Stoke City v BORO
bet365 Stadium, Stanley Matthews Way, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 4EG
19h45, Tuesday 25th February 2025
SKY SPORTS+
|
|
Played |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
PTS |
POS'n |
|
BORO |
33 |
12 |
8 |
13 |
51 |
45 |
44 |
13th |
|
Stoke City |
33 |
8 |
11 |
14 |
33 |
44 |
35 |
19th |
Early on in the Bristol City thread, John Richardson referred to the Crisis? What Crisis? that is the way things are starting to look like for Boro. I replied as the optimistic Dreamer that wouldn’t it be great if the Boro could pull off the Crime of the Century, Even in the Quietest Moment at Ashton Gate. Well, if it wasn’t a crisis before the match, it certainly had become one by the end of the game. I must have been Crazy to imagine this Boro team was going to Take the Long Way Home with any points, let alone all three. As is usual for the Boro these days, despite us taking the lead, there was A Sting in the Tail for the faithful as our hapless non-defensive approach gifted the Ever Open Door for all comers to glide through and then nice and Easy Does It, one goal, then two. I have to say, if we are going to continue to play in Slow Motion and not even Give a Little Bit of passion then it is always going serve us Bloody Well Right.
There are probably more people out there that think I should be locked away in an Asylum having ridiculous fantasies like that. Certainly Mrs. Powmill and Powmill Junior think so.
Now, as I sit down to write something of a prelude to the upcoming game in the Potteries on Tuesday I must say it feels a little like I am having to compose a bit of a Fool’s Overture. Normally I would like to introduce our opponents and maybe provide a little research on their origins, their nicknames, their form, the head to head record… I don’t have the heart. To be honest with you, I thought this is Not the Moment for us to be concerned so much about Stoke City, but to hope and pray, Surely, Times Have Changed and that From Now On we are going to enjoy Better Days.
But Remember, this is the Boro we are talking about here and we know It Doesn’t Matter how often we implore them Get Your Act Together that Some Things Never Change. We know that on Tuesday it will be Just a Normal Day and almost certainly while we desperately want to know It’s Alright, we will have to accept that It’s Raining Again. We are becoming conditioned to being Broken Hearted, with Michael Carrick’s pre and post match comments starting to sound a little like A Soapbox Opera and leaving us wondering Brother, Where You Bound?
Come on Boro. Surely (reprise), Sooner or Later the results will come and Little by Little we will climb back up the table. It seems like we have all been Waiting So Long now to see you put some consistency together. We want to see that Where There’s a Will you will get back up and Try Again to put the best the coaches School you in to telling effect.
For everyone who will be taking refuge behind the couch at match time, I understand why you want to Hide in Your Shell, otherwise you are likely to end up as Just Another Nervous Wreck. Will the result on Tuesday get Indelibly Stamped onto our collective memory as the game our season turned around, with us all Still in Love with Boro. Or, is it more likely that we will come away with Nothing to Show, observing to the Potter from Stoke that You Win, I Lose ?
That’s really good, Powmill! I only know a couple of Supertramp songs, so most of these are new to me, but you have inspired me to have a listen on Spotify!
This game is absolutely crucial, although it probably doesn’t feel that way. Win it, as we really must, then we get back within 4 points of the playoff spots. It’s realistic to think that making up even those four points for Boro right now would be very difficult, but there’s a slim chance. The Stoke game is the first in a kindly run of six against teams struggling at the wrong end of the table; pick up 13 or 14 points against that lot and we might shoot up the table and back into some sort of contention. So a confidence-boosting start to that sequence is critical.
A draw would be of little use to us, except to stop the rot, but another loss does not bear thinking about. That really would mean the end of our season, leave Carrick on an even more slippery slope and would probably spark a toxic reaction from the crowd on Saturday against Derby. It could also seriously impact season card sales.
On paper, we should beat Stoke. But this is now Mark Robins’ side, and we all know how he has got the better of us in recent times. It will probably be (because it always is) a freezing, wintry and very likely damp Tuesday evening in Stoke. What could possibly go wrong?
Ah, Powmill,
Into the darkness a ribbon of black... a metaphor for Boro's results.
The first change must be how the coach thinks and works but I feel that the trouble is that the dogmatic and stubborn approach will be applied yet again and it will be cold and pouring down in Stoke too.
We all need to be suitably numb. A few IPA's won't do it!
UTB,
John
Thank you @clive-hurren .
I might recommend the album Even in the Quietest Moments, though any of the albums while Roger Hodgson was with the band are very easy to listen to.
@john-richardson ... and if Boro get promoted this season, then I am sure pigs will fly ..
@powmillnaemore There's a very good documentary about Supertramp somewhere in the Sky Arts archive, they were a good, if not great band, torn apart by disagreements. All the usual reasons in fact!
Strangely Sue and I lived in Battersea next to the Park and saw them preparing the 'Flying Pig' photo session and now when we drive to the garage we go right past the site of The Division Bell photo session with Ely Cathedral in the background. Useless information I know.
Didn't the inflatable pig break loose and become a hazard to aircraft?
Anyway back to football and what surprises/horrors will Boro serve up next? Must check the Marton Oracle. Predict the result? Me? 'Yer 'avin a laff'.
UTB,
John
Thanks for the opener Powmill and very impressive task to work in all those song titles - though as a former Goth I must confess to only knowing two Supertramp songs and only one of them was in there 🤔
So I'll only add that Boro's season is starting to look like a dog's breakfast in America - not to be confused with Doge breakfast in America, which is of course far worse and hard to swallow!
Boro must simply win tomorrow and then continue to do so if we are going to have anything meaningful left to wonder over in the coming weeks...
I believe the flying pig belonged to Pink Floyd and yes it did cause flights to be cancelled at Heathrow 🙈
Thanks PNM for a brilliantly crafted starter, you really are a Super Trooper.
I Have a Dream that tomorrow night could be our Waterloo. The Winner Takes it All but unfortunately it won’t be Boro in the Money Money Money. 😎
@werdermouth I believe they had a sharpshooter there in case it broke free, that didn't work then!
maybe he was telling porkies about being a sharp shooter…
or maybe he was a no show and the band called him to say wish you were here....maybe he was telling porkies about being a sharp shooter…
Time for me to collect my coat I think!
Somehow the fact that Boro plays away at Stoke tomorrow evening does NOT fill me with joy. It will be a bit of a job for me to find any enthusiasm for the game. But we live in hope and maybe things will get better (though I'll not hold my breath).
And thanks, @Powmill-Naemore for the starter piece. It's a lot better than the football has been for quite some time now. Though that wouldn't be a high bar to cross! Let's keep our fingers crossed that the team will somehow improve...
@powmillnaemore Many thanks for that musical education of an opener. Let’s hope our team aren’t out of tune tomorrow night.
Much as we’re all a bit despondent at the moment, I’ve got a feeling that a much needed win at Stoke would spark our enthusiasm again and maybe, just maybe, have us look at the stars of play off heaven rather than the gloom of mid table ennui.
Forgive me, I’ve done a bit of physical work this morning and it may have affected my outlook in a positive way. I’ll go and have a lie down.
Thanks Powmill. I enjoyed your piece, written with your typical verve and ingenuity. I'm afraid that, owing to my own ignorance, I wasn't too familiar with many of your references.
Still enjoyed it though but.
Thank you Powmill that was a very welcome bit of fun!
As Boro seem to be going backwards, perhaps MC should be quoting The Logical Song: "Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned, I know it sounds absurd, please tell me who I am".
Anyway we live in hope that they rediscover some form and keep the season alive with a win!
UTB
Powmill many thanks for alleviating the stress and putting a different spin on the music facing Boro tomorrow evening. So it could be “Goodbye Stranger” “Take the long way home” for Carrick tomorrow evening if Boro get beaten and drop even further down the table.
I must confess that I’ve stopped watching the pre and post match pressers given by Carrick and that’s a bad sign for me, as the only other times I’ve stopped doing that previously has resulted in a change of manager. Now that could be my “Famous last words” but I’ve supposed as you’ve already said we have to “Give a little bit.!”
If we win tomorrow we will all be saying “Crisis what crisis”
Your preview was a very clever and imaginative piece of work and I congratulate you, well done.
Turning to the Marton Oracle “Even in the Quietest Moments”
Quote
Seek above all for a game worth playing- such is the advice of the oracle to modern man.
Stoke 0 Boro 1
OFB
@original-fat-bob - I've always thought you were a Man of Faith.
News...and I'll leave it to you to work out of it is good or bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zurNjqqHeuM
Lathe Lath had a fantastic start for Atlanta scoring twice in a 3-2 win in front of 65,000 people. First goal was a superb header. He outjumped much bigger players to score from a corner. Second was a poacher's goal. He looked really sharp.
At the same time, Engel apparently had a very good game for FC Cincinnati.
I thought about this and decided that I was pleased for both of them. They always gave us maximum effort.
UTB
Brilliant Headliner Powmill, well worked to great effect.
There was also a lot of thought put into it to keep the flow of song titles going throughout the article. Many thanks for that.
Well on to the game itself. Forget Carrick, do the players themselves actually believe that they can win in Stoke this evening. They are not yet out of the mire and Robbins will have them playing against Boro’s many weaknesses.
I just do not have a clue as to what Carrick may or may not do. In reality I do not believe that he has a clue as what to do to get us a win and prolong the agony that this season has turned into.
Like OFB, I think many of us on here have given up on any change in the current state of play.
In the end we can only be a: “dreamer, nothing but a dreamer”
Thank you for the starter, P-N. It was facinating and funny. It also made me going back to the Spotify, and I found some gems I had forgotten. Well done, mate.
I think we played a little bit better at Bristol. At least we scored and were able to create a little bit. City looked a good side but we were not that much behind. Borges had the best match of his career at Boro so far, and I like Fry now when he is fullt fit. He should be the captain of his home team, too.
I hope that we might be seeing Ben Gibson again at Stoke. On Saturday though, Club Captain Ben Gibson join Lynden Gooch, Eric Bocat, Ryan Mmaee, Sol Sidibe and Josh Wilson-Esbrand in being unavailable due to injury.
So no family gathering for our Chairman today. I hope he will get a win for a change. We have such a good team and depth in player material, we should start getting some results next.
As ever, I hope for a win. 1-2 with Fry and Whittaker scoring. Up the Boro!
Would it be nuts to bring McLaren in, just to be another set of eyes and voice, I think Carrick whether he thinks he does or not looks to me like he's in neutral
@jarkko - Your list shows that Boro is far from the only club that has suffered from injury problems, so "injuries" cannot be the explanation/excuse for the team's performances.
Good video, thanks! Shows what we’re already missing from ELL.
And that must have been Brad Guzan in goal for Atlantic!
EXMIL CHALLENGE 2025
Call me the eternal optimist or I wear “Rose tinted glasses “ but I have drawn up the next 4 fixtures for the top 9 and if Boro win tonight they will be at least 10th= therefore the challenge will be on, any other result then the challenge will be scrapped for another season.
Come on BORO.
Thanks to everyone for the kind comments on my opening piece. I felt everything that needed to be said about the Boro's current state of affairs had been covered in so many posts recently, especially following the Watford and Bristol City games. Everyone was starting to sound quite resigned to the ever deepening spiral of depression that is engulfing the Boro faithful that I didn't have the heart to write anything that could have exacerbated that, or even trying to add a new perspective. So, I abandoned the ideas I had already drafted and picked up on that 'Crisis? What Crisis?' theme that John R had introduced early in the Bristol thread. I must say, I quite enjoyed looking up all Supertramp's song titles and then weaving them into a text that hopefully did still make sense, especially in a kind of "Well, this is typical Boro" kind of way and that hopefully lightened the mood a little.
However, it is beginning to feel serious again now. Lose tonight and even if it might still be mathematically possible, it will be extremely unlikely we could end up in the play off frame. The trouble is, it feels that we are certain to lose tonight. Mark Robbins most certainly understands how to beat MC's Boro.
Robbins took the helm in the Potteries on 1st January, since which they have played in 9 Championship fixtures, winning in 2, drawing 4 and losing 3. All of the defeats have been away from home, all the draws at home with one win at home and one away. They did also draw at home to Cardiff in the FA Cup (although losing the penalty shootout) and remarkably beat Sunderland away in the previous round. Why is it that I am becoming less and less optimistic the further I get into this post?
I will take it on the chin if (when?) we lose tonight, but only if I witness a group of players actually showing some enthusiasm for the challenge and giving it a good go. Possession football would be OK, if played at pace, but I worry we will be our usual ponderous selves, with not enough movement off the ball and ultimately gifting what is sure to be a high pressing energetic opposition not one but multiple gilt edged chances.
I would take a lucky win tonight, against the run of play, but I simply can't see it happening. Please Boro, let me be wrong and show us all that MC and you players as a collective do have what it takes to win at this level.
I have to say, I think I might well be one of those behind the couch tonight, hiding in my shell.
Good post Powmill and thanks to Selwyn for the excellent video link.
I'm pleased for Latte Lath. He gave 100% effort and plenty of memorable goals throughout his time with us. He deserves to do well, I wish him well and I'll follow his progress with interest.
@gt Would you swap the warm sunny beaches of Jamaica for the cold dismal pitches of Rockcliffe.
Small fly in the ointment "if boro win"
Team News...
Emundson in for Rav (not in squad) with Azaz and Forss starting ahead of Burgzorg and Iheanacho
