Boro (h) Post match thread

[Roboklopp]

Fulham...get in!

[The Aardvark]

I've said it before and i'll say it again dude...Finnan is far superior to Arbeloa. I dont get why people think otherwise. Ok Finns had a few dodgy performances last season and he aint getting any younger but he's a quality footballer and adds a great deal of composure to our defence.

Kuyt, well we just simply isnt up to standard in terms of starting league matches. I'd even have Pennant ahead of him.

Oh you had to spoil it didn't you.

[Lee]

I've said it before and i'll say it again dude...Finnan is far superior to Arbeloa. I dont get why people think otherwise. Ok Finns had a few dodgy performances last season and he aint getting any younger but he's a quality footballer and adds a great deal of composure to our defence.

Kuyt, well we just simply isnt up to standard in terms of starting league matches. I'd even have Pennant ahead of him.

May not be "an attacking fullback", but he's a solid defender. This attacking fullback thing is bollocks. I like my midfielders and forwards to attack, and me defenders to defend

[vonk]

Got out of jail despite Mike Rileys best efforts. Delighted with 3 pts but genuinely feel sorry for Boro. They deserved a point and we mugged them. Some points from today.

Carra, Skrtel, Dossena were solid enough. Thought Arbeloa was shaky.

Alonso - very poor, gave the ball away when pressured and his passes rarely hit the target. Gave the ball away and it resulted in Boro's goal. Couldnt blame the defence, it was a great strike by Mido. Xabi made the case for Barry/Mascherano today. Totally botched 3 corners in a row, hitting the first man every time.

Gerrard - Tried to get it going but played within himself. Is probably injured but he came alive in the last 10. He is legendary in the last 10-15 of matches.

Kuyt - Worked hard and made less mistakes than the other midfielders, but offered no threat. No creativity and a couple of poor touches when in good positions. He's fine when we need to graft but when we need someone to break down a massed defence, Dirk is not the man.

Benny - Should be sold to Roma, he went missing today and offered nothing. Very poor.

Babel - was screaming for him to come on, but when he did he did nothing. Needs a full game maybe.

El Zhar - tries hard but not really the answer. Pennant really is out of favour when Nabil is ahead of him

Nando - Worked his socks off and was taking on Boro on his own for long periods. couldnt fault his effort today.

Keane - is trying but is pretty ineffective at the moment apart from his contribution for the winner. hard to know whether the two up front is working. Needs a goal to calm him down.

Rafa - Poor tactical display today. Boro were tight and well organised. They are good in the air at the back yet we resorted to long balls too often. There was no obvious effort to go wide and get behind them, a problem we seem to have had for bloody years now! There will be plenty more games like this and they are crying out for a good wide man. Rafa does not instill confidence and he's been lucky so far this season. He was definitely outmanouevered (sp?) by Southgate today. At least we can now see why he wanted to replace Xabi. Those who have said he loses possession as soon as he is pressurized are spot on.

[Laz]

Fulham 1-0 Arsenal.....

ooooo, Fulham just taken the lead against Arsenal.........and it's deserved.

Fulham...get in!

Wrong thread.

[The Aardvark]

A pretty accurate summary of the game there vonk

[Nicey]

Kuyt was ****ing excellent today ... credit to Boro they ran us ragged today, went at us like men possessed, played great football and were robbed lets face it. But we played well also .. we were the better team in the first half and it was hard to seperate the two teams in the 2nd half ... how anybody can have a go at Kuyt is beyond me .. he was pretty solid down the right and played his nuts off as usaual

[Vermilion]

When is Mascherano due back? The gold medal match is this weekend isn't it? But I'm guessing as he won't have much time to train with the squad he won't play next weekend, so will it be the Scum game when we have everyone back and can go back to that system?

Mascher has won his 2nd Olympic Gold, so long as he doesn't have to go back to Argentina he should be back soon as......i hope.

[redwien]

Anyone got the goals from today?

[The Aardvark]

Anyone got the goals from today?

http://www.est1892.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=53867

[marcus50bucks]

Kuyt was ****ing excellent today ... credit to Boro they ran us ragged today, went at us like men possessed, played great football and were robbed lets face it. But we played well also .. we were the better team in the first half and it was hard to seperate the two teams in the 2nd half ... how anybody can have a go at Kuyt is beyond me .. he was pretty solid down the right and played his nuts off as usaual

He was excellent at working hard, other than that, he was pretty average like everyone else.

[Woobus]

Cant understand why people are giving Kuyt such a hard time, there were a right few players who played worse than he did. He also plays a lot better in 4231 than 442.

[Nicey]

naaa I cant go with that .... credit to Boro they played very very well today, we need to improve but I dont think that was a bad performance ... some flashs of the potential of the Keane Torres partnership which put a huge smile on my face almost as happy as the goals some of there link up play

[vonk]

Kuyt was ****ing excellent today ... credit to Boro they ran us ragged today, went at us like men possessed, played great football and were robbed lets face it. But we played well also .. we were the better team in the first half and it was hard to seperate the two teams in the 2nd half ... how anybody can have a go at Kuyt is beyond me .. he was pretty solid down the right and played his nuts off as usaual

Solid, Nicey, Solid. And thats fine away from home when we need to be compact and defend as a team. But today when Boro went a goal up and got everyone behind the ball, Dirk wins the ball then squares it or passes it back!! That's whats so frustrating. He could take it on himself, but he can't beat a man or whip in a decent cross. If his role is to work his socks off and win the ball...great. But getting the ball on the wing with space to turn and go forward, but instead choosing to pass it back to the full back or square is pretty ineffective. I like him but he's not what the team needs. Neither nor Benny are attacking the full back like they should be. Only Gerrard and Torres seem to have the confidence to go at a fullback knowing they can beat him. If I was up against Dirk he would pass it square.

[Exiled_red]

Benny - Should be sold to Roma, he went missing today and offered nothing. Very poor.

I wouldn't sell him, he's a decent squad player and seems to do better coming off the bench in tight games

El Zhar - tries hard but not really the answer. Pennant really is out of favour when Nabil is ahead of him

Am not sure what the deal is with El Zhar, I don't see the reserve games so I don't know how he's doing in those, but I got the impression he was an average reserve team player, nothing special, so I had the impression he wasn't good enough to make it, but Rafa seems to be giving him a fair few chances and not just in games we're winning, today we were desperately chasing the game when he came on. So I'm guessing Rafa must see something in him