Boro will park the buss. We need to score here. Might as well go out all attacking I would go with a back 3 

petrovic

disasi silva colwill 

madueke Enzo caicedo chilly

palmer broja sterling 

Pochettino will absolutely balance. I know it would be nice to see us go full on but we have never seen him do that. 

The risk is because it is Middlesbrough. If it was Liverpool and we'd be 2-0 down I could see him go gung-ho. Lose to a couple of counter attacking goals to a championship side doesn't really look good.

Is there a betting market on Chilwell starting because no one else is fit and then getting injured again in the first half?

Feel like that script writes itself...

It can't be as boring a game as the first leg. It just can't.

No excuses - not even injuries. This is a bang average Championship side. I know they will put loads of men behind the ball and defend for their lives and try and catch us on the break and from set pieces but surely we have trained for that and will come up with the answers.

We should batter them. 4-0. Let's go to Wembley.............................

 

What i's like to see:

Petrovic

Gilchrist  Disasi  Colwill  Chilwell

Caicedo  Enzo

Madueke  Palmer  Sterling

Broja

Chilwell can come off after 60 mins for Dylan Williams.

 

Having said that i imagine Poch will do something weird:

Petrovic

Disasi  Silva  Badi  Colwill

Caicedo  Enzo

Palmer  Gallagher  Chilwell

Sterling

Edited January 23, 20242 yr by RIP Mourinho

11 hours ago, axman2526 said:

I will correct myself here as I have remembered Poch loves him for Chilwell on left wing.

 

New predicted Poch side:

 

Petrovic

 

Disasi

Silva

Badiashile 

Colwill

 

Caicedo

Enzo

 

Sterling

Gallagher

Chilwell

 

Palmer

If that happens then I think we will really struggle. Levi isn't an attacking full back and with Disasi on the right we will have to put almost everything through the middle and we don't have the movement in the side to break down 11 men behind the ball.

Totally realise this isn't the 11 that you want, but what you predict Poch might do, just hope it's not true.

1 hour ago, Nibs said:

It can't be as boring a game as the first leg. It just can't.

No excuses - not even injuries. This is a bang average Championship side. I know they will put loads of men behind the ball and defend for their lives and try and catch us on the break and from set pieces but surely we have trained for that and will come up with the answers.

We should batter them. 4-0. Let's go to Wembley.............................

 

If Palmer buried 2 of his chances like he would have in another day we'd be in a different situation. Chances will come today. 

Initially Boro will try to get a quick goal....then have 11 defending their goal...we will win 3 1....tommy.tommy Baldwin ooo ooo...R.I.P ....yes pat Nevin...worst home fans in England imo....maybe a bit of oomph tonite when we get our third

On a slightly related note why are we the Friday night FA Cup game having played this match?

Gotta pick up that TV money I guess right?

Boro without 11 players and Isaiah Jones is a doubt. 

Can't believe I had to type this out posing as something positive. 

43 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

On a slightly related note why are we the Friday night FA Cup game having played this match?

Gotta pick up that TV money I guess right?

Does seem an odd choice, although I wont complain as we then play liverpool on Wednesday next week and they've been given the Sunday afternoon slot.

2 minutes ago, Niall1905 said:

Does seem an odd choice, although I wont complain as we then play liverpool on Wednesday next week and they've been given the Sunday afternoon slot.

No Salah or TAA too. 

Dont think Broja starts, given all the noise around him leaving. Think it will be the below. 

 

Petro

Disasi- Badi - Silva - Chilwell

Ezno - Caicedo

Madueke - Gallagher - Sterling

Palmer

 

Colwill for Chilwell depending on fitness

12 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

No Salah or TAA too. 

They won't need them, they either play well or have the luck of the Irish to see them through.

5 hours ago, Nibs said:

It can't be as boring a game as the first leg. It just can't.

 

Well if Poch has seen this he may go challange accepted and park the bus.

2 sides kicking the ball at each other, each staying in their own halves.

If it happens, thank Nibs! ;)

Come on Chels

Is this Sky?

God help us all if its Colwill LB and Chilwell LW. 

6 hours ago, Nibs said:

It can't be as boring a game as the first leg. It just can't.

No excuses - not even injuries. This is a bang average Championship side. I know they will put loads of men behind the ball and defend for their lives and try and catch us on the break and from set pieces but surely we have trained for that and will come up with the answers.

We should batter them. 4-0. Let's go to Wembley.............................

 

Agree it can’t be as boring. Tonight we must go for the throat from the start and get early crosses and shots in. Put enough pressure on and something will crack. 
I can see us f**king about sideways and back.

If half time stats say 78% possession, 6 shots, 2 on tgt  0 goals, my boot goes through the LG and I’ll personally track Poch down.

Disappointed Nkunku won't be fit,  going into a semi final without a fit striking option at the club is crazy even for us.

Think Poch has to trust Sterling or Palmer to lead the line,  I'm confident but if we don't score early I feel nerves may set in that tends to be the case with us.

win this match by more than 2 goals and we are all happy campers with a jolly at Wembley to look forward to next month, players and manager will be lauded....

not get the result that nails on the Final then equally the players will get it in the neck at FT and surely the manager's position will become untenable?

agree with manager its the biggest match of the season today

 

 

Edited January 23, 20242 yr by General

If it wasn't for the first leg I think the mood around the club would be quite a bit more positive at the moment.

We're unbeaten at home since the end of October, won 4 of our last 5 in all comps, and are just a couple good results away from being jostling amongst the European places. We've also had about 10 days to prepare for this game, so the players should be well drilled and in high spirits all things considered!

Cup ties are odd beasts though, I remember Swansea beating us over two legs in 2013, they finished that season 16th in the championship!

 

47 minutes ago, Whats_The_Mata? said:

Disappointed Nkunku won't be fit,  going into a semi final without a fit striking option at the club is crazy even for us.

Think Poch has to trust Sterling or Palmer to lead the line,  I'm confident but if we don't score early I feel nerves may set in that tends to be the case with us.

If we don't score early it will be an horrendous watch - 11 Boro journeymen behind the ball as we pass it to Disasi on the right wing and he passes it back to the centre back - repeat for the remainder of the match.

12 minutes ago, cfr95 said:

If it wasn't for the first leg I think the mood around the club would be quite a bit more positive at the moment.

We're unbeaten at home since the end of October, won 4 of our last 5 in all comps, and are just a couple good results away from being jostling amongst the European places. We've also had about 10 days to prepare for this game, so the players should be well drilled and in high spirits all things considered!

Cup ties are odd beasts though, I remember Swansea beating us over two legs in 2013, they finished that season 16th in the championship!

 

Really does show how unstable the situation is at the club currently. If City/Arsenal/Liverpool etc were 1-0 down heading into a second leg at home against a championship side, there's no way fans seriously contemplate that it will continue to go wrong. 

Yet as many have mentioned, if we don't get an early goal its going to get really tense really quickly.

2 minutes ago, Niall1905 said:

Really does show how unstable the situation is at the club currently. If City/Arsenal/Liverpool etc were 1-0 down heading into a second leg at home against a championship side, there's no way fans seriously contemplate that it will continue to go wrong. 

Yet as many have mentioned, if we don't get an early goal its going to get really tense really quickly.

Problem with ourselves is that we don’t really know where the goals are going to come from. Palmer is are main threat and if he has another off day like 1st round, who knows.