Don't Bottle Baggies Biggie
THE BATTLE with the Baggies is another big test and certainly the toughest game so far. It won't be decisive - there is still a full Premiership season's worth of games to go after this one - but it could be psychologically important.
Albion arrive unbeaten. To end that run would dent their own self-belief and put Boro top. And coming hot on the heels of Jason Euell being retrospectively rehabilitated with his act of midweek Geordie slaying it would give everyone at the club a massive boost and equally important help persuade the gloomy doubters ("they haven't played anyone yet") that Boro can win promotion and that this season can be hugely enjoyable.
There will be a big crowd, it is vital Boro do not bottle it. A poor display will hand the Doom and Gloomers, the terminally sullen and the Slavenistas the initiative in the pub, workplace and cyberspace battle for hearts and minds, it could swing another layer of waverers into the pessimistic camp and could damage the prospects of reviving gates as the season unfolds.
The players understand that this game can be politically crucial to putting down an early marker and leading the promotion race from the front. Adam Johnson is fired up for the game, insists Boro will be going all out to win and can show what they are made of.
He also noted that Boro have a point to prove. Last season's home defeat to the Baggies was an early indication of problems that were to grow to dog the team all term: they battered Albion for an hour and were somehow kept out by a goal-keeping wondershow only to be caught napping and lose a game they had dominated.
And the away game was a hefty thump of a nail into the coffin lid as Boro collapsed into a shambolic, demoralised mess against a rock bottom side there for the taking. Those two games ultimately cost Boro's Premiership place... or if you like, failure to win either showed that a weak Boro side probably did not deserve it.
Here's what shell-shocked Uncle Eric had to say after a game that had most thinking that relegation was inevitable...
To get you in the mood for the game here's the highlights from the pulsating win at Wednesday from the BBC I-Player (sorry expats, its only available to UK based IP addresses) and their head-to-head preview.
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Anthony Vickers
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Is it cowardly to say I'd settle for a point
?
More important not to lose than to win.
In all honesty I couldn't give a tinkers cuss if Boro dont win tomorrow or even get promoted.
I am not being pessimistic about things but I wonder CAN the Boro afford to get promoted because I doubt if they can unless Steve Gibson manages to sell the club to some rich people who will invest in the team.
Even if we do get promoted , what sort of team are we going to be able to put out?
Nah, I really dont care, just give me some entertaining fooball and value for my money and I dont care if we do stay in the Championship. If you think that I am showing a lack of ambition, so be it, but I aint too fussed on the giant circus known as the Premier League anyway.
The key will be how we approach the game, how the team is sent out with the managers message ringing in their ears.
I am looking for Untypical Boro to show up, for the players to be with us for kick off and stay until after the final whistle.
A return to Typical Boro, turning up after half an hour, might pass to a red shirt if I feel like it, run if I must, lets get away before the traffic gets busy will certainly lead to Slavenism.
It really is in the clubs hands. If they show the commitment evident for much of the season so far the fans will get behind the team. I just hope the coaching team are not playing the importance of this fixture down, that they dont demotivate the squad.
Lets make it an afternoon to get us all talking, to show spirit and pride in the shirt. I hope to travel back to Derby grumbling that Radio five are ignoring us after a great win.
Ah, Vic...
I know all about THAT Baggies home game! I was at it! And having spent all the money that I had coming over from NI made it even more hard to take.
At least now it's not a case of No Tuncay = No Team. Johnson, O'Neil and a rejuvenated Ali have proved that. Let's hope for better tomorrow. And, of course, that Folan is more like Heskey and less like King...
I was at the Riverside for the visit of Brom last season and I couldnt believe that we didnt score- it was a joke how lucky Brom were to get away with a clean sheet. It was like the Alamo at the end and I think their big front man ran at our goal on the break at the death and nealy made it 2-0. Unbelievable, it really was and that would of kept us up.
The ref and Alves knacked the away fixture. their keeper like many others in the Prem had a blinder against us.
If any of these two scenarios happen tomorrow then I will be gutted as the ghost of bad Prem performances has been exercised so far this season apart from Bristol where like the Prem Southgate played players out of position and no attacking central midfielders were playing or if they were they didnt get forward enough.
We need at least one of O'Neil and Digard playing in the middle to push forward, we lost that last season coz of injury and red cards.
Boro who Lives with Doris
Excellent shout
Me n me family on same wave lenghth as yous!
One of the most important 3 points of the season, particularly in respect to the confidence it will instill into the team.
Carn the Boro.
Boro West Oz.
Boris who lives with Doris:
A Boro without ambition, i.e. a team which is content merely to tread water in the Championship instead of being in the thick of the battle to get out of it = (entirely understandable) mass exodus to clubs *with" ambition of the very players who are responsible for the attractive, entertaining football that is currently ensuring that the team is there or thereabouts, in particular Jinky = little or no prospect of even clinging on to Championship status with those who are left + a few waifs & strays who might be tempted to join from the lower divisions to replace the defectors...! :( Not a prospect I wish to contemplate!
The game against WBA will not make or break the season. If we lost or drew, we could still go up. But if we win, it could cause a surge of increased confidence in a squad and management team battered into submission by last year's dismal performance. With a few new players coming into the squad, and anxious to join the party, there are signs of optimism springing up!
If we did win, I think that, whilst it still remains very early in the season, many of the key players in our dressing room would BELIEVE we are on our way up. Confidence is vital to success. We didn't have it last year, to put it mildly.
So what about the game? I am finding it difficult to choose between 1-0 and 2-1, but I acknowledge WBA will present a challenge a level higher than the other teams we have met at home this season. We will not win this game if we remain in 2nd gear. I will go for 2-1.
Now, where are the car keys....
'Boro who Lives with Doris'.... excellent shout. Me an me family on same wave lenghth as yous!' I also agree totally with these sentiments.
If last seasons home defeat by WBA was a sign of things to come, I hope todays hammering isn't the same. Sounds like we were lucky they only got five.
Oh dear. You mess with a winning formula, bring Arca back, try to include new signings and this is what happens. Dear god, what a mess. One thing at a time Mr Southgate. Arca... back to square one. This should be a lesson learnt. A lesson that didn't have to be learnt in such fashion. Awful.
Send Arca on loan to Darlo. Infact he might be decent here at Rushden & Diamonds. He scares me rigid with fear wearing a red shirt. Not that i'm pointing the blame at any individual of course.
**AV writes: To be fair, Arca has been among Boro's best in the past three games and was far from the worst today.
Southgate, in the name of God, I beg you, please leave before you kill this football club. From Hasselbaink, Viduka and Yakubu to Folan, Aliadiere and Emnes in three years.... You couldn't make it up!