One Effort on Goal in 97 minutes

[ruthers1 0]

Forgetting Boro''s disgusting time wasting tactics just one shot on target from us and NONE in the second half in the most crucial game of the season and at home is absolutely pathetic and we don''t deserve automatic promotion on this showing. Simple as

[Cantiaci Canary 556]

Boro have 20 clean sheets for a reason. They are BIG and well drilled. Starting so slowly was our biggest crime. To give such a defensively superb and cynical side a one goal lead was suicide.

[Monty13 2,229]

Can''t be right, Hoolahan had one in the first half, Martin had an on target shot blocked in the second and so did Grabban and thats just off the top of my head.

[ruthers1 0]

Blocked efforts don''t count as shots on target mate

[Horse Renoir 1]

For all our obvious strengths we have a couple of glaring, massive weakness''. No one in this team, in the whole squad infact can consistently play a half decent final ball, It''s why we were relegated, it''s why we struggle to break teams down and it''s why we lot tonight.

We also can''t cope with pace and clever movement off the ball. Boro have built their team around these strengths so tonight was always going to be difficult. I''d be gutted if Boro don''t go up automatically because they''re the only side I could see beating us in the play offs, hopefully we''ll miss Brentford and Bournemouth as well because those could be tricky!

[JF 694]

Just the Hoolahan pass back as the only effort on target. Howson has to score that header he puts wide though. I would have taken the play offs every time if offered it when Neil arrived, Now I''m gutted that we are in them. Shows what a great job he has done.

[Monty13 2,229]

I was responding the thread title, apologies hadn''t actually read your op.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

Karanka is the manager Hughton dreams of becoming!

[ruthers1 0]

No worries, see what you mean

[unique 434]

Boro defenders got their heads to everything, unfortunately their defence is better than ours.

It was important that they didn''t score the first goal and it suited them down to the ground that they did.

Hopefully the feeling of defeat will galvanise the players in the play-offs.....

[whoareyou? 0]

Boro have the best defensive record in the football league, so it was never going to be easy.Sometimes you just have to accept they did what they needed to do and we didn''t.

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

[quote user="ruthers1"]Blocked efforts don''t count as shots on target mate[/quote]Of course they do. If someone gets in the way of a shot or header that is heading between the posts and under the bar it is still on target.

[ruthers1 0]

Was it their great defence though? Charlton and Wigan came here and applied the exact same tactics with the exact same result. 0-1.

We cant break down teams who put ten men behind the ball and it''s as simple as that.

It''s different away from home because teams can''t do that in front of their own fans.

[iron_stan 0]

this was a carbon copy of the charlton game, attack vs a well drilled defensive unit

hoolahan should have been off at half time and redmond should have been on much earlier

[Tumbleweed 106]

Sadly we made it very easy for them. There were few moments of alarm, we got into some decent positions and looked either clueless, chose the wrong option, overhit a ball in or sent it straight onto a defender. Hoolahan needed to stay on with Redmond going down the side to open them up. Buzzing around 30 yards out in midfield allowed them to keep narrow and tight. They weren''t really stretched.

[Guest]

It was obvious that their centre backs were going to deal with everything up to Jerome, and it was crying out for a bit of pace to get in behind them.

Neil''s done a superb job, but for me he played into Boro''s hands tonight. I was shocked he didn''t change it at half time.

[93vintage 16]

[quote user="Ricky Spanish"]For all our obvious strengths we have a couple of glaring, massive weakness''. No one in this team, in the whole squad infact can consistently play a half decent final ball, It''s why we were relegated, it''s why we struggle to break teams down and it''s why we lot tonight.[/quote]Totally agree with this. We tend to favour crosses when it might be more favourable to try a through ball.

[AJ 1,218]

Two shots on target I believe in 97 minutes and is very much the reason we didn''t score. We could have played for hours and not scored unfortunately. Howson missed our chance to get back into the game. Second half would have been a lot different if it was 1-1.

Play offs at the very least still a big achievement after our fall from grace. Got to feel fairly confident at being in the play offs though

[AJ 1,218]

Also Redmond was introduced far too late when we clearly lacked the width and pace to hurt Boro

[Barry Brockes 145]

I really hope Boro go up automatically. I fear they''d do a job on us in the play-offs. I feel confident against the other contenders but that lot tonight have our measure.

[Kanadyan Kanary 121]

I agree that we have had difficulty all season, breaking down teams who have come to defend. I would like to see us work the ball into shooting positions at the front of the box and then we stand a good chance of picking off rebounds, if they don''t go in first time. We need to mix that approach with the crossing from the bi-line approach. AN said we had 47 crosses tonight and only two shots on target according to the BBC. Wow!

[GJP 79]

For me it was a bit of a worry to see Johnson back in the team and Redmond out.

 

Everyone knows Boro are great defensively. And unfortunately Johnson does not offer you the option to get down the side of them, to hurt them with pace. Similarly Howson isn''t really cut out for playing out wide either.

 

They''re very well drilled defensively and I thought our setup played into their hands a bit. I thought we needed to give them a bit more to think about.

[Branston Pickle 3,632]

To be fair, we should''ve had a pen and several goal-bound shots were blocked - but we did struggle to break them down, as most have this season. We had 20 shots in total, per the beeb, just a shame we didn''t get the accuracy.

[93vintage 16]

[quote user="Kanadyan Kanary"]I agree that we have had difficulty all season, breaking down teams who have come to defend. I would like to see us work the ball into shooting positions at the front of the box and then we stand a good chance of picking off rebounds, if they don''t go in first time. We need to mix that approach with the crossing from the bi-line approach. AN said we had 47 crosses tonight and only two shots on target according to the BBC. Wow![/quote]Some good points. Our players lack organisation and are too slow in teeing up shots. This leads to too many deferred chances and the ball ending up being passed wide or backwards.Our poor close passing and movement doesn''t help matters.

[francis 0]

Hard luck tonight lads. Seems some very level headed posters on this thread. If you''ve read the other thread i''ve posted on then i apologies to you. To be honest i''ve always had a soft spot for Norwich since you beat Bayern Munich. Good luck for the rest of the season.

from a Boro fan.