UEFA Cup time...Boro has been in good form, and we're missing a bunch of regular first team players... we are coming off a draw at Inter and play a decent counter-attack on the road...but I'll be happy with a point on Thursday at Boro. You guys going to field a first-team unit? Who do you have in the league right after?...
We play Bolton at home on Sunday. Mendieta is out with damaged cruciate ligiments and Ugo Ehiogu with a torn calf.
Boro lineup v WBA Schwarzer McMahon Riggott Southgate Queudrue Parlour Boateng Zenden Downing Hasselbaink Viduka Subs: Nash Job Doriva Cooper Morrison mmmmmm........Strongest possible. Same formation as v Lazio I think. He needs to get Downing on the left and push Parlour on the right, otherwise we will struggle to contain it in the centre. We lacked any type of midfield punch against Bolton. WBA are a similar type team.
Should have been 2-2, if it hadn't been for Kanu missing an open-goal from a yard out. Still, another win keeps us in the top 4. On the up, Liverpool at home next. Crucial game.
Just watched the replay on FSW. Very fun game to watch. If picking up Hasselbaink was the best pickup, pound for pound, in the Premiership, I don't know what was. He's aggressive and all over the pitch, yet he plays well within himself and the confines of the team. Downing and Queudrue played well together with an awesome one-two in the first half. On the negative side, I feel sorry for anyone who supports a team that Kanu is on. God, is he ever maddening. How the heck do you miss a goal like that???
Liverpool on Saturday. Villarreal a week on Thursday away in the Uefa Cup. (A game which i will be at )
Val, how the hell are you a "plastic Boro fan". I think you need to have lobotamy or something to become this. christ.....I didn't think we could "attract" fans.....
Stewy Downing came off the bench for England's u-21 1-0 defeat in Spain Last night and Ross Turnbull was an unused sub.
Well, I know something about liking lost causes. I became an Arsenal fan during our worst ever three-year run during the 74 - 76 season. Arsenal was 2-4 spots ahead of relegation. Arsenal's claim to fame then was that Alan Ball, a heartless, feckless player playing out the string, was captain of the England team. A month after I moved back stateside we bought Malcolm MacDonald, then the best striker in England. A year later we got Pat Jennings and we've never really sucked since. I hadn't really paid much attention to Boro until we had our home and home and home series last January. We were at tip-top form and you guys played us hard. I'd never realized that Carling Cup was your first and only major award, and as someone who still thinks the "League Cup" means something, I was quite impressed. You had a great offseason, acquisition-wise, picking up our Ray Parlour, plus Viduka and Hasselbaink. You're getting to play in Europe, you've got one of the best young players in England, you're top 5 right now. I think you're going to have a fine year, and I've jumped along for the ride. I really enjoyed the WBA game: Robson coming back, two teams going at each other, not going into a shell like I see for so many Arsenal/Chelsea/Man U games, and probably the alltime worst miss I've ever seen. I am an Arsenal fan, but I hate these market economies, and we've got them in lots of sports, that reward the super rich, so that the rich get richer and the poorer teams struggle, usually not in contention. I became a fan in the mid 70s when Leeds, Derby, and QPR won 1st Division titles, and the most exciting team to watch was Ipswich. Man U - Arse - Man U - Arse - Chelsea (God, I hope not) has got to be boring for every other fan in the Premiership. Go Boro!
i know what you mean. I support them because I'm form the area. Alot of our fans humour stems freom the fact that we are crap and never win owt. Now we are 4th in the league, have a cup win to our names and are playing well in Europe. Seems a bit surreal to me. This is a golden age for us right now. High times to be supporting the Boro. Liverpool tomorrow, I am very confident - Baros out injured. They have no CF's at all. He was the main reason they got all 3 points at Anfield last week. C'mon Boro!