This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk‘ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Middlesbrough would have wanted a different outcome to the one they got last night against Sheffield United, as Chris Wilder's side fell to a humiliating 4-1 defeat.
Boro have been eager to push into the play-off spots and ensure they're in contention for a promotion come the end of the campaign. With the Blades wanting similar, it was vital for both sides to try and get a positive result from the game on Tuesday.
Chris Wilder would have at least hoped to come away with a draw but his team couldn't even keep the scoreline close, as they shipped four goals and lost their grasp on the game. They were 2-0 down with only 30 minutes gone on the clock to boot.
It was 3-0 before they even got on the scoresheet through Folarin Balogun and after a Morgan Gibbs-White effort ten minutes before the end, it was a night to forget for Boro.
Football League World's Middlesbrough fan pundit Dana Malt thought so too, as she claimed it was one of the worst performances she had seen since Chris Wilder took over. It wasn't then, the kind of return to his former team that the boss would have wanted.
Speaking about it, FLW's Middlesbrough fan pundit Dana said: "I think the easier question would be 'what went right?' because I don't think we had a sustained period in the game where we were putting Sheffield United under any sort of pressure. That was probably the most disappointing thing, we didn't challenge them, this wasn't a football match where there were two competitors it was just one team in Sheffield United that were rolling over us at every opportunity.
"They were better in their press, they were winning every ball, they were picking up every loose ball, they were winning every second ball. It was pretty much a disastrous evening for Boro. I can't really pick out any positives apart from Folarin Balogun getting his first Boro goal.
"But then, in the context it came in, Wes Foderingham slipped, it was a gift and it basically turned out to be a consolation. Will that boost his confidence? Maybe but probably not. You would have to dig pretty deep to find some positives from that football match then.
"It was pretty bad from Boro and probably the worst I've seen us play under Chris Wilder admittedly."
The Verdict
Middlesbrough should have at least managed a point from that game but ended up coming away absolutely humiliated instead.
Boro have been solid since the new manager took over and have surged towards the play-off spots. In such a crucial game, it was vital that to keep their play-off hopes alive, they managed a decent result.
Instead the side crumbled and fell apart. Sheffield United looked the far superior team and ultimately were well deserving of the three points. While the Blades can start to think about a push for the Premier League again, Boro are now left scrambling to regroup.
It cannot happen again between now and the end of the season. This is a part of the season when you cannot drop points in such a manner and if they continue this way, they can wave goodbye to their top six hopes.