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Boro V Wigan Athletic


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borovwiganpathetic_zpsc2c2017f.jpg

 

 

[align=center]Details

 

Teams – Middlesbrough V Wigan Athletic

Location – The Riverside Stadium

Competition – The SkyBet Championship

Date – Tue 28th Jan 2014

Kick off – 19:45 [/align]

 

 

Welcome once again dear Boro Connaseurs Connesser Counnais people who like the taste of Boro! I hope you all find something to whet your appetite in this match day thread - the starter to the main course that is the mouth watering Middlesbrough V Wigan!!

 

 

Odds

from William Hill:

 

Boro (2.20) Draw (3.30) Wigan (3.30)

 

 

The Last (league) Games

 

Boro:

 

Leicester 2 - 0 Boro

 

Middlesbrough fell victim to the increasingly bold Foxes. The bin botherers held the illustrious title of the leagues ‘in form team’ going into the game, whilst Boro were merely second in the form table, a trend which unfortunately rang true by the final whistle. The venue for this vicious pawing was the wan (the only) king power stadium… Middlesbrough were reportedly the better team up until a contentious decision by the officials allowed David Nugent to dribble the ball down the tunnel, into the changing rooms, back out of the changing rooms, up to the executive boxes, back down to the pitch, up a set of stairs between the supporters and sign a couple of autographs before finally returning to the pitch to cross the ball for the Vardy opener.

Rhys Williams gave away a penalty after absent-mindedly taking out a fox in the box (well, would you look at that, I’m a poet and I didn’t realise it…), the conversion of said penalty was superbly prevented by Shay Given (what a Shayve!). These heroics were to count for little however, when minutes later some sloppy defending from a Leicester corner led to the second goal being knocked in by De Laet. Vermin!

 

 

Wigan

 

Doncaster 3 – 0 Wigan

 

Wigan also suffered defeat in their last league run out, with goals from Chris Brown (no not that one) x2 and Coppinger ending Wigan’s 8 game unbeaten run.

This defeat left wigan in 11th place, 1 behind Boro but with 2 games in hand over the sexy smoggies!

 

 

Pie Chart exploring the causes behind Middlesbrough’s recent upturn in success…

 

 

holly_zps9da28b5c.jpg

 

 

 

Injury/Availability News

 

Boro:

 

:) – Everyone’s favourite funnyman Kei Kamara is on the mend and was introduced as a substitute in the defeat to leicester

 

:) – Holly the hamster is thought to have recovered from a bout of travel sickness that meant she had to miss the Leicester game.

 

:( - Jason Steele remains sidelined

 

 

Wigan

 

:) – buggered if I know…

 

:( - A lot of their players will probably be suffering the effects of a long campaign, competing in the championship, the uefa cup (or whatever the heck it’s called now) and the FA cup. Muscle cramp could therefore play a factor, with experts predicting a large buildup of Latic acid. (ba dum bum chhh…)

 

 

Form (League only)

Most recent results last.

 

Boro (Home) DWLWWW

 

Wigan (Away) WLLWWL

 

 

The Un(ger)-Official Match Preview

 

Boro fans will be hoping to bounce back straight away after a hard fought defeat to the foxes… Looking down the table now sees several teams (including Wigan) within reaching distance of us, and more worryingly, with several games in hand over the Boro between them!.

I see this as a must win, and a very winnable game against a team with but an OK record away from home this season. New Latics loanee and living proof that Roberto Di Matteo hates Middlesbrough - Josh McEachran however, will want to show the Boro faithful that he aint just a pretty face…

A 2-1 Home win for me on tuesday, with Kamara and Adomah getting on the score sheet!

 

 

The View From The Other Side

 

There isn’t a single mention of this match on any of the opposition fans forums. Hopefully the team is equally as unobservant as their fans and record a no show (the board has decided that a deduction of three points is right and fair…)

 

 

The Boro-unger multi copyright-infringing motivational speech of the week!

 

[align=center]A long time ago,

 

In a Premiership (that now seems) far, far away,

 

we had:

 

STAR PLAYERS

 

 

Episode MMXIII/MMXIV, A New Hope.

 

It is a period of Championship War,

 

Middlesbrough, striking from a hidden ground,

 

won a decisive victory against the evil Millwall.

 

During the battle, Middlesbrough spies (Bailey, McDonald and Hoyte)

 

managed to sneak away from the bench and steal secret plans to Millwall’s ultimate weapon,

 

The BUBBLE DEATH STAR,

 

an armoured space station with enough spiky needles

 

to detroy any bubbles eminating from Upton Park.

 

Pursued by Millwalls sinister agents,

 

Princess Marvin races home aboard his Spaceship,

 

custodian of the stolen plans that can save his people and

 

restore freedom to the Championship…[/align]

 

 

Talking Points

 

- Score, team, formation?!

- 5 points from the playoffs, can we do it?

- Does holly need a playmate?

- Will any of the Chelsea lads start, or are we going to incur the wrath of the special one, resulting in him not feeding us anymore scraps?!

- Can we go on another unbeaten/winning run?

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Cold conditions, low midweek crowd and against a good side that have been on great form so it's pointing towards a very tough and nervy game. I've got a strong feeling that we will lose on Tuesday. I really hope I'm wrong though. That said I though we were going to lose against Reading and Charlton.

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The pie chart reference thingymajig is hilarious!

 

I hope we come out on Tuesday night all guns blazing and really look to get back that good run of form we were on. Wigan are a good, but not great team as evidenced by their 3-0 demolition against Donny. They may well have a bit of a boost from knocking out Palace, but to be honest palace aren't a real BPL team anyways :p.

 

I'm going for a comfortable 3-0 home win and I could really see a few changes to the starting line-up. Juke once again showed not an awful lot against Leicester, but against Morgan he was always going to have a torrid time. If we can get in a striker before 5 tomorrow then I'd start him. If not then I'd put on Kamara as despite his rustiness shown against Leicester, I feel that he'd be the right man to lead the line vs Wigan just because of his aerial dominance. It's a rare occasion that he doesn't get high enough to win a header.

 

So, presuming the squad hasn't changed going into this match, I'd line up as such:

 

----------------Given-----------------

Omeruo---Ayala-------Williams---Friend

--------Leadbitter--Whitehead---------

Adomah--------Ledesma-------Carayol

----------------Kamara---------------

 

I'd take out Varga as he's been pulled apart by a tricky winger 2 matches in a row now, and I think McClean will forever have the beating of him if we play him. Omeruo gives us a big, physical presence and even though he prefers playing at CB, he's equally adept at RB as shown for ADO den Haag last season. First team chances will be hard for him to come by with Williams, Ayala, Gibson, Woodgate and Hines all CBs, so I imagine he'll be happy to take the opportunity despite it being his less-preferred position. Ayala and Williams I wouldn't change, as they look to be building a good partnership and despite the fact the 2 of them made a few errors the other day, they had largely good games. Would be harsh to drop either of them based on a few errors in an otherwise decent display against one of the best attacking teams in this league.

 

No changes for me in midfield. Leadbitter and Whitehead have built a great partnership in holding midfield, Adomah is a must in the team and Carayol is in scintillating form. Ledesma didn't have the best of games against Leicester, which is hardly surprising given the playing surface and the fact the best parts of his game are close ball control and fast-paced ground passing. I think he could really cause some mischief in that advanced CM role as well as get a few more of his venomous longshots away.

 

Kei up front I have already explained. If he doesn't perform or is still looking rusty then I'd bring on Juke at half time because Main needs to get more to his game than simply being able to close players down fast. Think that if Kei has a good game we could really see a pleasant scoreline. This run of good form has amazingly come without a striker actually putting in a good performance for us. In fact I think the only goal a striker has scored for us in the last 7 was Main vs Bolton from about a yard out thanks to a defensive error. That speaks volumes.

 

We need to start with a high tempo and try to catch Wigan out early on. If Saturday showed me anything, it's that we're a confidence team. If we get an early goal we can more than likely push on and perform better throughout the course of the game and hopefully score another couple. I definitely think Wigan will have a point to prove to try to get their league campaign back on track after a 3-0 drubbing to Donny, and in addition to this they'll be on a high about getting through to the next round of the FA cup. This doesn't change my 3-0 prediction, but I really think they'll have a go.

 

One thing I'm not worried about is a large group of away fans dominating the atmosphere. Wigan's support is dismal, so poor for a team with a lot of time in the prem recently and an FA cup to their name.

 

So as I stated, 3-0 to the Boro. Carayol will score, as will Adomah and Ayala from a corner (been waaaaaaaay too long since we scored from a set piece, have to go back to Ayala scoring against Brum don't we?) Let's get things back on track and really make a playoff push.

 

UTB.

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Travelling up from Norwich for this game so hopefully will see a win,

 

Kamara needs to start as juke and main just aren't good enough.

 

If we start with high tempo like we did against burnley and reading then I think we can win but if we let a well organised attacking wigan team into it then it could be a nervous night.

 

2-1 with a heroic holly the hamster 99th min winner.

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Yes I'd like Varga to be took out of the team now as it sounds like he has been found out as I expected as even when he was doing quite well he still looked vulnerable, especially against pacey direct running(so I dread to think what McClean will do to him). Omeruo should start ahead of him at RB. I'd also like Chalobah to be in ahead of Whitehead as he is better suited to the role of defensive midfielder. Also Kei must start ahead of Juke. But 3 changes may be too many for Karanka to feel comfortable to make though so I suspect he may not make as many changes as I'd like.

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