So much for having one of the leagues meanest defences

[Samwam27 519]

And Martin rounds off an awful night (I''m a fan of him at RB but never CB with our better defenders) with a Yellow.Get another and at least we get a proper central defender in for a game or two!

[lake district canary 4,531]

There have been questions all season about the defence and I suspect many of us have wondered what would happen when up against a really good side.  We have just found out what would happen and it wasn''t good.    

Changes will need to be made, not just in personnel, but in tactics.  The 442, or 424 as it is sometimes and the 433 are not working.  It HAS to be 451 to keep better defence and control in midfield. 

Also, to play the same side against Middlesborough was a mistake imo.   It was crying out for four good midfielders - Tettey Johnson  Howson and O''Neill would have given us enough in midfield, with perhaps Johnon or Tettey sitting deep as a holding player. Redmond running the channels behind a single striker.

We apparently decided to play an open game - but this was Middlesborough - a confident and in form team, full of goals.  Failure to take that on board was a mistake. Brave some might say, to take them on toe for toe, but actually naive - as were Bolton on Friday. Sorry, but Adams has to learn and learn fast.  

[Branston Pickle 3,632]

We have let in far too many soft goals in the last 5-6 games, they have cost us several points (Rotherham, Charlton, Leeds, Fulham, Bolton (didn''t cost us but v soft)).

Hopefully tonight was at least a wake-up call to Adams that RM is not one of our best two cb''s.

[BOO 0]

What''s worrying me is it sounds like the players didn''t really look up for the game? Hard to explain that sort of attitude in a team looking for promotion.

[gabba 0]

[quote user="Vanwink"]What''s worrying me is it sounds like the players didn''t really look up for the game? Hard to explain that sort of attitude in a team looking for promotion.[/quote]It looks like Adams is starting to lose the dressing room.

[......and Smith must score. 1,332]

So one hammering all season means the end of a mean defence ?Not great and some goals conceded have lost us two points but all our defeats this term have been by a single goal.Almost every team gets well beaten at least once a season.Far too early to panic.