Kayal/Stephens

London Irish · Dec 20, 2015

Our two big stars of the seasons, outplayed in midfield for the second game in a row. This for me is the big worry of yesterday, they looked very tired and out of ideas.

Obviously fatigue is a massive factor as Karanka rightly pointed to, more mental than physical.

Hope the Irish lad can provide some back up for times like this to come.

Sussex Nomad · Dec 20, 2015

Stephens got the sponsor MoM and for me Kayal was a level above most of our team. Were they outplayed? Do we have stats? Because I certainly did not see it on the eye.

Perhaps we should just accept as a collective, that Boro were a better team on the day? Even CH has said that we didn't do much that differently. I'm happy to go with his assessment.

Hugo Rune · Dec 20, 2015

They weren't outplayed by any means at all. Were you at the game? Boro played round us and kept the ball away from the centre (great tactics). Those who had a poor game were either on the flanks, up front or in the centre of midfield. Check out the performance scores, can't see anyone scoring those two low.

martin tyler · Dec 20, 2015

They looked tired I agree and they need competition in there. Clayton, lead bitter and downing were all good for boro in there. They were an incredibly strong and athletic side. However My take on the game was they got their noses in front early then made themselves incredibly compact and hard to break down. We had 14 shots 2 on target and 1 good chance. They had 5 efforts 4 on target and scored 3.
They were clinical in front of goal and squeezed the life out of us and deserved their win. But I don t think it was lost in the middle of the park

nwgull · Dec 20, 2015

I don't think that they were outplayed by their opposite men, either yesterday or Tuesday. The noticeable thing about Middlesbrough, was that they were so well organised without the ball. It was rare that we managed to get a player into a dangerous position without him being surrounded by 2-3 red shirts. The stats back this up: 62% possession, but I only remember one serious save from their 'keeper.

Sussex Nomad · Dec 20, 2015

I had no idea we had 14 shots, felt like about 2 or maybe 3?

seagullwedgee · Dec 20, 2015

Because almost all of our games have gone to last minute, Kayal and Stephens are having to play full 100 minute games every week, sometimes twice a week, and sometimes three times a week. They are knackered. If we had established decent leads in recent games perhaps we could have given them 20 minutes off here or there, but that ain't been the case. Boro on the other hand have six clean sheets on th bounce, no injuries, and so I suspect Leadbitter and Clayton have been able to be rested just occasionally. I though their pairing looked much more energetic than ours, and I'm not surprised. If anyone was really off the pace though it was Crofts, looked very rusty.

Hampster Gull · Dec 20, 2015

They werent outplayed in my book but didnt dominate the centre either. Seemed equally matched but Boro exploited the wings and were jsut a but better in most other positions

stss30 · Dec 20, 2015

Outplayed? Nonsense, they were playing 2vs3 and both have played virtually every minute this season so were tired after 2 very tough away games.

Brighton Mod · Dec 20, 2015

Kayal worked hard and was the one with the ideas, I feel sometimes that Stephens needs a first and second touch and given his height he is some times reticent to challenge. Tired no, neither of them yesterday, overrun most definitely, Murphy and van Parra did not work anywhere near hard enough in defending and continually made the wrong choices going forward, this led to Bruno being caught out of position a lot of the time with neither Murphy or van Parra adequately covering.
Kayal and Stephens are a good pairing, but not as good as some suggest on here.

J2 DOG · Dec 20, 2015

They were not outplayed whatsoever! Like so many fans, the big picture is too much for some people to understand. We were not good enough in areas other than central midfield. I would rather have Kayal and Stephens over Clayton and Leadbitter.

atomised · Dec 20, 2015

2 tough away games in a week with an injury ravaged squad and little strength in depth along side coming up against boro who were fired up to finish our run is why we lost. We go again on boxing day

Not Andy Naylor · Dec 20, 2015

seagullwedgee said:
Because almost all of our games have gone to last minute, Kayal and Stephens are having to play full 100 minute games every week, sometimes twice a week, and sometimes three times a week. They are knackered. If we had established decent leads in recent games perhaps we could have given them 20 minutes off here or there, but that ain't been the case. Boro on the other hand have six clean sheets on th bounce, no injuries, and so I suspect Leadbitter and Clayton have been able to be rested just occasionally. I though their pairing looked much more energetic than ours, and I'm not surprised. If anyone was really off the pace though it was Crofts, looked very rusty.

Agreed. we need a plan B in midfield, and neither Ince (although I'm a big admirer) nor Crofts have looked like a viable alternative recently. Three in midfield has to be an option at times, so maybe Towell will be a factor.

Seasidesage · Dec 20, 2015

Thought they were a bit outgunned yesterday although for me it was more tactical than anything. I was a little surprised that we went 4-4-2 rather than playing 3 in midfield, given that Murphy has been off the pace lately and Boro are very strong in that area. That said Crofts wasn't fit and Ince didn't exactly make a big case for inclusion at Derby. It highlights the need for reinforcements in January...

perseus · Dec 20, 2015

J2 DOG said:
They were not outplayed whatsoever! Like so many fans, the big picture is too much for some people to understand. We were not good enough in areas other than central midfield. I would rather have Kayal and Stephens over Clayton and Leadbitter.

They could be more creative if we had an additional midfielder (arguable).

Opposition can pass around a 4-1-4-1 though. So I don't really hold with taking off a striker and putting on a midfielder. Much better to take off a winger and go to 4-2-3-1. Rohan Ince looks out of place this season.

trueblue · Dec 20, 2015

They looked a bit knackered at 3-0 down, that's all. Didn't think they were outplayed at all.

crasher · Dec 20, 2015

Thought they both played well actually, considering the overall game. I certainly don't agree that they were outplayed.

But it was noticeable how deep Kayal had to start dropping to get the ball, we didn't cope that well with Boro's high pressing. If I'd been manager (ha-ha) I'd have taken off VLP, brought on an extra midfielder and moved Murphy behind the front two. But what do I know?

Billy the Fish · Dec 20, 2015

Boro were strong and well organised. Every time we had possession in our half there were two banks of red shirts to play through.

We didn't turn the ball around quick enough and certainly not ass quick as we have done in previous games. The whole team looked knackered, to blame the two CMs is just lazy analysis.

Icy Gull · Dec 20, 2015

Not Andy Naylor said:
Agreed. we need a plan B in midfield, and neither Ince (although I'm a big admirer) nor Crofts have looked like a viable alternative recently. Three in midfield has to be an option at times, so maybe Towell will be a factor.

Bridcutt would make a lot of sense IMO. I can forgive, looking at the bigger picture.

thedonkeycentrehalf · Dec 20, 2015

Seems to be a bit of criticism out there for Murphy at the moment. My take on it is that he is having to provide more cover for Calde than he did with Bong or Rosenior which is affecting his game.

Nothing against Calde, but we don't look as balanced as we have before the injuries which makes it harder for the midfield pairing. Yesterday I thought we ignored too many chances to play the ball left which made it much easier for Boro to defend as they only had to worry about 3/4s of the pitch.

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