View From The Home End With OneBoro

I contacted the lads at OneBoro to get the lowdown on what’s happening at the Riverside, their aspirations for the remainder of the season and their take on Friday’s game. Big thanks to Boro fan Matt Strachan for answering my questions.

Boro have really come good lately and are looking a strong bet for the play-offs. What’s triggered the upturn in form?

The main factor, pure and simply has been the fact Tony Pulis is beginning to get his methods across to the team.

When he first arrived, you could tell he wasn’t sure who he could fit into his system, but he’s made some subtle but effective tweaks to the team. Pulis is renowned for preferring a larger back four, so Fabio has been swapped for Ryan Shotton and former Wanderer’s fullback Friend is back in and playing like his old self.

The last six games or so we’ve looked a lot more solid at the back and we’ve actually been scoring a fair few goals, especially (as you’d expect from a Pulis team) from set plays.

Bristol City, Sheffield Utd and Preston are also pushing hard for the top six with Derby continuing to wobble. Do you think you’ll make the play-offs and would you fancy your chances against the likes of Fulham or Villa if they miss out on the top two?

In my mind, a play-off place this season would be a massive bonus considering there’s been a lot change around the club over the last season and a bit. Relegation, Karanka leaving, Monk coming and going, 40m spent on a lot of players that have already moved on in January and the arrival of Pulis.

Personally, I feel as if it’s a season too early for us. Next year under Pulis I could see us really having a go for an automatic place, but considering our record against teams in the top 8 I’d be skeptical of us navigating through the lottery of the play-offs.

Villa are a strange outfit, comfortably beating Wolves then going on to lose to QPR and Bolton, but on their day they’re a good outfit under Bruce who knows how to get the job done in this league. Fulham in my mind are the best team outside the top 2 so I definitely wouldn’t want to play them! Mitrovic is on fire and with talents like Sessongon and Cairney, you’d back them to go up.

Your chairman usually gives managers time, so why do you think Garry Monk was so hastily discarded?

I think over the last decade Gibson has sometimes given managers too much time when it clearly isn’t working and after last season’s disappointment he knew he needed to act. I think Pulis becoming available also was a factor, knowing an experienced Premier League manager could be tempted to Teesside.

I wasn’t thrilled about the appointment myself, but on a wider scale, Monk never seemed to create a rapport with the fans. His pre and post-match press conferences became alarming robotic, he couldn’t seem to find his best system or XI and what was the best defence in the Championship last time around, looked very shaky under him.

Tony Pulis has a reputation for negative, anti-football. Were you happy with the appointment and what has the style been like so far?

I was very happy with the appointment, I think Tony is the sort of manager the team needed at this moment in time. We’d had Karanka then Monk who were two gambles because of their limited managerial experience, so an old head has certainly given the players a clearer picture of what’s needed.

One of the things I like about Pulis is that there are no grey areas, he’s very vocal and firm in press conferences, he seems to give you credit if he sees you’re working hard but he’s also rigorous on the training field.

In terms of the style, I wouldn’t describe it as boring anti-football it’s actually been pretty good to watch. Yes, there are some Pulism’s like set-pieces and long throws but he’s surprised a lot of Boro fans I think, I think people easily forget the way his Palace side played.

It’s been Patrick Bamford and Adama Traore grabbing the headlines. Are those the two players we should be fearing most in this game?

It’s remarkable to think under Monk, Bamford could barely get in the squad let alone the bench and Adama was largely starting here and there.

Adama over the last few months has been nothing short of a revelation and I’d be very surprised if he was wearing a Boro shirt next season. When we first signed Adama you could see his blistering pace was a huge weapon but his crossing and shooting was pretty appalling. Slowly but surely Pulis has transformed his game, overall his crossing and decision making is much better and he’s even adding some great goals to his repertoire.

For Boro fans, it’s great to see Bamford playing well again and with a smile on his face. He’s still thought of very fondly from his first time on Teeside, but when he returned from various loans he looked a shadow of his former self.

Strangely enough, until Gustede got injured he’d been playing wide left but after being moved up front he’s really taken the No9 shirt now. Not the strongest player, but he’s pacey and technically gifted, should keep the Wolves centre halves busy.

Another player who deserves a lot of credit since his loan move in January is Mo Besic, a very agile box-to- box player.

What’s been your general take on Wolves this season? Have you been surprised by their success?

By and large very impressed, there’s a nice balance to the side and obviously the Portuguese influx makes Wolves very good on the eye. From a neutral point of view, I’ve really enjoyed watching the likes of Neves, Jota, Bonatini, and Costa when he’s on song.

I haven’t been too surprised with Wolves, you’ve been putting in some great building blocks season after season. What surprised me more was to see Cardiff slowly eat up what looked like an unassailable lead but I still back you to go up as champions.

We’ve got a horrendous record in this fixture and I don’t think we’ve ever won at The Riverside. What do you see as Boro’s weaknesses and how can Wolves exploit them?

Well if it gives you any hope we had a similar Riverside record against Derby and they came up and thumped us 3-0!

We were under Monk at that point and we’re a much more solid outfit. In terms of weaknesses perhaps fullback, Friend, and Shotton aren’t the fastest so that could give your wide players some joy.

How do you think you’ll line up (formation and personnel)?

We’ll start most likely with Randolph in goal, back four of Shotton, Gibson, Ayala, Friend, three central midfield players in Besic, Howson and either Clayton/Leadbitter, out wide Downing and Adama then up front Bamford.

How do you see the game panning out and what are your predictions on the outcome?

If we’d played this fixture end of last year when we were under Monk and Wolves were flying I’d be very worried (lucky we played you first game of the season before you hit your stride!).

We have a pretty poor record against high flying teams this season so I think this maybe a bridge too far, I’d be delighted with a draw but I’m going 2-0 Wolves.

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Thanks again to Matt and the boys at One Boro Middlesbrough FC Forum for helping line this up and good luck for the remainder of the season (after Friday).