Season 24/25 | The Official Match Thread | Middlesbrough FC vs Swansea City | The EFL Championship

[T8AD365]

Darling and AN Other CB....Grimes in centre midfield with Cooper. 2 wide men, Eom and Ronald. Franco as a 10. Vipotnik CF. 442. Best we've got at minute imo.

Cooper would be eaten alive in midfield, especially with Grimes dropping deep and leaving him isolated. He's far too lightweight and spends more time on the ground than on his feet, not good enough for the Championship

 

[cmajack]

Was pretty depressing to hear Williams wax lyrical about Fulton in midweek, saying we'd never be able to buy a player as good as him these days and how important he is and how professional he is.

JUST.LOOK.AT.HIM.PLAYING.IN.A.F*CKING GAME, LUKE. I don't care if he's a model professional at Fairwood if on match day he offers nothing.

I'm hopeful that as we sign the 4+ more players Luke wants, and Franco gets up to speed that we'll see a transition to a different partner for Grimes and a different dynamic in midfield, but that was pretty grim in the centre of the park today.

If he really said that , and i don't doubt you for 1 minute, then we are in a position where we absolutely have no ambition of bettering ourselves in the championship.

 

[Pentyrchjack]

There's no flaming excuse not to be gagging at the bit to perform in the first game of the season. I don't buy Luke's crap about inadequacies in squad depth for today's loss - the squad today was at least capable of putting up a good fight and performance IF THEY WERE MOTOVATED, COMMITTED AND DRIVEN.

 

[cmajack]

There's no flaming excuse not to be gagging at the bit to perform in the first game of the season. I don't buy Luke's crap about inadequacies in squad depth for today's loss - the squad today was at least capable of putting up a good fight and performance IF THEY WERE MOTOVATED, COMMITTED AND DRIVEN.

They should have been at least motivated enough to get 1 shot on target. It's a pretty depressing statistic, particularly for those poor souls who travelled to watch that garbage.

 

[Blackpooljack]

I thought it was interesting that Fisher wasn’t on the bench

He's injured

 

[NEATH JACK 8]

Cooper would be eaten alive in midfield, especially with Grimes dropping deep and leaving him isolated. He's far too lightweight and spends more time on the ground than on his feet, not good enough for the Championship

But Grimes should not be dropping deep in a 442. However, more chance of seeing a lesbian Pope than Grimes being deployed as a proper midfielder and not playing as a bloody sweeper.

 

[T8AD365]

But Grimes should not be dropping deep in a 442. However, more chance of seeing a lesbian Pope than Grimes being deployed as a proper midfielder and not playing as a bloody sweeper.

He can't help himself though, it's his way of "hiding" where he gives himself 20 yards of space so he can decide who to play a 5 yard pass to.

His only other trick is running towards a team mate who has the ball, getting the pass from them and immediately playing it back first time

 

[Dillwyn the Dog]

That was mental from Vigouroux
Maybe the right decision compared to giving him free reign to come in on goal

I thought WTF is he doing but he completely closed down the attacking player completely obliterating his sight of goal. If that is the case good keeping

 

[Dillwyn the Dog]

Commentator calling Jay Fulton a bystander is an insult to bystanders.

Quality fair play

 

[Dillwyn the Dog]

Honestly though, did anyone think Cabango would suddenly develop (at his age) into a competent Championship standard defender going forward.
Utter gash.

He’s got no pace and it’s not something a player can gain. His level is league 1

 

[Gors Buster]

It’s the lack of movement and urgency that still plagues us.
They were 1-0 up with 10 mins to go and still hitting us on the break, at pace, in numbers.

 

[Swanjaxs]

It’s the lack of movement and urgency that still plagues us.
They were 1-0 up with 10 mins to go and still hitting us on the break, at pace, in numbers.

A lack of genuine quality will plague us as the season progresses also, at the moment a relegation struggle seems likely

 

[Dillwyn the Dog]

We look horrible tbf. Boro haven’t done much to justify their world beating status either. Standard Championship tripe.

Boro commentator "And Grimes drops back again, to collect the ball". Drops back? He lived in the middle of our defence! Not sure I want to hear Williams bigging up this game, or making excuses. Anyone who regularly picks Fulton isn't worth his salt. Static defence and static midfield, apart from Oem Ji Sung, leads to zero or limited chances for our front players. Long season ahead I fear.

Grimes is the same type of guy as the lazy boy in the factory who when given a job buggers it up so he can go and hide or sweep up instead.

He’s the captain and he doesn’t deserve to be on the pitch let alone be captain. When you think of all the lauds he gets but wouldn’t be for to lace Leon , Ferrie or Cornforths boots. I just wish we’d stop giving him f*cking contracts let him go FFS

 

[Gors Buster]

A lack of genuine quality will plague us as the season progresses also, at the moment a relegation struggle seems likely

Massive 3 weeks ahead.

 

[Smurph]

It could be worse, at least we aren't Birmingham.