Middlesbrough (H) | Page 7 | Vital Football

Middlesbrough (H)

Ref made 10 (TEN) bookings in the second half and to be fair maybe two or three were warranted .....staggeringly inept.

I didn’t fancy Moore to finish that chance that Gelhardt set him up for, so the bloke that cleaned him out did us a favour, free kick in a great position and them down to ten men.....oh hang on ...what the fuck is he doing?...a yellow? Absolute bollocks

5 minutes later WE are down to ten men and are losing the game.
Keeper no chance with the free kick ...hit Jacobs in the wall and completely wrong footed Marshall.....second goal looked like a calamity but it was a horrible night with a strong wind swirling about....couldn't tell from the West stand whether the shot moved a great deal or not ?

Still it shows what can happen when you have a pop from distance instead of trying to walk it in ,,that said...Pilkington should have “walked us home” from 4 yards if he’d committed to Naismith’s great ball across the 6 yard box.
All very frustrating especially with Charlton winning at Forest, which based on the Forest we’ve seen this season especially away, shouldn’t have been that great a surprise given Forest are actually very mediocre along with virtually all of the rest of this ordinary division.
The poor quality in the Championship this season will of itself make relegation from it a tad more shameful than usual.
i can’t see any of the promotion contenders ‘doing a Sheffield United’ next season.
 
It was a real kick in the guts tonight. For the first time in an age it felt like the team, manager & fans came together. Albeit due to the injustices of the ref.

That said we still made basic errors and didn’t finish the game off. Gelhardt and Pilkington added a lot to our attacking prowess. Even though neither had an outstanding game. I still do feel we need to shake things up further and get Garner on alongside Moore.

Given results elsewhere we could realistically be all but down before the end of the month. That’s a damning indictment on the management team and boardroom. Especially when you consider the dreadful quality up and down this division.

This is it now. No more excuses from Cook about it being a ‘tough division’. We have to pull out results against top teams and relegation rivals. We need to target wins. It’s going to take an average not far off 2pts per game for the rest of the season. Anything less and relegation beckons.
 
I've never been as angry at a ref at a home tics game in my life!He was an absolute disgrace and cost us 2 crucial points. Moore was through on goal and their last man fouled him on the edge of the box,it should of been a straight red.Then moments later Dunkley got an extremely soft 2nd yellow,only after the Boro players put pressure on the spineless ref.Unbelievable.In those 2 vital moments the game then turned on it's head thanks to a lucky deflected goal from the free kick and a Marshall error.
The referee after those 2 horrendous game changing decisions then completely lost the plot for the rest of the game.In the end credit to the players for then battling back and getting a point,but we needed the win tonight,which I feel we would of got if that incompetent p**** had done his job properly.I hope we never see him again.
I was satisfied in how the game was going at that point.Cook had picked a much more attacking line up with 4 attacking players and a back 4.Yes our end product and decision making in the final third let us down several times,but at least the intent of getting into those positions was there.
We were 1-0 up and for all Boro's decent pass and move and threat from wide areas,they never really threatened our goal and we seemed to have the game under control till the ref ruined it.
The bottom line is we should of been 1-0 up playing against 10 men and I'm confident at that point we go on to win the game.To have about 11 yellows in that game which was nowhere near a dirty game shows what a complete pigs ear the ref made of the game!I'm absolutely disgusted and feel robbed tonight!
 
Blustery wind, yet we hardly ever shot from distance and never tested their goalkeeper. Basic stuff like that we never do, why weren't we shooting every chance we got? Boro soon twigged what to do and it worked a treat. Another kick to the gut of those who thought this mon was better than Walton.

It is what is is, we should have had a man advantage, Boro should have had a lead early on. Swings and roundabouts. Ultimately we're fucked! The writing was on the wall when those thick idiots at Forest once again thought they could get away with resting half a team against a "weaker" opponent like they did when they came here. Charlton punished them, just like we did. Fair play to them!
 
Stormin' Norman said:
Totally agree, decent game that, the ref cost us two points but i also agree Marshall needs to pull his finger from his arse, that said Jones is has bad!
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Marshall has been woeful all season..flapping in most matches..wud have lost at Leeds if it wasn't for kipre n kal heading off line...boros second goal wasn't wind assisted he was wrong footed from 25yards out...almost as bad as the legendary Joe paladino we had in nets in 80s
 
dennis said:
Marshall has been woeful all season..flapping in most matches..wud have lost at Leeds if it wasn't for kipre n kal heading off line...boros second goal wasn't wind assisted he was wrong footed from 25yards out...almost as bad as the legendary Joe paladino we had in nets in 80s
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All I know is if Jamie Jones had let those 2 in he would have been bloody slaughtered on here.
 
Great fight to get a point but in my time watching Wigan or any football for that matter I have never seen a worse referee never let the game get in to a rhythm blowing for the softest fouls and to think paul cook thinks we was booing the players.
 
I've only seen it in the telly, but it was a stupid challenge from Dunkley.
By all means come out and close him down but he didn't stop and there was always the risk that he was going to go through him as a result.
I have to say the footage at first glance appears to show he was at the side rather than through the back of him but the fact Dunkley has apologised to me indicates that he caught him & knows he messed up

Can't say anything about any of the other decisions as I haven't seen them but I do think this one was a bit of a rush of blood from Dunkley
 
Mighty Bongsmon said:
I've only seen it in the telly, but it was a stupid challenge from Dunkley.
By all means come out and close him down but he didn't stop and there was always the risk that he was going to go through him as a result.
I have to say the footage at first glance appears to show he was at the side rather than through the back of him but the fact Dunkley has apologised to me indicates that he caught him & knows he messed up

Can't say anything about any of the other decisions as I haven't seen them but I do think this one was a bit of a rush of blood from Dunkley
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I have seen it a few times on latics website and it looks as though he didn't even touch him.
 
Mighty Bongsmon said:
I'm not picking on you KDZ (honest) but I simply don't think that the squad is good enough
There's too many who are above their level - Byrne, Jacobs, Massey, Naismith, Roberts, Lowe
Others who I think relegation struggling teams at this level is the peak for them - Dunkley, Kipre,
There's too many journeymen &/or crocks like Pilkington, Fox & Garner
And the rest are bang average

There's no-one in that squad who I look at & think are capable of playing at a higher level (even Robinson!! ;) )
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I understand where you are coming from, but look at the games that were there for the taking and we screwed up. We are the lowest scorers but we've still managed to throw away enough points from winning positions to have been in the play offs if we could see out a lead. I'm not saying every time we took the lead we should've had 3 points but we certainly should've held on more than we have. We are the worst team in the country for letting go of leads - there is something inherently wrong with the organisation / mentality / tactics, etc that no other team has like us.

I don't think the league is very good - staying up this year should've been quite easy considering Huddersfield, Stoke, Millwall, Boro and Reading all didn't bother turning up for the first 3 months of the season, plus Chalrton, Barnsley and Luton are not up to much. Even Birmingham, QPR, Hull are all rubbish. I think if we were competent even with the players we had this should be a season we didn't go down. Massive failure top to bottom of the club.
 
Looking close up at the 2nd yellow
Wing just nudges the ball passed Dunkley.
Dunkley goes straight through Wing.
A millisecond earlier and a different ref .... would have been a decent tackle.
 
joblot said:
Great fight to get a point but in my time watching Wigan or any football for that matter I have never seen a worse referee never let the game get in to a rhythm blowing for the softest fouls and to think paul cook thinks we was booing the players.
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Where did Cook say that?
 
For any faults we have - the ref cost us that. The lads showed some fight and heart and we got a little bit of luck we deserved to get a draw with the own goal and we never put everyone on the goal line and prayed - we were still trying to win the game agains the ref and 10 men which is uncharacterist of Cook but in a good way. So I'd say we went down swinging under the circumstances but it felt like a loss, especially with other results. All this nonsense we've heard as an excuse for poor performances about toxic atmosphere - last night showed when the team try to be positive and show some heart the fans stick with them even when things are going wrong. The issue is we've not seen enough of that over the last 12 months - if we had we wouldn't be in this mess.

Dunkley's second yellow was never a booking for me, the Boro lad went down like he was shot from minimal contact - it wasn't cyncial, it wasn't dangerous, it didn't do any damage - it was a foul and nothing more. Especially considering he was on a booking you expect the ref to not send a player off for such a soft yellow - you give the player the benefit of the doubt and a final warning. To give that as a second yellow / red after giving the Boro player the benefit of the doubt on his cynical challenge when our lad was going through directly before can only be described as bias. I understand some people having a go at Dunkley but i think the ref was far more to blame.

Can't blame Marshall for the first due to the deflection but unless there is an angle behind the goal that shows there was a deflection on the second shot it looked like he completely screwed up for their second. Hull must have had a cracking defence last season for him to keep so many clean sheets as i thought looking at his stats we'd got a top keeper but he's been a huge disapointment for me.

Glad to see us go 4-4-2 and have a go - that was pretty close to the team i personally would've gone for. We played some decent stuff before the sending off but we were start to lose control of midfield and probably needed to make a change earlier and bring off probably Jacobs (why did he start when our new Bournmouth winger wasn't even on the bench?!) for Evans and reshuffle to try and get back in control of the midfield. That team selection and tactical switch was welcome but it's just too little too late - we needed something more like that back in Septermber last year instead of the months of hoof and hope with Massey, Lowe and Jacobs playing every week. If we'd even have just done that against Preston instead of playing effectively 8 at the back we might have been ok.

If the ref got the big calls right i think we'd have won that. But with Charltons win and goal difference we are pretty much 7 behind and we aren't going to make that up and we aren't going to change anything now to inject new ideas that could give us an extra edge or gain momentum. It's frustrating that a terrible ref has pretty much condemned us, but we aren't down because of just last night - this has been over 12 months of us struggling and everyone in the club hirachy put their head in the sand and pretended it would all work out ok in the end.

It's been like shouting at the captain there is an iceberg ahead with plenty of time to avoid it but the man at the wheel put his fingers in his ears and maintained the collision course and all we could do is watch in horror as we got closer and closer before hitting it. Dereliction of duty all round from the people in charge but it wont be them taking a financial hit, the money lost will be taken out of the club, the debts racked up transfered onto the club, our assets sold off to pay off IEC's loans back. Royle should be ashamed of what he has allowed to happen - he had a overbearing weight of evidence and so many chances and alternatives to make the change before it was too late, but every time he just went 'nah - it'll be alright in the end'. This will be the most avoidable and needless relegation in our history - we didn't go down because the rest of the league was too good, we went down because our chairman refused to act when everyone knew what needed to be done. The Charlton, Huddersfield and Stoke chairmen will be lifting a glass to our terrible decision making that let them all off.
 
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Finally seen the non red foul on Moore back.

That decision was nothing short of a disgrace. There is no covering defender within at least ten yards of him and they had actually given up the chase. Moore took the ball toward goal and it was the blatant red for denial of a goal scoring opportunity you could ever wish to see. Seen some horrendous refereeing decisions over the years and this is up there, if not worse, than anything Phil Dowd for example ever produced against us. Manager, chairman and now a referee - we have been blighted by sheer ineptitude this season.
 
king_dezeeuw06 said:
This will be the most avoidable and needless relegation in our history - we didn't go down because the rest of the league was too good, we went down because our chairman refused to act when everyone knew what needed to be done. The Charlton, Huddersfield and Stoke chairmen will be lifting a glass to our terrible decision making that let them all off.
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Spot on, that’s why it’s so bloody frustrating and why fans are deserting the club. Incompetence and ineptitude it seems is no barrier to sustained employment at this club. It appears there is no accountability and therefore no incentive to improve.
 
Made in Wigan said:
Finally seen the non red foul on Moore back.

That decision was nothing short of a disgrace. There is no covering defender within at least ten yards of him and they had actually given up the chase. Moore took the ball toward goal and it was the blatant red for denial of a goal scoring opportunity you could ever wish to see. Seen some horrendous refereeing decisions over the years and this is up there, if not worse, than anything Phil Dowd for example ever produced against us. Manager, chairman and now a referee - we have been blighted by sheer ineptitude this season.
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yes having seen it back as well I definitely think it's a red card now. Last night I thought it was wider out than it was, and that there was a defender tracking back. Think the ref bottled the big decision, and the lino did nothing to help.
 
charlz54 said:
I know the ref had a shocker tonight but looking at our performance,I think our inadequacies,and that’s why I think we are as near as relegated tonight,were highlighted again.
1.Its too easy to get behind our back line
2.Our midfield is too defensive,slow and lacks creativity
3.Our forwards cant score......we create chances but our forwards can’t take them.
in addition to this,we have a manager who appears tactically inept......he doesn’t seem to be able to adapt formation,tactics and players to the different teams we are playing.
i think he should have gone after the Luton game and if this had happened I feel with new impetus we would have finished mid table. But,it’s too late now..Charlton and Huddersfield are pulling away and we need to go on a winning run which I can’t see happening. So, it’s league one,I fear next season.....I hope IEC are happy with that and also happy with the people they put in charge and with the decisions they have made.
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Did you go last night Charlz?

If you did, and I seriously doubt that from your first point, then may I point out that up until the sending off the defence was coping comfortably with their attacking threat.

Neither of their goals was as a result of anyone getting behind our back line. The first was a deflected free kick, off Jacobs if my memory serves me, the second was a 25 yard shot that some say was dipping and swerving in the blustery wind.

Your second point is mooted by the fact that our defensive midfielder scored the opening goal from a ball provided by a winger in Jacobs and the build up although deliberate was far from slow.

Your third point tends to counter your second as you say that our forwards cant score the chances created. Who by? Could that possibly our slow and creatively challenged midfield.

Last night the whole team showed a willingness to battle out a draw against all the odds being stacked against them. Going down to 10 men when that privilege was deserved by an opposition defender who cynically cut down a forward through on goal. A referee who in the opinion of not only our manager, fans and players but the opposition manager, fans and players has no right to be anywhere near a football game and conditions that made football a very level playing field.

We are all aware of your propensity for a good moan, but at least get your facts right before you do so.
 
Don't care about results anymore, I accepted relegation. Only thing that matters to me now is passion and effort, and last night showed that. Referee had a shocker, but I stand by my opinion that the game was still in our hands (well maybe the winds).
 
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