What a win. I genuinely would've probably taken a point if offered it before kick-off. Middlesbrough were in such good form and were seemingly almost impossible to score a goal against let alone beat. To come away from this game with 3 points is fantastic.
Absolutely immense defensive performance. I genuinely can't remember the last time we looked this solid defensively. Only conceded 4 goals in our last 8 games, 3 consecutive clean sheets, and this vulnerability we seemed to have for years from balls into our box, particularly from set-pieces, is a distant memory at the moment. Man of the match for me undoubtedly Hanley. Absolute unit at the back. Won every header, made some brilliant blocks and challenges. I criticised him a couple of times when he first came into the side, but in the last 5/6 games he has been fantastic. Gibson was also superb. One sloppy moment aside where he gave away the penalty, he looked composed on the ball and completely solid at the back. Ollie Skipp was also brilliant in the middle, really impressive. Aarons and Buendia also had very good games, Pukki improved us a fair bit when he came on as well I thought.
Has to be said though we really did have a let off with their penalty
poor play all-round from us not clearing the ball despite having a couple of opportunities to do so. Even when they showed replays at the time though it's hard to see if Tavernier did hit the ball onto his standing foot. I'd be pretty annoyed if that was given against us, but ultimately if he actually did take a 'double-touch' then the right call was made. Got away with one there though because it was all our own doing, and it actually seemed to spur us on a bit. Sorenson was also perhaps a bit lucky to still be on the pitch, don't think we could've had too many complaints if he'd got a 2nd yellow. Oh well
Another tough game up next against Stoke. I say it every week but it still feels like we've got another couple of gears we can go up, so let's hope we can keep improving and keep our unbeaten run going.