Unofficial "Official" Boro v Stoke City Match Day Thread. [Can we still get top 6?]

WindyNook said:
Great afternoon after an awful start. How many times have we started that slowly and gone on to lose. Having NW as manager recognising what was wrong and having the nounce to put it right made all the difference.
Still in the hunt!
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If he set up right in the 1st place, it would be better
 
Tough to pick a MOTM today. Probably Hall, Betenelli then McNair

Betenelli 8 - couple of great saves, covered his front post from some shots that were defleceted, and sound hands and kicking
Hall 9 - alert in the 6 yard to finish for goal, but in open play he was organising, and was teneacious, competing for every ball against some powerful players in the air. Stepped into midfield a few times successfully too
Fry 8 - sublime, challanged well in the air, kept them quiet
McNair 8 superb going forward when he switched to an advancedd midfeld position. Always looking to pinch the ball high, and made Mikel look like an old man
Spence 7.5 - best game for a while, competed for the ball well, and showed some threat going forward, came off injured
Bola 7 - quiet going forward but kept on his feet and did the basics well
Howson 7 - steady game, always looked to play the ball forwards
Morsy 8 - got through a lot of work, was in Powells face most of the game, and played the counter attack perfectly to eat up the ground then slip it into NML
Kebano 6 - never really got in the game, was gifted a couple of good chances and fluffed them both, and switched off a few times in his defensive duties
Bolasie 7.5 - worked really hard defensively, won balls in teh air, and ran at them
Akpom 7 - Had a very decent first half, put himself about, held it up ok, and an assist for the first goal, quiet second he was isolated
SUBS:
Johnson 8 - turning into a super sub, always makes a difference. His pace worried them, got good balls into the box, and did more defensively than Kebano.
Fisher 6.5 - Didn't quite look fit, but kept at it
Mendez-Laing 8 - best performance for us, even before the goal. He was good in possession, tracked back and great finish for his goal
 
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Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret said:
Get in. Needed a win there. I'd give hall man of the match, despite winning 3 nil. Had a lot to do as they had more of the ball. Morsy and Bola played well. Bettinelli looked like a proper goalkeeper. Very important save at 2 nil. Johnson and NML both looked decent coming on.
We miss a decent centre forward so much. I'd play bolasie or watmore upfront. We've got Johnson Tav kebano watmore bolasie and NML who play behind and all offer something. I'd rather have another of them on the field than Britt or akpom. And of those two Britt is the far better player. It says a lot when you're bringing him on for his workrate.
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Akpom was excellent today.
Worked so hard.

Overall it's clear we need to sign strikers, but I don't think today is a game you can use as an example.
 
motownjunk said:
Stoke played so well in patches and they ended up getting beat 3 nil, how many times have you seen that with Boro. Great win.
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Their problem is an absolute lack of pace at the back and CM. Some excellent technical players, but Mikels legs have gone, Allen was never quick, ditto Powell. Chester runs like he's wearing divers boots, and Soutter is a beast but not quick. I haven't seen us win the ball so high so often for a long while. They don't react quickly on the ball. Saying that, they have the makings of a team with a few tweeks that can challenge NEXT SEASON, especially if they can get Campbell fit and firing, he's a championship beast.
 
The type of team we are best suited playing.

They were tidy on the ball but toothless up front. Slow in midfield and at the back, so vulnerable on the break. We could let them have the ball and counter attack.

Good 3 points.
 
Got to look one game at a time. We play Preston on Tuesday. Cardiff play Stoke and Bournemouth play Swansea. It's a must win for us and will guarantee that we pick up points on at least 2 of our rivals and maybe 4 of them.

I've been saying this for about 8 weeks and I'll stick with it, if we are within 5 points of 6th place, with 6 games to go, we will make the play offs.

Win on Tuesday and the table could look like this and we're back in the hunt, especially when you look at our fixtures vs Reading and Bournemouth's fixtures.

5Reading361871150381261
6Barnsley36187114539661
7Bournemouth3716111052381456
8Middlesbrough37168134538756
9Cardiff City371591354381654
 
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BoroMart said:
Got to look one game at a time. We play Preston on Tuesday. Cardiff play Stoke and Bournemouth play Swansea. It's a must win for us and will guarantee that we pick up points on at least 2 of our rivals and maybe 4 of them.

I've been saying this for about 8 weeks and I'll stick with it, if we are within 5 points of 6th place, with 6 games to go, we will make the play offs.

Win on Tuesday and the table could look like this and we're back in the hunt, especially when you look at our fixtures vs Reading and Bournemouth's fixtures.

5Reading361871150381261
6Barnsley36187114539661
7Bournemouth3716111052381456
8Middlesbrough37168134538756
9Cardiff City371591354381654
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Barnsley are the team to worry about.
Their fixtures don't look intimidating at all.
Even if we beat them, they still have a 5 point advantage on us.
 
First 10 minutes aside we controlled that game, solid at the back other than 1 or 2 incidents, created on the break and always looked like scoring when going forward. We were immense today from front to back.
 
Laughing said:
First 10 minutes aside we controlled that game, solid at the back other than 1 or 2 incidents, created on the break and always looked like scoring when going forward. We were immense today from front to back.
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true but we were terrible in those first ten, utterly terrible and were lucky to get through it. Hope we learn from it, we do often seem to take time to get into games.
 
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