Boro v Stoke City 1-1

[Pork Slops 576]

I hate to slag off other players and to be negative, and I understand it is a team game, but for me adomah lost us that game in the second half. That opportunity on the right when downing and negredo were in acres, he completely bottled it and just smashed it straight at Bardsley who was the only stoke player inside in the box. Then when he's trying to do stepovers and pretty much falls over the ball after we won it back on the edge of the box was absolutely diabolical. I don't think it's fair to say that he can't make the step up on one game but that performance from him in the second half was so bad.

[CFPri25 12]

The most irritating thing in football is when keepers try and guess where the FK is going. If it goes up and over the wall into the top corner, fair game. The keepers should be watching their side of the goal and anything that goes in there is undeniably their fault.

 

What else is a keeper supposed to do when two player are standing over the ball?

 

As I said above, watch their side first and foremost.

[Prowler 197]

The most irritating thing in football is when keepers try and guess where the FK is going. If it goes up and over the wall into the top corner, fair game. The keepers should be watching their side of the goal and anything that goes in there is undeniably their fault.

 

What else is a keeper supposed to do when two player are standing over the ball?

 

As I said above, watch their side first and foremost.

 

He did, which is why he dived that way. Did you not see the swerve on that ball? I'm surprised enough he got anything on the ball. It was a damn good freekick.

[boro-unger 3,870]

Goal was Adomahs fault, the rest of the wall jumped and he stood still

 

Valdes would have saved it if he hadn't taken them couple of little steps to his right. He got a hand to it, just not enough to tip it round

 

Because he though the right footer would hit it, it's not often the left footer tries from there. Let's face it.

 

If you look at where arnautovic is stood before the kick (and before valdes' steps), he's in front of the ball. It was fairly obvious it was going to be shaqiri hitting it. In fact valdes keeps moving to his right even after the ball had been struck.

 

Saying that, I agree that Alby should have jumped as well.

[Brunners 7,982]

Goal was Adomahs fault, the rest of the wall jumped and he stood still

 

Valdes would have saved it if he hadn't taken them couple of little steps to his right. He got a hand to it, just not enough to tip it round

 

Because he though the right footer would hit it, it's not often the left footer tries from there. Let's face it.

 

If you look at where arnautovic is stood before the kick (and before valdes' steps), he's in front of the ball. It was fairly obvious it was going to be shaqiri hitting it. In fact valdes keeps moving to his right even after the ball had been struck.

 

Saying that, I agree that Alby should have jumped as well.

 

Even if he knows Shaqiri will be taking it, Prowler is right in saying that it's very unusual for a left footer to put it across the goalie like that.

 

Valdes gambled and he gambled wrong on this occasion.

[Middlesborough 12]

In real time I thought Valdes could've done better but after watching the highlights you've gotta admit that it was a very very good freekick, it was always swerving away from Valdes and it goes in literally just inside the post. The result is a bit disappointing considering we limited them to 0 shots on target from open play.

[Aarfy_Aardvark 38]

MOTD made an interesting point about the whole new dissent rules. Instant yellow cards for mouthing off to the ref. (Arnautovic and Given both guilty.)

 

I can only think Grant is gonna be screwed when he comes back from injury. He's gonna have to learn to keep his mouth shut.

[Brunners 7,982]

In real time I thought Valdes could've done better but after watching the highlights you've gotta admit that it was a very very good freekick, it was always swerving away from Valdes and it goes in literally just inside the post. The result is a bit disappointing considering we limited them to 0 shots on target from open play.

 

Agreed the more I watch it the less I think he was at fault.

 

It's all Clayton's fault :p

[Aarfy_Aardvark 38]

1st Half Stream --- https://video.rutube.ru/9575944

 

2nd Half Stream --- https://video.rutube.ru/9576109

[Brunners 7,982]

One more point before I hit the hay.

 

It's nice to have a goalkeeper with absolutely incredible distribution finally. Almost every single clearance found a red shirt, including some long kicks right up to Negredo.

 

Long may it continue.

[sackrobson2 371]

I need to watch it again but at the time I thought their goal was a superb free kick, it looked like it went in off the post and as has been said you don't expect a left footed shot from there. It seems harsh to blame Valdes for not saving it. That said, I was shouting at the time to put a man on that post. They were 100% shooting with those players standing over the ball, if someone was on the post it's a simple clearance.

 

Overall I thought it was probably a fair result. We probably edged it but I thought we could easily lose once we conceded.

[Guest bozojankovic]

If people would stop, calling him NegrAdo... That'd be great

 

 

UP THE BORO!

 

Can't wait to see whos in the starting 11!

 

Thank you!

[Guest bozojankovic]

Adomah is not good enough for this league, hope we sign someone who can cross a ball.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it Adomah's inch perfect ball in to Ramirez that got us the goal off the knock on to NegrEdo? I might be wrong though... [edit: Nah, I'm not wrong]

[p_mards 1,365]

I'm surprised that Adomah isn't receiving far more criticism for not jumping in the wall, as he'd most likely have blocked it if he did. The ball grazed over his head, resulting in Valdes not seeing the flight of the ball until late. On first impressions it seemed that Valdes should have saved the shot as it wasn't hit with a great deal of power, but it's difficult to know how much of the ball he actually saw. Hopefully it's just one of them unlucky things that happen time to time. Valdes deserves credit for bailing Barragan out for his short back pass as he made a quick decision to rush out. If he paused for a split second then by time he got to the ball, he will probably have ended up getting sent off as he'd have had to wipe out Stoke's attacker. He's very quick off his line and his distribution was excellent so them two things look huge upgrades on Dimi. Barragan was excellent at CB other than that error.

 

The point today was a very good point considering we had to play a RB at CB and our 4th choice CM to replace De Roon, so it was far from the strongest spine of our side. The Forshaw/Clayton partnership doesn't fill me with confidence, despite them not playing badly, as the discipline and physicality wasn't there. As the game progressed, Stoke's midfield grabbed hold of the game - Imbula in particular was excellent - leaving us hanging on towards the end. The whole team need to learn not to always try to get a toe end on the ball when they think they can nick the ball as we gave away far too many silly fouls from being too eager. The referee was overzealous with his whistle but we could have avoided some unnecessary fouls. The opposition in the Premier League have far better close control and ability to play through the lines, so we need to respect that and know when to keep our shape. De Roon's reputation from Italy and his pre-season performances made him look the perfect fit to add the right balance of physicality, bite and discipline to that area so his injury is a huge blow. If De Roon is out of a while, along with Leadbitter, then it would be understandable if we bring in another midfielder who can provide something different to what Forshaw provides.

 

Barragan, Friend and Ramirez were the stand out performers. Negredo wasn't involved as much but when he was on the ball he oozed quality.

 

The lack of substitutions was fairly strange as we had Negredo and Ramirez exhausted, and Adomah having a mare in the second half, yet Karanka only brought on one substitute, Nugent, of our four attacking options, leaving Fischer, Stuani and Rhodes sat on the bench. There are question marks over Fischer's workrate so I can understand why Karanka didn't fancy bringing him on at LW or #10 as Stoke were on top of us so it wouldn't have been a good game to integrate him into the team. Nugent done a decent job when he came on, but bringing him on in #10 role in the Premier League can't be a long-term option. I hope we can get a good quality winger in before the transfer window closes as our other attacking options aren't the best.

[Air Resistance 26]

Don't want to dissect the game too much, but unbelievably proud of the lads. Thought the whole unit played really well and it was only a fantastic free kick which stopped us taking all 3 points. Thought both adomah and downing played really well, but you have to say Ramirez and friend were beasts. They can all be proud tonight