superniko

Boro having a few injuries at CB, including Lenihan who is out long term apparently. Wouldn't be surprised if they start sniffing around JPvH soon.

It's sort of how I see it too. I think the difference is that Bellamy was pure commitment. You knew what you were going to get out of him every time. I'd worry that Cantwell ends up more Murphy/Rodwell than Bellamy/Bentley. If the deals right then it's worth a go, no doubting that, given at only 24 (Scott Wharton and Lewis Travis are 25 for reference!), he was touted as a £30m player and has performed in the league above. Having said that, I wouldn't be putting all my eggs in the Cantwell basket, he'd be a nice bonus after we've sorting the more pressing areas.

Great effort by the fans for a Sky Sports midday match. Boro playing Millwall and Luton playing West Brom. It's a great opportunity to put a bit of daylight between ourselves and 7th place, could even be 6 points by 5pm.

at the same stage both seasons: last season: Diaz 20 goals, everyone else 23 goals this season: Diaz 9 goals, everyone else 21 goals. The whole team were better

Yeah that's fair to a certain extent, but I think the unsustainability bit is more directed at the manager, CEO and owners, as we always knew there was a potential death spiral round the corner and we had a relative weak January window. But regarding the top 2 paragraphs. A solid Back Line and converting goals is exactly what you need to get out of this division / win cups. Nicking the odd goal is a bit harsh too, we had a +13 GD at this stage, despite a 7-0 drubbing, scoring 43 goals (compared to 30 this year), including 4-0 4-0 5-1 wins in that time. We only actually won by 1 goal a very small amount of times. Re: Brereton I think a lot of that comes down to the current manager. We played more to his strengths last year, this year we have the most passes in our own half and least passes in an opposition half, we create absolutely nothing and he's not getting much service at all. He wasn't picking the ball up in his own box and scoring Maradona goals last year, we were just a better team giving him better service and playing to his strengths more. Last year we were 2nd, playing good football, deserving to be up there. Unfortunately the inevitable wheels came off, but I had far more expectation then than I do now, looking at where we rank in every department this year; shots per game 23rd, shots on target per game 18th, shots conceded per game 17th, xG 23rd, xGA 19th, goals per game 13th, points from losing positions 24th! I know only one stats counts at the end of the season, but unless we drastically turn those stats around and improve our starting 11 in January, it's not a case of 'we should' finish in the playoffs, it's a case of 'we won't'

Did you think the same at this stage last season out of curiosity? (considering people believe we strengthened in the summer)

I'd be surprised if Rangers stump up more than £2m. Not really sure where I stand on this one though, it would certainly be a gamble....I think "would like it if it's not at detriment to more important business i.e. CM and Striker"

Oh god I forgot about that performance, that was the Bradley Johnson 'false 9' saga wasn't it. He himself even vocal afterwards saying he hadn't a clue what was going on (and you'd expect him to be one of the managers good books)

53 points after 29 games then 63 points after 43 games. It was horrific wasn't it, 10 points from 14 games from sitting in 2nd position. 10 points from 14 games!! It truly was a twitchy arse and complete collapse. What an opportunity that was.

Narrator: He isn’t

Ah yeah that rings a bell actually, sorry. He was perm at Wigan and Leeds signed him rather than being there on loan. Thought it was a bit odd he didn't actually start many at Wigan if he had come in on loan, but that makes much more sense.

He only started in 8 of those games to be fair. Was at Wigan on loan previously, so would seem a stall in his progression if you go back to the same level/club on loan 2 or 3 years later.

That would be a disappointing haul from 4 of the bottom 6 teams. 1.5 points a game doesn't get you top 6 over a whole season, let alone against the weakest teams in the league. 8 points minimum ideally and head into Watford on 50 (dependent on when Blackpool is rearranged)

Transfer window will make or break it (like last season) - we were on 46 points with a +13 GD at this stage last season vs 42 points and 0 GD, and we all remember how it ended! I think Boro, WBA and Watford take 3rd to 5th unless they lose any key players in Jan. Whilst Millwall, Luton and Norwich if they strengthen battle for 6th. We end up slumming it out with Sunderland, Coventry, Swansea and PNE for a top 10 finish. I fancy us to finish exactly 10th. The next 3 or 4 games are huge for us though, beat all those struggling teams and I'll start to believe we can do it, as it's looking like a potential record low points total to get into the top 6 at this rate. 70 points was enough in 19/20 for Swansea who finished 6th, and at this stage the playoff places were occupied by 44, 43, 42, 41 points

I agree League 1 is laughable, but I also think CL with Dortmund is laughable.

6 points from their last 12 games, conceding 26 goals in the process (2.17 per game). Rovers are still odds against to win! It would be great to go into the 3pm matches with 3 points and a 6 point cushion. Unbelievably, we have actually lose more matches this season than Rotherham (12 vs 11)! As others have said, next 4 games are all bottom 6 clubs (dependent when Blackpool is rescheduled too). A massive month for us, lets hope it's not like a Mowbray New Year!

If Klopp highly rated him, he wouldn't be on loan here at 20 years old, he'd be in their squad, especially given CM is probably their lightest area. Elliott 19 years old, Carvalho 20 years old, Jones 21 years old all featuring regularly for them now on the highest stage.

Mental isn't it, and people on here are saying Wharton has 'shown nothing' since Blackpool. He's had similar output in terms of G/A in about 1/10th the amount of starts as him! Players like Morton should be ten a penny in an academy like Liverpool, they should be flying him straight to Dortmund for 20m if that rumour is anyway true

Because teams just walk through us in the middle. We have Wharton, Morton, Buckley who can supposedly pass a ball, along with Dack further forward, if they can't then why are we signing them up to long contracts / playing a loanee every week.

Exactly this, those two positions are essential. Prio 1 - CM enforcer. Prio 2 - Striker. Anything after this is a bonus. Most importantly, they have to be starters, none of this 'filling the squad', 'back up' nonsense. That's not what the January window is about when you're 3rd in the league. I don't care if they're permanent, or loans, as long as they improve the starting 11.

Let’s get ahead of ourselves, why the hell not…… If either ourselves or Burnley get through to the Quarter Finals (decent chance given both teams 4th round draws), it’ll be the same weekend we’re meant to play in the league at home so that fixture will need moving. Will be interesting to see how they move it given it’s an obvious sky fixture (would they move to a midweek night match?)

Why the bollocks would you want to draw Leicester or Southampton? Less likely to progress, hardly a ‘big’ club to draw any attention, wouldn’t draw in home fans and wouldn’t shift loads of away tickets (£) like an actual big club.

Absolute nonsense, everyone said the same about Dack. He’s played 340 league minutes since Blackpool, across about 20 games. Morton has played over 1500 minutes in the same period. He might not have impressed (he did score against Birmingham), but if that’s your opinion it’s because he hasn’t been given a chance to

Still scratching my head at the amount on here saying he was Finnish 🇫🇮 after about 70 minutes Football across 10 games

Yeah I agree. Don’t think he’s the type we’d be after anyway, high wages, bit of a risk, waste of young potential