him to hit first, and instead he tried to be clever by dinking the ball over the defender and got it wrong, Sarr goes nuts! PZ is also clearly baffled by what Success was doing. I hope he is nowhere near the starting 11 on Monday. Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I would rather Gray start. This game and Reading were always big games, now they are season defining. Just like Cardiff was, if we walk away with 2 wins in the next 2 games, then Swansea and Brentford will have a mountain to climb. Both of them will be banking on us losing the next 2 games so they can catch us. It’s in our hands, we mustn’t let it slip or think the job is done. Boro’s playoffs hope were all but stopped yesterday. Their players will feel that. They needed to beat Bmuff to stand a chance of realistically making it. Their heads will be down. If they play 442 against us, like they did against Bmuff, we will dominate the middle and win. It will be a tough game, but since the Bmuff game, their antics have kick started our season. The conversation was vital and put us on the right track. Bmuff’s cheating though, it put a fire in our boys and they have been immense ever since. Not being over confident, but we go on to win this game.
I think Success's dallying rubbed off on Zinck, a few times he overplayed too, not one of his better games for us. Success was...OK overall, maddenly frustrating, God knows why he was in an offside position for the goal, and a more confident player would have bagged at least 2, but at least he was getting into the right areas, and offered a decent outball rather than relying on the short goal kick every time
Take a draw??!! Seriously? I can't believe anyone is thinking like that. We are so much better than the rest of the teams in this league it's embarrassing. Another dominant performance and 3 more points coming up. We're going up as champions
Brentford have won 50% of their games and drawn 33% So if they win 4 draw 3 and lose 1 of their 8 matches we shall need 7 more points to go up Gray over Success ? #MeToo. Through gritted teeth tho
Success isn’t even a footballer. That miss after Zinckernagel put it on a plate is incomprehensible. I am an accountant and I would have scored that. Gray is not a good player and has been a very poor signing but he IS still a footballer and never would have missed that. He has to play if JP is injured.
Let's not let Success's failures make you forget about Gray...a 'handful' for sure, and a decent option off the bench against tiring legs, but Gray's made an entire career off missing those chances!
What would our schedule be like between the Weds game and this one? Would we manage to squeeze in a light training session to help re-establish some team cohesiveness prior to this match?
So , to recap, we have a choice between Isaac and Andre and the one most likely not to blaze over the bar ,fall over, shank, air shot or be a general buffoon on the pitch should start . Wow !.
Today would have been recovery day. Probably just a light session tomorrow to cover tactics against Boro.
I can’t believe it’s come to this but I’d genuinely prefer Gray. When Gray ****s up it’s because he’s crap, he can’t really help it. When success ****s up it’s usually due a combination of being crap as well as stupid.
