Oulare on the bench at Middlesbrough

Oulare out tonight.Reached into bathroom cabinet for toothbrush this afternoon and cracked a piece of glassback.
Gutted !

 

I have watched replays of the goal, but the problem with watching on TV is that the camera always follows the ball, and sometimes that can be described as simply watching the outcome of something that happened earlier or happened where the camera was not watching. What was certain is that the scorer beat all our players for pace, but Schopp would have known that he was quick, and he would have made plans to deal with it. The fact that he blamed an un-named mid-field player suggests to me that he should have been closer to the passer, and that the passer could deliver an accurate pass because he was under no pressure. As I say, I do not know for certain because I did not see the action live.

Nevertheless, we did not score, and you are not going to win games unless you score. We dropped a single point at Reading, because the maximum we can achieve is a 0-0 draw if we do not score. In my book, the lack of goals remains the bigger problem than our failure to keep a clean sheet.

 

With regarding the injuries last season - of course we had injuries. But we were extremely lucky in that they never all occurred at one like they have this season.

Mowatt had Covid at Xmas (as did someone else, maybe Chaplin), but Kane filled in. Did we have James also? Can't remember tbf.

This season we've half the side out at the same time - and vital players at that.

 

Of course the goal scoring is a very big issue. I just think that the failure to deal with such an obvious defensive frailty reflects very poorly on the coach.

 

Or maybe the player

 

Issues with defending against wide players looks more like an issue with the collective than any individuals to me.

 

Tonights team 3-4-3 or 4-4-2?