ClaphamFox

Which is why I think we'll target at least one attacking midfielder in January. Although we're second-highest scorers in the league, we're nowhere near incisive enough around the box. Praet and Akgun will help in that regard when they're fit, but I'll be surprised if we d don't try to bring in a genuinely creative midfielder. I have no doubt that we'll concede fewer goals than any other team in the division this season. If we make a few tweaks to ensure that our possession stats are better reflected in goals scored, we'll be be promoted.

If Maresca was interested in utilising Daka, he would have done so by now. Daka will leave in January, probably on loan initially. Cannon may well be our first choice striker in the second half of the season, possibly deputised by a new signing if Iheanacho leaves in January.

Happy for you, Jannik. But next time, can you kindly find a way of expressing your joy that doesn’t involve a no-look back heel in a dangerous area that results in a free kick for the opposition and ultimately costs us the match? Ta everso.

According to this analysis, Donald Trump would win a presidential election against Joe Biden if it were held now. https://x.com/OwenWntr/status/1724022941673726226?s=20

Very intrigued to see Cannon in action. He was apparently very much Maresca's choice, so presumably Enzo thinks Cannon will fit well into our style of play.

There is no truth in the old cliché about the ‘curse’ of the manager of the month award.

We needed to score during that long period when we were camped in their half, but our play around their box was so ponderous, indecisive and lacking in urgency. Then they score with a wonder free kick and we just don’t threaten them again. I’m fully on board with Maresca for what he’s achieved so far, but you’d think we’d be able to find another gear when we’re chasing a game with a few minutes left. Today we made it so easy for them to defend that lead.

Link doesn’t work, mate.

Me too please if anybody has one…

And there was me thinking they had nothing, Toulouse.

Middlesbrough's home record is W3 D1 L3. They're eighteenth in the 'home' league table. It's not exactly a fortress up there, is it?

Eh?

Both are decent players. We didn't know last January that we'd be relegated and appoint Maresca, and that he wouldn't favour Souttar and that VK would refuse to learn a new role. They were sensible signings at the time.

They'll both have six months left on their contracts. It will be peanuts.

Answer in bold.

Let them go for peanuts in January and potentially derail our bid for promotion, or keep them until the end of the season and accept the possibility of them leaving on a free once we've achieved promotion? Yeah, it's a tough one alright....

What stream have you got it on? I’m struggling to find one…

He was, which makes the non-appearance of McAteer difficult to explain.

He’s a significant weak link in the chain at the moment - it’s so obvious he’s just not at the same level as the rest of the team. I hope he comes good but at the moment he looks completely out of place.

It's astonishing how often people neglect to acknowledge this fact. I've lost count of the times I've had to explain to supporters of other clubs that we did not choose to go into administration - it was imposed on us by the poison dwarf and his cigar-chomping spiv of an agent. We could have gone out of business - that was a very real possibility. Nobody at the club regarded admin as a convenient way of reducing our debts and carrying on as normal - they were terrified that it could mean the end of us as a football club.

His decline had already begun before he left, which is why the club were happy to accept Chelsea’s offer. It’s true we didn’t spend the money wisely, but it doesn’t change the fact that we got an excellent price for Drinkwater.

33.

That may well have been part of it, but they only signed him when the Barkley deal fell through. They had a space for a midfielder and Kante probably said positive things about him. Apparently Conte never wanted him nor rated him, which meant that Drinkwater's goose was basically cooked before he even set foot on the training pitch at Cobham. Chelsea's habit of buying players without their manager's consent goes back a few years now.

He spent the summer putting videos of himself training in Dubai alongside boasts about his fitness. It seemed like he was desperate to find a club. If it's true that he's had 'quite a few offers' from Championship clubs and rejected them, it does raise the question of what exactly he was expecting. He was a great player for us but his departure came at the right time - he was already in decline. I wish him well in his post-retirement career and of course he will always be given a hero's reception when he visits the KP.

Yep, it's going to be a proper Walpurgisnacht, except in November rather than April. Hopefully our fans will enter the spirit by dressing up as witches, lighting a bonfire outside the KP and subjecting the Leeds players to pagan chants as they get off the bus.