Before the start of the season i fancied Boro to be in the race for automatic promotion with Wilder, but for some reason it just didnt work out after they did so well last year. But since Carrick came in they've seriously sprung to life and shot up the league as one of the form teams. So it was always going to be a tough game and after watching them today you can see why their results have improved so much.
When we lost 4-1 to a managerless out of form Boro a couple of months ago under Richardson they weren't great, we were just diabolical. But today I was shocked at how much better they were since then. We had plenty wrong with us but we have to give credit to Boro their pass and move was superb and they had us chasing shadows. All of their goals came from movement and no matter how well you set up it is very difficult to play against - but we were absolutely guilty of making it a lot easier for them than it should've been. Boro probably didn't have many top individual players, it was all method drilled into them on the training pitch. It was a blueprint of what we need to aim at.
I thought after some of the costly mistakes passing out of the back against Sheff United we started less brave on the ball. But part of that was Boro also did an effective job denying us posession and closing down our passing lanes with their press. A few times in the first half we didn't have much choice but to go long but we were trying to play out where we could. We were struggling to get anything going and I think we lacked a bit of intensity and urgency but we still managed to carve out a couple of good openings we could've scored from.
But you could see quite early that the back 4 were very narrow, the wide midfielders were pushing high and slow to get back and Boro repeatedly targeted those areas. Every time they were on the transition their wing back on either side pulled into the large space we left on both flanks and have so much time and space to get a cross in, run with the ball and be one on one with the isolated full backs. This killed us all game and Toure and his coaching staff never addressed it. I give them a lot of benefit of the doubt as they inherited a team with a lot of work needed - but that i think that is on them. I understand him wanting to be positive and make the opposition worry about us rather than us worrying about them but when the opposition find a gaping hole to exploit like they did you can't leave it open and have to adapt or you'll be punished like we were.
The first goal was very soft, everyone turned off at a throwin and Boro too easily scored. We were caught asleep and they found so much time and space with so little pressure. We were slack defending throw ins before Toure arrived and clearly it still is an issue as it gave them a goal out of nothing and gave us a mountain to climb. Up until that it could still have gone either way but we gifted them a lead.
At the start of the second half Boro grew in confidence and our midfield was barely in the game and they kept exploiting the space out wide. We had the odd moment here and there but another bad defensive lapse from Lang gave them an opening in for a second and an attempted interception from Hughes landed perfectly to put them in for a third. They were on top but 3-0 was harsh and the manner of the goals was frustrating.
Aasgaard quickly pulled one back and we really started to find the urgency to push on at them and threw a bit of caution to the wind. We managed to really put some good pressure on them and create some good openings but too often the final ball was lacking. I think we had Boro rocking a bit but they were still lightening quick on the transition and smart on and off the ball to hit us on counters. It seemed like we were more likely to make it 3-2 and set up a manic end of the game but they broke as we pushed everyone forward and made it 4-1. Before Keane missed a sitter to make it 4-2.
I always feel if you're going to lose at least go down swinging and I think we did, I don't think we ever rolled over and died or gave up. In that last 30 minutes I think we'd done enough to say that 3-1 was flattering to Boro before they sealed it with an undeserved 4th. But the first 60 minutes we just didn't do enough.
Boro were good and made it very hard for us, but defensively as a team we were very poor - the midfield were so slow on the defensive transition and pretty much left the back 4 against Boro on their own all game. But considering the attacking mids were caught out up field we didn't get enough threat out of them either. The midfield collectively just didnt do enough offensively or defensively over 90 mins and while the coaching staff can't stop players individually making mistakes on the field I think they didn't react to the warning signs.
The lapses in defensive concentration cost us the first 2 goals which should've been avoidable. The third goal they got a bit lucky and the 4th we knowingly over stretched ourselves to try and get a goal. Boro played well and deserved their win but if we didn't gift them the first 2 then who knows what happens. The stats show we had more shots and corners than them but they were clinical when they found the openings while our finish and final ball wasn't.
Toure was brave in his team selection, it was very positive but it unfortunately didn't work out. Injuries didn't help but I don't think we can blame the lapses on that. He used all his subs again and finally gave Scully a chance and Fletcher got on again which was good to see. He's clearly giving everyone a fair chance to show what they've got but I think he is finding we need a lot more work on the training ground and for what he wants some of them aren't going to be good enough.
I've seen some comments saying it's no different or better under Toure and I'd disagree. Previously we were set up not to lose but we werent good enough defensively to keep teams out so sacrificed all attack for no benefit. Under Toure we are still struggling defensively but we are having a go at teams and I think while we clearly need to cut out the mistakes and improve we probably had more shots today than we had in the handful of games in our losing run against much weaker opposition before Toure arrived. 1 point from our first 3 is not good but these 3 games were all tough ones you'd probably not bank on getting anything from. These aren't the games that'll decide our fate, it's the 6 pointers coming up. We are still not cut adrift and one good day of results could change everything. We've got January a few days away and winnable games on the horizon. But we've got to learn from from games like today and ensure we cut out these defensive lapses.
Individually:
Jones - made a few good saves, had no chance with any of the goals. Defence didn't protect him today.
Nyambe - he was left completely isolated defensively with nearly everything coming down his side. Don't think he defensively did too much wrong individually and tried to get forward later in the game but didn't offer any threat. I think he's probably more suited to be a centre back than a full back. If Whatmough not fit in coming games might be a good option to consider.
Hughes - had some good and bad moments, tough first game playing against so much movement.
Tilt - made some vital recoveries to prevent goals but also had quite a few mistakes. Akpom got away from him for his goals with well timed runs and turn of pace, not sure if he could've done better. Him and Hughes had very little protection.
McClean - made some important defensive contributions and a couple of decent balls into the box. But he struggled at times, like the rest of defence often left unprotected.
Cousins - battled but ultimately struggled to offer much protection defensively or get on the ball and link up play much.
Power - superb cross for the goal, at the end when we were chasing he was pushing to try and make things happen down the right but too often his final ball was poor. Like Cousins struggled in the middle of the park to get involved enough when you need someone getting stuck in or pulling the strings.
Aasgaard - superb finish for his goal but other than that I thought he had a bad day. Defensively poor and left McClean open all game and struggled to offer much going forward. He's far better than he showed but it's not the first time he's struggled starting.
Lang - showed some good moments going forward at times but defensively he was very poor. Left Nyambe totally exposed all game and didn't track runners. Second goal in particular and possibly a bit for the third he was badly caught out.
Keane - should've scored in injury time after cleverly putting himself through on goal but other than that he didn't really see much of the ball.
Broadhead - he was involved in 2 of our best bits of play in the first half where he dropped deeper got the ball to his feet facing goal where he could show his quality but he isn't strong enough to hold the ball with his back to goal. Even if you're not looking to go long you still need a bit of a physical presence up front to hold the ball and give the midfield a chance to join attacks. I've said it all season he's not a lone striker and will cause other teams havoc if we play him in attacking mid.
Naylor - came on made a couple of decent challenges.
Shinnie - was positive as you'd expect but didn't see enough of the ball to really make much of an impact.
Darikwa - not on long but put in a couple of decent crosses.
Scully - tried to run at players and get balls in, still not enough of him to say too much.
Fletcher - came in very late, nice bit of give and go to get a header on goal but not on long enough to really judge.