theAnticlough

Interesting stuff @Robbie The results and votes are what they are. But something's awry if Aljofree can get 10 more votes than macari on 27 fewer appearances!! Macari should be far far higher on that list than he is. MP wouldn't have picked him 36 times until his injury, if he wasn't doing well. I think MP described him as 'underrated' in one of his interviews. PON votes definitely point towards that.

This will be a better game. I'd say Kyle Wootton playing at centre-back might not be looking forward to facing some of Ruben's through balls. You have to fancy Bolton?

Agree on the midfield. MP will probably leave it as it is. Palmer's had a great bounceback season individually and played much better than Norburn overall. But his place has become tangled up with the captaincy and I suspect the meek way we went down to some of those 14 defeats, simllar to the 2 Wimbledon games last year have Pato thinking we need some different leadership on the field. RodMac captains the side now and it gives the team a different flavour and self-image.

I have reason to shout for Hull today, but I'll go the other way after their pathetic reaction to Southampton's expulsion. They spin a positive like playing a team that didn't know they were even still in it, into a negative - whingeing and bleating about a really unfortunate but necessary set of actions. What an awful message to send to their players and fans

Kind of same boat for me Dripsey. I'm stuck working overseas and can't make the final. I'll console myself with the knowledge I've seen us at Wembley muliple times and I'll be able to watch in comfort on a big screen. But nothing like the real thing of course, and wishing all those Pies the time of their lives on Monday

Great stuff @Robbie and thanks for posting this thread all season long. I probably got Iorpenda winning most myself. An interesting next step would be to divide those votes by the number of games played, I think that'd give a clue to who has consistently played with the most quality. I wouldn't want to take anything away from Iorpenda, I think the most MoMs is right, but I think the best performing player per games played, by a very clear margin, is Rod McDonald.

True, but despite all that @menzinho I have us slight favourites this time. Do you? What do we all think the subs bench will look like? I'm guessing at... Griffiths, Browne, Palmer, Kouhyar, Grant, Dennis, Ndlovu

I've never heard of Kieran Maguire, but it's just a question about the level of 'interest'. So what? The decision would still have been the same. And I agree. he's probably way short on the amount.

I think it's all be discussed here @YoopEyes so lets just say it's been good that we've had both sides of the argument. All I will say though, is that I hope Soton don't waste everyone's time 'seeking damages' as they wouldn't have a leg to stand on. On the issue of proportionality, all arguments would be undercut by the fact that Middlesbrough were striving for exactly the same prizes and bonanza.

There's an excellent interview with Matt Le Tissier on Youtube. He describes how the reputation of the club is tarnished, and repeats a number of times that their priority now must be trying to restore their reputation

I'm worried on behalf of Jodi. Remember the game at Shrewsbury when he couldn't get anything out of their RB and had to be taken off? This will be on a much bigger pitch than the reduced Shrewsbury one, but Mnogo is an awesome player IMO, incredible athlete and physical player. He might be just too much for JJ. Can we do anything different? If JJ can use his trickery and get him on a yellow, maybe it can go well. I just fear that side of the pitch being snuffed out and that'd be a big blow to our creativity. How much will we be willing to risk Bedeau making overloads deep down the left? Pity we don't have more reps of JJ being inside or we could ask Iorpenda to cover Mnogo defensively and confuse them coming in from there in attack. Match ups between teams is massive in the play offs and I worry about this one, and the double they got over us bears it out. Another thing I'm worried about? The game meaning so much to Jatta he tightens up. It's not just this season, but last seasons games as well - he must want to put one over them so much.

Salford were 8th or 9th over the season in ball possession (depending where you get your stats from), but they dominate in a different way to Chesterfield. They're disruptive as @Robbie says - they have some great athletes and good individual players on big money. We should have more of the game than against Chesterfield. And for sure this has to be one of our goals, keep them out of our half and away from our box as much as possible - they're dangerous. But when we're called upon to withstand pressure for long periods, lets hope the organisation, discipline and sheer guts we showed against C'field is repeated.

I think the games against Chesterfield are in danger of being misunderstood. It was a match up of 2 very good footballing sides, No1 in ball possession for the season - Chesterfield, and us 5th. They fielded their main playmaker Braybrook while we left ours, Palmer, on the bench. But the main reason they had the majority of the game over the two legs was that they were chasing the game. We were absolutely magnificent in defending everything they threw at us, but that was because we had to rather than strategy. They've had the continuity of Paul Cook building that team and style of play over many years and they're very good at it. Of course, we would have liked to keep the ball better - Robbo to do a better impersonation of Palmer in terms of playmaking, but the games didn't go like that and we were forced into defending instead.

Have to say I disagree with every word of that @YoopEyes When Leeds were caught under Bielsa there was no law. The EFL brought it in as a necessary response to that, so there is no precedent against the rules. There's massive stakes involved in promotion from the Champ to Prem. Soton trying to gain an advantage by breaking the rules was reckless governance and to me its a proportionate punishment, because all of that they were trying to cheat Middlebrough out of. Anyway, I'm just relieved Chesterfield weren't spying on Maca as he practised his penalty down the middle or we might still be in the National league. These are the kind of stakes involved, and it's brilliant that the EFL are sending out a strong message that it won't be tolerated.

Well yeah, all of that is what the spying was trying to take away from Middlesbrough - all their players and staff. I guess we have to work under the assumption that the spying gave them an edge, so taking away the massive Premier financial bonanza from Middlesbrough. In these situations, my sympathies are usually with the injured rather than the guilty parties Yes, shockingly bad governance of the club. If you're a member of the EFL you need to follow EFL rules, or face the consequences.

Yeah. You'd soon get to the situation where spied on teams would be adapting the training to misdirect the spies! Or just perceived spying or the chance of it - another example of focussing on the wrong thing It's an important rule for the integrity of the game and it's great IMO that a strong message has been sent and example set. I don't see how the EFL could've done anything else @Robbie, although I did expect them to bottle it. Streaming stuff like free-kicks and corners back home is a clear violation of the spirit of the game, let alone the rules. I've often wondered about this in relation to LW getting his players to 'practice their penalty'. Maca, Ruben and co chose what they were going to do and practised it. I wonder if they were checking for spies - they probably were, it takes nothing to send someone around, which is what Boro did. If it became rife and uncontrollable, you could see the EFL dropping the rule - that'd be a sad day and change the game.

Live streaming Middlesboro's training session could pick up on... team formation moves Boro were working on set piece routines, free kicks on goal, corner routines etc penalty practce injured or not 100% fit players

I'd say brilliant decision by the EFL. They broke the rules and who knows what edge they got on the pitch from their spying. But to appeal? Not taking ownership and prevent the victims and their fans from being able to really plan for the final for another 24 hours? I hope the result of the appeal is a doubling of their points deduction.

Great post. I marvel at this, can't get my head around it. I spent many a game circa 2016 in the Pavis seeing only septuagenarians making up 4,000 crowds. It looked for all the world that the club was slowly dying. What a turnaround in just a decade. Did Covid change things? Was it winning tonnes of games in the NL? Is it just the popularity of live football in general and we're a big city? Maybe a combination of all of those. But thanks to all those septuagegenarians and those who came before them for sowing the County seeds. Individual family folklore and stories past down is a large part of the reason we have new generations of fans in big numbers.

Good stuff @Sheffield Pie. Let's get to L1 and see how that goes

Well, another unchanged team seems the obvious move. It's worth asking the question though. Our last Wembley appearance needed Johnny Bostock to get on the ball and control the play. Do we need Matty Palmer to try to do the same this time? This may be an unpopular opinion as everyone is an hero after beating C'Field, but I thought Robbo had a really bad game on Friday - couldn't do a thing right for long periods of the game. So Palmer for Robbo in the strating XI to give us more control? I'd say not cos I don't think Salford are a team to get on the ball and dominate us that way (unlike C'Field who are). But they do have a lot of athletic players, who could pick off Palmer and Robbo would be needed to try to keep them in check. So after that, it's back full circle to unchanged for me! I don't think anyone else is pressing for a place in the starting XI.

@allardyces tash I can see the David Batty penalty there

Yeah, with you there. It might not go down so well with teh FA either

Those 4 at the back were unbelievable. Credit to the club/MP for taking the decisions to allow that... Belshaw for Roos, instilling so much more confidence on the players in front of him Making RodMac captain - it helps to get this right. If someone is a true leader of the team, make it official and reward it with the armband

For once it seems unfair to pick a MoM as the GK and 3 defenders were all absolutely immense. All were heros as @Robbie says but those 4 were superheros. If my arm's forced I have to say Lucas Ness who won everything and was pretty immaculate. He definitely made up for the penalty in the first leg, and hopefully this game will give him the confidence to put in another great performance at Wembley