Middlesbrough vs Aston Villa: Pre-Match Thread

[Legion]

Saturday 1st December 17:30 KO (A)

[Legion]

3-5 away win.

[PeterWithesShin]

Nailed on to be 0-0 after all this.

[Ads]

Boro don't attack with the same page or movement as Forest. It will be percentage football and crosses in.

I'm hoping we will have more cover in thst midfield.

They may have scored just 22 but they've only conceded 13. I fancy the latter to take a knocking.

I feel if we score first, with the way we attack, dominate possession and break that a goal cushion would properly spanner up Pulis.

Beauty v Beast.

First goal key. But I really fancy us to rattle a few in.

[Matt Collins]

A real clash of styles

I fear that a combination of tiredness after two epic games and our terrible defending of set pieces will be too much to overcome

But then I look at our attacking threat and fancy them to score against anyone in this league. Forest had been watertight and we genuinely could have had 8 goals last night

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

I also think that our strike force and new attacking strategy will shock boro and their attempt to defend will allow us to pin them in. Bolasie is now a major threat and now El Ghazi has been introduced to the DS first team we have options 1-3 ......

[Toronto Villa]

Middlesbrough Elephants 30-43 Aston Villa Roaring Lions

Touchdowns and field goals galore. Boro’s scores all coming from long bombs over the top of our free cornerback Chester; free safety Nyland not providing any real security as a last line of defence.

[Lastfootstamper]

Easy day for our defence, dealing with nothing more technical than lumps straight at them. Our attack, however, will be successfully frustrated for an hour and a quarter.

4-0 us. McGinn (2), Abraham, Bolasie.

[Pete3206]

I fancy us to win 2-1

[walsall villain]

Imagine boro will score from a set piece but we will have too much for them, 1-2

[Axl Rose]

3-2 us.

[garyshawsknee]

They're always happy to concede possession, so with the quality we have now, this should work out in our favour, narrow win for us as we pick off the teams above us.UTV.

[andyh]

Well, we are obviously going to score 6.
Its a question of how many we let them score.

[olaftab]

Against Pulis's hod carriers we will win the match if we score more than one.

[SoccerHQ]

Hopeful for a point but going to be turning off the TV whenever Boro get a corner I think!

They won't stretch us as much as Forest did at least. Also got a few injuries, Downing didn't play their last game and Gestede went off injured against Preston.

This is a game I wish John Terry could come out of retirement and play one final time as it's not like he'd do a huge amount of running, just heading practice.

We didn't actually concede a goal v Boro in any of the four games last season, problem is we simply don't have the grit at the back we did last year.