Other Games 2014-15

[Somniloquism]

A lot of people are also missing the brilliance of the first goal as well. Enough precision and pace from 20 yards to beat a top keeper like Neuer at his near post.

[usav]

Yep, agree with that as well.  In the commentary Neville said he gave him the eyes that he was going far post and then surprised him.  Not sure if that is true or not, but he certainly did something to beat him near post like that.

[peter w]

A lot of people are also missing the brilliance of the first goal as well. Enough precision and pace from 20 yards to beat a top keeper like Neuer at his near post.

the key was how quickly he got the ball and hit it. It gave the keeper little time to get set. That he hit it so well also kind of helped.

[Dr Butler]

my best friend is unwell at the moment and he is a big Middlesbrough fan.....he also has a soft spot for us unless we are playing them, so tonight I will cheering them on...

Come on Boro for my good mate Daz !

UTV
The Doc

[Chris Jameson]

For possibly the first time since they played Ipswich in 1981 I'll be rooting for Boro, my brother is going to be working with them and could do with them in the Premier League.

[CJ]

Was there some sort of draw to decide who would play on Friday night/Saturday lunchtime, or are the powers that be taking the piss by scheduling Middlesbrough/Brentford (250 miles apart) for Friday evening and Norwich/Ipswich (45 miles apart) for Saturday lunchtime?

[cdbearsfan]

It was decided before they knew which teams would be involved.

http://www.football-league.co.uk/news/article/2015/dates-for-sky-bet-football-league-play-offs-confirmed-2323292.aspx

[CJ]

Ah ok

[Percy McCarthy]

The reason I rate Messi above Ronaldo is that Ronaldo should be a better player. He's got the pace and physique to score so many kinds of goals. He's great in the air and can and does use that  to score, he can out-run people to score, bulldoze past people to score, and use skill to score. All Messi has got is unbelievable skill, and yet I think he's scored more.

I'm willing to bet he's well ahead on assists.

[Risso]

The reason I rate Messi above Ronaldo is that Ronaldo should be a better player. He's got the pace and physique to score so many kinds of goals. He's great in the air and can and does use that  to score, he can out-run people to score, bulldoze past people to score, and use skill to score. All Messi has got is unbelievable skill, and yet I think he's scored more.

I'm willing to bet he's well ahead on assists.

I think it's almost impossible to separate them.  The unbelievable skill of Messi versus the pace and power and still a huge amount of skill from Ronaldo.  If either of them scored any more goals the universe would probably implode or something.  I would expect you're right about the assists, but then Ronaldo has done it in the Premier League.  The one thing neither can really claim is that they've carried their country to glory like Pele or Maradona.

[Rudy65]

The reason I rate Messi above Ronaldo is that Ronaldo should be a better player. He's got the pace and physique to score so many kinds of goals. He's great in the air and can and does use that  to score, he can out-run people to score, bulldoze past people to score, and use skill to score. All Messi has got is unbelievable skill, and yet I think he's scored more.

I'm willing to bet he's well ahead on assists.

I think it's almost impossible to separate them.  The unbelievable skill of Messi versus the pace and power and still a huge amount of skill from Ronaldo.  If either of them scored any more goals the universe would probably implode or something.  I would expect you're right about the assists, but then Ronaldo has done it in the Premier League.  The one thing neither can really claim is that they've carried their country to glory like Pele or Maradona.

Never convinced Pele carried his country to WC glory like Maradonna did

[cdbearsfan]

Only Maradona can really claim to have carried his country to glory. Brazil would've won the 1958 World Cup without him, as they proved in 1962 when they won it again with virtually the same team while Edson was injured. The 1970 team in considered, arguably, the greatest national team ever so, again, I reckon they'd have won it without him.

I'm struggling to think of too many Argentinian players in the 1986 competition other than Diego. He basically won it on his own.

[spangley1812]

0 -1 .........Boro - Vossen, against the run of play I reckon

[lovejoy]

Only Maradona can really claim to have carried his country to glory. Brazil would've won the 1958 World Cup without him, as they proved in 1962 when they won it again with virtually the same team while Edson was injured. The 1970 team in considered, arguably, the greatest national team ever so, again, I reckon they'd have won it without him.

I'm struggling to think of too many Argentinian players in the 1986 competition other than Diego. He basically won it on his own.

He did something similar with Napoli as well.

[Matt Collins]

I think messi is absolutely miles ahead on assists

He also doesn't sulk or refuse to celebrate when a team mate scores instead of him