2015-16 Championship Thread

[Fernando]

First topic message reminder :

With Sky announcing their live games for the start of the Championship season i figured we could use a thread

Who do we think will head up and down this season?

August
Fri 7: Brighton & Hove Albion v Nottingham Forest (7.45pm)
Sat 8: Leeds United v Burnley (12.30pm)
Sun 9: Preston North End v Middlesbrough (12 noon)
Sun 16: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Hull City (12 noon)
Fri 21: Birmingham City v Derby County (7.45pm)
Sat 22: Leeds United v Sheffield Wednesday (12.30pm)
Fri 28: Blackburn Rovers v Bolton Wanderers (7.45pm)
Sat 29: Derby County v Leeds United (12.05pm)

September
Fri 11: Reading v Ipswich Town (8pm)
Sat 19: Nottingham Forest v Middlesbrough (12.30pm)
Fri 25: Fulham v Queen’s Park Rangers (7.45pm)

October
Fri 2 Oct: Rotherham United v Burnley (7.45pm)
Sat 3: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Huddersfield Town (12.30pm)

*Other games may be added.

[dyrewolfe]

Maybe Downing and Leadbitter should be "rested" for a bit, to see if their performances pick up later on?

Out of curiosity, who would you play in place of them? de Sart, de Pena, Nsue...any others?

[Nico the gman]

Maybe Downing and Leadbitter should be "rested" for a bit, to see if their performances pick up later on?

Out of curiosity, who would you play in place of them? de Sart, de Pena, Nsue...any others?

My midfield, Adomah, Clayton, Forshaw, Ramirez, Nsue, de laet would play right back,supporting Nsue, against Fulham with Clayton being suspended de Sart would play the defensive midfielder role, he's young and fresh and would be eager to please Karanka. That midfield with the 2 full backs Friend and de Laet supporting and Rhodes up front gives anyone problems IMO.

[dyrewolfe]

Well, that was a decent away performance.

Caught Fulham with their pants down early on. Nice cross from Downing and thumping header from Adomah...keeper didn't have a chance.

Thought Nugent went over a bit easily for the penalty, but I guess there was enough in it for the ref to give it. Was nervous when Leadbitter stepped up but he made no mistake this time.

Rest of the half was fairly scrappy, end to end stuff. Seemed both sides were trying to play too fast and too direct. Some good build up play spoiled with awful final balls or wayward shots.

Lot of pressure at the end of the first half from Fulham...Dembele forcing a point-blank save from Dimi, tipping his bicycle kick over the bar. Just a few minutes later De Laet had to clear a header off the line. They were unlucky not to pull at least one back.

Second half was like a lot of the first half...fast, scrappy and frustrating. Several decent half-chances for both sides, but none taken.

Still, it keeps the pressure on Hull and Burnley.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Leeds fans I'd take up a new sport

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Lolz cellino walked out at half time and nobody from the club is speaking to the press afterwards, what a total shambles that club is

[NickisBHAFC]

Another 4-0 win, absolute scenes. Gonna have to do some homework to find the last time we won back to back 4-0 games!

Leeds we're absolutely terrible tonight though, we didn't even play as well as we can and we battered them. Hemed and Baldock were ruthless in front of goal though, and it's good to see them back playing together again.

Preston away on Saturday, another ground to tick of the old list, really looking forward to it.

Hull, Boro and Burnley, we're apart of this battle as well (something I never thought I'd say)

[dyrewolfe]

Leeds are an absolute joke. The sooner they get shot of Cellino and Evans the better.

[Nico the gman]

Its a pity Leeds have 38 points and will probably just stay up, still we can only hope.

[NickisBHAFC]

Yes Blackburn!

[owen10ozzy]

Would like to say I'm surprised, but I'm not....being honest we weren't that great against Fulham on the weekend. Save for a great opening 15 minutes; having gone 2 nil up we sat and played deep assuming the game was up...we had Dimi & De Laet to thank for it not being even at half time.

18 shots tonight but only 4 on target (Rhodes guilty of missing 3 one on ones) tells you all you need to know about us. Not clinical enough even when we do create. I'm glad Leadbitter has picked up an injury, hopefully he is out for the season because he has been treading water this year and is so ponderous in midfield it's frightening. Down all 4 leagues I've not seen a less mobile centre of the park than ours.

Brighton, Hull, Burnley...they have shown what you should be doing against the likes of Blackburn etc and that's giving them a hiding to nothing. The latter two will go up automatically and I expect Brighton to come out on top in the playoffs.

[dyrewolfe]

Ugh. Missed last night's game, but from reading the match report it seems like we were pretty poor. Karanka saying it took 75-85 minutes for us to "wake up".

Its not like we've played more games than anyone else lately, so thats inexcusable for a side chasing automatic promotion. Just the 1 game in hand over Burnley now to improve our position.

Wonder if it was a good idea playing Rhodes against the club he's just left? I know some players have a habit of scoring against former clubs, but it sounds like the plan backfired this time.

[owen10ozzy]

Dyre - Rhodes is not the type of player to go dribbling past keepers or chipping it delicately over him etc! Yes of course he should have the ability to do so but its not his forte per se. He has cost us points lately with his chances missed; but for me he is looking completely lost at times. So isolated up top it's frightening. He's more of a poacher yet doesn't get the service to utilise his best asset. We may have had 18 shots last night but take away half hearted efforts and it was more like 3...all of those coming down to Rhodes.

He said the other day when questioned about potentially playing two strikers that he was/does and named nugent and Rhodes! Nothing was remarked by the reporter who asked him...had it been me I would have put him straight and said 'I could put 8 strikers on the pitch...if 4 were playing in defence then there not strikers'!!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

A 9 million pound striker in the championship should be scoring at least once if he has 3 good chances in a game imo

[owen10ozzy]

Don't disagree with you Olly; as I said he has failed to do what we bought him for at the moment. But if we wanted a striker who was at his best playing up top alone and was the type to hold the ball up and allow our rather pedestrian midfield to catch up to play....why go out and buy Rhodes?!

I had thought the signing was a sign of a progression to two up top but clearly wishful thinking. I'm afraid we are going to blow this opportunity of promotion & for me it will rest entirely on Aitors extremely stubborn and rather egotistical shoulders...it's great learning from the best but one must have his own style in order to succeed and overcome difficulties he and only he faces..Mourinho he is not and him ignoring this fact will blow up in our faces.

[Nico the gman]

Don't disagree with you Olly; as I said he has failed to do what we bought him for at the moment. But if we wanted a striker who was at his best playing up top alone and was the type to hold the ball up and allow our rather pedestrian midfield to catch up to play....why go out and buy Rhodes?!

I had thought the signing was a sign of a progression to two up top but clearly wishful thinking. I'm afraid we are going to blow this opportunity of promotion & for me it will rest entirely on Aitors extremely stubborn and rather egotistical shoulders...it's great learning from the best but one must have his own style in order to succeed and overcome difficulties he and only he faces..Mourinho he is not and him ignoring this fact will blow up in our faces.

Karanka's post match interview, he said" Blackburn wanted it more and I can't understand it", Downing spat he's dummy out when subbed after yet another ineffective game, £5.5mill he's been a major disappointment IMO.

[owen10ozzy]

Downing, Leadbitter, Foreshaw have all been disappointing! In fact very disappointing. Strange to say that because we are after all in the Top 3....however very little of that is down to those individuals. Our defence has been what has put us where we are and now that's gone leaky we are seeing how ineffective we are for a supposedly far superior team to others in the league.

I've said from day one that as a team going forward we are pretty atrocious; one paced, one dimensional and a major lack of creativity..that's been throughout the entire season! We got away with it early doors as teams couldn't break us down and we overran them in the midfield when they had committed to many forward. Now teams just leave one or two midfielders back and it stifles us because we don't have the players with pace to break beyond them and nor do we have that killer ball midfielder in the centre of the pack. It's often lumped up to the channels where Adomah runs only to find there's no support...or its lofted to Rhodes who looks right and left and sees no one with him.

Like I said a few weeks ago, in some ways going up may not be a bad thing because I genuinely can't see how we wouldn't be on the end of some absolute hidings next year and with the players we have and tactics Aitors uses we wouldn't stand a chance of staying up.

[Nico the gman]

Downing, Leadbitter, Foreshaw have all been disappointing! In fact very disappointing. Strange to say that because we are after all in the Top 3....however very little of that is down to those individuals. Our defence has been what has put us where we are and now that's gone leaky we are seeing how ineffective we are for a supposedly far superior team to others in the league.

I've said from day one that as a team going forward we are pretty atrocious; one paced, one dimensional and a major lack of creativity..that's been throughout the entire season! We got away with it early doors as teams couldn't break us down and we overran them in the midfield when they had committed to many forward. Now teams just leave one or two midfielders back and it stifles us because we don't have the players with pace to break beyond them and nor do we have that killer ball midfielder in the centre of the pack. It's often lumped up to the channels where Adomah runs only to find there's no support...or its lofted to Rhodes who looks right and left and sees no one with him.

Like I said a few weeks ago, in some ways going up may not be a bad thing because I genuinely can't see how we wouldn't be on the end of some absolute hidings next year and with the players we have and tactics Aitors uses we wouldn't stand a chance of staying up.

Forshaw was given Boro man of the match by Radio Tees and Gazette last night, and was quality against Cardiff created a lot of chances, did nothing wrong against Fulham either, the other 2 Downing & Leadbitter have been off the boil for about the last dozen games and beyond.
The one player we could have done without getting injured was Ayala,( player of the season so far) defence isn't the same Ayala's been a rock.

[owen10ozzy]

Clayton was who I meant Nico; realised as soon as I typed it but was in work so couldn't edit!

Agreed regards Ayala...and Dimi lets not forget that man! Numerous times we could have been few goals down during games we have snuck 1-0...2-1!

[Nico the gman]

Clayton was who I meant Nico; realised as soon as I typed it but was in work so couldn't edit!

Agreed regards Ayala...and Dimi lets not forget that man! Numerous times we could have been few goals down during games we have snuck 1-0...2-1!

No problem Owen,why drop Ramirez, he's been superb, skilful, creative, gets into dangerous positions himself and he gets put on the bench. With regard to Dimi he has been brilliant, he's 37 but I still feel he still has another couple of years left in him.

I'm not into this resting players scenario, these men are trained athletes, play Saturday have Sunday, Monday off, the lad needs a rest, he's played 2 games in a week, unbelievable, this rotating of our squad is rubbish. Imagine Spurs, City and Leicester giving Kane, Aguero,Vardy or Yaya Toure a rest, it just wouldn't happen, Karanka has a whole lot to learn.

If we blow it this season then draw your own conclusions about Karanka,100% backing from Gibson in the transfer market, the natives are getting restless.

[dyrewolfe]

Dyre - Rhodes is not the type of player to go dribbling past keepers or chipping it delicately over him etc! Yes of course he should have the ability to do so but its not his forte per se. He has cost us points lately with his chances missed; but for me he is looking completely lost at times. So isolated up top it's frightening. He's more of a poacher yet doesn't get the service to utilise his best asset. We may have had 18 shots last night but take away half hearted efforts and it was more like 3...all of those coming down to Rhodes.

He said the other day when questioned about potentially playing two strikers that he was/does and named nugent and Rhodes! Nothing was remarked by the reporter who asked him...had it been me I would have put him straight and said 'I could put 8 strikers on the pitch...if 4 were playing in defence then there not strikers'!!

Eh...thats completely NOT what I was on about Ozzy. I simply meant that maybe Rhodes wasn't the best choice to play against his former club...at least not so soon after leaving. I know lots players have no problem, but equally I'm sure some have the odd pang of regret, or just feel a bit strange when facing people who were their team mates just a few weeks ago.

He's still new to the club and trying to find his groove, so I'm not overly bothered about his missed chances. He is also not the first Boro striker to find himself isolated up front. Thats something a lot of us have been complaining about for ages....since we had the likes of Jutkiewicz and Kris Boyd.

Same old story - we sign strikers who score loads for their previous club. As soon as they pull a Boro shirt on they strangely lose their goalscoring touch. Hope Rhodes isn't just the latest victim of this.

Completely agree with your other comment though. The Oneboro forum was pretty lively with discussion about AK's post-match interview. Mostly, they were trying to decide if it meant we were playing 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2. That said, Karanka wouldn't be the first Boro manager to use 2 or 3 forwards / strikers in a 1-up-front formation.

[Nico the gman]

Quality performance, very good win, no Downing or Leadbitter didn't need them, Ramirez premiership class, Adomah my man of the match excellent, we're far more creative with Clayton & Forshaw, it just works. Rhodes positional play last night was superb, unlucky with the 2nd half header good save, no worries with him.
The 2-1 score line flattered Wolves, they were well beat.

[owen10ozzy]

I've just caught up on the game today! As you say absolutely superb performance. Don't wish injury on anyone but I hope leadbitter is out for the season because Clayton and Forshaw together were so much better. We had more impetus on the ball, looked far more energetic in the midfield and more importantly had a midfield 3 (gaston included) who weren't so pedestrian both in motion and on the ball.

I gave Clayton some stick the other day, but seeing him partnered with someone younger and fresher has made me question just how much of a negative presence Grant is in the centre of the park. Based off last nights performance we are a much more cutting edge team without him.

That through ball to Rhodes, which was saved by the legs after he just couldn't quite get enough on it, was beautiful. It's that exact type of pass/player to play it; that you need if your going to insist on 1 up top with a creative player in behind.

[NickisBHAFC]

Top away day yesterday at Preston, apart from the football of course!

2 sides who just wanted to take the point and run.

[dyrewolfe]

Quality performance, very good win, no Downing or Leadbitter didn't need them, Ramirez premiership class, Adomah my man of the match excellent, we're far more creative with Clayton & Forshaw, it just works. Rhodes positional play last night was superb, unlucky with the 2nd half header good save, no worries with him.
The 2-1 score line flattered Wolves, they were well beat.

Yep - it was good to see we can operate without those two...in the sense that its never good for any team to be reliant on just a few players.

Great header and audacious chip by Ramirez...he looked different class. Would be nice if we can hang on to him, if we do go up.

Typical Boro though. We cruise most of the game, then switch off and concede a soft goal late on. Made for a nervy few minutes of stoppage time.

[Guest]

boro

[owen10ozzy]

Hahahahahaahaha!!! What a shock...NOT!

1 up top against a bottom 3 side....absolutely disgusting! Not only that but it takes him 75 minutes to bring a striker on....and he goes and takes our other one off!! AT 0-0!!! Karanka is an idiot of the highest order...have completely lost faith in the guy.

We will finish around 5th and lose in the semi's of the playoffs...heard it here first. Hopefully it leads to the sacking of that stubborn **ss*r of a man.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Was about to post incoming angry Boro fans but I've been beaten to it

That's a massive choke tonight tbf

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Btw Andre Gray has been a mega signing for Burnley

[owen10ozzy]

Were like the Arsenal of the Championship at the moment...dominate possession and territory yet fail to capitalise and when others around us collapse and we can take advantage we fail miserably!

[GSC]

Good to get back to winning ways, even if our season has now faded into nothingness.

Would be good to see Britt get some game time before seasons end, we're probably in the playoff mix with some clinical finishing. Given up hope of Fryatt ever contributing.

[dyrewolfe]

Possession
Rotherham 38% Boro 62%
Shots
Rotherham 7 Boro 14
Shots on Target
Rotherham 1 Boro 2
Corners
Rotherham 8 Boro 2
Fouls
Rotherham 13 Boro 11

WHAT ARE YOU DOING BORO...WHAT ARE YOU DOING???

[Nico the gman]

Possession
Rotherham 38% Boro 62%
Shots
Rotherham 7 Boro 14
Shots on Target
Rotherham 1 Boro 2
Corners
Rotherham 8 Boro 2
Fouls
Rotherham 13 Boro 11

WHAT ARE YOU DOING BORO...WHAT ARE YOU DOING???

Listened to the commentary, dominated the 1st half,Nugent missed 2 glorious chances, blazed over one on one with the keeper and then an header that was easier to score with than miss,we missed chance after chance. Karanka said we should have been 4 or 5 up at half time. Karanka's post match interview he said "They had more desire than us 2nd half it reminded me of Bristol City" that is a shocking admission to make. We are playing more like a relegation team than a promotion chasing team. The players went up to applaud the travelling fans and were booed.

[NickisBHAFC]

Annoying 0-0 draw last night, was a poor performance in torid conditions, however automatic slots up for grabs still with boro screwing up.

Can't look past Burnley atm.

[Nico the gman]

Btw Andre Gray has been a mega signing for Burnley

Good job Gray never signed for the Boro, he would have spent half the season on the bench, and would be lucky to be in double figures.

[dyrewolfe]

Possession
Rotherham 38% Boro 62%
Shots
Rotherham 7 Boro 14
Shots on Target
Rotherham 1 Boro 2
Corners
Rotherham 8 Boro 2
Fouls
Rotherham 13 Boro 11

WHAT ARE YOU DOING BORO...WHAT ARE YOU DOING???

Listened to the commentary, dominated the 1st half,Nugent missed 2 glorious chances, blazed over one on one with the keeper and then an header that was easier to score with than miss,we missed chance after chance. Karanka said we should have been 4 or 5 up at half time. Karanka's post match interview he said "They had more desire than us 2nd half it reminded me of Bristol City" that is a shocking admission to make. We are playing more like a relegation team than a promotion chasing team. The players went up to applaud the travelling fans and were booed.

Agree...that is completely unacceptable for a team chasing automatic promotion. We should be steam-rollering sides like Rotherham.

What makes it so annoying for me, is that we clearly have the quality to dominate games like that, in terms of passing and keeping possession. Where we fall short is work rate, in terms of pressing forward and creating chances. We just seem to lack that will to win, almost like we expect other teams to put chances on a plate for us.

14 shots at goal and just 2 on target is a pretty damning stat on its own, but the fact we only forced 2 corners all game, compared to 8 for the home team, is pretty depressing as well.

You have to wonder if a lot of our players actually want to get promoted. Or do they just expect other teams to roll over for us?

[Nico the gman]

Possession
Rotherham 38% Boro 62%
Shots
Rotherham 7 Boro 14
Shots on Target
Rotherham 1 Boro 2
Corners
Rotherham 8 Boro 2
Fouls
Rotherham 13 Boro 11

WHAT ARE YOU DOING BORO...WHAT ARE YOU DOING???

Listened to the commentary, dominated the 1st half,Nugent missed 2 glorious chances, blazed over one on one with the keeper and then an header that was easier to score with than miss,we missed chance after chance. Karanka said we should have been 4 or 5 up at half time. Karanka's post match interview he said "They had more desire than us 2nd half it reminded me of Bristol City" that is a shocking admission to make. We are playing more like a relegation team than a promotion chasing team. The players went up to applaud the travelling fans and were booed.

Agree...that is completely unacceptable for a team chasing automatic promotion. We should be steam-rollering sides like Rotherham.

What makes it so annoying for me, is that we clearly have the quality to dominate games like that, in terms of passing and keeping possession. Where we fall short is work rate, in terms of pressing forward and creating chances. We just seem to lack that will to win, almost like we expect other teams to put chances on a plate for us.

14 shots at goal and just 2 on target is a pretty damning stat on its own, but the fact we only forced 2 corners all game, compared to 8 for the home team, is pretty depressing as well.

You have to wonder if a lot of our players actually want to get promoted. Or do they just expect other teams to roll over for us?

Ayala, medical team say he's ready to return, but player doesn't feel right to return, can't fathom this one out, strange, huge miss at the moment and our cover isn't that clever.

[GSC]

Macheda on loan apparently. Decent I guess

[GSC]

Karanka told the players he didn't want to manage them anymore and walked out of a team meeting apparently.

[dyrewolfe]

Karanka told the players he didn't want to manage them anymore and walked out of a team meeting apparently.

Source?

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Seen it reported on the BBC he's considering his future

[Guest]

McClaren's available

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Club confirms he did not take training this morning and will not take charge tomorrow

[GSC]

McClaren would make a lot of sense to be honest.

[Nico the gman]

McClaren's available

He had his time at our club, successful yes, but no thanks, and he managed you lot so that's the final nail in the coffin.

[Nico the gman]

Club confirms he did not take training this morning and will not take charge tomorrow

Word as it Dolphin,, training ground bust up, players coup criticizing Karanka's tactics and managerial style led by waste of money signing Downing & his brother in law Woodgate. Downing has dug a grave for himself with Boro fans if this is true, they won't forgive him when you think what's at stake.

[dyrewolfe]

I hate being brought down a peg or 3. Especially by GSC...so humiliating!

As if we weren't already doing enough to sabotage our chances of getting promoted.  

Funny thing is Karanka's tactics and managerial style had us 6 points clear at the top of the league 2 months ago...so whats changed since then? We've lost 8 games this season and 4 of them have been in our last 10 matches.

[Nico the gman]

I hate being brought down a peg or 3. Especially by GSC...so humiliating!

As if we weren't already doing enough to sabotage our chances of getting promoted.  

Funny thing is Karanka's tactics and managerial style had us 6 points clear at the top of the league 2 months ago...so whats changed since then? We've lost 8 games this season and 4 of them have been in our last 10 matches.

If Karanka's gone then he's gone our seasons far from over, we still have it all to play for, not the 1st to leave the club and won't be the last, life goes on and so does our footy club.

[Guest]

Rotherham 0-3 Derby - 10 mins to go

Rotherham 3-3 Deby - 10 mins later

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Derby county - the ultimate bottlers

[NickisBHAFC]

Leon best scored twice as well

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