Boro v Stoke City 1-1

[timlloyd 18]

my ISP in Oz won the premier league rights so we get the games free for one year. I recorded the game and watched it through this arvo. A decent result but I think we could have done better.

 

It looks like Mark Hughes put a rocket up Stoke at half time and they were more motivated (point taken though - no shots on goal in open play). I thought Boro were a bit stand offish in the 2nd half. The glaring miss was Uncle Albert's trot down the right and then into Downing and ???. That was just before Stoke scored and would have won the game IMHO. A few more occasions where we were a bit lazy on the final touch.

 

Can't grumble though. Stoke are a consistent top 10 team and we bossed them for 45 mins. There is a lot of work to do but we started off in a positive mood. If we can maintain enthusiasm then the future is looking bright.

[Borodane 6,294]

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.

 

I love that new rule. Hate to see the referee surrounded. The top teams are going to get so many yellow cards.

[johnhorse 35]

I'm curious about the incident towards the end of the game where Gaston did some amateur dramatics. Nothing was shown on MOTD and a yellow was given to a Stoke player. What happened. I saw him fall over and clutch his face. My 10yr old son claimed he was pushed/punched and then kicked on the floor. I'm not inclined to believe this 100%!

 

Good game I thought we should have shaded. Didn't like the pre match music, squashed a decent atmosphere that was building. Impressed with our team, once Shaquiri and Bojan found more space in the second half though they bossed us. We were unlucky not to be more than one up though.

[CurtisFleming 86]

Just seen the replay of the free kick. Albert needs an ***kicking for not jumping. Really bad that.

[Borodane 6,294]

I'd also like to praise the support yesterday. The crowd was excellent and that was also noted by the commentators as they compared it to Leicesters home crowd last year. Full of noise and backing all game. I turned the volume on my tv way up to get a good feel of it. Well done. Hope we get more games like this in terms of noise.

[Tom 2,492]

I'm curious about the incident towards the end of the game where Gaston did some amateur dramatics. Nothing was shown on MOTD and a yellow was given to a Stoke player. What happened. I saw him fall over and clutch his face. My 10yr old son claimed he was pushed/punched and then kicked on the floor. I'm not inclined to believe this 100%!

 

Good game I thought we should have shaded. Didn't like the pre match music, squashed a decent atmosphere that was building. Impressed with our team, once Shaquiri and Bojan found more space in the second half though they bossed us. We were unlucky not to be more than one up though.

 

Didn't see it, but Jonathan Taylor from the Gazette said that the 'amateur dramatics' were Gastón getting elbowed in the face. The Stoke player was apparently lucky to escape with a yellow. Taylor has a bias towards Boro, of course, but is normally pretty balanced.

["KM" 1,656]

I'm curious about the incident towards the end of the game where Gaston did some amateur dramatics. Nothing was shown on MOTD and a yellow was given to a Stoke player. What happened. I saw him fall over and clutch his face. My 10yr old son claimed he was pushed/punched and then kicked on the floor. I'm not inclined to believe this 100%!

 

Good game I thought we should have shaded. Didn't like the pre match music, squashed a decent atmosphere that was building. Impressed with our team, once Shaquiri and Bojan found more space in the second half though they bossed us. We were unlucky not to be more than one up though.

 

Didn't see it, but Jonathan Taylor from the Gazette said that the 'amateur dramatics' were Gastón getting elbowed in the face. The Stoke player was apparently lucky to escape with a yellow. Taylor has a bias towards Boro, of course, but is normally pretty balanced.

 

Negredo and Ramirez were getting their fair share of whacks in the face. I could see it clearly from the West Stand.

[BearSmog 1,382]

They showed it on the sky highlights.. It was a swinging arm that caught him

[typicalbrough 17]

Stoke lad and Gaston were wrestling then the Stoke lad swung a right arm at him. Straight red if it had been seen.

[wilsoncgp 9,276]

Shouldn't Gaston have been sent off when he actually got his booking? Looked like an elbow from where I was sat, thought he was a very lucky boy to stay on the pitch.

 

My views on yesterday, great display at both ends for the first half hour. Odd flashes of attacking class from then on but mostly good defending from us. Except for one man who infuriated me for the full 90 minutes.

 

Referee had a bloody mare. Clayton had a terrific game but was halted for so much as tapping the Stoke players. When did it become a non-contact sport? Was the Shaqiri free kick even a foul, btw? I didn't see anything, didn't even see him flat on his *** until ref had blew his whistle.

 

So the man who just had me screaming yesterday was Adomah. He was bloody awful. Not so much his attacking display, he made the odd thing happen. But my word, Nsue had his work cut out for him because Albert had absolutely no idea where the players were around him. He was trotting back when Stoke were on the attack, when they were bloody doubling up on Nsue and it was clearly something Hughes saw in the first half and wanted to exploit more in the second. And it very nearly worked on a few occasions. It just frustrates me all the more when I know Albert CAN do that kind of work. We've seen it plenty of times. Fulham away last season was a good example of that, chased every ball down. But yesterday was lethargic to say the least.

 

Draw was a good and fair result in the end. Ramirez had a great game and was my man of the match, despite the daft fouls. I also thought Friend, Clayton, Negredo and particularly Gibson had really good games. I thought Forshaw was quite good when he came on too. Energetic, chasing the ball down, not hugely creative but did the simple things well.

 

As much as I'm not sure about the validity of the free kick (I haven't seen the highlights yet)... what a great goal it was. He doesn't do free kicks conventionally. It's never obvious which corner he's going for.

["KM" 1,656]

Special mention to our equivalent of Swansea's reserve right back, Antonio Barragan. I thought he was excellent yesterday. Certainly made some of his doubters look silly.

 

And Forshaw, he didn't look out of place did he? No way will we see him leave now.

[Brunners 7,981]

Shouldn't Gaston have been sent off when he actually got his booking? Looked like an elbow from where I was sat, thought he was a very lucky boy to stay on the pitch.

 

My views on yesterday, great display at both ends for the first half hour. Odd flashes of attacking class from then on but mostly good defending from us. Except for one man who infuriated me for the full 90 minutes.

 

Referee had a bloody mare. Clayton had a terrific game but was halted for so much as tapping the Stoke players. When did it become a non-contact sport? Was the Shaqiri free kick even a foul, btw? I didn't see anything, didn't even see him flat on his *** until ref had blew his whistle.

 

So the man who just had me screaming yesterday was Adomah. He was bloody awful. Not so much his attacking display, he made the odd thing happen. But my word, Nsue had his work cut out for him because Albert had absolutely no idea where the players were around him. He was trotting back when Stoke were on the attack, when they were bloody doubling up on Nsue and it was clearly something Hughes saw in the first half and wanted to exploit more in the second. And it very nearly worked on a few occasions. It just frustrates me all the more when I know Albert CAN do that kind of work. We've seen it plenty of times. Fulham away last season was a good example of that, chased every ball down. But yesterday was lethargic to say the least.

 

Draw was a good and fair result in the end. Ramirez had a great game and was my man of the match, despite the daft fouls. I also thought Friend, Clayton, Negredo and particularly Gibson had really good games. I thought Forshaw was quite good when he came on too. Energetic, chasing the ball down, not hugely creative but did the simple things well.

 

As much as I'm not sure about the validity of the free kick (I haven't seen the highlights yet)... what a great goal it was. He doesn't do free kicks conventionally. It's never obvious which corner he's going for.

 

It was 100% a foul stupidest decision Clayton made all game

[smogsterking the Inspirati 2,483]

My view from yesterday. It was a good performance generally by us for 60minutes but we seemed to run out of energy for a spell and perhaps Karanka should have made changes around the hour mark. I think a draw was a fair result and we more than matched arguably the most physical team in the league at set pieces and throughout the game.

I think most would agree that Ramirez was outstanding. But i think several players had excellent games as well. I thought Forshaw was excellent at breaking up play and his general play on the ball. I would have no qualms if it is him and Clayton for the next few weeks if he plays like today. Gibson was again excellent he didnt give their strikers a sniff and I do think he will be getting called up to England very soon if he carries on like yesterday. In Negredo we have found the new Viduka his touch and general play was immense yesterday plus he tracked back and made several crucial challenges and clearances although he looked out on his feet with 20minutes to go. Friend made the step up as well yesterday. On Valdes it was a very reassuring performance generally especially coming out and clearing that short back pass although for me a few question marks over his positioning for the goal. Generally it was a deserved point and I think an encouraging start to the season.

[Middlesborough 12]

Full match replay with commentary available here, the video is really squashed and narrow though:

 

http://www.footballorgin.com/epl-middlesbrough-vs-stoke-city-full-match-replay/

[BoroScot 2]

My thoughts on the game:

 

- Negredo looks a class act. The ball was glued to his feet/chest and in the end Stoke had to put both centre halfs on him to try to stop him plucking high balls out of the air with ease.

- Nsue is out of his depth, and other teams know it. Stoke yesterday played absolutely everything down our right because they knew Nsue was there for Arnautovic to tear apart, which he managed to do quite a few times.

- Ramirez looks more than capable of stepping up to this level, great link up with Negredo.

- Barragan also looks a classy player (bar the one sloppy back pass that Valdes did well to read and get out to). Very comfortable on the ball and great timing with tackles.

- Adomah is taking a pasting from fans, but the first half he was great. Chased down constantly and looked a real threat going forward. Unfortunately I do agree that second half he was dreadful, stopped doing everything he was doing first half, and if he'd just passed it to Negredo/Downing we'd have gone 2 up and probably won. In this league playing great for a half then being a passenger isn't good enough.

- The referee was pretty dreadful in my opinion. I find fans can rarely be objective with referees but thiught he had a very poor game.