| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread 18:44 - Feb 8 with 36873 views | EmpireStateRanger |
Sticking my neck out here to start the game thread. If this all goes terrible wrong I'll retreat back into my shell.
This one is getting extra hype, and rightfully so. Should be a good litmus test.
1-0 Rangers. Field 71'. |  | | |  |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:34 - Feb 9 with 2302 views | Antti_Heinola |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 21:45 - Feb 9 by queensparker |
F-k me that was tense.
Said I’d take a draw and still happy with that. Fair result. Boro look decent.
Why did he take Johansen off? We lose any semblance of midfield control without him. |
Jojo was injured, signalled to the bench just before. Love Warbs, but he just took off Chair for Hendrick to get more bodies in midfield (right call) but when Stef went off, Amos should’ve been on. He reversed the decision he’d just made. I suspect it was because he thought he’d have to take off Wallace later, but wanted Gray on late on to run behind tired legs so he moved that sub up, that’s the only explanation i can think of, because they were driving at us freely through the centre, despite the superb efforts of Field who had a right old battle with Crooks.
Overall, fortunate point, but some really strong, brave defending in there. |  |
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| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:34 - Feb 9 with 2290 views | distortR |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:26 - Feb 9 by Sharpy36 |
Nick London beat me to the punch regarding Field and the state of his kit, it was covered in crap and showed his commitment to the cause. He worked his socks off tonight a received my MOTM. Would of been willock but he faded very soon after his goal(basically the second half).
As for Marshall i would like to see the stats on how many times he found Lyndons head, i would guess it`s up there with any keeper this season in the championship. |
Fair point about Marshall, I thought he seemed to lose a bit of confidence in his kicking after the incident which led to them hitting the crossbar. Could just be me though, I was watching from behind my hands!
Dykes ran the line really well today. | | | |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:42 - Feb 9 with 2195 views | ManinBlack |
The way Boro came at us in the second half was similar to what Coventry did to us with constant attacking. Looks like their managers have seen the best way to play us. A few other clubs may follow suit like Blackburn, Forest, Sheffield Utd, Luton, Blackpool who generally like to attack. |  | | |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:48 - Feb 9 with 2132 views | distortR |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:42 - Feb 9 by ManinBlack |
The way Boro came at us in the second half was similar to what Coventry did to us with constant attacking. Looks like their managers have seen the best way to play us. A few other clubs may follow suit like Blackburn, Forest, Sheffield Utd, Luton, Blackpool who generally like to attack. |
Yeah, so I reckon that was the thinking with the Gray sub - give them something to think about with the quick break, although it didn't work out today. To be fair to Gray, he covered well for Albert.
I thought the Moses sub worked for us, matched Jones's pace, which had the beating of Wallace - not an awful lot he could do about that. And again, gave them something to think about when we broke - he certainly gets fouled a lot. | | | |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:49 - Feb 9 with 2122 views | StreathamRanger |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:34 - Feb 9 by distortR |
Fair point about Marshall, I thought he seemed to lose a bit of confidence in his kicking after the incident which led to them hitting the crossbar. Could just be me though, I was watching from behind my hands!
Dykes ran the line really well today. |
Marshall to Dykes was like a laser every single time. Incredible. Must be some kind of Scottish telepathy. | | | |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:52 - Feb 9 with 2080 views | superhoopdownunder |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:21 - Feb 9 by Greenbay |
FT REPORT
QPR 2 MIDDLESBROUGH 2
That was a point gained against arguably the best team we’ve faced at home.
Let’s be honest — without Joe Lumley’s howler we would have lost IMO.
I’m thankful for that point.
I hate to say this but for the first 10 minutes and for most of the second half we were outclassed.
We had hardly any possession after HT as Middlesbrough were relentless — attack after attack. Wave after wave of red shirts making our defence work overtime.
Middlesbrough were patient too and it eventually paid dividends.
As a big consolation Chair and Willock, combining once again, are a joy to watch before our on-loan Hendrick replaced our Moroccan international just after the hour.
Marshall was outstanding in goal. His first half reflex saves and a tip-over the bar were outstanding.
Seny will have difficulty in dislodging him in the next few weeks.
As for Chair — having missed a clear chance - shooting wide from the edge of the box — he then delivered — just before the half hour - a curling shot from again 15 yards out to give Rangers the lead. Inevitably the assist was from Willock.
Fry levelled just before the break when Dunne was unable to clear.
Then the howler — a gift from likeable Joe. And that’s why we sold him!
Within 20 seconds of the restart after HT — and with Chair and Willock closing him down — Lumley tried to pass out — lost control - and Willock calmly slotted home.
But from then on it was all Middlesbrough.
No surprise then when another patient build up with Jones the creator — our Uncle Albert put through his own net on the hour.
2-2 and surely we would all have settled for a draw then.
Their head coach Chris Wilder has done wonders with his team.
If they don’t get promoted — hopefully not at our expense — most of us will be surprised.
Somehow we resisted their attacks for the rest of the match.
That one point we gleaned could be absolutely priceless.
Middlesbrough are a class act. They just need a good goalkeeper.
From our point of view - an automatic promotion spot still remains possible.
Then if not — a top six finish is highly likely.
We have come a long way in just 13 months after the possibility of contemplating relegation at the start of last year.
We are still in a wonderful position?
So we have completed the first of 6 Championship matches in 18 days.
A small tick has been accomplished against a big challenger for one of those golden top six spots. We’ve kept 7th placed Middlesbrough to still 6 points behind us instead of just three if we had lost.
Five more Championship matches to play in the next 15 days.
Sat Feb 12 A. Barnsley
Tue Feb 15 A. Millwall
Sat Feb 19 H. Hull
Wed Feb 23 H. Blackpool
Sat Feb 26 A. Blackburn
Twelve point in total including this Middlesbrough match from the six Championship games this month would be a good return.
And it’s still possible. One point already clinched - we can win the two home matches against Hull and Blackpool, win at Barnsley on Saturday and draw at both Millwall and Blackburn.
To keep an unbeaten Championship record in February having not lost last month, would be unbelievable.
The facts are:-
Last 7 Championship matches — Won 5 Drawn 2.
Last 14 Championship matches — Won 9, Drawn 3, Lost 2.
We remain fourth — 3 points behind second placed winning Bournemouth and now just one behind losing Blackburn but with 2 games in hand.
12 weeks of the season left - 17 matches to play.
All of us R’s are ready for a dazzling finish to the season.
Let’s not be too despondent after this draw. Middlesbrough were excellent.
There won’t be many teams better than them for our remaining matches. |
Thanks for this.
17 games to go
7 at home
10 away
All games are tough (apart from our recent game against Reading at home)
Some of the hardest ones left include
Blackburn away on 26 February
Notts Forest away on 17 March
Fulham home on 3 April
Sheffield United away on 6 April
Huddesfield away on 16 April
Stoke away on 24 April
Sheffield United home on 1 May
It's not an easy run home
U R's [Post edited 9 Feb 2022 22:52]
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| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:53 - Feb 9 with 2070 views | Antti_Heinola |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:27 - Feb 9 by Stanisgod |
Obviously lost his 2 watches as he only played the original 4 minutes, didnt bother with the extra 4 for their injury. Weird. |
Nope. Game stopped on 90, he then played 4 mins after it re-started - was timing it! | |
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| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:59 - Feb 9 with 2012 views | Boston |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:53 - Feb 9 by Antti_Heinola |
Nope. Game stopped on 90, he then played 4 mins after it re-started - was timing it! |
...and you would be correct, sir. | |
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| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:59 - Feb 9 with 2014 views | ed_83 |
Just back from the KPFS, and my main conclusion at FT was: what a great, tense, entertaining game. Except for boro’s injury time shithousing, this was two very decent teams playing attractive, skilful, attacking football, well worth the price of admission.
Positives: Chair looked sharp after Afcon, Marshall was immense and will offer Seny some serious competition, Dickie looked like his old self again and Field was very good. We held firm despite getting hammered in the second half, and earned a point against an extremely well-drilled side with some excellent players - thought Crooks was the best player on the pitch, and obviously Boro are forking out 40k a week just to loan Balogun, which I bet is more than we’re paying Dykes, Austin and Gray put together. But for an unlucky goal right before half time we’d have taken all three points.
Negatives - But for a howler by Lumley, we’d have lost. For all our incisive play in the first half we barely mustered a serious shot on target apart from Chair’s goal. We gave Boro acres of space in midfield and so much time on the ball - as well as Field played (and Hendricks when he came on) there was something off with our positioning, which let Boro control the game even before Stef came off. Gray didn’t really change the game when he came on, and while I enjoyed Warburton’s attacking intent it felt like Amos would have been the better choice. The first goal was a tad unlucky with the ball pinging around, but the second was sloppy: we kept standing off Boro, kept being second to every ball, and we paid for it. If we’re going to cement our place in the playoffs, or think about winning them, we need to find a way to get our midfield working even when Johansen isn’t firing on all cylinders.
Some other thoughts: dunno how visible this was on the stream but conditions were treacherous, a constant thin mist of drizzle, and the pitch looked extremely slippery by the end - feel like that should be taken into account when judging some of Marshall’s dodgy kicking in the second half (even if he also picked out Dykes really well).
Thought the ref got the only big call right (definitely not a penalty) and let the game flow in a good unfussy manner, but I feel like some of the challenges on Dykes and Willock in particular merited a firmer response, along with the time wasting at the end. It also felt like Boro got the rub of the green an awful lot with the marginal decisions (were a couple of occasions when we got blown up for challenges Boro got away with) but maybe that’s just me being one-sided.
Respect to Boro for bringing 2,000 fans the length of the country on a wet Wednesday night, great atmosphere in R block. [Post edited 9 Feb 2022 23:05]
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| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 23:00 - Feb 9 with 2009 views | Antti_Heinola |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:42 - Feb 9 by ManinBlack |
The way Boro came at us in the second half was similar to what Coventry did to us with constant attacking. Looks like their managers have seen the best way to play us. A few other clubs may follow suit like Blackburn, Forest, Sheffield Utd, Luton, Blackpool who generally like to attack. |
True, but we are pretty decent on the break. Won't be too disappointed if teams come to LR to attack. Reading tried that too, of course. | |
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| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 23:04 - Feb 9 with 1990 views | Stanisgod |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:53 - Feb 9 by Antti_Heinola |
Nope. Game stopped on 90, he then played 4 mins after it re-started - was timing it! |
So no time for their injury then 🤔 |  |
| It's being so happy that keeps me going. |
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| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 23:08 - Feb 9 with 1962 views | distortR |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 23:04 - Feb 9 by Stanisgod |
So no time for their injury then 🤔 |
game stopped on 90 for their injury, that was dealt with, and then he allowed the 4 mins. | | | |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 23:12 - Feb 9 with 1938 views | Antti_Heinola |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 23:04 - Feb 9 by Stanisgod |
So no time for their injury then 🤔 |
The game stopped at 90 mins for the injury and simultaneously the 4 mins went up. The clock effectively stopped at that point. Then he played the 4 mins injury time. What time are you talking about? If someone gets injured with 10 secs left of injury time, but the player takes 10 mins to get treatment, you don't play 10 more mins of football once he's ok do you? Same principle here, because treatment didn't start until the 90th min! | |
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| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 23:35 - Feb 9 with 1841 views | WatfordR |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 23:12 - Feb 9 by Antti_Heinola |
The game stopped at 90 mins for the injury and simultaneously the 4 mins went up. The clock effectively stopped at that point. Then he played the 4 mins injury time. What time are you talking about? If someone gets injured with 10 secs left of injury time, but the player takes 10 mins to get treatment, you don't play 10 more mins of football once he's ok do you? Same principle here, because treatment didn't start until the 90th min! |
One thing that is really beginning to irritate me is the amount of time that is lost at goal kicks. Typically, when in timewasting mode, the GK will place the ball, have a look to and chat with the two CBs either side of him in the box, look to pass to one, then the other, then conclude that neither option looks good, then wave the two CBs out of the box, then wait for them to trot forward, then retreat five or six yards to prepare to leather the ball, then try to pick out which side of the pitch to kick to, then get round to kicking the ball. Quite often a minute or more lost.
Similar nonsense with the ball in hand..... 
Clearly, it all works much more effectively when Joe Lumley picks out Chris Willock from two yards away, but the rest of the time, it's a p1sstake which either the refs or the rulebook need to get a hold of. |  | | |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 23:47 - Feb 9 with 1795 views | strikerace |
We have such quality in the attack that even when we are being dominated in possession we are dangerous. | | | |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 02:09 - Feb 10 with 1605 views | CLAREMAN1995 |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 23:35 - Feb 9 by WatfordR |
One thing that is really beginning to irritate me is the amount of time that is lost at goal kicks. Typically, when in timewasting mode, the GK will place the ball, have a look to and chat with the two CBs either side of him in the box, look to pass to one, then the other, then conclude that neither option looks good, then wave the two CBs out of the box, then wait for them to trot forward, then retreat five or six yards to prepare to leather the ball, then try to pick out which side of the pitch to kick to, then get round to kicking the ball. Quite often a minute or more lost.
Similar nonsense with the ball in hand.....
Clearly, it all works much more effectively when Joe Lumley picks out Chris Willock from two yards away, but the rest of the time, it's a p1sstake which either the refs or the rulebook need to get a hold of. |
Great post and I have a follow up question for any fan please .
Boro got a throw in late deep in their half and one of their players McNair I think took forever getting ready then threw it along the line perfectly out of play .His reward for dic*ing around was another throw which he milked before heaving it upfield.
How did he get a do over to waste more time if he threw it out deliberately |  | | |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 06:59 - Feb 10 with 1460 views | davman |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 22:59 - Feb 9 by ed_83 |
Just back from the KPFS, and my main conclusion at FT was: what a great, tense, entertaining game. Except for boro’s injury time shithousing, this was two very decent teams playing attractive, skilful, attacking football, well worth the price of admission.
Positives: Chair looked sharp after Afcon, Marshall was immense and will offer Seny some serious competition, Dickie looked like his old self again and Field was very good. We held firm despite getting hammered in the second half, and earned a point against an extremely well-drilled side with some excellent players - thought Crooks was the best player on the pitch, and obviously Boro are forking out 40k a week just to loan Balogun, which I bet is more than we’re paying Dykes, Austin and Gray put together. But for an unlucky goal right before half time we’d have taken all three points.
Negatives - But for a howler by Lumley, we’d have lost. For all our incisive play in the first half we barely mustered a serious shot on target apart from Chair’s goal. We gave Boro acres of space in midfield and so much time on the ball - as well as Field played (and Hendricks when he came on) there was something off with our positioning, which let Boro control the game even before Stef came off. Gray didn’t really change the game when he came on, and while I enjoyed Warburton’s attacking intent it felt like Amos would have been the better choice. The first goal was a tad unlucky with the ball pinging around, but the second was sloppy: we kept standing off Boro, kept being second to every ball, and we paid for it. If we’re going to cement our place in the playoffs, or think about winning them, we need to find a way to get our midfield working even when Johansen isn’t firing on all cylinders.
Some other thoughts: dunno how visible this was on the stream but conditions were treacherous, a constant thin mist of drizzle, and the pitch looked extremely slippery by the end - feel like that should be taken into account when judging some of Marshall’s dodgy kicking in the second half (even if he also picked out Dykes really well).
Thought the ref got the only big call right (definitely not a penalty) and let the game flow in a good unfussy manner, but I feel like some of the challenges on Dykes and Willock in particular merited a firmer response, along with the time wasting at the end. It also felt like Boro got the rub of the green an awful lot with the marginal decisions (were a couple of occasions when we got blown up for challenges Boro got away with) but maybe that’s just me being one-sided.
Respect to Boro for bringing 2,000 fans the length of the country on a wet Wednesday night, great atmosphere in R block. [Post edited 9 Feb 2022 23:05]
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Agree with most of this, the exception being Dickie - I thought he was very timid with the ball and defaulted to a sideways ball to Dunne for most of the game and was not as willing as he was early season to break the lines by running forward.
Would like to see Sanderson in his place at the moment.
They shut us down really, really effectively. The passes to Midfield and to our wing backs were blocked off for most of the game and they combined that with a high press. This meant that we went long and although Dykes worked hard and got a few flick ons, neither he nor Gray have a back to goal game and so we never kept the ball.
They, like Forest are a reason we need to grab 2nd; I would not fancy us over two legs against either of them... |  |
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| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 07:15 - Feb 10 with 1421 views | traininvain |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 06:59 - Feb 10 by davman |
Agree with most of this, the exception being Dickie - I thought he was very timid with the ball and defaulted to a sideways ball to Dunne for most of the game and was not as willing as he was early season to break the lines by running forward.
Would like to see Sanderson in his place at the moment.
They shut us down really, really effectively. The passes to Midfield and to our wing backs were blocked off for most of the game and they combined that with a high press. This meant that we went long and although Dykes worked hard and got a few flick ons, neither he nor Gray have a back to goal game and so we never kept the ball.
They, like Forest are a reason we need to grab 2nd; I would not fancy us over two legs against either of them... |
That’s assuming Middlesbrough or Forest will maintain their current form all season. They’ll have a wobble at some point I’m sure. Let’s hope it’s mid to late May! |  | | |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 08:21 - Feb 10 with 1298 views | cpgerber |
How did Hendrick do last night?
Is he a straight replacement for SJ or Field?
(Sorry, don't see the team play much, pretty much rely on this forum for info on player form!) |  | | |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 08:28 - Feb 10 with 1283 views | Metallica_Hoop |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 08:21 - Feb 10 by cpgerber |
How did Hendrick do last night?
Is he a straight replacement for SJ or Field?
(Sorry, don't see the team play much, pretty much rely on this forum for info on player form!) |
He looked quite useful to me. Came on in an intense game and did well.
Northern Echo thinks our ground is called "Prince Kiyan Foundation Stadium"
I read that and the original 'Coming to America' popped in my head. |  |
| Beer and Beef has made us what we are - The Prince Regent |
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| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 08:38 - Feb 10 with 1252 views | MrSheen |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 08:21 - Feb 10 by cpgerber |
How did Hendrick do last night?
Is he a straight replacement for SJ or Field?
(Sorry, don't see the team play much, pretty much rely on this forum for info on player form!) |
Good, very encouraging. He seemed tuned into the pattern of our play immediately. Though he was in a potentially vulnerable position receiving the ball deep against a high, fast press, he wasn't intimidated into always playing it safe by going back all the time, and I can't remember him putting us into trouble by giving it away. One lovely disguised forward ball into the D very nearly put someone through on goal. More in the SJ role as link man than Field as destroyer. |  | | |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 09:11 - Feb 10 with 1203 views | EastR |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 08:38 - Feb 10 by MrSheen |
Good, very encouraging. He seemed tuned into the pattern of our play immediately. Though he was in a potentially vulnerable position receiving the ball deep against a high, fast press, he wasn't intimidated into always playing it safe by going back all the time, and I can't remember him putting us into trouble by giving it away. One lovely disguised forward ball into the D very nearly put someone through on goal. More in the SJ role as link man than Field as destroyer. |
Agreed, he does look like a straight swap for Johansen. The ball through to Adomah was inches away from getting him in, a quality pass. Him alongside Field gives us some real physicality in CM - with everyone fit there's some decisions to be made be interesting to see how that unfolds | |
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| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 09:51 - Feb 10 with 1117 views | joe90 |
Agree with most of what has been said.
On reflection, last night was another game where a descent striker would have made all the difference. Austin and Gray are our our 'Achilles' heel'.
I get we've played two home games and scored 6 , this isn't a moan, just an observation. |  | | |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 10:07 - Feb 10 with 1584 views | QPRSteve |
According to WLS, Johansen had a stomach bug, so that explains the slightly below par performance. | | | |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 10:54 - Feb 10 with 1523 views | ed_83 |
| Must Win Match of the Season Part 29 - Boro Game Thread on 06:59 - Feb 10 by davman |
Agree with most of this, the exception being Dickie - I thought he was very timid with the ball and defaulted to a sideways ball to Dunne for most of the game and was not as willing as he was early season to break the lines by running forward.
Would like to see Sanderson in his place at the moment.
They shut us down really, really effectively. The passes to Midfield and to our wing backs were blocked off for most of the game and they combined that with a high press. This meant that we went long and although Dykes worked hard and got a few flick ons, neither he nor Gray have a back to goal game and so we never kept the ball.
They, like Forest are a reason we need to grab 2nd; I would not fancy us over two legs against either of them... |
I thought Dickie was very solid defensively (noticed that Boro’s 2nd goal and most of their most promising attacks came down their right wing / our left) and I thought he made a decent number of those surging forward runs. He ended up passing sideways only because Boro shut down his forward passing options so well, rather than because he wasn’t looking for them. Suspect Sanderson will come in at some point regardless of form given the number of fixtures coming up.
Agree about facing Boro or Forest over two legs on current form, but who knows where we’ll all be by May? Think we showed that we’ve got enough to pose teams problems even when we’re below our best. | | | |
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