09-12-2019, 09:47 AM
Middlesbrough have found things hard going this year as they look to move away from what was described as negative football from Pulis. The problem with that is you then have to have the players who can play the way you want and with funds being low and pretty, much unavailable this season Woodgate has to use the punt experts brought in under the previous manager. If they had signed an experienced manager then you would have seen this we will try to play style ripped up and they would have continued with playing to their strengths until a time they could afford to bring in some new players to change the system.
Normally I would be able to point out the strengths of a team both when it come to defending and attacking but in this case I just can’t the team has no identity at the moment and I just can see what they are trying to do. What I can say is they like to play in a 4-3-3 formation with normally two holding midfielders.
Middlesbrough attempt a lot of long range efforts and are not afraid to shoot when given any sight of the goal. This is a sure sign of a team low on confidence who don’t have the belief to build pressure to look for the best opening and struggle for ideas with the ball.
In their win against Charlton at the weekend we saw that they were given a lot of the ball without pressure in Charlton’s half which allowed them to cross often and early into the box. However the quality was not great and it became a catching training session for the keeper. Had the Charlton keeper not gifted them a goal at the start with the fumble after fumble to the incoming player’s feet I just could not see how they would score.
Without the ball Middlesbrough do not have any strengths worth noting but I will say because of this they have become (some would say they already were) a very aggressive team and pick up a large volume of cards during games as they dive into tackles out of desperation.
How do you get at them.
First thing I will say is Forest just need to be themselves here don’t go worrying about what they can do. Let them worry about us as we have everything we need to get at them.
Without the ball Forest just need to make sure we are switched on and know that they will shoot or cross early. If you pressure them and put strong challenges in, they will make errors and misplace passes. Middlesbrough do not like being forced to make cross-field passes or take risks. There will be plenty of chances to win the ball back. Staying strong and compact will allow Forest to win the second ball and break.
When Forest do have the ball, which I believe in this game will be often, they should having running at fullback as their number one priority. We have seen time and time again the fullbacks dive into tackles and miss both the man and the ball giving a free run to cut inside and create a chance. Middlesbrough leave the fullbacks open to 1v1’s and even 1v2’s very often as the central players do not like to go wide.
The next biggest cause of goals against for Middlesbrough is free kicks into the box with corners being the biggest error of concern for them. They are weak aerially and struggle to stay with the player they are marking.
Match prediction.
This is going to go two ways we will either win this and rip them a part or its going to be another Wigan match and I would question our ability to finish top 6. Has to be a win for forest, it has to be a win. Going with 3-0.
Normally I would be able to point out the strengths of a team both when it come to defending and attacking but in this case I just can’t the team has no identity at the moment and I just can see what they are trying to do. What I can say is they like to play in a 4-3-3 formation with normally two holding midfielders.
Middlesbrough attempt a lot of long range efforts and are not afraid to shoot when given any sight of the goal. This is a sure sign of a team low on confidence who don’t have the belief to build pressure to look for the best opening and struggle for ideas with the ball.
In their win against Charlton at the weekend we saw that they were given a lot of the ball without pressure in Charlton’s half which allowed them to cross often and early into the box. However the quality was not great and it became a catching training session for the keeper. Had the Charlton keeper not gifted them a goal at the start with the fumble after fumble to the incoming player’s feet I just could not see how they would score.
Without the ball Middlesbrough do not have any strengths worth noting but I will say because of this they have become (some would say they already were) a very aggressive team and pick up a large volume of cards during games as they dive into tackles out of desperation.
How do you get at them.
First thing I will say is Forest just need to be themselves here don’t go worrying about what they can do. Let them worry about us as we have everything we need to get at them.
Without the ball Forest just need to make sure we are switched on and know that they will shoot or cross early. If you pressure them and put strong challenges in, they will make errors and misplace passes. Middlesbrough do not like being forced to make cross-field passes or take risks. There will be plenty of chances to win the ball back. Staying strong and compact will allow Forest to win the second ball and break.
When Forest do have the ball, which I believe in this game will be often, they should having running at fullback as their number one priority. We have seen time and time again the fullbacks dive into tackles and miss both the man and the ball giving a free run to cut inside and create a chance. Middlesbrough leave the fullbacks open to 1v1’s and even 1v2’s very often as the central players do not like to go wide.
The next biggest cause of goals against for Middlesbrough is free kicks into the box with corners being the biggest error of concern for them. They are weak aerially and struggle to stay with the player they are marking.
Match prediction.
This is going to go two ways we will either win this and rip them a part or its going to be another Wigan match and I would question our ability to finish top 6. Has to be a win for forest, it has to be a win. Going with 3-0.