I'm worried about tonight

because I'm not worried about tonight. given our form and boro's inadequacy, we should 3-0 up in 25 minutes again. we ought to be going into this game confident of victory. what have boro got?

we're bound to lose.

I hate boro. but I have to laugh at the idea of resting viduka as well. I bet he'll run around like a madman tonight, tearing our defence apart with his pace.

Boro have been a bogey team but I think they've won once away under Southgate. Probably lose 2-0 tamely then

have you seen the squad?

its a disgrace

It will end about 4-0

It will be Middlesbrough’s cup final and they will still get beat, their pathetic fans will put on an act, a not very good one come to that, and if they quite grasped how much we really could not give a £#%&! about them they might begin to understand the whole occasion. They will sing your fans are £#%&!ing shit which is hilarious, we will sing back where were you at the riverside, that’s it, I am really not looking forward to this game, I am really not, £#%&! people will be there, the weather is shit so on and so on.

nft

Originally Posted by turkred

Boro have been a bogey team but I think they've won once away under Southgate. Probably lose 2-0 tamely then

I think it was more a case of McClaren being our bogey manager. He obviously knew all of our secret tactics

Originally Posted by neworderdude

have you seen the squad?

its a disgrace

theirs or ours?

Kuszczak, Heaton, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Cathcart, Heinze, Evra, Park, Carrick, O'Shea, Ronaldo, Giggs, Richardson, Smith, Rooney, Dong.

Don't see much wrong with that, considering the injuries we currently have. Hopefully, we'll start with the side that lined up against Bolton (minus Neville obviously).

think Smith will start instead of Giggs

Originally Posted by The Watcher

Kuszczak, Heaton, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Cathcart, Heinze, Evra, Park, Carrick, O'Shea, Ronaldo, Giggs, Richardson, Smith, Rooney, Dong.

Don't see much wrong with that, considering the injuries we currently have. Hopefully, we'll start with the side that lined up against Bolton (minus Neville obviously).

er... yeah. who has been left out who could have been in? we've even got evra back. and attacking options on the bench (assuming we do start the same was as against bolton, allowing for brown in).

Originally Posted by turkred

think Smith will start instead of Giggs

that would be criminal as we don't have a game for two weeks.

Originally Posted by jem

that would be criminal as we don't have a game for two weeks.

Agree. Giggs had a great game at the weekend, has to start.

We might as well just put our strongest team out, piss on Boro's chips by half time and then make a few changes second half ie. take Rooney off because he is 'injured' and therefore unable to make the trip to Israel. Likewise Rio and Carrick. I don't think Boro have got anything we should be afraid of, and as long as we keep our nerve and don't give away any stupid Boateng-like goals from set pieces we'll batter them.

ronaldo will keep falling over, rooney will be bogged down like a chubby carthorse and boro will score the winner from a set piece.

Originally Posted by jem

because I'm not worried about tonight. given our form and boro's inadequacy, we should 3-0 up in 25 minutes again. we ought to be going into this game confident of victory. what have boro got?

we're bound to lose.

I hate boro. but I have to laugh at the idea of resting viduka as well. I bet he'll run around like a madman tonight, tearing our defence apart with his pace.

Is this based purely on that often eerie notion that it so obviously points to a home win so it's bound to be an away win?

Football's a funny old game and all that?

I really can't see it. We'll be up for it, we'll be buzzing from Saturday and I think Southgate hasn't got the balls to win at our place.

Same side that started against Bolton (Brown for Nev) and we'll rip into them.

Soooo pleased by Rooney's performance on Saturday.

He needs to come good now so hopefully the assured touch will stick this time.

It's worth winning this if only to postpone the Chelsea game

Originally Posted by dodger

It's worth winning this if only to postpone the Chelsea game

Correct.

If we lose tonight then I hope Chelsea go through.

Everyone bangs on about Goal difference and our momentum and Chelsea's 5 game run etc but a huge factor in the race is this fixture.

I'm not saying we'll lose it, but Chelsea must be itching to play us. Anything that could delay and maybe even make it meaningless it a HUGE bonus.

6 from 8. That's all I have in my head now.

our defence is extremely weak atm, for whatever reason long balls or crosses/corners are very very dangerous. For some reason no one has figured it out yet or been able to capitalise on that (deliberately at least).

Hopefully we sort that out, losing VDS only exacerbated the problem. But if we came up against a tactically aware team we'd be in trouble. Even if we dont any set piece we give away will be dangerous.

Originally Posted by Luffy

our defence is extremely weak atm, for whatever reason long balls or crosses/corners are very very dangerous. For some reason no one has figured it out yet or been able to capitalise on that (deliberately at least).

Hopefully we sort that out, losing VDS only exacerbated the problem. But if we came up against a tactically aware team we'd be in trouble. Even if we dont any set piece we give away will be dangerous.

I thought we dealt with Bolton's ariel threat quite well on Saturday.

We didn't allow them space to cross quickly and the defenders starting positions were always quite good.

Only quite good, mind you.

Our ball retention was so much better. Much like ealier in the season. When we're like that, the opposition sees so little of the ball that they tend to panic when they do get it thus making life a lot easier for the defence.

Bolton's midfield sat off us for most of the first half on Satdee. As a result Carrick, Opie, Rooney and Ronaldo got loads of room and we ended up all over them. It's rare that an opposing team makes Opie look good but Bolton did.

If Boro do the same we'll hammer them. My only worry is Nutsack who looks capable of losing us a game at any given opportunity. His positional sense on Satdee was woeful, and we're lucky Vidic and Ferdinand played so well. I'd pick Gabby again tonight ahead of Evra and Giggs ahead of Smith, but I'd sub them both early second half if we're a couple up.

there was a boro bitching thread the other day, but to reitterate;

they way they talked about "having an eye on Monday" and players minds being elsewhere - anyone would think it was a non league team playing us or something - I really really don't like them, as I said for me most weeks the players just turn up and pick up their wages - then occasionally turn up for a big game - a bit like the fans.

Vile all round.