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Lambert: Few Will Expect Us to Get Anything at Boro But Anybody's Beatable on the Day
Friday, 28th Dec 2018 12:11

Town boss Paul Lambert knows few people will expect his team to take anything from Saturday's trip to Middlesbrough, but says anybody’s beatable on any given day.

The bottom-of-the-table Blues go into the game seven points behind 21st-placed Rotherham United with a goal difference six worse than the Millers’, while Boro are fifth despite having lost 1-0 to Sheffield Wednesday at the Riverside on Boxing Day and having won only one of their last seven in all competitions.

“Another game where a lot of people won’t expect us to get anything, but we’re playing well, I’ve got no worries on that issue,” Lambert said.

“We’re going there to try and give them a game. They’re probably one of the favourites to go up. Anybody’s beatable on any given day. We’ll have to be stronger in both boxes [than we were at QPR].”

He says the Blues will go into the match looking to play their own game and aiming for all three points.

“Everybody who knows me knows I won’t sit and wait, I’ll go and try and win,” he said. “I’m not going to sit and wait.

“I’m not going to play long ball football and all that sort of thing. We’ll try and play our game that we’re trying to make the identity of the club. It’s a long way before you actually put your blueprint on it but we’re getting there, but we need a little bit of help.”

Lambert confirmed he’ll look to shuffle his pack with the match Town’s third in eight days with the crucial home game against Millwall following on Tuesday.

“We have to, we have to be fair to the other guys as well and give them a run,” he continued.

“And that’s what we’ll try and do, try and be fair and it gets me to see everybody as well. And there are too many games to continue going with the same group.”

Among those who could be handed a start is Teddy Bishop, who was in line for a place in the XI for last week’s home game against Sheffield United until he fell ill.

“He’s just back from a virus, I was actually going to play him on Saturday against Sheffield United but he had a virus and he’s just come back in at the beginning of the week,” Lambert said.


“He should be [good to go on Saturday], he’ll be a good few days through it. Danny Rowe’s had it as well, there have been one or two little bugs there but Bish I think is a lot better.”

Reflecting on a holiday period round-trip of just over 500 miles, Lambert added: “You feel for the supporters, it’s a helluva jaunt up there. Our fans are brilliant, they really are. They came to QPR and got right behind us and even at the end they clapped the lads off.

“We have to give them something as well. They’ve been brilliant since we’ve been here and we need everyone to be together.”

Dean Gerken is again set to be in goal with the back four also likely to be unchanged with Jordan Spence and Jonas Knudsen the full-backs and skipper Luke Chambers and Matthew Pennington the centre-halves.

In midfield, with Cole Skuse sidelined for at least another month, Trevoh Chalobah is likely to stay in the deeper role while Bishop could come into the team for either Flynn Downes or Jon Nolan in one of the two roles ahead of the on-loan Chelsea man.

There will be one enforced change with Grant Ward out for around nine months with the ACL injury he suffered at QPR. Jack Lankester or Gwion Edwards will come into the team on the right of the front three.

Freddie Sears is likely to continue on the left, while Jordan Roberts may come back into the starting line-up for Ellis Harrison, who has started the last two matches having only just returned from injury.

For Middlesbrough, defender Ryan Shotton is a doubt with a knee injury, while striker Rudy Gestede, a Blues target, is not yet back from a hamstring problem.

Town have had the better of Middlesbrough over the years, winning 30 games (28 in the league), drawing 16 (16) and losing 22 (21). The Teessiders have won only one of their last eight league games at the Riverside.

In October at Portman Road, early goals from Mo Besic and Stewart Downing saw Middlesbrough to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Paul Hurst’s Blues.

Besic netted the opener on 12 and Downing added the second four minutes later following an error from Blues skipper Luke Chambers with Town never looking like taking anything from the match.

Last time at the Riverside Stadium, in December 2017, goals either side of the break from Martin Braithwaite and Patrick Bamford saw Middlesbrough to a 2-0 victory.

Braithwaite profited from a series of Town defensive errors to give the Teessiders the lead on 44 with Bamford adding the second with a low shot off the inside of the post six minutes after the restart.

Saturday’s referee is Jeremy Simpson from Lancashire, who has shown 93 yellow cards and four red cards in 23 games so far this season.

Simpson’s last Town game was the 2-1 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday in August in which he controversially red-carded Blues central defender Toto Nsiala and booked Knudsen, Ellis Harrison and two Owls.

Before that he refereed the 3-0 home defeat by Hull City in April in which he booked only Bersant Celina.

Prior to that game he had refereed only two Town matches in which he awarded a total of four penalties.

The 1-0 defeat at Rotherham in April 2017 which he gave a seventh-minute spot-kick when Josh Emmanuel bundled over Jon Taylor. Gerken saved Danny Ward’s kick.

Loanee Toumani Diagouraga was the only Blues player booked in that fixture, along with two Rotherham players.

Prior to that he was the man in the middle for the 2-1 defeat at Reading in September 2016 in which he notoriously awarded three penalties which led to the game’s three goals.

Danny Williams won the match with the third and spot-kick deep in second-half injury time, Knudsen having been adjudged to have hauled down Joey van den Berg at a corner.

In first-half injury time Ward had been harshly penalised for handball for the game’s first penalty and Garath McCleary put the Royals in front.

Brett Pitman fired home Town’s - also contentious - spot-kick five minutes after the break for a foul by Tyler Blackett.

Simpson also booked nine players in that game, five Royals and Knudsen, Chambers, Skuse and Christophe Berra.

Squad from: Gerken, Bialkowski, Spence, Knudsen, Kenlock, Chambers (c), Pennington, Nsiala, Donacien, Chalobah, Downes, Dozzell, Nolan, Bishop, Edwards, Lankester, Rowe, Roberts, Sears, Jackson, Harrison.


Photo: TWTD



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hucks216 added 12:31 - Dec 28
"Anybody's beatable on the day" - sorry, but teams have little to fear when they play us and that old Championship adage just doesn't apply, not this season anyway and not to us. There is a reason that every team sees us as the whipping boys. Two wins all season says it all.
5

Nobbysnuts added 12:40 - Dec 28
More chance of bumping into Elvis down my local I'm afraid.
6

trulyblue added 12:41 - Dec 28
Surely if Harrison is to be rested then Jackson deserves to start ahead of Roberts? With his pace we can give ourselves a bit more of a chance up front by playing balls behind the opposition defence and letting him run onto them.
2

muccletonjoe added 12:45 - Dec 28
7 of the 11 look like playing all 4 games over christmas
2

ArnieM added 12:50 - Dec 28
To be fair Lambert has little option to keep with the vast majority of his current squad. We are so weak, but he has no one else to put in.

Just WHEN are the likes of Huws, and Adeyemi EVER likely to pull a Town shirt on again??
19

Ipswichbusiness added 12:59 - Dec 28
If the back four is unchanged again then obviously he doesn't rate the likes of Donacien, Nsiala and Kenlock, which is quite worrying.
7

bostonusablue added 12:59 - Dec 28
I just don't understand why he doesn't change up the back 4. PL has been like a breath of fresh air through the club, but like the previous incumbents, he won't drop any of them no matter how many goals we concede. All is not lost yet.
2

raycrawfordswig added 13:07 - Dec 28
If we win I will have your babies.
4

hucks216 added 13:09 - Dec 28
ipswichbusiness - Nsiala just can't read and keep up with the pace of the Championship which is why he was always diving in to tackles and giving away freekicks and penalties.
Kenlock - three managers now and none of them saw him as a starter. That tells you something.
3

Erics_size_5s added 13:14 - Dec 28
Trulyblue - my nan deserves to start ahead of Roberts
-1

smithy0981 added 13:17 - Dec 28
We have absolutely no chance of beating boro on Saturday. I am sorry but we are down and there is nothing anybody can do about it. I love lambert and hope he stays when we go down. Does anybody actually thing Evans will finance and good signings in this windo? I don't and this just proves that he does not have any interest in this club. Why did he buy ipswich? When we go down he will loose even more than £6m a year I just don't get it! Evans will not splash the cash on loan fees or wages to for players to try and keep us up. Once we're in league one he will trim the wage Bill Evans more, Chambo, skuse, Knudsen, sears etc they will all be sold.
-2

cat added 13:46 - Dec 28
No one expected us to get anything at Swansea, so based on that we live in hope! Boro weren't nothing special when they came to ours, stupid mistakes cost us that night and there lies our problem.
9

FreddySteady added 13:47 - Dec 28
I always see Middlesbrough as our bogey team. First game I ever saw, 73 or 74, we were near the top and they were heading for relegation so naturally they won 1-0, 82 minute goal if I recall.

And don't mention Bosko Jankovic.

So , no chance I'm afraid.
3

ChrisFelix added 14:18 - Dec 28
Ipawich should register as a charity.
I know he was extremely generous against Bristol but please bring back Bart
& if the keeper parries a shot why doesn't one of our defenders get there first !!!!
2

heathen66 added 14:55 - Dec 28
If we go out and try to win the game then yes...anything can happen, but one up front isolated is not going to win many games at all.
How about playing Chambers Nsiala and Pennington as a back 3.
5 in midfield with the wide players Sears and Edwards as they play there most of the time covering for the FBs
Then we can play with 2 up top and actually have a go...rather than just hope !!!
1

Radlett_blue added 14:57 - Dec 28
Danny Rowe's had a virus - hmm..not sure that's why he hasn't been getting a game.
Gestede perpetually injured - maybe we'd better steer clear, although almost anyone we are going to be able to sign is sure to come with a bit of baggage.
3

Pecker added 15:10 - Dec 28
Anybody can beat anybody in this league. Hope it rings true for us at Boro.
4

blueboy1981 added 15:13 - Dec 28
Paul - you've come in, said and done the right things, encouraged the players, given them all the chance to prove that what they lack in quality, could be made up for in effort and commitment - most of all the opportunity to step up to the mark.

What I saw against QPR was sadly lacking in all, or most, of these essentials - concentration, and being switched on for 90 minutes just wasn't there.
Excuses can never be valid for lack of essentials. Just look at how the first goal was given away, to prove my point.
The second. and third goals were anything but impressive either - typical giveaways to be honest.

Without adequate reinforcements in January (which will be far from easy) we will have no option but to blood the youngsters, rebuild - and give them a deserved chance, which many of our current team have
already been given, and not taken.

Hit the minus button excuse makers - but even you will find it difficult to come up with a more logical process going forward.
What we currently have - is not up to the task.
11

blueboy1981 added 15:16 - Dec 28
We need MEN at Boro' to have any chance - How many are going to turn up, or indeed do we have ?
5

blueboy1981 added 15:18 - Dec 28
........ at times like this, shrinking violets are two a penny. Make no mistake about that.
2

Bluearmy_81 added 15:22 - Dec 28
More chance of tight arse Evans handing him 10m in January
2

blueboy1981 added 15:23 - Dec 28
....... anyone who knows the game - will know, and appreciate the mammoth task that PL has taken on.

Not for the faint hearted.
11

Carberry added 15:37 - Dec 28
Either PL is deluded or taking the mickey. How many times has he said we just need a little bit of help in January and how many times has he said he has no worries because we are playing well?
1

SuttonColdfieldBlue added 15:59 - Dec 28
Got my ticket and will be making the long journey North. Hoping to see 3 points and put an end to a disappointing 2018, but got a feeling the football may get in the way off a good drinking day.
4

dirtydingusmagee added 15:59 - Dec 28
Carberry, with sod all at his disposal [thanks to Hurst & Evans, all he can do is TRY to keep spirits up in squad and the fans,NOBODY is really confident we will escape the drop,but we cant just give up until its absolutely impossible. Give Paul Lambert credit, he is doing what he can, Evans needs to shape up and back him .
20


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