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Neil Warnock strikes fear into the heart of every Teessider

Thu Oct 19, 2017 2:03 pm

Boro have won just four games against Warnock in 37 years.


Teeside Gazzete

Thursday 18th October 2017

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=189112 :bluebird:


A good time for Middlesbrough to smash dug-out Nemesis Neil Warnock's historic hoodoo?


Neil Warnock strikes fear into the heart of every Teessider: he is Boro’s dug-out Nemesis.


From defeat to Notts County in the 1991 play-offs to relegation-bound Rotherham putting a torpedo into the title tilt and bringing Aitor Karanka to the brink, his frighteningly functional teams have crushed the life out of games and inflicted bruising defeats on Boro over three dark decades.

Neil Warnock - who arrives at the Riverside with Cardiff on Saturday - casts a dark shadow over the hearts of Boro fans.

To be fair, football’s much travelled arch-pragmatist has that effect on the fans of most clubs.

His direct, physical and highly effective no-frills, low thrills style has stifled, frustrated and infuriated teams at every level of the game for an eternity.

Yet it has also brought a begrudged respect - and occasional pang of envy - because football is a results driven business and the wily old fox knows exactly how to get them.

In fact, at some sorry stage of their own club’s cyclical fortunes, most fans will have considered a Faustian pact to bring him in, ignore their own ethical objections and accept the inevitable rewards of promotion or survival.


And you know if he was in charge of Boro - and he has often said he’d love the chance - you would revel in his zealous quest for victory, his bubbling touchline passions, his willingness to bleed for the club and a highly partisan view of the rules and spirit of the game that more than matches the most one-eyed fan.

For those lofty purists who see the beautiful game as something akin to balletic high art and being about the pursuit of aesthetic perfection, Warnock is pretty much the anti-Christ.

Indeed, when he was at Leeds alongside Ken Bates and El-Hadj Diouf it was suggested in some quarters that football may be the vehicle for a new Dan Brown novel and, with three of the horsemen of the Apocalypse already in place, we were only the signing of Joey Barton away from the End of Days.

An historic hoodoo over Boro

That may be over-egging the pudding but Warnock certainly brings an Old Testament fear to Boro supporters who have endured long points famines and cruel punishments.

Boro have lost to him more than any other manager in the modern era: in 14 games against six different Warnock sides over 27 years they have suffered defeat nine times.

Between Boro’s first win over him and their second was a long barren ice age of 17 years.


Boro had shrugged off the curse with successive 1-0 home wins over Leeds and QPR but then they were well and truly Warnocked at lowly Rotherham, a result that rattled the confidence of Karanka’s side and led to a dressing room bust-up and the chaos of the Lost Weekend at Charlton.

A long and barren history

Boro have won just four games against Warnock in 37 years.

One of those was the very first, John Wark getting his first goal for Boro in a 1-0 win over Notts County that was to give Colin Todd’s side an early edge in a season long battle for a play-off place.

County won the return 3-2 and beat a flat Boro over two legs in the play-offs to win promotion to division one.

Boro’s next win came on New Year’s Day 2007 when Yabuku (2) and Mark Viduka struck in a 3-1 victory over Sheffield United to square it up for the season after a 2-1 away defeat.

Over the next few years Boro then lost 1-0 at Palace, were battered 3-0 home and away to QPR under Gordon Strachan and lost twice to Leeds before Curtis Main nicked the goal in a 1-0 home win to break the hoodoo in February 2013.

Boro beat him again next time out with a 1-0 win over QPR - his second stint there - and it seemed the curse was dead.

Then Aitor’s title chasing side went to relegation-bound Rotherham, where he had arrived to act as a football defibrillator... what could possibly go wrong?





How the games panned out

P14 W4 D1 L9 F11 A20

NOTTS COUNTY

Sept 1990 (h) W 1-0

Jan 1991 (a) L 2-3

May 1991 (h) D 1-1 (play-offs)

May 1991 (a) L 0-1 (play-offs)

SHEFFIELD UNITED

Sept 2006 (a) L 1-2

Jan 2007 (h) W 3-1

CRYSTAL PALACE

Nov 09 (a) L 0-1

QPR

Sept 2010 (a) L 0-3

Feb 2011 (h) L 0-3

LEEDS UNITED

Mar 2012 (h) L 0-2

Dec 2012 (a) L 1-2

Feb 2013 (h) W 1-0

QPR

Nov 2015 (h) W 1-0

ROTHERHAM

Mar 2016 (a) L 0-1

CARDIFF

October 2017 (h) ???






The prospects for Saturday

Warnock’s Cardiff head to Teesside having lost some of their early steam.

Despite still being in second spot they have only won two of their last seven games and last week surprisingly slumped to a 1-0 defeat at lowly Birmingham.

And they have won only one of there last four away games - and that was 2-1 at struggling Sunderland. Before that they lost at 3-0 at Preston and drew 1-1 at Fulham.

So it could be a good time to play them. Although it won’t be easy. We know exactly what to expect.

Warnock sides play to a pattern: concede possession, defend deep and scrap for every loose ball, close down but not press out and look to counter quickly, getting the ball wide and hitting the targetman early or making set-plays count. It is predictable but potentially problematic.

Boro will need to find a way through a well-drilled and highly motivated defence while not getting sucked in and being left vulnerable on the break. The lads at the back will need to be alert to lightening raids and disciplined at dead balls.

Boro will need to start sharply and set the shape and tempo of the game - and get the first goal.

And as with every game against a Warnock side, it won’t be one for the purists.
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Re: Neil Warnock strikes fear into the heart of every Teessi

Thu Oct 19, 2017 2:10 pm

Boro say this is how Neil Warnock plays his sides



Warnock sides play to a pattern: concede possession, defend deep and scrap for every loose ball, close down but not press out and look to counter quickly, getting the ball wide and hitting the targetman early or making set-plays count. It is predictable but potentially problematic.
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Re: Neil Warnock strikes fear into the heart of every Teessi

Thu Oct 19, 2017 2:38 pm

I stopped reading that half-way through. Such drivel.

Low thrills football? Wrong.

Anti-Christ of football? Again wrong.

It’s these sort of clubs who think they play some kind of special game that deserves opponents to stand-off in awe that Warnock finds easiest to beat and I enjoy beating the most too. Before the Wolves and Leeds game everything was said about their style of play and how we’re just going to sit back and bully them... yet I left both games feeling we played much better football, much more purposeful and actually more pleasing on the eye.

If Neil Warnock were called Nils Warnburg everyone would be lauding him as some sort of visionary!

Re: Neil Warnock strikes fear into the heart of every Teessi

Thu Oct 19, 2017 2:41 pm

BrightBlueFuture wrote:I stopped reading that half-way through. Such drivel.

Low thrills football? Wrong.

Anti-Christ of football? Again wrong.

It’s these sort of clubs who think they play some kind of special game that deserves opponents to stand-off in awe that Warnock finds easiest to beat and I enjoy beating the most too. Before the Wolves and Leeds game everything was said about their style of play and how we’re just going to sit back and bully them... yet I left both games feeling we played much better football, much more purposeful and actually more pleasing on the eye.

If Neil Warnock were called Nils Warnburg everyone would be lauding him as some sort of visionary!


Written by the Teesside Gazette

Re: Neil Warnock strikes fear into the heart of every Teessi

Thu Oct 19, 2017 2:54 pm

Forever Blue wrote:
BrightBlueFuture wrote:I stopped reading that half-way through. Such drivel.

Low thrills football? Wrong.

Anti-Christ of football? Again wrong.

It’s these sort of clubs who think they play some kind of special game that deserves opponents to stand-off in awe that Warnock finds easiest to beat and I enjoy beating the most too. Before the Wolves and Leeds game everything was said about their style of play and how we’re just going to sit back and bully them... yet I left both games feeling we played much better football, much more purposeful and actually more pleasing on the eye.

If Neil Warnock were called Nils Warnburg everyone would be lauding him as some sort of visionary!


Written by the Teesside Gazette



Just as bad as The Echo then!!

Re: Neil Warnock strikes fear into the heart of every Teessi

Thu Oct 19, 2017 4:11 pm

All the hype to one side, Boro always turn us over so we are due a win up there. 2-1 City.

Re: Neil Warnock strikes fear into the heart of every Teessi

Thu Oct 19, 2017 5:52 pm

Preston
Ipswich
Norwich
Birmingham
Middlesborough


All places I instantly think we are going to lose, no matter how good we are, and no matter how bad they are. I remember getting a win at Ipswich in the promotion season, but other than that it seems we have gone a long time without a win against the others (I haven't looked it up - Ive no doubt someone will prove me wrong). 2 losses this season already against 2 of those 5. I'd happily take a boring 0-0 on Saturday.

Re: Neil Warnock strikes fear into the heart of every Teessi

Fri Oct 20, 2017 7:17 am

bluebird58 wrote:Preston
Ipswich
Norwich
Birmingham
Middlesborough


All places I instantly think we are going to lose, no matter how good we are, and no matter how bad they are. I remember getting a win at Ipswich in the promotion season, but other than that it seems we have gone a long time without a win against the others (I haven't looked it up - Ive no doubt someone will prove me wrong). 2 losses this season already against 2 of those 5. I'd happily take a boring 0-0 on Saturday.


Same here they seem to be trips we don't like doing and never seem to get a result. Really thought we would do Birmingham last week but alas we got done again. :evil: