Middlesborough (H) FLC QF Match Thread 19th Dec

[Valiiant]

Just now, Paul6754 said:

For vale to have won tonight we needed to be at our very best and have most things go our way, we weren’t and they didn’t. 
arblasters injury is a concern with Xmas coming up

 

There's a way to lose. That wasn't it.

[Vtid]

2 minutes ago, valefan79 said:

Not a fan of Balmer by any means but for their second goal I feel Ripley is more at fault, it was an awful ball to a guy who is not good enough, don't give him a ball like that, against better opposition you will be punished, Balmer is no John Stones and was a very poor mistake by Ripley.

Ripley is very good in the sticks at saving shots but he needs to cut out this passing nonsense we aren't good enough for that. But Balmer was calling for the ball, Ripley delayed it for 5 seconds too long which put him in trouble. But Balmer should be knocking that down the line or putting his head through it, not trying to control it & beat his man. Once he controlled it he just gets nudged off the ball so easily it's embarrassing. He's mistake after mistake i don't want him anywhere near the starting 11 utter crap 

[Mellor!]

I remember the Brentford game the other year where we lost 4-1. We lost by 3 goals like tonight but I came away from that game really pleased. We gave it a real good go, got in their faces, but their quality shone through. 4-1 flattered them. Tonight we did absolutely nothing. One shot on target floated into the keeperes hands. It took 80 minutes to get a real cup tie tackle in. It just wasn't good enough. The whole club has lost its edge after Darrell went. He got the fans, he got the area, look at the Swindon game, we would have been well up for tonight. Now we're just too nice. Play four passes in the corner then go back to Ripley. If that's good, entertaining football, I need to find a new game.

[chickensteve]

Everything about that was utter crap, but for me the most disappointing aspect was the pathetic support.
My mate is a Burnley fan and came along for the trip. He was baffled that our fans were so quiet considering we were in the quarter final of the League Cup for the first (and possibly last) time in our history. Me and a few other lads tried to get those around us in the Hamil going but it was flatter than the Cruzcampo I queued for half an hour in the fanzone for. Pathetic. The Bycars was never the problem, it’s our half-arsed fans.

Sitting in the Lorne street I can confirm that since the stand swap every set of visiting fans has proved that it wasnt the bycars stand that had poor accoustics, it was the vale fans who wanted to sit by themselves quietly who were the problem. Tonight and on Saturday the noise from the visitors was deafening and it truly makes the atmosphere. As fans we have to back our team. I don't pay for a season ticket to sit in a library.

[Vtid]

Just now, Mellor! said:

I remember the Brentford game the other year where we lost 4-1. We lost by 3 goals like tonight but I came away from that game really pleased. We gave it a real good go, got in their faces, but their quality shone through. 4-1 flattered them. Tonight we did absolutely nothing. One shot on target floated into the keeperes hands. It took 80 minutes to get a real cup tie tackle in. It just wasn't good enough. The whole club has lost its edge after Darrell went. He got the fans, he got the area, look at the Swindon game, we would have been well up for tonight. Now we're just too nice. Play four passes in the corner then go back to Ripley. If that's good, entertaining football, I need to find a new game.

which was the one shot on target? I'm struggling to remember that one? Stats say 0

[SuperHuman]

2 minutes ago, Mellor! said:

I remember the Brentford game the other year where we lost 4-1. We lost by 3 goals like tonight but I came away from that game really pleased. We gave it a real good go, got in their faces, but their quality shone through. 4-1 flattered them. Tonight we did absolutely nothing. One shot on target floated into the keeperes hands. It took 80 minutes to get a real cup tie tackle in. It just wasn't good enough. The whole club has lost its edge after Darrell went. He got the fans, he got the area, look at the Swindon game, we would have been well up for tonight. Now we're just too nice. Play four passes in the corner then go back to Ripley. If that's good, entertaining football, I need to find a new game.

Spot on. We are drifting too far away from what Port Vale is. 

[Vtid]

I  think the atmosphere has been poor since the switch as many have mentioned, best days for me was when the paddock was in full voice & the away fans were closer. The banter got things going & made match days more lively. Now it's neither & the hamil & what's remaining in the paddock just can't get going together it's awful 

[valefan79]

Struggling tonight to think why have I wasted £50 on coach and match tickets for Wycombe after witnessing what was turned out there.  I genuinely worry who is going to replace Arblaster, Walters has potential but is way off Ollie's level and I have a feeling that he will bring Smith back in and move Debrah over to the left when he has been quality as the RCB.

[Vtid]

1 minute ago, valefan79 said:

Struggling tonight to think why have I wasted £50 on coach and match tickets after witnessing what was turned out there.  I genuinely worry who is going to replace Arblaster, Walters has potential but is way off Ollie's level and I have a feeling that he will bring Smith back in and move Debrah over to the left when he has been quality as the RCB.

i'd take that! Anything apart from Balmer 💩 

[headsup]

29 minutes ago, gavcradd said:

Give over. Maybe give the fans something to cheer about eh? Like a shot or a cross? You might like singing songs about pass backs to keeper but most don't.  Give your head a wobble.

I’d rather be trying to enjoy myself by having a sing during a miserable performance than sitting there crying about it. Life is as miserable as you make it.

[man in the pub]

19 minutes ago, Walka003 said:

The night played out exactly as it looked on paper. Combine a p!ss poor league one team who've struggled to win a game for months with a decent championship team and what do you get? A trouncing.

The only player who can come off that pitch with any pride is Ben Garrity. Jesse did OK, so did Devine - the rest embarrassing.

Motm - Balmer (for Middlesbrough)

Just in from the match . They were different class. Whereas we have a couple of players with quick feet and thought they had a team full. We didn't get those extra seconds on the ball we usually get. If we were going to cause an upset it needed Chizzys free kick  and Massey's chance to go in. They didn't and Boro took theirs without getting out of 2nd gear. Only disappointment was that we reverted back to Ripley being our playmaker again and the ball was heading backwards rather than forward ,telling passes like we did against Wigan. However we weren't playing Wigan but Boro who clinically despatched us. That's what Championship ready looks like.

[vallyunt]

Just got back. I shan't have much trouble falling asleep after watching that. Was buzzing for the match all day but that soon faded after KO. We were never at the races. Sorry but the football we try to play wasn't the way for this match. We had no chance with this set up. When we went 0-2 down we just seemed content to stay in position and keep our shape rather than break out and have a go as we'd lost anyway. That falls down to the manager.
Just very disappointing all round. We need queues at the Vale but not at the expense of failing to get something to drink or eat and having to wait until I got home to use the loo.
Very póor night on and off the pitch.

Sent from my CPH2195 using onevalefan mobile app

[Valiiant]

3 minutes ago, man in the pub said:

Just in from the match . They were different class. Whereas we have a couple of players with quick feet and thought they had a team full. We didn't get those extra seconds on the ball we usually get. If we were going to cause an upset it needed Chizzys free kick  and Massey's chance to go in. They didn't and Boro took theirs without getting out of 2nd gear. Only disappointment was that we reverted back to Ripley being our playmaker again and the ball was heading backwards rather than forward ,telling passes like we did against Wigan. However we weren't playing Wigan but Boro who clinically despatched us. That's what Championship ready looks like.

 

They're an injury hit mid-table side from one league above. Not Man City. We barely put a foot in all night. They were ordinary and that's all they needed to be because we were horrendous after the first 25 minutes.

[Biddulph_PV]

Just got home. Thanks Mr Crosby for a night completely wasted. I think I would have got more fulfilment out of 3 hours worth of Eastenders. For anyone lucky enough to be absent tonight, get yourself a copy of the Derby game… it was basically a replay of that with a couple more goals against. 

It is very difficult to comprehend feeling this angry about exiting the QF of a major cup competition against a team from a higher division with significantly greater resources than us. And yet this is what this manager, with his stupid team selections and arrogance over style, tactics and formations, does to me.

Where to start tonight….the list is almost endless. The folly of trying to out-football a solid championship side perhaps, rather than trying to make it uncomfortable for them?? Starting with an error-prone defender?? Playing players in their wrong positions?? Playing with no strikers?? Encouraging us to d!ck around with it at the back?? Encouraging us to d!ck around with it around the oppo’s box almost trying to score the perfect goal rather than the occasional shot?? 

I literally cannot stand the football we play sometimes (and yes I did unfortunately have to miss the Wigan game). Passing for the sake of passing. Sometimes we play out of trouble lovely but, oh….. what do we do now?? Forwards??? Nah, sideways for a bit then back to the goalie best bet.

Compare and contrast with them. Never out of 2nd gear tonight and they had half a side out injured and a goalie most of their fans think is rubbish.

But then again you could have put Captain Tom Moore between their posts and he’d have been able to do 100 lengths of the goal line and still keep a clean sheet against our woeful attack.

Absolute garbage, made all the better by having loads of p!ssed up scrotes piled down the gangways in the Hamil with their highly encouraging “how sh!t must you be, it’s only 3-0” et al. That said, the Boro fans weren’t exactly lively. Maybe they were expecting to see a competitive football match, not a half-arsed kick around.

Horrible, horrible night.

[Mellor!]

14 minutes ago, Vtid said:

which was the one shot on target? I'm struggling to remember that one? Stats say 0

Chizzy had one second half. Inside the box on his left foot Barely reached the goal so that maybe why!