[retired_heidigoebel]

great night wasnt it!

Started well, hit with a sucker blow (winning me money on 1st scorer AGAIN!) and then finished well (i had £5 on 2-1 at 20-1 odds!!!)

Phil you are right Davies isnt a RB, he isnt Prem quality, yes he made tackles and did ok, but he was at fault for the goal. He is more of a liability then not, i always wait for his sure to come mistake.
Mendi was lost on the right, kept coming inside and getting it all overcrowded.
Yak the poor lad was alone for 60 minutes running his heart out.

Anyway, did anyone see the Chelski fans being battered and ejected! QUALITY!
Police hats flying high and battons raining down.

Sad note, some bloke in lower west stand had something happen and was out like a light, police and paramedics took him out on a trolly, hope he is ok.

[retired_wendyhiestand]

Originally posted by Powlay:
great night wasnt it!

Started well, hit with a sucker blow (winning me money on 1st scorer AGAIN!) and then finished well (i had £5 on 2-1 at 20-1 odds!!!)

Phil you are right Davies isnt a RB, he isnt Prem quality, yes he made tackles and did ok, but he was at fault for the goal. He is more of a liability then not, i always wait for his sure to come mistake.
Mendi was lost on the right, kept coming inside and getting it all overcrowded.
Yak the poor lad was alone for 60 minutes running his heart out.

Anyway, did anyone see the Chelski fans being battered and ejected! QUALITY!
Police hats flying high and battons raining down.

Sad note, some bloke in lower west stand had something happen and was out like a light, police and paramedics took him out on a trolly, hope he is ok.

Yep saw the lad getting chucked out. He was wearing a pink jumper so cue "Who's the rentboy in the pink" chant.

[retired_frogchickie]

I had £1 on 2-1

Also, £1 on Chelsea HT/Boro FT @ 40/1 :o

[retired_frogchickie]

Viduka's Bazooka

[retired_heidigoebel]

kets cross fingers now that we dont throw it all away on monday against Pompy who as i recall are one of our bogey teams.

we HAVE to go with 2 up top on monday, pompy cant be allowed to make the running, we have to realise the riverside is again OUR fortress and we should go out and make a statement about being not only hard to beat but hard to stop winning at our place

[retired_frogchickie]

yeah Viduka and Morrison in for Davies/Parnaby and Mendi please.

Maybe I was a bit harsh on Davies, the general opinion seems to be he had a great game last night. I'd still have him down as our third choice right back though.

Is there anyway we can get Cattermole, Boateng, Rocky and Downing into a 4-man midfield? Rocky right wing?

Maybe 3 (incl Downing) in the centre, Rocky just in front and the two full backs pushing on?

[retired_frogchickie]

Gazette:

Boro in for Woody Aug 25 2006




Eric Paylor, Evening Gazette




Boro have made an audacious bid to bring home Jonathan Woodgate.
Gareth Southgate has inquired about the possibility of taking the Real Madrid defender on a year-long loan.

The 26-year-old Middlesbrough-born centre-back is fit again after suffering an injury-plagued spell in Spain following his £13.4m move from Newcastle United in 2004.

Woodgate is committed to forcing himself back into the Real line-up and has worked hard to build up to peak fitness by taking part in extra training sessions at Leeds over the summer.

But if the Spaniards want to give the talented Teessider time to prove his match fitness over a long period, then they may be interested in the potential of a lengthy loan deal.

Boro's interest offers Woodgate the opportunity to get back to his best in an environment he knows.

Ironically Woodgate was on Boro's books as a youngster but decided to move on to Leeds United as a 16-year-old.

His progress at Elland Road was dramatic and he went on to play 131 games for United, winning five England caps and later moving on to Newcastle as financial problems hit home at Elland Road.

Southgate is still trying to replace himself at the heart of the Boro defence and is currently waiting to hear the outcome of further talks with Sylvain Distin.

Boro have agreed a fee of around £3.5m for the Manchester City defender, though Blues boss Stuart Pearce is increasingly confident that Distin will agree to stay put.

If Distin agrees to the move, then Southgate will still pursue his interest in Woodgate, and also Chelsea defender Robert Huth, who is another who remains a loan target.

Southgate has also been alerted to the potential availability of Preston striker David Nugent, who is one of the classiest strikers in the Championship.

The 21-year-old has been watched regularly by Boro, in addition to a handful of other Premiership clubs.

Boro have not made a bid for the player and a great deal will depend on what happens over the next few days.

Southgate reckons he has to "balance the books", but basically he has a certain amount of cash to spend and must wait to see which doors open before Wednesday night's deadline.

He told the Evening Gazette: "I am fairly confident of bringing in a couple of new faces before the deadline.

"It's been interesting, as we get closer to the deadline, to see clubs make players available who they previously said were not available.

"In addition, some players who you never thought could be available, are now available. It opens it all up, so I'm hopeful we'll be able to add to the squad before the deadline."

One new face who is likely to come in after the deadline is Abel Xavier.

The 33-year-old Portuguese defender completes his one-year ban for use of an illegal substance at the end of September and is already back in training with Boro.

Southgate said: "We don't condone anyone in sport for taking performance enhancing drugs.

"But in Abel's case there is a clear indication that it was negligence rather than an attempt to cheat. I'm sure that there is more to the case than meets the eye, which is why his ban was reduced from two years to one.

"As a former employee, we feel we should give him the chance to get fit with us and then we will see what develops from there."

Keeper David Knight has joined Oldham on loan for a month.

Would be great to sign Woody, but can't see it happening.

[retired_heidigoebel]

sadly the bloke who collapsed in the west stand died of a heart attack, he was 22.

[Eng16Fng]

Boro finally get around to issuing a response to Spurs' bid for Downing.

Boro's Lennon Interest - And Stewie Not For Sale!

CHIEF EXECUTIVE Keith Lamb has confirmed that Boro have expressed an interest in signing Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon, after blasting Spurs for going public with a "derisory" bid for Stewart Downing.

Spurs boss Martin Jol was quoted as stating that his club had made a £10m "final offer" for Boro's 22-year-old England winger following his side's disappointing 2-0 home defeat to Everton on Saturday - their second loss from their opening three league games.

Boro have consistently made clear their determination to hang onto Downing, who was a member of England's 2006 World Cup squad and recently made his full debut for the national side.

It is clear that it would take a bid of massive proportions even to tempt Lamb and chairman Steve Gibson to consider selling the club's prize asset.

Lamb has made it clear that Boro are not interested in selling the left-winger - and have lost respect for Tottenham officials, who have made their bid for Downing so public.

Instead, Boro may move to solve their own search for reinforcements on the right side of midfield by bidding for Downing's England team-mate Lennon, pictured above, left, alongside, with Theo Walcott. Lennon has impressed for Spurs since moving to White Hart Lane from Leeds United.

Lamb expressed the club's anger about the way Spurs had decided to tell the media about their interest in one of Boro's key players, who is contracted to his hometown club on a long-term basis.

" Steve Gibson and I are appalled at the way Tottenham conduct their business," he said. "We are shocked and disappointed that they should talk publicly about their interest in one of our players.

" They have not made a £10m offer for Stewart - and would be wasting their time if they did. In actual fact, they made a derisory offer

"I won't even be responding to the bid because they knew in advance that it would be unacceptable.

"We can only consider that it was a mischievous attempt to unsettle Stewart and cause a problem between the player and his hometown club

"If that is the case, it won't succeed - and we won't be giving their offer even the courtesy of a rejection.

"We would be more interested in buying Aaron Lennon from Spurs than selling Stewart because we remain extremely ambitious to take this club forward.

"In fact, during the course of our talks with Spurs, we have already expressed our interest in signing Lennon."

Hopefully Spurs finally get the message.

[retired_heidigoebel]

spurts are a joke, they supposedly offer £8m last season, then £6m this season, woul;dnt suprise me if there NEW offer was £8m! Something we could have got last year pre-world cup, since the world cup downings stock has rose higher than lennons id suggest thanks to his England vs Greece game and a prem goal and assists.

Id leave the defence as they were except parnaby for Davies tomorrow.
Id also bring in Vidbazooka for Mendi and have the right side weaker with Rocky floating that side.
Boat and Catt in the middle....but that wont happen.

it will be Mendi right, Boat and Rocky inside4 with Stuey on the left.