Middlesbrough Friendly (2pm kick off)

[Jonathan]

  Defenders need to be able to defend, being easy on the eye is secondary'
  All the best I have seen and in my time, I have watched the best can dish it out, are strong, physical, and don't mess about trying to be Ronaldo.
  Think Argentina, think Brazil, think Italy, think Uruguay, thnik Germany how many know their wonderful central defenders by name  they have had. and can roll them off the tongue.
  You might know one or two, you will not know most and all them sides have had players who are household names, but their central defenders would kick their granny, and were indispensable  to great sides, and were feared by strikers and star men of other teams, most not that easy on the eye, just great defenders.

Sorry but I don’t agree with the point I think you’re making. Household names is subjective, but all footballers that play at the top level like that can play. They reach that level because they can defend and play. Stick any of them at our level and they’d look like Franco Baresi!

[Barmby Rover]

There's a lot of negativity around on this thread, can somebody tell me when we will come up against a side like Middlesbrough in League 2? Rovers had a good work out and did well against a team two divisions better than us. I suspect that GM will be pleased with what the squad have shown, and use it as a learning situation to improve the squad firther, that's the purpose of friendlies.

[selby]

  The secret of being a top defender is not on the ball although I agree with you they could all play, but their main job was stopping others playing well and the secret is being in the right position off the ball, with the ball in front of you and you between your goal your defending and the ball and  as tight as possible on the man you are facing, and being willing to do anything to stop the man getting in on goal.
 Argentina won the world cup doing exactly that not because they were the best side. The team that troubled them the most was Holland who went long with a big lump up front when they went behind and extra time which made their defenders drop back into areas they couldn't depend on the tactical foul forty yards from their goal.
  France were arrogant and thought they could out football them through the lines and got fouled to death in midfield and central areas.
 

[DearneValleyRover]

  Defenders need to be able to defend, being easy on the eye is secondary'
  All the best I have seen and in my time, I have watched the best can dish it out, are strong, physical, and don't mess about trying to be Ronaldo.
  Think Argentina, think Brazil, think Italy, think Uruguay, thnik Germany how many know their wonderful central defenders by name  they have had. and can roll them off the tongue.
  You might know one or two, you will not know most and all them sides have had players who are household names, but their central defenders would kick their granny, and were indispensable  to great sides, and were feared by strikers and star men of other teams, most not that easy on the eye, just great defenders.

Sorry but I don’t agree with the point I think you’re making. Household names is subjective, but all footballers that play at the top level like that can play. They reach that level because they can defend and play. Stick any of them at our level and they’d look like Franco Baresi!

Not sure I agree with you, we’ve had ex prem players turn out for us that I wouldn’t pay in washers. You have to have talent but application and the ability to learn from mistakes is far more important and not all those who play at a higher level have that. Yesterday was a far better test than Hull, it gave our team a glimpse of what they need to do to improve. Usually a beating is a far better lesson

[Alan Southstand]

I’d agree on the lesson learning and I would add that one or two were maybe thinking ‘this is going to be easy’, particularly after the Hull game. It’s a perfect time to get a kick up the backside. The one thing that I wondered was why didn’t GM try to stem the flow and switch systems sooner? Surely, all these things have to be tried out before we kick off for real.

We needed that Boro’ game, as it really did ask a few questions - all over the pitch.

[ncRover]

I hope there’s no catastrophizing about our shortcomings after this one.

Boro will be competing for premier league promotion this year and had a strong end to last season.

*taps sign*

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I’d agree on the lesson learning and I would add that one or two were maybe thinking ‘this is going to be easy’, particularly after the Hull game. It’s a perfect time to get a kick up the backside. The one thing that I wondered was why didn’t GM try to stem the flow and switch systems sooner? Surely, all these things have to be tried out before we kick off for real.

We needed that Boro’ game, as it really did ask a few questions - all over the pitch.

He explained that in his post match interview.

[Metalmicky]

Highlights...

https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2024/july/27/highlights--doncaster-rovers-3-boro-5/

[Filo]

Highlights...

https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2024/july/27/highlights--doncaster-rovers-3-boro-5/

Thought it at the time, and that confirms it TSL should have saved that first one easily, the Titanic went down quicker

[ravenrover]

Lino missed 2 clear offside, the 2nd was their last goal

[Dagenham Rover]

Lino missed 2 clear offside, the 2nd was their last goal

I thought the last goal was offside but I was up the South end of the West Stand so kept me gob shut

[ravenrover]

As was, and as did, I

[Alan Southstand]

Same here Dagenham, but you can see from the highlights that the Lino on the East side was way behind play. It was offside.

[roversdude]

From West Stand it was way offside

[Butchers Red]

Watching those highlights wasn't pleasant - offside or not - TLT would only have conceded 1 out of the 5 I'm afraid.

[grayx]

Watching those highlights wasn't pleasant - offside or not - TLT would only have conceded 1 out of the 5 I'm afraid.

Hopefully it was just a bad day at the office. Keepers have them but he needs to be better than that.

[Thorney]

Watching those highlights wasn't pleasant - offside or not - TLT would only have conceded 1 out of the 5 I'm afraid.

Hopefully it was just a bad day at the office. Keepers have them but he needs to be better than that.

Willing to look past those for 1 game. But watching those highlights, his dives were actually comical, even the shots that were off target.
Like you say, gonna need to be better than that. 

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Can't help thinking the same. His hands/eyes don't even follow the flight of the ball. It seems he just dives in the general direction and hopes for the best.

We've got to give him a fair crack though.

[BigH]

Watching those highlights wasn't pleasant - offside or not - TLT would only have conceded 1 out of the 5 I'm afraid.

Hopefully it was just a bad day at the office. Keepers have them but he needs to be better than that.

Willing to look past those for 1 game. But watching those highlights, his dives were actually comical, even the shots that were off target.
Like you say, gonna need to be better than that. 

Way better. That goalkeeping performance was garbage.

[EasyforDennis]

VAR ??

[selby]

 Looked to lack athletic and gymnastic ability in those clips, probably can play with his feet though, which seems to be the main requirement nowadays as actually catching the ball has gone out of fashion.

[ncRover]

That centre forward play for our third goal