Boro vs West Bromwich Albion (A) 0-0

[richmfc 41]

I watched the game on US TV, where it's a pleasure to have Robbie Mustoe analysing our games! They had Barragan as man of the match, though I'd have had Forshaw as top man, very busy in midfield. They were also convinced Gibson should have had a penalty given against him for pulling Rondon's shirt.

 

Good point away from home as we continue to settle into the Premier League, I say. There will be tougher battles, but there will also be easier games, Pulis teams are never easy to play against.

 

From our opening games, I'd say it looks like Barragan, Ayala, Gibson and Friend are a Prem-worthy back line, Clayton and Forshaw look to have made the step up just fine, and Negredo will work hard for us to make the most of chances when they come. Downing seems to have done ok without being spectacular.

 

Stuani has had one man of the match show and some more anonymous performances. Ramirez has shown talent without being heavily influential as yet. Guzan has been mixed, but hey, he's the stand-in till Valdes gets back.

 

That number of players looking ok with the step up is good, I'd say. And it's still early. Positive signs, even if today's game was dreary.

 

Because he should have, he was a very lucky boy.

 

I understand there's been a tightening of rules on that this season - was a definite shirt tug, albeit part and parcel of the game for a long time. I suspect the ref didn't see it, and Rondon didn't go down to highlight it.

 

Yes Gibson fouled rondon but. Rondon was too far in front of the ball. If Gibson doesn't hold him back he'd be even further forward so he didn't stop him scoring

[melchett 5]

I watched the game on US TV, where it's a pleasure to have Robbie Mustoe analysing our games! They had Barragan as man of the match, though I'd have had Forshaw as top man, very busy in midfield. They were also convinced Gibson should have had a penalty given against him for pulling Rondon's shirt.

 

Good point away from home as we continue to settle into the Premier League, I say. There will be tougher battles, but there will also be easier games, Pulis teams are never easy to play against.

 

From our opening games, I'd say it looks like Barragan, Ayala, Gibson and Friend are a Prem-worthy back line, Clayton and Forshaw look to have made the step up just fine, and Negredo will work hard for us to make the most of chances when they come. Downing seems to have done ok without being spectacular.

 

Stuani has had one man of the match show and some more anonymous performances. Ramirez has shown talent without being heavily influential as yet. Guzan has been mixed, but hey, he's the stand-in till Valdes gets back.

 

That number of players looking ok with the step up is good, I'd say. And it's still early. Positive signs, even if today's game was dreary.

 

Because he should have, he was a very lucky boy.

 

I understand there's been a tightening of rules on that this season - was a definite shirt tug, albeit part and parcel of the game for a long time. I suspect the ref didn't see it, and Rondon didn't go down to highlight it.

 

Yes Gibson fouled rondon but. Rondon was too far in front of the ball. If Gibson doesn't hold him back he'd be even further forward so he didn't stop him scoring

 

I also thought that Rondon had hold of Gibson about the same time

[Arskite 75]

Either way shirt-pulling is shirt-pulling, doesn't matter if there was a disadvantage or not. He is lucky the ref hasn't seen it.

[smogsterking the Inspirati 2,490]

Gutted about the scoreline it really hampers our title ambitions.

To be honest i have been at work and missed the whole game so only know the result without any idea how we played. On a positive we keep our 1st clean sheet and remain unbeaten. West Brom will look at this as 2 points dropped as id imagine this was one of the 3 point games they would be banking on at the start of the season.

[Brunners 7,982]

Either way shirt-pulling is shirt-pulling, doesn't matter if there was a disadvantage or not. He is lucky the ref hasn't seen it.

 

If it happened at the other end people would be crying bloody murder, not trying to find excuses for why it shouldn't have been given  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ChipBarrington 315]

Good and bad points to this game but the intolerance and name calling on here is a sign of disrespect and unintelligence.

 

The main highlight for me is that to stay up, we only need to be better than 3 teams and today we have seen another contender.

 

Highlights:

 

-Another point on the board

-Clean sheet

-Undefeated

-1 of 3 prem teams not to be behind yet

-no injuries

-Ayala came through well

-Barragan looks solid defensively

-Forshaw seems to be establishing himself well and has to start even when everyone is fit.

-Downing played well, taking people on, going inside and outside. Had a few shots, shame he doesnt whip more balls in

-Negredo practically pushing that guy over at the end

 

Lows:

-Gave away quite a few opportunities that a better team may punish us for

-never really looked like we could carve them open

-too reluctant to stick a cross in

-poor subs again

-resorted to pumping balls long to an isolated Negredo surrounded by CBs

-unwillingness to shoot

-Ramirez had a fairly anonymous performance again. Think he would benefit from a direct mover in front of him (fast winger or Rhodes up top?)

-Stuani doesnt really add to build up

 

Lets not forget we are facing teams who will likely finish around us at the end of the season and we havent lost yet.

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

Either way shirt-pulling is shirt-pulling, doesn't matter if there was a disadvantage or not. He is lucky the ref hasn't seen it.

 

I would like to agree with this but due to the inconsistency between refereeing performances, I just can't. There was 2 or 3 situations on MOTD last night that should have been but weren't, we're not alone in 'being lucky'. No rose-tinted glasses on that one, it's just disappointing to see so many referees being fearful of giving them.

 

Think Stoke have been pretty hard done by with those decisions in particular the past couple of weeks, in that the refs only seem to be willing to give the correct decisions against them and nobody else. Must be a strange situation as you can't exactly complain about poor decisions, you can only complain about a lack of consistency and clarification from the refs.

[SmogDane 4,056]

I really hope Fabio or Friend will be back for the Palace game, so we can get Barragan back to the right back, where Nsue was missing today. Never seen a PL player (which he isn't) that looked that clumsy. He is good at running into position, where he can get the ball, but when he gets it, the nightmare begins. 3 out of 10 times he passe the ball to an opponent, and the rest of the times he passes it back to Clayton, eventhoug the situation invites to a cross or a run with the ball. It was really frustrating to watch. Not good enough defensively either. Slow as a snail and he can't make a sliding tackle, while he isnt great at positioning himself.

 

It's a bit worrying too, that the most forward going of our midfielders, is one of the defensive ones (Forshaw). What a class player he is btw. Both ends of the pitch that is.

 

Most of our players don't own the courage to shoot from the distance, which would help opening such a tight defence. Shoot 3-4 times early on in that game, and they would be forced to come out of the box, when we dominated for some long spells in todays match.

 

It's like they are scared of making a bad shot or a bad forward going pass or cross, so everyone just passes the leather back to the nearest of our own. Even when in a good position to dribble, cross or shoot, we most of the times just stop and pass the ball back. So boring and easy to defend against. I believe if West Brom left the pitch for a cup of tea, we couldn't get the ball in the net. A solid defence we have, but at times, it is ALL we have.

 

When that is said, am I really happy for the point earned today. We now have 5 points for 3 games. Imagine getting 5 points every three games.... Would leave us with more than SIXTY points in may :D (wishfull thinking, I know) :P

[Beamish 0]

Oh dear..  this forum is becoming tedious viewing...

 

getting like fmttm on here, like.

 

cant be doing with this.

 

bye bye :(

[Guest Changing Times]

That's a shame because you add so much :(

[Leon 2]

A point's a point, so I can't complain at that. A few bad decisions here and there against poor opposition, but both teams were obviously set up not to lose so it was never going to set the world alight.

 

One thing I found odd was our subs, one at 84 minutes and one at 93 minutes? We're going into an international break, so there's no need to be resting anyone on the bench. We could have given Nugent, Rhodes or Fischer a run out much earlier without affecting the setup of the team. Fischer for Stuani could have given us something different against a tiring and lacklustre opponent.

 

Going foward, with the first-choice back four intact and an attacking winger added to the squad (hopefully!), I think we'll start seeing some much better performances.

 

The one concern I've got over the 3 games so far is how we've dropped further and further back in the 2nd halves, inviting so much pressure onto us. It happened a lot last season as well, so we need to work on that.

[Brunners 7,982]

Oh dear..  this forum is becoming tedious viewing...

 

getting like fmttm on here, like.

 

cant be doing with this.

 

bye bye :(

 

o/

[Neverbefore 10,942]

I don't think we dropped back second half today. If anything we improved this time round. I do agree we went backwards in the second half of our other two games though.

[Lord_Moose 387]

I don't think we dropped back second half today. If anything we improved this time round. I do agree we went backwards in the second half of our other two games though.

 

I was thinking this too, last two games we've started well but ran out of steam but this time we had two decent halfs, in fact we were probably better in the second this time.

[Denzel Zanzibar 6,972]

Oh dear..  this forum is becoming tedious viewing...

 

getting like fmttm on here, like.

 

cant be doing with this.

 

bye bye :(

 

 

A++++++++ would flounce again