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Boro v Stoke City 3-0 (Hall, McNair, Mendez-Laing)


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Date: 13th March 2021

Venue: The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough.

Kick Off: 1500hrs

Live Streams: Through MFC or other dubious feeds.

 

Introduction

The Boro welcome the staff and players of Stoke City FC to The Riverside with both teams probably still eyeing the play off positions so this is sure to be an enthralling and entertaining game for any neutral who can be bothered to watch.........................or will it?

With Boro occupying 9th spot with 50 points and Stoke occupying 10th spot with 48 points and both 7 and 8 points currently behind Barnsley who are in 6th spot in the league this game certainly guarentees Stoke being in 9th spot if they win and Boro guarenteeing that they too will remain in 9th spot should they win or draw against the red and white stripes of our visitors (presumebly they will play in their away kit so as not to clash with our boys in red).

Boro and staff and all supporters still at odds for the way we lost our last game against dare I say it Swansea City whilst Stoke and their supporters will be enthralled at beating Wycombe Wanderers last time out.

What we should expect goodness only knows because the two current home form and away form indicates that we have only picked up 1 more point than Stoke over the last 6 games.

Boro........DLWLLL

Stoke.......LLLDDD

We know that our home form is nothing short of woeful and most certainly has cost us the real chance of being in the mix up and with all still to play for, but Stoke are not very good on the road so something could give though a draw will not be a surprise.

Both clubs are very evenly matched both Boro and Stoke have scored 41 goals but against we pip them by one goal less than they have conceeded.

 

What will the gaffer do?

Will the boss finally decide to use as many attacking players as he has available to him to try and ensure that our home form improves for the remainder of the season and that we could end up being the best of the rest outside top 6?

Will he give Stoke City too much respect and grittingly hold out for a performance that negates Stokes current away form?

Questions for the forum

How much are you looking forward to this game?

Will we have as many talking points as the last game?

Do you think we will have as many posts as last game (currently 840 and a season high)

Is top 6 too late?

Can we be the best of the rest?

What do we have to do to improve home form (apart from the obvious)

Your prefered starting 11

 

A view from Downsouth

On the surface and grand scheme of things this could be considered as one of those "blah" games with nothing too much riding on it and that for all intent and purposes the season is over for both.

However I do not see it that way because I do want to see us finally getting our act together, especially at home, we have the players and there have been glimpses of what could and should be expected from the Boro.

And until it is mathematically over we get as many points as possible for the remaining games because there will be slip ups for those teams above us.

Anyway hopefully I will get to do the Preston game following a superb home performance from Boro this Saturday.

Thank you for reading this and for your following contributions although post count wise I do not think we will see the level of our previous match

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From the peak of my career .. The 7th best league in Denmark ... 

I watched the entire game today without my laptop freezing (albeit without volume) which was welcome.  I did not think we were outstanding today but I enjoyed watching us which might sound contra

Now who's racist?

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How much are you looking forward to this game?

About as much as I look forward to the dentist. I have receding gums and recurring plaque, so you can guess how much that is.

Will we have as many talking points as the last game?

Absolutely not. That was quite a match. Cheers, ref.

Do you think we will have as many posts as last game (currently 840 and a season high)

Definitely not!

Is top 6 too late?

They think it's all over...it is now.

Can we be the best of the rest?

I think I said earlier in the season I was expecting us to finish seventh, which still seems entirely plausible. On paper, we have one of the best squads in the Championship after January, but it's underperforming massively, mainly thanks to our strikers and goalkeeper plus some fairly archaic tactics from on high.

What do we have to do to improve home form (apart from the obvious)

So many things in football are driven by confidence - the new manager bounce, fortress [insert stadium name], late-season surges for contention. We need to play with more confidence at home, rather than fearing the worst as the players step out of the tunnel. I'm not suggesting an Eileen Drewery-type figure, but some positive mentality coaching might help hobble our home hoodoo. 

Your prefered starting 11

Without being flippant, I'm not sure it makes much difference. The players look shot of confidence, and no defender is going to feel good with an hour on the clock when they turn around and see Butternelli dropping his water bottle mid-swig. We seem to hate playing at home, but I'd like to see an attacking formation of 4-1-3-2, with Morsy holding and wide players feeding whichever two forward players have looked least incompetent this week in training.

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1 hour ago, Downsouth said:

1. How much are you looking forward to this game?

2. Will we have as many talking points as the last game?

3. Do you think we will have as many posts as last game (currently 840 and a season high)

4. Is top 6 too late?

5. Can we be the best of the rest?

6. What do we have to do to improve home form (apart from the obvious)

7. Your prefered starting 11

1. Yes, mainly because of the absence of a game midweek!
2. Hopefully not.
3. Draw.
4. Yes.
5. Don't see why not.
6. Be bolder in selection (injury dependant). Drop the 3rd central midfielder (unless it is Tav).
7.

@SmogDane
Fisher, Fry, McNair, Bola
Morsy, Howson
Tav, Kebano, Bolasie
Akpom
 

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11 minutes ago, DanFromDownSouth said:

1. Yes, mainly because of the absence of a game midweek!
2. Hopefully not.
3. Draw.
4. Yes.
5. Don't see why not.
6. Be bolder in selection (injury dependant). Drop the 3rd central midfielder (unless it is Tav).
7.

@SmogDane
Fisher, Fry, McNair, Bola
Morsy, Howson
Tav, Kebano, Bolasie
Akpom
 

At last.... a good goalkeeper 😃

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Bettinelli

Fry Hall Paddy

Fisher Howson Morsy Bola

NML Kebano Bolasie

If Tav is fit then him for NML.

I like idea of Kebano playing through middle v Stoke as i feel his movement, pace and size will cause they big slightly less mobile CBs in shape of Souttar Batth etc some issues.

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Pssst................there is a game coming up Saturday if you want to talk about it😉

You lot would not shut up last time out and here we have a rare chance to get revenge over Stoke City!

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