Boro v Stoke City 1-1

[Dan1234 1,056]

Phil Thompson getting a dig in at a ex Man U player, shock horror. 

 

If anyone is to blame its Clayton for leaving one on their guy way after the ball had gone, completely unnecessary.

[Betamaxman 14]

For those ripping into BD and me for saying Valdes maybe made a small mistake in the goal, Phil Thompson agrees:

 

"“I think it was a mistake. If Valdes hadn’t gone so early he’d have got his fingers to it."

 

So it's not like we're completely mad.

 

I agreed with you. I think Dimi would have saved it. Shame he didn't have the chance.

[Mark_Boro 0]

Many more positives than negatives in the game, Barragan and Negrado looked class and the guys playing last season were as assured as ever. We'll get far harder tests but if we can maintain that level we'll be ok.

[34. 22]

Nsue was poor today imo and you could tell Stoke were targeting him, we were very lucky that Arnautovic also had a crap game.

 

Very happy with Negredo, I was worried about him before the game.

[LOAM 78]

First game and we looked really good.  Regards Adomah, dont forget this is his first experience of football at this level.  The bonus is he's good enough to realise what he's doing wrong and sort it.  I fully expect him to grow into it this year and it would be a shame to not allow him time to settle.  

 

Good point though against a non shoddy, well established PL team.

 

Is he? He's had exactly the same issues for well over a year, why hasn't he already worked to try and fix them?

 

I think he did progress in CL, he finished a better player than he started and now has to complete that. I personally think he can.

[ahad 0]

Middlesbrough vs Stoke City Highlights

 

http://sportyhighlights.com/middlesbrough-vs-stoke-city-highlights/

[juninho9 35]

I actually think Adomah is good enough. I think he's exciting to watch. Yes he wastes some of his good work, but he gets in to some good positions, and makes some penetrating runs. Some of his delivery is rubbish, but sometimes it's OK too. There are other examples of PL players like that.... Lennon and Young are a couple that spring to mind.

 

I also thought Downing looked better today than he has done for a while. Hopefully the improvement will continue.

 

I see we're 5th in the league. Nice. A Europa league spot. Get in.

 

COME ON BORO !!!

 

Just dropped to sixth now Aguero has put City ahead against Sunderland. That's it. No Europa for us. Karanka out.

[Uwe 3,545]

More importantly is learning not to (especially) Clayton to be rash in those areas because like today good players will score no portion of blame to the goal keeper! Those moments undo and deflate all the work put in.

Albert need's to improve with consictency. Downing is class but for some reason he is at the forefront of constant scrutiny and abuse.

utb

 

Because you have to have the biggest boro tinted glasses on to think Downing was "class" today. (or at all in his second spell with us so far really).

 

He was more forward thinking than usual though, which is a start.

 

I'm a big Downing fan but he wasn't class today. He wasn't bad either. He did ok. As did everyone else other than Nsue and Forshaw who I thought were good and Adomah who was both good (in the first half) and honking (in the second half) . But this is the premier league and ok or good wont cut it.

I'll assess the game properly later on but just want to put across a couple of things

1) at no point did we look lost or out of our depth today against a well established and organised team

2) we didn't lose

3) after 90 mins of premier league football those that have already written players off really take a few deep breaths before posting.

 

I'm a bit gutted we drew but if we'd been behind and equalised id be well chuffed. Next week will show us a bit more about this squad. But bring it on. All in all an acceptable days work

[Denzel Zanzibar 6,972]

For those ripping into BD and me for saying Valdes maybe made a small mistake in the goal, Phil Thompson agrees:

 

"“I think it was a mistake. If Valdes hadn’t gone so early he’d have got his fingers to it."

 

So it's not like we're completely mad.

 

I agreed with you. I think Dimi would have saved it. Shame he didn't have the chance.

 

Give over. Dimi wouldn't have even got down in time (and I'm a Dimi fan before you start.)

 

Valdes moved early because he wasn't expecting Shaqiri to take it. To be honest, neither was I.

[PompeySmog 109]

For those ripping into BD and me for saying Valdes maybe made a small mistake in the goal, Phil Thompson agrees:

 

"“I think it was a mistake. If Valdes hadn’t gone so early he’d have got his fingers to it."

 

So it's not like we're completely mad.

 

I agreed with you. I think Dimi would have saved it. Shame he didn't have the chance.

 

Give over. Dimi wouldn't have even got down in time (and I'm a Dimi fan before you start.)

 

Valdes moved early because he wasn't expecting Shaqiri to take it. To be honest, neither was I.

 

Me neither, was a very good hit low and rightin the corner. Thought we did well against an established PL side. No one looked completely out of place, in particular thought friend, ramirez and gibson were good. Difficult to accurately assess after 90 minutes

[Ayeres 123]

Proud of the performances, especially in the first half. Still slightly disappointed we dropped points at home, despite 1-1 being a fair result overall.

 

Ramirez(MOTM for me) is going to be the key to us surviving, if something bad were to happen to him I think we will struggle to stay up, as we have very little creativity going forward except him.

[Borodane 6,301]

For those ripping into BD and me for saying Valdes maybe made a small mistake in the goal, Phil Thompson agrees:

 

"“I think it was a mistake. If Valdes hadn’t gone so early he’d have got his fingers to it."

 

So it's not like we're completely mad.

 

I agreed with you. I think Dimi would have saved it. Shame he didn't have the chance.

 

Give over. Dimi wouldn't have even got down in time (and I'm a Dimi fan before you start.)

 

Valdes moved early because he wasn't expecting Shaqiri to take it. To be honest, neither was I.

 

Ahhh, Arnautovic never looked like taking it. He more it less backed away from the ball. It was always going to be xhaquiri. However he obviously thought he was going for the short corner and tried to steal a yard. That cost us. I'll say it was 50% good kick and 50% misjudgment on Valdes' part.

[Denzel Zanzibar 6,972]

Dimi still wouldn't have saved it though, was my point.

[Borodane 6,301]

Dimi still wouldn't have saved it though, was my point.

 

We will never know. Fact is if Valdes had stood his ground he would have saved is easily. He gambled and lost out. Tough luck. For the rest of the game we were worth three points.

[Will 2,958]

I thought Downing was much better today.