Matt Aloud
Member
Buy Girls Aloud! Bye McFly!!
Posts: 2,389
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Post by Matt Aloud on Aug 18, 2007 17:05:40 GMT 1
Mido! Mido!
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Post by Panda on Aug 18, 2007 17:07:35 GMT 1
"Here for the shopping! He's only here for the shopping!"
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Post by o on Aug 18, 2007 20:04:58 GMT 1
Mido proves me wrong
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Matt Aloud
Member
Buy Girls Aloud! Bye McFly!!
Posts: 2,389
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Post by Matt Aloud on Aug 18, 2007 22:35:45 GMT 1
"Here for the shopping! He's only here for the shopping!" what shopping I find places like Yarm highly overrated, and well Boro and Stockton are hardly somewhere to go shopping
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Post by Panda on Aug 19, 2007 13:08:17 GMT 1
"Here for the shopping! He's only here for the shopping!" what shopping I find places like Yarm highly overrated, and well Boro and Stockton are hardly somewhere to go shopping Boro's as good as anywhere else round here until you get to the Metro Centre.
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Post by Panda on Aug 28, 2007 16:17:08 GMT 1
Middlesbrough 2-2 Newcastle
Not a bad result on Sunday against the barcodes and an encouraging performance too, with the bonus of surprise returns by Woodgate and Young.
Woodgate will be disappointed with Viduka's goal but Mido's hit the ground running, Arca's playing well and Rochemback made a big difference in midfield.
Northampton are up next in the Carling Cup. Southgate might play the youngsters for this one. We shall see. After all, we did get knocked out by Notts County at this stage last season but with all due respect to Northampton, Saturday's game against Birmingham is much more important and one we're more than capable of winning.
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Robbie
Member
*Funky!*
Posts: 25,721
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Post by Robbie on Aug 28, 2007 20:53:43 GMT 1
Newcastle have been reported to the FA following apparent "islamophobic" comments made by sections of the crowd and which prompted his reaction following his goal.
I find it bizarre that Newcastle fans would even act that way, I wonder if it is an excuse by Mido following his booking after his goal celebrations. Cleveland Police and the stewards are normally on the ball when something happens, and I can't believe that no action was taken. Southgate has even commented that "I find it strange that 3,000 people can insult someone in that way when nothing's happened.
"All players accept that when they go on the field of they will be ridiculed and people will try to goad them.
"But there is a line and that line was crossed at the weekend."
If 3,000 people had been chanting racial abuse I think it would have been picked up on TV and I can't recall hearing anything.
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Post by Panda on Aug 28, 2007 20:59:19 GMT 1
If 3,000 people had been chanting racial abuse I think it would have been picked up on TV and I can't recall hearing anything. Not necessarily. It's much easier to hear what the home fans are chanting during televised games. It was brought up by the interviewers in post-match interviews and was reported by pretty much every media source the next day so something was obviously going on.
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Post by Panda on Aug 28, 2007 21:01:13 GMT 1
I find it bizarre that Newcastle fans would even act that way Based on my experience of geordies, I don't.
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Robbie
Member
*Funky!*
Posts: 25,721
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Post by Robbie on Aug 28, 2007 21:08:25 GMT 1
I'm not saying that Newcastle fans are all sweetness and light but I'm just surprised that every single one of them was chanting something obnoxious. At least, that is the impression that Southgate is giving by claiming that 3,000 people were chanting abuse as that was roughly the amount of all the away support.
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Post by Panda on Aug 28, 2007 21:09:41 GMT 1
How can the stewards/police single anyone out if it's a group of thousands? It's not like they can arrest them all, is it?
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Robbie
Member
*Funky!*
Posts: 25,721
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Post by Robbie on Aug 28, 2007 21:12:52 GMT 1
they could point out that they heard large sections of the crowd chanting, but so far nothing has been said.
If the Newcastle fans as a whole were chanting anything untoward then Newcastle fans as a whole should be banned from away matches for the forseeable future.
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Post by Panda on Aug 28, 2007 21:17:31 GMT 1
Well it's for the FA to sort out now.
Cleveland Police, on a higher level, are generally inept anyway.
It would be a shame if Newcastle fans were banned because of some idiots starting a racist chant and some more drunken idiots joining in.
They certainly made me laugh a few years ago when they called Hasselbaink "a fat Eddie Murphy". He responded by scoring the equaliser with his hand, which was even funnier.
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Post by Panda on Aug 29, 2007 16:13:31 GMT 1
Yakubu has finally joined Everton for £11.25m.
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Post by Panda on Sept 5, 2007 15:08:25 GMT 1
Middlesbrough 2-0 Birmingham
Very good win on Saturday. Good to see us picking up the points we're supposed to be getting. When I saw our early season fixture list I felt there was a chance we could have 15 points on the board by the end of September. Losing our first 2 means that looks unlikely now but we have Sunderland at home soon and that's a game we really should be winning, so we should at least be into double figures. Anything from the 2 away games we have before the end of the month would be a result.
There's been much talk about the falling attendances at the Riverside. Saturday's crowd was the lowest ever league attendance at the Riverside. While it's disappointing to see, as someone who doesn't go to games on a regular basis for various reasons, I'm not going to criticise those who have decided to stay away. They all have their reasons and I think the main reason is ticket prices.
There were many season ticket holders who felt let down by the club during the summer. When a number of clubs decided to reduce prices, Boro didn't. Instead, they froze last season's prices. That was the final straw for some. Having put up with McClaren's negative football, they weren't prepared to shell out anymore. Whilst the standard of football has improved under Southgate, it still doesn't represent value for money for the paying customer and thousands of season ticket holders have decided to pick and choose their matches instead.
The crowd problem isn't just happening at Boro. Aside from the promoted clubs and new stadiums/expansions, only 5 Premiership clubs had increases last season. Bolton's crowds were down 6.6% last season and are falling again this season, despite another European qualification. Portsmouth's crowds have been way down so far, despite the likelyhood of their most successful season for decades. Even Newcastle's crowds fell last season.
The biggest worry is that most of the clubs won't publicly admit that prices are the main reason behind the problem because it's not in their best interests financially. A club will make more money from 22,000 people paying £30 each than if they had 32,000 paying £20 each. What they don't seem to realise is that ultimately they will suffer financially despite the high prices because the crowds will continue to wane and that will eventually affect on-pitch performances.
I hate to see a two-thirds-full Riverside but no Premier League match is worth £30, let alone £40 and those who feel the same way have my full support, whatever club they follow.
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Post by Panda on Sept 14, 2007 15:57:52 GMT 1
West Ham away tomorrow. Not a game I'd expect us to win given our away form over the last couple of seasons. The international break came at the wrong time for us as we'd just started to find our form.
We tend to swap points with West Ham each season. Whoever wins tomorrow will probably lose the game at the Riverside later in the season.
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Post by Panda on Sept 15, 2007 16:27:47 GMT 1
Currently losing 3-0 to West Ham. Sounds like a crazy game... Fairly even first half, then West Ham caught us cold at the start of the 2nd. We've created enough chances to get a result and have hit the woodwork twice but West Ham have put their chances away...
At least we have Sunderland at home next week. Me and my new wife might be going to that one...
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Sept 15, 2007 20:08:33 GMT 1
sounded like an odd game, i thought wet ham were going to loose after the first half display, but they won 3-0
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Post by Panda on Sept 23, 2007 18:18:13 GMT 1
Middlesbrough 2-2 Sunderland
A good performance and a good game but a disappointing result.
A terrible start as Sunderland took the lead with a lucky goal after just 75 seconds. Tuncay then went off injured. Boro equalised with a header from Arca (to his credit, he didn't really celebrate) but he soon went off with what looked like a serious knee injury. Mido also got injured soon after and spent much of the time holding his hamstring. However, with no attacking options left on the bench, he refused to come off and battled on until half time. I was surprised to see him come out for the second half but he did, though he only lasted about 10 minutes after that. There weren't many chances in the second half but Boro looked by far the more threatening and took the lead with a super goal from Downing. There was a brawl between Cattermole and one of the Sunderland players and both men were lucky to stay on, particularly the Sunderland player (may have been Leadbitter) who had his hands wrapped around Cattermole's throat. Boro looked to have the 3 points but Sunderland snatched a draw with a good strike from Liam Miller. It was the only moment of class Sunderland produced all afternoon.
Boro were very unlucky with the injuries and some of the decisions and should have won the game. Sunderland had everything go their way but still only managed another lucky point. They won't finish above the top 6 on the strength of today's game.
On a positive note, Gary O'Neil made his first start for Boro and a had great game. He looks a quality signing.
On the downside, we now go into this week's Carling Cup game with Spurs with only one fit striker, Lee Dong-Gook. He works hard but he's just too lightweight. That said, he got no help whatsoever from the referee yesterday. He spent most of the game being pushed and pulled around by Sunderland players but somehow ended up conceding half a dozen free kicks.
The crowd was around 30,600, the biggest of the season so far...
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Post by Panda on Nov 2, 2007 16:43:09 GMT 1
A difficult time for Boro. No points since my last post in this thread and the injury problems are only just starting to come to an end... We're now having the first whisperings in the press of Southgate possibly being replaced with Paul Jewell, something which doesn't excite me one bit. It would be very harsh to sack Southgate, given he hasn't been able to play his first choice XI at any point this season.
At least we went to Man U and had a go last weekend. Who knows what might've happened if Downing hadn't gone all stupid. The end scoreline flattered Man U and they needed a couple of top quality goals and ridiculous error to beat us. I hope Southgate doesn't let the result put him off trying the same approach against other teams because against anyone other than Man U, we would've won last weekend.
Spurs at home tomorrow. Typical that we get them for Ramos's first league game, rather than Jol's last...
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