Tigers take advantage as Boro fail to perform
‘NO EXCUSES’ SAYS DISAPPOINTED WILDER
FRUSTRATED Chris Wilder delivered a scathing verdict after Middlesbrough’s home defeat to Hull City, describing it as one of the poorest home performances of the season.
The loss was a huge blow to Boro’s play-off hopes as they dropped to eighth in the league table.
Keane Lewis-potter’s whipped ball from wide left deceived goalkeeper Joe Lumley and ended in the back of the net to be the difference between the two sides as Boro dominated possession but struggled to do anything with it.
After creating so many chances during another 1-0 home loss on Wednesday against Fulham, they struggled to penetrate the Hull backline yesterday.
And Wilder was scathing in his verdict after the game, saying if he were rating players it would be fours and fives out of ten all round.
The former Sheffield United manager said: “I’m really disappointed. That’s what happens if you are not at it. The standards weren’t very good.
“I thought we were OK in the first 20 minutes but after that, it deteriorated into a really poor performance individually.
“Players gave the ball away cheaply, no flow to our game, individual errors. You could see that result coming. They grow into the game. You’re not playing in the way that you should play with the players that we have got.
“No excuses regarding Wednesday night, that is just how the Championship is. Individual performances deteriorate and that results in a performance deteriorating, which it did.
“From a pretty simplistic point of view, if our performance levels are fours, fives, sixes, I think Dijksteel is the only one who comes out with a little bit of credit as a five or six when everyone else is four or five when we need them at eight or nine to get results. If you have those marks, and I think they’re fair marks from my point of view, that ain’t going to be enough to win any game of football in the Championship.
“There was good flow to it, there was good rhythm. We wanted a big start and we sort of got it in a few ways but not at the final bit. It deteriorated from then and the second half was the same. We tried to do things tactically to help the players. I saw the result coming.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Hull City, I thought they were difficult to break down. They came with a game plan and sat with everyone in and anyone has a right to do.” The one saving grace from the day is that only Nottingham Forest and Millwall won around them as Bournemouth, Sheffield United, Blackburn, QPR and West Brom dropped points too.
Huddersfield and Luton meet each other tomorrow evening.
But for Wilder that’s a missed opportunity as Boro have dropped what should have been at least two points in the last two home games.
Having protected goalkeeper Joe Lumley for much of the season, he was particularly critical of the manner in which his side conceded.
“When you play like that, the result that’s happened can quite easily happen,” he continued. “So performance levels just weren’t good enough all over the pitch.
“It can happen, you can have days where everyone is off and when that is the case you need your goalkeeper to make that save.
“If he does, you might get a lastminute winner or you at least take something from the game.
“It’s a disappointing goal, the goalkeeper needs to do better. I’ve protected him for quite a while now, Joe (Lumley). There is no real hiding place there, it is another poor goal. We talked about him [Lewis-potter] coming on his right foot. It’s possibly a little bit different with Tav playing out there because he maybe doesn’t have the defensive qualities but we had to change things around. We’re at home and we want to go for the win.
“First half, he was part of that performance that was good in the first 20-25 minutes. He’s played there before but as soon as he’s come in on his right foot, we all know what is going to happen. It’s not going into the top corner, it’s found its way into the bottom corner.
“From my point of view, when you have two contrasting performances like you have on Wednesday night against Fulham. Then against Hull, loads of respect. Their recent away performances have been good so it wasn’t going to be walkover.
“The competitive nature of the Championship is that if you know you’re off it, you can get hurt. They are not seeing the season out. Their reaction at the end is a natural reaction. It’s not a reaction of a team that is seeing the season out.
“From both games, we should get two points. A point on Wednesday and a point today. If you play well, you get a result and if you don’t play well then the sign of a good team is you get something from the game.
“You walk away from today and not dress the performance up, I’d say it was one of the poorest performances of the season at home.
“But what you do is you keep the scoreboard ticking over and you add one to make 63 on Wednesday night and then one today that makes 64.”
Performance levels just weren’t good enough all over the pitch
Chris Wilder