Stoke City legend Mike Pejic was fascinated by a mid-week tactical battle and how Mark Robins and his new-look squad will learn and respond

You normally see a 3-2 match described as a thriller but I thought Stoke City’s game on Tuesday night was fascinating. The tactics were really interesting and I sat transfixed and watched and tried to work out just how Middlesbrough were playing.

They were very brave in the way they played, their system and the way they went about their business with no fear. They were full of confidence against a Stoke team that had won five and drawn one of the previous six. It was commendable. Stoke have been on a great run, we were at home and for a team to come and do what they did you have to give them credit.

Stoke stuck in there too and it was a good game to be at, a good game to study – and I don’t think any other team will do what Middlesbrough did this season.

It might say on paper that Middlesbrough were using a 3-4-2-1 formation but in reality it looked like a 1-8-1. It was so difficult for Stoke to gain control in midfield – and over the last few weeks we have been saying just how good Stoke have been in that area with Djibril Soumare and Ethan Galbraith.

We know Stoke’s system. We had a back three of Graham, Wilmot and Johnson, Tchamadeu and Bocat as wing-backs, Soumare sitting, McGlynn and Galbraith just ahead, Junho somewhere, and Cisse up front. You could say that it was a 3-5-1 formation but I don’t really know where Junho was fitting in, whether he was supposed to be ahead of McGlynn and Galbraith or on the left.

Middlesbrough’s back three on the teamsheet said Malanda, Ashley Phillips and Ayling but Malanda and Ayling pushed into midfield and overloaded that area along with Brittain, Morris, Sarmiento, Borges, Berhalter and Cozier-Duberry. The trick of it was that they left one up front, Lankshear, and defended as a pack in the mid and defensive thirds.

Stoke found it really hard to get any kind of control in two thirds of the pitch. I haven’t seen a team do that for many a while.

I found the whole game really interesting from a tactical perspective. It was great to see those manoeuvres in the second division.

One possible solution was for Stoke to look at how we had three defenders on their one striker – and Lankshear is a poacher but not rapid. Graham and Wilmot should have handled him between the two of them. It took a while until we pushed Ben Johnson into a more advanced role. When Mark Robins used his subs we went with a back four and two up front that gave Middlesbrough something to think about and they had to change slightly.

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Junho was a little bit lost and Cisse was static. When you’ve got one-on-one up front, like we had with Cisse and Phillips, he needed to cause problems. He was always pushed up against him rather than coming deep and giving Stoke an extra number in that midfield. Junho could have linked more with McGlynn and Galbraith or he could have worked more with Cisse and mixed things up.

Cisse, through movement, and Junho, through his positional sense, were the two who needed to connect more with their teammates.

For all that, Stoke stuck at it and showed strong character.

You still have to dissect the goals that went in. For the opener you have to react in the penalty area. You have to be touch tight, marking shoulders and you can’t give an inch. We didn’t react quickly enough and if you give a yard they will take advantage. It was the same with our second goal, for Robert Bozenik, when we reacted quicker than they did.

Viktor Johansson will know he should have had sticky fingers for their second but defenders have to block the runners in anticipation of a loose ball. In those areas you have to be switched on, know your job and be skilled.

From the corner that won it, everybody comes out except the front man who has come back to try to help defend. It’s brutal but that’s what costs you the game. You’ve got to be careful with things inside your area because at this level, these things happen and they win and lose matches.

They were hard lessons to learn but it was commendable that we stayed with them for quite a period. Robins was right, we couldn’t have done last season.

We came back twice to make it 2-2 – and at 2-2 we should have been in unison saying 2-2 is how it will stay. Shut up shop, the message on and off the pitch. Let’s be grateful for the point and keep the good run going. You could drop one of your front two in or play separate channels, tuck your midfield in, tuck your back four in and take no risks. Leave them to it one-on-one in the channels and stay tight. It wasn’t to be.

The effort and togetherness were superb. We’ve got a good side this season and it looks like they are eager to get better. Players and staff will learn from this experience – now let’s hope they get the job done at Derby.