Ikeme - 5 - Really poor goalkeeping for the first goal IMO, shouldn't be rushing out like that. Apart from that he was ok. Couldn't do much about their 2nd and didn't have a massive amount to do apart from that. Boro were all over us but they're not the type of side to whip crosses into the box and every chance they had either hit the bar and flashed just wide/over.
Iorfa - 5.5 - Boro's front four of Bamford, Vossen, Tomlin and Adomah is a different type of test to anything Iorfa has come up against before and I think he struggled with his positioning at times. Luckily he's such a fantastic athlete that, unlike the central defenders inside him, when Boro worked the ball through his area he could make up ground and atone for his mistake. Boro's front 4 were pretty interchangeable but Tomlin spent the most time on the left and was the quietest of their attackers. Got himself in a mess with the ball at his feet once but just about managed to clear before Bamford could capitalise. Going forward he was as direct and forceful as ever but didn't really get at Friend like I thought he could have.
Batth - 3.5 - Really poor. Childish defending for the first goal, rushing towards the ball when Stearman fucked up. Bamford ran the game yesterday, a real top quality player and Batth had no answer. Seemed almost mystified by Bamford's movement off the ball. He was a degree clumsier last night than he usually is, peaking in what should've been one of the most blatant sending offs you'll ever see. Batth struggled to control a bouncing ball, swung his foot wildly as Vossen (I think) looked to nick the ball off him and ended up karate kicking him right in the chest. Real De Jong vs Spain stuff and he was very lucky to escape with a booking.
Stearman - 3.5 - The first goal was fairly shocking defending by the whole back 5 but Stearman really should've cut out the long ball before Bamford had the chance to pounce. He was all over the place in the first half, clearly rattled by our recent fuck ups in defence. Improved slightly in the second half but he was clearly outclassed by Bamford on the day. Like Batth, Stearman also should've seen red in the second half. The ball was played in behind him, Bamford had him beaten all ends up so Stears took him out as he went through on goal. Clearly denying a goal scoring opportunity but he also escaped with a booking. Perhaps saved by the fact that Batth ran diagonally across the ball about a second after the foul fooling the ref into thinking that he was covering (he wasn't IMO). The POTS elect needs to step up his game if we're going to make the play offs, he's been shocking recently.
Hause - 2 - It's easy to say that Kenny Jackett was wrong to drop Golbourne for this one and maybe he was, but as bad as Hause was yesterday Golbourne was just as poor vs Blues. IMO dropping Golbourne after his howler was the correct decision, just as the half time sub vs Boro was the correct decision. In the first half an hour it seemed like everything Hause did was wrong, he was beaten early on by Adomah and it clearly shook him.
Price - 5 - Didn't do a great deal tbh. Boro just completely bypassed our midfield in the first half and he was subbed half way through the second. I've a bit of sympathy for him as he had no help whatsoever from McDonald and at least he cut out the stupid passing from the Blues game.
McDonald - 3 - Gutless. Somebody drag this soft bastard to the barbers and then train him to breathe through his nose instead of mincing around with his mouth hanging open. He was bad vs Blues and even worse yesterday. The less said about his 'performance' the better.
van La Parra - 4.5 - Had a poor game but not a classic Rajiv 'everything but the final ball' bad game. He was simply marked out of it for long periods and not helped by the fact that we spent a lot of time in our own half defending. Really should've scored his chance, put it anywhere on target except straight at him and the keeper has no time to react to that.
Edwards - 5.5 - He was okay I suppose. Did well to set up Sako's goal. In a 4-2-3-1 he was almost completely anonymous and in a 4-4-2 he was consistently caught out of position.
Wasted a few opportunities by misplacing passes, getting tackled early or ballooning shots miles over.
Sako - 7 MOTM - In the first half it seemed like it was going to be another one of those games. Completely isolated and stuck up against 2 men, everything he tried failed. In the second half we improved down the left with the introduction of Golbourne and Sako was back to his best. Beating players for fun and causing havoc in the Boro defence. Good goal although the keeper should've kept it out.
Afobe - 5 - Not really in the game at all. Every time he got on the ball Boro got an early tackle in and didn't let him run. I prefer him as the deeper of the two forwards in a 4-4-2.
Golbourne - 7 - Back to his usual self. Linked up well with Sako, played a decent cross for Rajiv's miss and was solid enough defensively. Like the rest of our back 4 he struggled with Boro's attacking movement but coped with it slightly better than his teammates.
Dicko - 7 - Changed the game. He shouldn't have been dropped and should've been subbed on much earlier. Unlike some of the others you could see how much it meant to him, at full time he was furious.
Jacobs - 6 - Didn't have much time. Blazed one shot over the bar when we could've built an attack but apart from that he was ok.
