Middlesbrough 1 - West Bromwich Albion 0

Date:	Friday 24th August 2018
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
Middlesbrough: 5.8
WBA: 4.8	Johnstone 6.0, Adarabioyo 4.8 (Dawson, 69 5.0), Bartley 5.6, Hegazi 4.4, Gibbs 5.7, Phillips 6.4, Livermore 4.9, Brunt 4.3, Barnes 6.7 (Morrison, 69 5.3), Rodriguez 5.6, Gayle 5.3 (Robson-Kanu, 83 4.4) Unused subs: Myhill, Burke, Barry, Field Manager: Darren Moore 4.7
Referee:	Darren England 4.3
Attendance:	22,906 Home Fans 4.2 Away Fans 7.6

Brendan Clegg:

The most painful result in the cruelest, almost inevitable way.

Lineup was fine, nobody could argue with the tactics after last week.

I thought they were the better team first half - they dealt with our formation, blocked Barnes out of the game and overran us. I hate Pulis but they were better on the ball. No excuses.

Second half we changed things about, had the better of it, controlled the game and might have snuck it.

Personally I thought we made our subs too early and I’d never have taken Barnes off.

The losing goal was criminal- I don’t actually think Brunt made contact although he tried to, Dawson was terrible, Hegazi was asleep and Bartley nowhere to be seen. Handball or not it was woeful and made worse by the fact it was probably the easiest free kick to defend against we faced all night.

Very frustrating and a shame that our madcap defenders with all their faults stood up well for most of the game and actually passed it out okay only to be let down by our midfield who had a poor day on the ball.

We need to do better and quickly.

Johnstone- 6 Looks championship to me. Try and catch the bloody ball please.
Tosin - 6 I’m not sure what the point was in changing him. Awkward, raw but promising.
Bartley - 6 Tremendous attitude, leadership and physicality. Just a rubbish footballer unfortunately.
Hegazi - 5 The usual bi-polar stuff. Brilliant then absolutely terrible.
Gibbs - 5 Didn’t think he was brave enough. Contributed but was contained.
Livermore - 5 An incredible lack of quality for a player in his prime. Shots are embarrassing, awareness is cringeworthy, instinct just isn’t there.
Brunt - 5 Reads the game better in there but struggles due to age and him not being a midfielder. Too many terrible shots or rushed/overhit passes.
Phillips - 6 Effort and discipline were there but nothing came off quality-wise and decision making wasn’t quite there.
Barnes - 6 All our best moments came through him even though they blocked him off. Some wasteful decisions.
JRod - 5 He works and some fleeting moments of quality but couldn’t hurt them with no pace.
Gayle - 5 A poor game with no service but his pace gave us chances.

Daws - 5 Did well enough but embarrassing for the goal.
Mozza - 6 Slow to get going and not sure Barnes should’ve made way but made 2 more incisive passes in 15 mins than anyone else in 90.
HRK - little impact