View from Borough

[terryr]

In our next episode of Borodanes "the-great-rise-of-boro-into-the-promotion-mix" sees us entertain Fulham FC. In the previous meeting between the two sides Christis popped up with a late equaliser to earn Boro a share of the spoils - without us being impressive at all (at least that was my thoughts as I stood behind the goal with my two friends who are not boro fans and who had no idea how they ended up at a match involving these two sides).

Previous outings:

Boro progressed to the fourth round of the FA Cup by comfortably beating poor old Sunderland 2-0 at the Riverside. Pulis put out a strong team and the game was effectively over after the first half following goals from Gestede and Braithwaite.

Fulham on the other hand went down 0-1 at home to Southampton and are out of the cup. They will likely want to get back to winning ways asap.

Old faces: Ryan Fredericks and Tomas Kalas return to the Riverside again having previously played for the club under Aitor Karanka. Do we have any old Fulham players?

Borodanes predicted team:

-----------Randolph------------
Shotton-Ayala-Gibson-Friend
------Leadbitter-Howons------
Traore-Downing-Braithwaite
-----------Gestede-------------

I think Pulis will choose Shotton at RB to combat Fulham young winger Sessegnon who seems to always cause trouble and actually assisted their goal at Craven Cottage against us. In attack I think Gestede will be asked to lead the line following his well taken goal against Sunderland and Britt looking like he needs a rest at the moment. It will then be up to Traore, Howson, Downing and Braithwaite to supply enough amunition for the big man. Braithwaite to get into the box every time Downing and Traore get anywhere near the box.
My prediction is another 2-0 win with goals from Gestede and Downing.
The game is live on TV in Denmark, and likely other oversees countries too, so there should be plenty of streams available.
View from the other end: http://www.cottagecorner.org/forum/showt...p?tid=7126 They seem very confident. Not a single loss predicted.
Talking points:
Who are Fulhams danger men?
Gestede or Britt?

"  I think Gestede has to start but not utilising Assombalonga seems folly! I don't know Fulham's team well enough to know which would better capitalise on Fulham's weaknesses mind."

" I think Fulham play 4-3-3, which is why I think Pulis will play with Downing in the number 10 to add another number in the middle and not risk losing the midfield battle. Granted we should think about ourselves first, but you can't be too careless. If we aren't winning by the 60th miinute Assombalonga isn't the worst player you can throw on."

" I think Downing might play on the right to give Shotton (or Christie if it's him at RB) a hand with Sessegnon."

" I think Shotton will be enough, as I don't think we need to have two players on one of their players. I get what you are saying I'd like to keep Traore on the right to favour his development in the side. I don't think he is as effective on the left. He could of course play a number 10 which I have previously advocated for, but he will likely have more space on the wing. That also means that Sessegnon needs to track further back and help out his own full back."

" Massively important game the momentum has to continue if we are to achieve a top 6 spot and getting the first league win at home is vital for Tony Pulis.
As far as the team goes I think we will begin to see his preferred team the guys he trusts the most and who is not included in the match day squad could be the indication that they are surplus to requirements and not in his strategy moving ahead.
Fulham are a decent team and will give us a real game of football and we will do well to beat them but we are capable of doing just that"

" Well we've played with 1 striker both the past 2 games. 1 game Assombalonga started, 1 game Gestede took his place in the team. How are they not in direct competition exactly?
If you mean that they're different kind of strikers, sure, no doubting that. But if there's still only place for one striker in the team, as there has been for the last 2 games which we've won, then it's one or the other, not both."

" I'd say this is a game for Assombalonga, Fulham like to come out and play football so I'd be using Britt. He's started the two league games under Pulis and the last game was a cup game so he could have easily been given a rest. Can see us starting with Gestede against a lower team that will pack the box. Can't see him leaving out a player who has scored a third of our goals.

-----------Randolph------------
Shotton-Ayala-Gibson-Friend
-------Howson-Leadbitter------
Traore-Downing-Braithwaite
-------Assombalonga-------------

Would like to see Clayton given a start as well possibly in place of Leadbitter. Going for an edgy 2-1 Braithwaite FGS"

" We went with a full-strength side against Sunderland, don't know how Britt was just given a rest when the rest of them would have played in any other regular league match. Remember, Gestede came on against Preston and looked 10 times better for us than Britt in that game too. I think that's why he started against Sunderland. I just don't see him being dropped when he's come in for a game and a half now and has made us better as a team."

" But Britt has looked a bit jaded recently and he has played a lot of minutes also over the holidays. He definately needed a rest. He's now had two weeks without any game minutes so should be raring to go although I wouldn't put it against Pulis to give Gestede another chance after his impact in the last two games."

" Maybe he was jaded and tired, played a lot of football for us all season long. But that still doesn't discount what Gestede has done in the team. I find it strange people are so willing to drop Gestede tbh. Over the holiday period, Howson, Leadbitter and Downing have also played a lot of football but it hasn't significantly affected them and they were still all picked for the Sunderland game.

I think people are just concerned we've got our top goalscorer who cost us £15m on our bench but if he's going to offer as little as he did against Preston in a Pulis system then I don't really know how to justify playing him ahead of a striker who actually has made a big difference to us in the last game and a half. You can't just will him to work in this system and we don't have time for him to adapt to it. Gestede works and we need points now so unless we change to use more than 1 striker, I can't pick any team with Britt in it right now."

"Will certainly be fascinating to see who gets the nod up front - maybe he'll try both?

-------------------- Randolph ------------------
-- Shotton --- Ayala -- Gibson --- Friend --
----------- Clayton ------ Howson ------------
--- Traore ------ Gestede ------ Downing ---
---------------- Assombalonga -----------------

" Yes, only Randolph, Gibson and Assombalonga have started every league game (I believe), and obviously the former two do nowhere near as much running as Britt."

" I'd say picking Gestede made sense in that game, considering they had about 6 defenders on the pitch and we knew they'd be camped in. Honestly I wouldn't mind if we did play Gestede for this game, I like him as a player and he is very effective at what he does and has proven he can score 20 goals in a team that puts balls into the box.
I just feel Assombalonga's skill sets will help stretch Fulham better and he is still effective latching onto balls into the box.
Pulis doesn't always go for a targetman, in fact if you look at his main strikers since he left Stoke: Fraser Campbell, Dwight Gayle, Glenn Murray, Berahino, Rondon, Robson-Kanu, Jay Rodriguez. They're all quite versatile forwards and I think Assombalonga fits his style of player."

" Had a bit more time with the team, can see a decent solid 2-0"

" 7 nowt boro "

" 3-1 Boro"

" 2-1 to the Boro"

" Lose 0-1"

" Only beat the mackum reserves 2-0 & they could have had a couple
2-2 draw."

" we'll f*cking smash em"

" 
2-0 Fulham"

" A straightforward 2-0"

" 1-0 Boro - Faith in Tony and progress continues"

That's it for today.
I'll check back tomorrow and update if there is anything worth updating

[Chesh]

Terry, it's Boro mate - never Borough... :54:

[terryr]

I know
I met a guy here in a pub in Dubai from Hartlepool who heard me talking about our upcoming fixture He said Borro is just a crappy borough of Hartlepool which is so absurdly off the wall, I put it on the post title as a sort of inside joke to myself.
Stupid joke as no one was ever going to understand or get it.

[BedsFFC]

I know
I met a guy here in a pub in Dubai from Hartlepool who heard me talking about our upcoming fixture He said Borro is just a crappy borough of Hartlepool which is so absurdly off the wall, I put it on the post title as a sort of inside joke to myself.
Stupid joke as no one was ever going to understand or get it.

As jokes go, I'd put it pretty bloody high calibre around here

[aaronmcguigan]

When they use Cottage Corner to gauge our fans views, you know they just aren't right in the head