saintant

To be fair I think Boro were in a bit of a false position and they'll soon be above us. Rotherham, on the other hand, candy from a baby is how it should have gone.

Maybe time to accept we are at about our level with the players and coaching set up we have. I think if we were all that in the Championship we'd have demonstrated it in numerous games by now. We're average at best.

Let's remember they are taught to play this way in every training session and it's not going to change anytime soon.

That stat proves the process is working. The result is unimportant.

My guess would be that the half time chat was along the lines of 'keep the ball, pass them to death and they'll tire and allow us to pick them off.

No embarrassing 3 fist pumps today. Think he needs to drop that to be honest.

Not good enough but it seems we had enough chances but failed to take all but one of them. That will be RM's message and I guess it's hard to argue with him.

The natives will be getting restless again. All self inflicted.

Yes, this really should have been a very comfortable 3 points.

Need big Ross fit asap to lead the line.

No. Probably won't have much choice though.

Oh dear. Anything other than 3 points today will be a real disappointment.

Not able to watch today. Sounds like we battered them and played some good stuff. Well done lads and now an early second goal after half time would give us the breathing space to go on and win comfortably.

I think Leicester will forge ahead and it will be a race for the other automatic promotion spot. They are clearly far superior to any other team in the Championship and I doubt they'll lose many games over the season.

I think managers need a mix and should be able to dish out the hair drier treatment to show players when they are angry with a performance. Ferguson could do it but was also able to show both sides from what Man Utd players have said about him. There is a danger in being too soft that can lead to losing respect so a happy medium needs to be found. Maybe RM is tougher in private which is fair enough because that's where the bollockings should be handed out.

Should be one of our easier games so I'd give Bree a try at right back and switch KWP to the left. I've not been impressed by Manning who gives the ball away in dangerous areas far too often.

Aside from the most biased Stoke fans Andy Hinchcliffe was the only person watching that game who thought the Downes incident deserved a penalty. He made a fool of himself banging on about it.

If we can get Stewart fit and firing he could be the key to this team kicking on. Tonight we had no real presence up front and it led to many of our attacks breaking down. We are lacking an intelligent centre forward who makes clever runs and I think he will make us look a much better side once he has a few games under his belt. We had some good build up play tonight but were crying out for someone with a bit of nous further up the field.

Are the fans responsible for the last 2 wins on the bounce?

Baz was decent again tonight apart from one scare when he dashed out to clear and kicked it against a Stoke player. Dealt with everything that came his way and distribution was excellent. Not keen on a few of his floaty passes to Manning who isn't great when he has to hurry.

THB I hardly noticed which is often the sign of a good player. I think he'll be first pick out of our centre backs even when Stephens is fit again. Didn't think Mara was really, really bad - there looks to be a player in there and he did a few decent things but he should have at least worked the keeper with his chance.

Downes was superb tonight. He did exactly what he was meant to and that would have been a comfortable win if others had played to his level tonight.

Not sure he was biased. Stoke continually made niggly fouls and their crowd howled every time we received a free kick. It looked worse than it was because they made so many fouls.

Handbags now!

Downes was best player on the pitch.