Felled By Forest: A Wake-Up Call
IF BORO needed a timely wake-up call this was it.
And it was far better the reality check came with a cup defeat than losing in the league.
The league - and promotion - is the only thing that matters this season. Politically, culturally and economically a swift return to Premiership status must be the only focus.
In that sense the defeat at Forest and avoiding the potential distraction of three of four more games before going out to the first of the Big Four we meet is "a good thing."
This season was never going to be like 1997/98 when a club fired up with righteous anger and with a whiff of WemBoroley in their nostrils were going straight back to the Twin Towers. A point proving cup run was never on the cards.
And that is not just a question of sour grapes and retrospective spinning for the sake of short term damage limitation.
It is not that defeat doesn't hurt because it does, especially in a game that should and could have been wrapped up long before Forest - a team that was efficient and industrious and determined but far from sparkling - wriggled off the hook on the hour.
The turning point came when Jeremie Aliadiere latched onto a slip by Forest defender Gunter to skip clear into the box and with only the keeper to beat blazed his shot over the bar from 12 yards. Normal service had been resumed.
It was a moment like Stewart Downing's penalty miss at Sunderland, a split second that reprieved and revived a second best side who stepped up several gears and suddenly Boro could not match them for tempo and intensity.
But the extra-time exit to an average Championship side is also "a good thing" because of the acutely sensitive timing of the reality check. Had Boro won easily - and that looked likely until the hour mark - and continued what has been an impressive start to the campaign then maybe the powers that be at the Riverside may have been persuaded that the current squad was big enough and good enough to bounce straight back.
It may have encouraged the club to take a risk with the transfer window looming and not bring in reinforcements. In fact, the game showed that with even just a few changes to the starting XI that Boro are only just a fraction ahead of the Championship crowd.
That unless they can score goals when they are on top once again we will be talking about losing games that should have been in the bag.
It showed that the Boro squad is too thin, too light and painfully thin in key areas to sustain a gruelling campaign in which they will have to hack through a dozen Forests... and that is before any crucial elements are stripped down and sold off as the window looms.
The players that came in were not as good as those they replaced. Andrew Taylor and Justin Hoyte are not as solid, disciplined, strong in the tackle or as imposing as Jonathan Grounds and Tony McMahon and the back line did not look as confident or composed as the one that had kept four clean sheets, especially late on when Forest through everything forward.
And Aliadiere may have his strengths - pace, close control, neat link up play 30 yards out - but one of them is not clinical finishing. His match defining miss on the hour was the moment the game slipped away and it is hard to believe that Lita - or any of the Forest forwards - would have failed to hit the target. Even Alves would have hit the keeper.
Boro are clearly short if they can not make even just a few changes without damaging the dynamic, the balance and ability to finish off games when not firing on all cylinders.
Maybe after a flurry of games the team were jaded. Maybe a few more could have done with a rest. Leroy Lita had played three full games in eight days after no pre-season and should have been given a break, if he were a boxer Marvin Emnes would not have been allowed back to action for 28 days after being KOd by Neil Sullivan and Mark Yeates seems to have lost some of his impressive early fizz. Boro don't have that option.
At a crucial point in the game Forest brought a flurry of forwards on, seasoned physical battlers like Dele Adebola and Nathan Tyson, while Boro responded with Jonathan Franks and Joe Bennett... and then played them out of position. Franks is a converted midfielder thrown up front while full-back Bennett was drafted into midfield, a stopgap solution that was far from ideal.
We've been here before: last August gaffer Gareth Southgate picked up the manager of the month award after a solid start before the fatal flaws in a paper thin squad revealed themselves and ushered in a season of terminal struggle.
The Forest defeat should be a wake up call for the club. Any illusions that this squad is big enough or good enough have been shattered.
The economic agenda has been dominated by urgent need for exits before the transfer window and most supporters understand that harsh reality only too well - but equally the knowledgeable crowd can see that if the team is to a be a viable promotion prospect then it needs arrivals before the deadline too.
This promising team is crying out for a Plan B up front in the shape of a bustling, physical target man. It may have given Boro an extra option when chasing the game at Forest. Or even a Plan A. Aliadiere's missed sitter pointed the finger at Boro's unresolved glaring problem from last season - they lack a clinical edge in front of goal.
We can't rely on a double marked left winger being the main hope of a goal every week this season. We've been there and it got us nowhere.
And the team is also crying out for another central midfielder. We have industry and grit, tackling and some neat passing but there is little in the way of creative magic. When available and at his best Gary O'Neil may offer that at this level. Julio Arca does not.
At Forest there was no Tuncay coming off the bench - and we'd better get used to that - and it left us woefully short of options to change the shape, tempo or style of play.
Let's hope the powers that be hear the wake up call. The deadline is looming. Yes, people may have to leave - but it is just as imperitive that people arrive too if Boro are to make good on their promotion promise.
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Anthony Vickers
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Totally Typical Boro. Undefeated, no goals conceded and who then goes and beats us, Nottingham Bl**dy Forest. Why canâÂÂt we beat them!! We have two more cracks at them this season, surely we will beat them once? Probably not.
Whilst the results have been encouraging so far we can all see the flaws in the squad. But we are in The Championship and every club has them too. Putting parochial aims to one side IâÂÂd rather we lost in the cup and maintain the league momentum. Then comes the deadline and our seasons prospects will become clearer. Front runner or also ran?
Nothing more to add AV you took the words out of my mouth. For the second goal I couldnt believe I thought Hoyte had actually given up,
well said Ant.
Don't wants to sound negative but the team must show what they are made of at Ashton Gate.
You were absolutely right, AV. "We've been here before: last August gaffer Gareth Southgate picked up the manager of the month award after a solid start before the fatal flaws in a paper thin squad revealed themselves and ushered in a season of terminal struggle."
"And the team is also crying out for another central midfielder." This is very urgent. But where is Walker?
Latest from our strikers: "Mohamed Zidan, Amr Zaki and Ahmed 'our Mido!!' Hossam have all been omitted from the Egyptian line-up for the 2010 World Cup qualifier in Kigali", says BBC. So our Mido doesn't fit in to Egyptian team either as he has not scored a goal this season.
Up the Boro!
The Forest result hopefully will do just what AV has suggested it must and be a reality check.
We've had a great start to the season but undoubtedly that has been down to three or four players who give us that extra bit of quality. If one or two of them leave before next Tuesday the season could take on a different complexion. If they stay, they wont be available for 46 league games.
The squad needs beefing up in order to be able to sustain a promotion challenge.
I'm enjoying the season so far but at the front of my mind is Reading last season. They started off like a train and somewhere along the way got de-railed.
We need to keep Huth, Wheater, O'Neil and Johnson and add a striker and midfield player. Perhaps we could raffle off Aliadiere, a light weight if ever there was one, a player who looks good but delivers little.
Good blog AV... but don't hold your breath waiting for new signings. The best we can hope for if Alves and Tuncay go is one replacement. Step forward Danny Webber.
As for a decent central midfielder, how long has almost all the posters to this blog been asking for one of them. Wait for GS to be saying we have what we have.
C'Mon Boro!
Here we go again - Southgate and his lame excuses. Played well for an hour... where have we heard this before? Why change a winning team? Confidence needs restoring.
"Boss Gareth Southgate has called for a reaction from his Middlesbrough side after the Teessiders lost their unbeaten start to the season with a 2-1 defeat to Coca-Cola Championship rivals Nottingham Forest in the Carling Cup.
"After a stalemate against Sheffield United on the opening day of the campaign, Boro arrived at the City Ground on the back of a three-game winning run and yet to concede a goal this season.
"Boro travel to Ashton Gate to face Bristol City at the weekend and Southgate said: "We've got to move on very quickly and make sure we show we can react to a defeat because Bristol City are one of the teams that are going to be up there or thereabouts.
"A record like that is going to go at some point and I would rather it be tonight than Saturday. "We wanted to have a go and that's why we fielded a strong team because we wanted to maintain that momentum. "I felt we did that because we started for an hour very well - it was as good as we've passed the ball all season."
WE GOT BEAT THROUGH THE SAME OLD FAILINGS, WE MUST PLAY FOR 90 MINS
So Boro conceded the first goals this season and were defeafed AET. As GS said last night we would have got a draw if this had been a 90 minute league match down there. I heard we had chances to win the game.
So there is something to learn from this game. We must be more lethal in games where we are the better team. So the real first test comes at Ashton Gate next weekend. How we respond to the defeat at Nottm Forest? A really interesting game in hand. Hope for the best! Up the Boro!
I agree, it kind of puts the Boro 'squad' into perspective and gives us a glimpse at what a injury hit team in December might look like.
We probably have a good first XI but when the quality of O'Neil, Digard and Tuncay are missing and the back four line-up is disrupted we are looking a bit average.
Ali is not a striker (though i'm not sure what he is) as he lacks a striker's instinct but perhaps we should add him to the list of our luxury players that nobody seems to want to buy - anyway, we need to pick up a couple of strikers before the week is out if Tuncay leaves.
It should also persuade SG not to sell Huth, Wheater or O'Neil - still at least it saves us from being demoralised by PL opposition in later rounds.
AV:
The tenor and pitch of this article is perfectly judged. On the back of the Forest result, you've accurately highlighted what the issues are at Boro/MFC.
A highly relevant, well-timed piece of opportunistic and incisive journalism. An excellent piece. I don't feel I should even try to add any value to this other than competely endorse what you've said.
The concern is, of course, that although these issues have been recognised for some considerable time, we've left it too late to do anything about it - because of the financial constraints, however they've been imposed.
Either that, or it's another piece of top level over-estimation of squad-capability judgment, or "too much listening to our own internal hype", that has plagued the club for the past three years or so.
But once again, if the latter is the case, then the club executive views are clearly at variance with and on a course of conflict with popular public opinion, exemplified by your observations.
Its just as well that we have been knocked out of this irrelevant cup. It is meaningless and has always been. Lets hope that this defeat doesn't cause a loss of confidence to the team, like!
Southgate unsettled the defence by changing the fullbacks, and then restored Aliadiere to the front line to weaken our attack.
It was back to same old Boro, taking the lead, missing chances, and then failing to hold that lead. Our midfield was nowhere to be seen second half.
No sign of learned lessons, I'm afraid.
Jarkko's question about the whereabouts of Josh Walker prompts me to re-post my comment at the end of the previous blog yesterday evening:
"Latest rumour/bit of scare-mongering on SSN: "Walker in Boro exit link".... (link: http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11680_5513207,00.html ). I give up.
What are we to believe & what do we discount?!!"
**AV write: He is frustrated at falling into the Hurworth Black Hole this season that McMahon was sucked into last year and naturally wants to be playing first team football. There has been no transfer request but his agent has let clubs know he would welcome a move. The indications are the club would not stand in his way.
I second everything you said, Vic.
I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one who was getting a case of deja vu when we fell behind in extra time. Last season we set off like greyhounds and then... well, you know what happened next. That's why I said in my last post that I was willing to reserve judgement for a while longer.
As for the Gate - yeah, I still like the guy and I want him to do well, but he won't gain my total respect until:
(a) He stops making like for like substitutions only. Come on! At least McClaren had the sense to bring on more forwards when we were in danger.
(b) We finally come from behind to win again. Can you remember the last time it happened? (No, thought not.)
(c) He has the sense to realise what selling Josh Walker would do to an already thin squad. Isn't it painfully obvious to him that centre midfield has been our problem area now for more than a year?
New Boro, lots of goals on the road...but same lack of backbone. (Sigh.)
Excellent piece AV yet again. However, I can't quite buy into this "better to lose in the cup and focus on the league" type mentality.
Of course, for all the reasons you suggest, Boro's focus has to be the league and promotion but how will it make the weekends game any easier because Boro are out of the cup?
I've said previously that the game at Bristol, in my view, may well have a real bearing and present a reality check on the coming season and how Boro are likely to cope. I say this mainly because of the absences of O'Neill and Digard, particularly away from home when we are likely to face prolonged periods of pressure by one of the so called better teams in the league.
As such, is it not reasonable to suggest that a win last night with a weakened side would have maintained confidence for the weekend? As it is, might not the defeat start to sow some seeds of doubt that without the best eleven or new good signings, the early season hopes and promise might not be sustained?
Naturally, come December, January then a cup run may well be to the detriment of league performances, bur surely not at present.
Kind of what I've said before, the squad does not have enough quality and is paper thin and the purchases have been worse than those sold.
In my opinion, not that it counts for much, is we need to get rid of the also rans Ali, Arca, Hoyte, the blue-eyed boy Jones and Pogi (slow, too easy to turn, gets dragged out of position and backs off from pace). There's no point keeping them - give them a free and get rid of them since obviously no-one else wants them and free up some wages that way.
I'd rather take a hit on the light weights in the squad, keep the quality players and bring in some reinforcements. We cannot expect a bunch of kids to play well week in week out BUT we must not play people out of position which is why we're in the Championship.
The most recent comment on the boro website was for the kid Bennett, plays for England under 19s, 20's as a full back, yet GS suddenly sees him as a midfielder. Here we go again! We can all see depth is still a problem in midfield, it was last year and immediately after four games it is again this year: three injuries and it's back to the kids again out of position.
Can we please buy someone who's actually played there in real life for more than a couple of games & what's wrong with Walker, he's actually a midfield player ! Is he injured or just "out of favour" like Alves ?
I still think we need more players, originally thought seven but maybe four or five would be enough if we can keep Huth, Wheater, Johnson, Alves and Tuncay which looks more and more unlikely.
Defence is ok if we don't lose anyone else and GS picks a settled side - Riggs is due back soon but if Huth or Wheater go then the defence will be exploited by the old pros in this league though lack of experience.
Midfield is extremely weak.
Forward line needs improving and is going to also look threadbare unless GS and SG eat humble pie and fends off offers for Tuncay and Alves and gets them back into the team with a big forward to play off. Put the ball in front of Alves and he will score at this level, he pays the same as Owen, back to the goal is not their style, angled pass or behind the defence is the way to get the best out of them. So we need a midfielder who can play that pass, damm Rocky's not here any more.
It's not doom and gloom, I'm more optimistic than I was a few weeks ago but you're spot on AV - papering over the cracks did not work last year and it won't this year. A few games in and a few injuries and the start of team selection tinkering isn't a great sign. Lessons to be learnt eh ?
Just noticed the url for Walker up for sale.
Unbelievable! We have a weak midfield, thread bare would be too fine a word so when the boy should be playing and showing what he can do GS converts another full back.
Last year he sat on the bench for months, finally gets a game, played out of his skin for a couple of games, looks like a key player when Digard is out, gets injured himself and that yer lot son !
I think we need to bring those sports psychologists back to work on the management and coaching team, not the players.
To Kenny of the Holgate:
"It is meaningless and always has been". Hell it is the only thing we have ever won apart from the Anglo Scotish 1975. Were you at Cardiff? If so why did you go if it is what you said?
It should have been a game to play for to keep the momentum up, but no Southgate had to make changes, and now he says back to the drawing board.
Nice to see that we (the fans) are still optimistic! Nobody blamed GS yet. But as AV said we are light in midfield. There WASN'T a single midfielder on the bench yesterday - so that's why I asked where is Walker?
I agree with Steve that we need a proven and experienced midfielder - see what Danny has done to the defence with his experience. It helps the KIDS to play well, too!
But again, one match lost doesn't mean the whole war is lost. Please just give GS a bit of money to spend on a Robson, Boateng or proven midfielder. We need more depth in our squad.
We will be get promoted, though. Up the Boro!
The situation regarding Josh Walker and Nathan Porrit concerns me. These are lads who could become top players yet the treatment they are getting won't help that.
Playing Josh Walker in the first team is not a gamble. Walker has undoubted talent yet doesn't seem to figure in GS's plans despite the shortage of central midfield players at the club.
And now it appears he is up for sale - please not another Lee Cattermole situation whereby he moves on and becomes a much better player because of a decent run in some other clubs first team.
I recall Walker put in a poor performance in one pre-season friendly and that seems to have made up GS's mind that he is not going to figure in his plans.
Young Porritt has been lauded as a future star by many in football, no less by Chelsea who tried to 'sign' him when he was 16. He is now 19, and as far I can recall he has not figured in one league game for Boro.
I read this week that in his first game on loan at Darlo he was substituted for "lack of effort", or as stated in another report "..played with a poor attitude". Where was that attitude spawned? I thought we are supposed to be nurturing these promising young lads as part of our dream academy.
AV
Agree with all of your blog above with one tiny exception:- I think the Josh Walker thing is less McMahon MkII than Morrison MkII.
Boro needed more in midfield anyway, a creative athlete/artist for one - if Walker goes that just means another one to replace or an unfilled hole in the squad, hence my comparison with Mozza.
Losing is never good, but let's face it we don't really need the distraction this year.
I could understand making changes in midfield and up front, but you would have thought keeping a defence together that had kept 4 clean sheets in a row would have been better than resting players - however if we win 1-0 on Saturday then Gareth will have been vindicated.
Josh Walker is another example of a stick used to beat Gareth with - he had one good game against non-league opposition last year and looked out of his depth on virtually every other appearance. If he was good enough I'm sure he would be involved.
As for people complaining about full backs playing in midfield - are people's memories that short? RHYS WILLIAMS?
Versatility is not a crime.
Great article absolutely spot on. It makes all the points I would like to have made previously but without feeling that I could because i would have been shot down as a pessimistic fan who obviously has no love for the club!
Can anyone tell me that a midfield of:
Digard (Played 20 games in 2 years),
Gary O Neil (Wanted to leave the club for the whole of last year and currently out for nearly a month)
Julio Arca (Hasn't had a good game since being injured against Sunderland two seasons ago)
Rhys Williams (A top young FULL BACK who has, given his due, impressed in his first few games in midfield but has never played there before apart from at junior level)
is good enough to get us out of this division? If you could gaurantee keeping them all fit then i think the answer is yes. Given that this is a competitive league with 46 games then the answer is most defintely no.
Our team so far has been solely based on a strong defence and being slightly better than the opposition. To date we have played three of the worst four sides in the league and I include Swansea in that due to their injuries/sales. Do not be fooled into thinking that makes us certainties for promotion.
Yes the start has been good but with the loss of even one or two key players through either sales, suspensions or injuries and our threadbare squad will struggle. To rely on young unproven players to maintain a promotion push will see us ultimately fail.
As for versatility not being a crime. When "square pegging" results in your team being relegated when you are superior to the majority of the teams around you then it is wrong and it shouldn't happen. Would you ask Wayne Rooney to play as a full back? Would you ask Ronaldo to play central midfield? No, because though they may play well there they have a position which is best suited to their talents.
To play players out of position, particularly young impressionable players whose confidence could be eroded irrevocably is a crime. Can you imagine the nerves of making your first team debut, the expectancy of the crowd on your shoulders and then your manager sticks you in a position you have never played in before? Absolute madness!!
Everybody seems to be overlooking the almost ridiculously long list of senior players unavailable for this game for one reason or another.
Alves Tuncay and Shawky we are trying to offload. In the sick bay are Jones,Riggott,Pogatetz,Digard ,Bates and O'Neill. I find it disconcerting that four league games into the season we have such a long list.
In the scenario that we had a fully fit squad the numbers look quite good .Unfortunately we never ever have a situation where virtually everyone is available .
Paul said:
"Great article absolutely spot on. It makes all the points I would like to have made previously but without feeling that I could because i would have been shot down as a pessimistic fan who obviously has no love for the club!
"Can anyone tell me that a midfield of:
"Digard (Played 20 games in 2 years),
Gary O Neil (Wanted to leave the club for the whole of last year and currently out for nearly a month)
Julio Arca (Hasn't had a good game since being injured against Sunderland two seasons ago)
Rhys Williams (A top young FULL BACK who has, given his due, impressed in his first few games in midfield but has never played there before apart from at junior level)
is good enough to get us out of this division?"!
johnson???
yeates???
Yes, Rhys Williams' confidence is being eroded for ever for being asked to play in central midfield. I'm sure that Joe Bennett was shaking in his boots when he ran on to the pitch v Forest, pleading with Gareth 'please Gareth, no, please, I can only play left back, I can't play anywhere else!'
Good players are good players, it doesn't matter where they play.
Without a run in the side we'll never know if Josh Walker is good enough, but what worries me is that because the manager doesn't seem to want him around then he can go whether he is good enough or not.
Like a lot of people, I want Garth Scapegoat to succeed, but when I hear from a very good source that he hardly spoke to Jinky last year and certainly made him feel unwanted. All of a sudden now that Downing has gone it's alledged that GS wants to be best friends with jinky. Maybe it's not too late to get him signed on to a new contract, but I really can't see this happening.
If he isn't sold in this or the next window then I reckon he'll be doing a Turnbull at the start of next season. I'm told that a senior figure told him he could leave if we received a ã5m bid for him, but that this has now been raised to ã10m. Whether that's value or not isn't the issue for me, it's more to do with making a player feel wanted.
No doubt AV will not give me an answer here, due to his loyalties, but I will ask the question anyway ...
Why is it that once again, a national tabloid newspaper is breaking a Boro related story that has not even appeared as a rumour in our local paper ? The Daily Mail are reporting that a ã5M fee has been agree between Boro & Birmingham for Tuncay. I would imagine that the reporters at the Gazette, not only have contacts inside the Riverside, but also the mobile phone numbers of a few current Boro players. How is it that they are unable to gain access to these stories before some hack who lives 200 miles away from here ?
I cannot recall a recent Boro related story that turned out to be true after first appearing in the Gazette. Even the Downing to Spurs story was first brought to my attention through one of AV's blogs, but checking "Skysports.com" saw confirmation that the deal was already public knowledge.
I have always wondered whether these things are whispered to the likes of Uncle Eric & AV, but only on the strict understanding that they are not published for a couple of days. It all seems a little pointless if someone else is willing to phone up their favourite "currant bun" reporter & divulge all in the meantime !
As for the loss to Forest on Tuesday, I am actually pretty relieved. The last thing this lightweight squad needed was a laborious cup run where fatigue & injuries could have derailed our promotion surge. Here's hoping for an away draw at Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge in the first round of the FA Cup !!
**AV writes: There is a league table out there somewhere that lists paper by paper exactly what per centage of tabloid rumours turn out to be true. The figures are very low. And we all know how much contempt the average fan has for the inaccuracies in tabloid stories about Boro. Do you want us to splash on every half-baked Talk Sport guess or agent generated kite-flying exercise?
The way some papers work is that when they hear a rumour (Downing to Liverpool, Johnson to Madrid, O'Neil to Fulham or whatever) they just print it. The way we work is that when we hear a rumour we ask the manager, the chairman, the agent or if possible the player himself and report what we find/believe to be correct, bearing in mind that not everyone always tells the whole truth. Boring I know but if we did otherwise and ran with every taxi driver story or hopeful tabloid punt our credibility with both the readers and the players would be compromised.
As to the Downing story - I presume you mean Villa rather than Spurs - we had it first. We broke it on-line first. We spoke to the player - in fact he texted us to say he was on his way to Birmingham - and had all the quotes exclusively..
The problem we have is that between the paper being printed and it going through your letter box may be four hours or so and in cyber-space that is an absolute eon. So do we print and hope no one else gets it in that time or do we put it on-line and tip off Sky, Team Talk, the BBC, and all the cut-and-paste bots that automatically disseminate news so that everyone knows the essence of the story before they see the Gazette?
With Stewie we put the short version on line so we could say we had it first, Sky picked it up within 20 minutes and the rest of the media followed but when Teesside got home from work to read the Gazette they had extensive and exclusive quotes, a retrospective on his Boro career, a fact-file and time line plus two pages of background including his first ever Boro juniors match report and loads of old photos that chronicled his rise from playing in the TJFA. I don't think anyone could argue we didn't do our job on that one.
I was at the "world famous City Ground" (according to the PA announcer) last night, and what a sad sight it made. More stands closed than open, lights out in the hospitality suite, executive boxes mothballed and a paltry crowd of 8,000 - about a quarter of them from Boro - despite the admission being only ã12 & ã3 for kids.
This is a stark glimpse of the nuclear winter we face if we're not back in the PL come May...
Very nicely done, AV. I've nothing to add...except that I hope people at the club read it or hear about it.
This time you took the words right out of my mouth, AV. Excellent article.
And for the sake of his career, Aliadiere has to move permanently to the midfield, finishing is all important for a striker.
I'm sure in over 90% of all cases the rumours printed in the papers turn out to be false - it's become a genre in itself with all the respectable broadsheets and BBC actually summarising all the rumours printed each day.
It's long since been the case that speculation has replaced actual news - the need to second guess what is about to happen or be announced seems to be more important than interpreting the meaning of the facts.
Why only this morning the Mirror is claiming Boro are about to sign Danny Webber - surely even the hapless Boro scouts who have been instructed to find a big centre-forward would not have failed to notice that recently released striker is only 5ft 9in.
Then again I can almost hear Gareth telling us that "he's a big presence on the pitch and deceptively tall" - cue Plan B: the long-ball game with Emnes and Webber up front.
**AV writes: Er, there maybe something in that Webber one....
If we play in a 4-4-2 formation and let's say we need two players in each position, our squad looks as follows currently:
Lita/Alves; Emnes/Tuncay
A Johnson/Porritt; Yeates/Aliadiere; Digard/Arca; O'Neal/Williams
Taylor/Grounds; McMahon/Hoyte; Wheater/Riggott; Huth/Pogatetz
Coyne/Jones
As AV said sometime earlier we still need to shift one or two high earners after Mido and Downing left. And in midfield we still have Shawky and Walker even though we have not seen them yet this season.
I just wrote this down to see where are the problems GS is facing - he needs to sell first before adding any new players!
But somebody must want Alves, Arca or Shawky before they can be sold. Anyway we do have enough players but not exactly those we want. So we will still see changes this window and during Janury window, too.
Up the Boro!