Let's Crack The Riverside Riddle
TIME To deliver on the Home Front. Boro's away form has been impressive and has provided a platform on which we can build a genuine promotion push - but only if we can crack the Teesside tactical conundrum.
Amazingly, We are the big boys in this league. I know, I know. Teams come to the Riverside and set themselves out to 'park the bus' and get a draw just as we did going to Anfield or the Emirates. They string five across the middle, double up on the main creative outlet of Adam Johnson and then drop deep, sitting back and letting Boro have the ball 40 yards out while trying to take the tempo out of the game by putting the ball out as often as possible.
With play condensed it leaves very little space for Boro to operate in making it very difficult to find space on the flanks for the likes of Project Emnes or tattooed love god Aliadiere to use their pace to get behind the full backs and to the byline to deliver balls into the box, or for the team to pick their way through the middle with the short, quick passes to feet. There's no space and a lot of bodies so passes are either cut out, charged down or the recipient is crowded out before they can take effective control. It is not easy to crack that, which is why teams do it.
The temptation is to go long, throwing balls into the box but most teams at this level have monster centre-backs who are happy to just head crosses away and have the advantage that Boro's only big lads who are good in the air are at the other end. That is why Folan was brought in, to give Boro the option of using a battering ram when they were chasing the game or trying to force something in the closing stages.
When visiting teams sit back home supporters expect - demand - their team respond by going hell for leather, throwing bodies forward and playing at a persistently high tempo, thinking that is the quickest and most effective way through. Often this results in too many men pushing up leaving the team vulnerable to a quick break out, especially late on when the all out attack has taken its toil and left legs tired. As we know only too well.
The alternative is for Boro to sit back, play possession football on the halfway line and try to draw the opposition out to create a bit of space to exploit but that tactically astute Italian methodology does not sit well with an English crowd culturally attuned to a high empo and demands for all out attack at home. That is an invitation to boo. It is asking to be denounced as negative, unambitious and, well, crap.
Sometimes it feels that some Boro fans think there is only one team on the pitch. Boro are rubbish. Boro can't get an early goal. Boro can't set the pace. Boro can't stretch the opposition defence. Boro are better than this lot, why aren't they winning three nil? Boo.
At risk of straying into Steve McClaren territory and saying "the fans need to be educated", we as supporters need to recognise that the opposition are out there too; they are highly organised, highly motivated and they have a game plan to close down quickly, press and deny space and break play up with niggling fouls, finding Row Z and going down in agony after the slightest knock. When West Brom came they were time wasting over throw ins after the first three minutes. It is frustrating but effective.
Last season we faced that maybe only five or six times as bottom half teams came to Boro looking for a draw, In those games - Sunderland, Bolton, Wigan, Blackburn, Portsmouth... you know, the insipid ones that were purgatory to watch - Boro failed to solve the tactical problem and ultimately that sealed relegation. This season we must expect almost every team to come to Boro with a similar mindset and ambitions.
Boro need to find a way to deal with that unaccustomed problem - but so do fans!
The team can try to counter it, they spend all week training for and understand the tactical nuances and know that patience, persistence and hard work can win the day. They are cold and calculating professionals. But fans are passionate and engage in the match on an emotional level so face a cultural problem when watching games that are tactically cagey.
It is counter-intuitive to want your team to slowly break the opposition down. We are a crowd brought up demanding "attack-attack-attack" and we go into the games we "should win" armed only with double edged emotions: optimism and expectation are good things but they can quickly evaporate leaving a vacuum that soon fills with fear and frustrations if things don't go smoothly and that can then be directed at the team.
Opposition teams work hard to quieten the crowd in the first 20 minutes knowing that an early wall of sound will quickly crumble and that as the game wears on the more anxious supporters will break down the debris into rocks to hurl at their own side as they become increasingly agitated at the lack of goals and increasingly certain that the other lot will score on the break. As fans of a club that other teams see as big boys even if we don't, we need to learn to be patient while we grind them down.
That is partly the point that "football supremo" Alan Smith went to great lengths to explain this week when he called for a new unity of fans and team, a point he made persuasively with the help of a power point presentation to the press corp, a presentation he has already done for the players and for the staff.
It is hard to disagree with most of what he said. Boro will be more effective if there is a united front between fans, team and club. The team will perform better if they are not being barracked. That is not to say that fans don't have a right to express frustration and anger, but those rights don't need to be exercised so readily, so frequently or without understanding the effects it has.
We know that divisions exist within the fan-base and we know that they are not going away any time soon. But we also know that it is essential that Boro go up this season and that we must do it, more or less, with the players that we have. It is no good retro-castigating them because we are angry with last season.
There are two massive home games coming up and if we can bank six points - four if other results go our way - we can be back up there and leading from the front. We need to be winning games at the Riverside, we all know that. It will be easier if we the fans are behind the team all the way, even if the opposition come to spoil and squeeze.
*****
EXPATS, offshore workers, shift workers, part-timers, those outside the golden five mile radius of the BBC Tees transmission area and bloody-minded refuseniks - listen up!
The Evening Gazette are trialing a fantastic all singing, all dancing new multimedia interactive, live matchday experience for the Watford game. Yours truly will be doing a colourful quip-by-quip rolling report - and you can join in with sarcastic comments, world weary one liners, questions and calls for Southgate's head.
We are using Cover It Live (those of you who have followed Gazette webchats will be familiar with the system) so you can log on via the gazettelive,co.uk home page, click on the link and follow the report as it unfolds. You can submit your own comments and questions but remember, I get to see them first before they are published and the usual rules apply - no swearing, no libels, no 'humourous' pseudonyms.
Broadcast rights red tape mean it can't be a comprehensive match report (that will still be on-line soon after the whistle) but I'll bring you the highlights every seven minutes and try to add a flavour of the atmosphere and banter in between. See you then.
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Anthony Vickers
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Anthony
There are two ways to end this division between fans you describe:
1) Sack Southgate
2) Win Promotion
If neither happen between now and the end of the season then, division between Fans, club and Players will grow wider!
I'm not here to disrespect Southgate, He appears to be a gentleman and a hard worker. I do however know that it is fact that the club has become worse and worse since his appointment. The reality is that Southgates appointment was a gamble, and like all gambling - it doesnt always pay off.
I think the fans (myself included) can forgive both Gibson and Southgate for this position we are in, but unless something changes i.e win promotion or Southgate departing then we will lose fans, support and pounds!
**AV writes: I think you're right about the stakes and the only two possible outcomes.
The balance between a quick start to take the initiative, making sure you keep you shape and running about like headless chickens is one we don't have to find. We just have to come along and support.
From a fans viewpoint the MacClarenesque approach of barely getting out of your own half for 45 minutes is part of the cause of fans discomfort. To some extent it still exists.
The opposition come to quieten the fans by playing keep ball and slowing things down. Sadly they have been no more effective than we have been in the same quest. One of much repeated requests is for the team to turn up on time.
It doesn't have to be headless chicken football but to stamp our mark on the game early, move the ball quickly, try and play a high line early on, don't let them dwell on the ball. If you sit back and be too patient the opposition will settle into their game plan quite happily.
How to do it? That is the tricky bit. You have to play with width to keep their defenders committed, have the midfield players tracking back. Get a congested and narrow game and their players will be close together and able to break in numbers. Have the congestion either side if the halfway line and they are that much closer to our area, it is better for both sides to be making mistakes in the their last third of the pitch.
The danger is we run out of steam and suffer a sucker punch but we sat back for 70 minutes and were hit by a breakaway goal against Leicester.
The final point is that in our last three home matches, the away team has had more possession and at least as many shots on target as we have. It isn't as if we have spent matches bombarding the opposition only to be hit by flukey one shot wonders.
Tricky to get the balance right.
The fans DO back the players 100% during the match. The only time there is any booing is at the end of a game, and then only aimed at Southgate!
Its all right saying we should not show our disapproval and then point out we haven't got a target man up front. We have been saying this for a year now - and still Southgate hasn't got one in place. That is why we want HIM to go!
If he went, all the fans would rally round the new manager and that unity, that will never be there as long as the clueless Southgate hangs on, will appear again along with the confidence and the decent performances against the top teams.
This team is good enough to automatically qualify if it had a decent manager. The question is not will we start to do well at home but will Southgate's failings stop us going up.
Well I like watching Italian football and if I thought we had the tactical nous and skill to keep the ball I think that approach would be worth a watch.
I'm going to both games despite my lack of faith in the ability and knowledge of our management team and I am really looking forward to both games. I am interested to see how they are going to combat this defensive approach by opposing teams.
What if the opposing team come all out attacking - I hope GS has this in the back of his mind. I doubt they will though as I think we would be too strong for them as we hit them on the counter attack.
**AV writes: Boro like other teams to press forward and attack because it gives them space to use their pace up front. That is why we have been so effective away from home when the onus is on the other lot to attack and they are getting it in the neck from their fans for not getting it forward enough.
Well done AV great news for us wanderers of the world.
As for Saturday maybe 3 up front to start as many have said its up to the home team to attack.
If and a big if we get off to a good start one or two goals then depending on how big the threat is at the other end where lets face it not that good so far.We should continue and take them to the cleaners or revert to our away formation and as they have to now open the game and try and score we take them on the break.
All easy on paper but relies heavily on a good start.
You've put yourself up as a hostage to fortune there, AV. There will be people out in Blogland with their stopwatches trained on the event.
"Every 7 minutes, he said, but it's 9 since the last post..." as AV realises he's accidentally pressed "delete" rather than "send", and is therefore frantically putting another little gem together.
Well said AV, I pretty much agree with everything you said as its what i have been thinking for years.
Its not just this season we have struggled to beat 'lesser sides' at the Riverside for years. Just look at last season Wigan, Pompey, Sunderland, Newcastle, Bolton, WBA - all games on paper should have won but some times struggled even to have a shot (think it was 65th min against Wigan).
People say why do we always do well against the big four (used loosely) is it because we 'care more'?? No its because they come to the Riverside looking for a win thus giving us the 'space behind'.
It winds me up how Leicester came the other week and left with three points yet made no attempt to win the game from start to finish. Its something we are gonna have to fix soon or it will blow are chances of promotion.
That said the current Boro side is far better 'set up' for away games as we have pace to burn in AJ, Ali, Lita and Emnes but thats no use if you can not get them in behind the oppositions back four (or six). I also think we are still missing a creative CM who can 'pick the lock' with one pass or moment of magic.( I even miss Rocky ha)
A good win tomorrow will set us up for the Derby match but defeat will make Tues 100 times worse(+ the inevitable Hulse goal).
I really fancy the Boro to put on a 'show' tomorrow but then again i thought that about Leicester....Doh!!!
2-0 Boro for me...Lita two.
I agree with Alan Smith that the past must be forgotten by us, the fans. Let's get united and support the lads now. This is a great opportunity to get back to the PL. We "just" need to get our home form into the gear!
I agree with you, AV that the visitors will work they socks off to defend and waste time at the Riverside. Our scalp is there for the lesser to take - we are the big boys from the PL (for the last 10 years)!
Let's make the Riverside a feared place again. Let's enjoy the game against Watford and support our beloved Boro. I, living some 1000 miles away, must instead tune to AV on Saturday...
Up the Boro!
A conunderum [sic] indeed AV.
Surely it has come as no surprise that teams come to the Riverside looking for a point. They had the whole close season to come up with tactics to get around (or through) packed defences.
The golden word is patience, this applies to the manager players and the fans. One thing is definite in football, at some stage in a game you will have goal scoring opportunities. The trick of course is taking them.
There are signs now that the team is beginning to believe in itself, all we require now is for the crowd to unite and join in with that belief.
Patience is, of course, a virtue. And a word used often by football folk.
But it is also often confused with sitting back and doing very little, very slowly and gradually fading into frustrated inertia, waiting for the sucker punch.
The intermediate period can be characterised by two teams camped in their own half with the ball being treated like a balloon in a midfield no-man's land.
If patience were to be ditched in favour of 'persistence' it might be better - because that's what I'm sure the best managers and coaches actually mean. I hope it's what Alan Smith had in his PowerPoint slides.
It means sticking at it and doing the right things to break a defence down, however packed it is and however long it takes. And, by sticking at it, I mean team, dugout and the crowd.
It's not uncommon to see even the top Prem sides battering away for 90 minutes on their own ground before getting the final breakthrough in injury time. Boro suffered often enough from that last season when they tried a rearguard action.
Boro's best away performances - of which I've seen most - have been characterised by playing their high tempo pressing and passing game high up the pitch with a fast start - they've not gone to 'park the bus' and just play on the break. Doesn't that sound like it would do it at home too?
The only real sticky patches in those games have come when they let their own intensity or concentration slip. In the Prem that what the big boys don't do - or at least not often or for long.
If Boro are going to be the 'big fish' in this league they need to 'learn' this too. If Boro do that, they'll win more than they lose or draw at home - though paradoxically it will increase 'park the bus' in visiting teams - and the persistence, intensity and success are all crowd pleasers.
If Mr. Smith's PowerPoint presentation has been given to players and staff and now to the gentlemen and ladies of the press - who were presumably not sworn to secrecy, can it not also be passed on to the rest of us who are interested?
A shared understanding can only help the relationship between club and fans.
Would you ask the question?
**AV writes: I agree. Maybe the club should do it on the website and concourse TVs or send a DVD out to ST holders and Boro Pride members.
Poor home form for many years is down to the managers and the teams they pick.
Defensive minded because we haven't had a central midfield creative enough to carve open other teams. So what if they double up on Johnson? That leaves another Boro player unmarked, and if he is of the right quality, he will be looking to exploit the space left, and the rest of the team should be looking to play the ball in for him.
I repeat, sort the midfield out, as should have been done years ago, and we will win more games at home than we will lose.
Defeat can be acceptable, providing the manner of it gives the fans something to cheer for. Attack is always the best form of defense. Keep the opposition on the back foot, pass to your own players instead of the opposition, and make it difficult for them to get into the game.
Hi AV,
You couldn't throw live streaming video in with Cover IT Live as well for us expats? I'd even subscribe to it if the Gazette could set it up. Yep, actually pay an internet subscription for video.
That's what we miss most - watching the live games. Last seasons debacle means we no longer have access to a local pub at 2 or 3am showing live Premier League - well I guess we do but not the team we want to watch and to be honest the PL has become boring without Boro getting stuffed every week or giving a way a goal in the last minute.
There are usually a couple of streaming options on
http://www.myp2p.eu/competition.php?competitionid=&part=sports&discipline=football
(for those who don't know where to find the games) and once or twice there's a Championship game. Unfortunately the last one was Boro v West Brom - say no more! But try as I might I cannot get used to Iraqi or Chinese commentators....the only thing worse would be having a mackem commentating.
Serious about the video, I think there's probably a market for expats who want non PL games on the internet. Any chance of putting a word in with the powers that be?
Cheers
Steve (ex Normanby now in Auckland, NZ)
Interesting match coming up. We should have Digard and Poggy back in the squad. Even if they start at the bench they are a big help if we need to change the plan or somebody is injured.
I agree with many above that we have not yet replaced Rocky in midfield. So I am more worried about that than the striker department (at least in the CC).
I also expect Watford will be coming to park the proverbial bus in front of their goal so it will be required for Boro to keep the pressure on - incidentally, I agree with John Powls that it will be persistence and not patience that will ultimately win the day.
I wonder if Southgate would contemplate a 'Plan B' if we don't get the breakthrough of bringing Pogi back into central defence and throwing Wheater or the Ledge up front to act as the 'big man'. Failing that we should ensure plenty of wing play to at least win corners so that our big men can have their chance in the box.
Prediction, perhaps another notch to add to Ali's tattoo and a free-kick success for Jinky, followed by the requisite goal for old-boy Danny to keep the crowd nervous.
Sadly, I won't be able to enjoy the new multimedia live matchday experience tomorrow as she who must be obeyed has organised her in-laws to come and 'help me' start the bathroom renovation project - though it's possible I might be able to feign injury and sheepishly walk off to the bench around 4.00-ish whilst clutching my hammy.
AV
As I was saying yesterday I think we should get a good atmosphere tomorrow. I think after a good result at Reading and a two week break, fans are desperate for a game. However four points or less from these two home games and civil war will break out again.
Also I don’t know if you noticed yesterday but talk of the Atlantic league surfaced again. The Atlantic league may be a serious and viable association. Unfortunately Flavio Briatore’s Multi ball TOSS looks like it has been blown off. But my point is with the top of the premier league now unattainable for clubs like ours should we be looking at new avenues.
With Multi Billionaire owners, the only way they can see any sign of a return on these investments is not prize money but TV revenue. If these clubs could sell their rights individually, just imagine what Man Utd could get for a fixture with the ‘billions’ of fans in Asia. Just charging 50p pay per view. That’s where the revenue is. That’s what the Glazers want.
And they really want the Euro super league. If the top tier (richest) of European teams were to play in their own tournament this would open up the door for the Atlantic league or The Premier league one and two.
Would you know if the Boro have any contingency planes or are looking at the future of domestic football? In ten years time we will not have the four domestic full time leagues that we have now. Something’s going to change and we don’t want to be in the wrong division when it does.
Apologies if this is a bit long/off topic (not like me) but I wondered if you might know if the club or similar size clubs are being sounded out about a new venture.
**AV writes: Clubs like Boro are always monitoring possible developments but all know ultimately they have no political and financial weight and their future is totally dependent on what the big boys do... and most of the big boys know that they need their domestic infrastructure as cultural ballast as much as anything.
I wonder if my coment from yesterday "Hoping we don't get stung by the hornets!!
October 15, 2009 3:25 PM " Entered your subconscious for your "Adam Johnson out to sting Hornets" or whether it's just an obvious headline?
**AV writes: we writers don't do the headlines. But yes, it is an obvious one.
That's a good article AV . It is a connundrum isn't it?
The trick is how to sucker the opposition in to allow you to play your strengths.
Possession is vital but maybe you also want to keep that possession a little (only a little mind you) deeper. The objective being to stretch the opposition's defensive pattern to allow the occasional space for a bit of pace and a well timed ball to make the break through.
In other words rather than going hell for leather, be patient, be a little deep, and the superior pace and quality that we have can begin to tell.
You remember the Leeds United Revie team that strung together a million passes before the opposition could touch the ball ….was it against Soton ? …… anyway, the mocking cheers of the crowd at each pass really did have an effect on the other team and the mistake(s) duly followed.
Great to see that the seven minute (or was that nine minute ?) experiment is going to take place. Unfortunately we’ve got an open viewing day on our house on Saturday, so I’m not going to be able to follow proceedings this time. Hope it works well so that you will continue this for future games.
**AV writes: If you can't follow in real time you can "view again" later and let me know whether you would be interested in future games.
We are indeed the big boys in this league, and it is that mindset (that we still seem to be lacking both in players and management) that would see us conquer these problems.
The "anyone can beat anyone" approach to PR that the club takes will also be being slowly embedded in the mindset of the players, and this shouldn't be the case. It should be: "We can and do beat everyone." and be rightly upset, just as SAF is if we even draw a game let alone lose one.
I want to see the "we're winners" mentality and speeches coming from GS in his press conferences, nothing less, and drop the nice guy rubbish if he is able. The fans already have this mentality, something which seems to upset the club when they should be praising and adopting it, not disregarding it and taking a "we're doing ok because we're cash strapped, fans should accept that" approach.
Only that winning attitude will win us the league, and only teams that set out to win it end up in the top few places. We ARE one of the big boys and we ARE good enough to adopt this approach. We have supposedly aimed for Europe in the premiership the last 3 seasons and haven't got close, well the play off places are the equivalent of Europe in this division, and if we only aim for that then we're likely to end up mid table again.
If we are the big boys in the league we should be acting like them, both in mentality and playing style. Yes, teams sit back at the Riverside. Teams have been sitting back at Old Trafford, The Emirates etc for years, and it's never really been a problem for them. They know exactly how to deal with it and it's there that GS should be looking for inspiration, and his plan B, or what should be plan A at home. Patience is one virtue that will help, but the main factors are tactics and overall talent.
It is only talent that will know how and when to play that killer ball at the right time to the forward who has made the right run, and talent to know when to get up and support the attack.
I'd agree with other posters that this comes from midfield, and in that area we are a little lacking - Arca at one time could play the forward role with the occasional through ball but doesn't have the legs any more to get up the field to join in the attack since his Sunderland injury.
Williams, good a prospect as he may be, does not have the range of passing, similarly Yeates apart from the first couple of games has not shown the ability to step up his game to be as big a threat on the right hand side when Johnno is double marked on the left. Digard coming back into the middle gives us a greater level of passing along with tireless legs.
A quality attacking right sided midfielder (not necessarily an out and out winger) is still lacking, alongside a big striker, but we have never heard a mention that an attacking midfielder is what we need from the club.
Following this midfield up with full backs that are willing and capable of joining in the attack at every sensible opportunity and yet getting back as soon as possible afterwards, and a coaching staff that can explain when to hold and when to attack.
We need to imbue the players with the desire to be keeping possession but constantly probing for the weakness, constantly changing the play and the angle of the forward balls to find the gaps, chasing the ball down whenever we don't have it, constantly pushing the opposition until the 95th minute tirelessly.
Not all out attack, but skillful intelligent attack at a sustainable rate that doesn't stop EVER, until we've won the league, and then doesn't stop the next season or the season after that...
That's how the big boys do it, and if we're the big boys in this league, that's how we should too.
If we where to lose the next two games what will happen? Or what should happen?
Do Manchester United need to be playing English teams? I don’t think Brand Utd want to play Bolton, Wigan, Burnley, Blackburn, Hull, Birmingham, Wolves, Fulham, Portsmouth, WBA, Middlesbrough, Reading, Stoke, etcetc.
They want to be playing Real Madrid in Shanghai with tv rights across the world.
Man U can probably accommodate 1-5% of the number of people who want to watch a game at Old Trafford. Last time out our ground was nearly half empty, we are living in different worlds. Man Utd have to chase the $$$ and there is a lot more to be made overseas. The other big clubs in the country can’t be left behind and will form a breakaway.
Remember the 39th game plan, Sir Alex moans on that they have to play away in the Chump league and then have another away game in the PL on the Saturday. Constant bickering that players are used for International duty, and might be injured.
This will lead to the premier league’s 1 and 2, without the so called big six. The two Glasgow clubs to join in. Anyone fancy that?
Jaguar Boy
I agree with what you say. The key is taking the attitude that we will win, come what may, into the game.
We dont have to run around at 100 mph to make it happen, it is the ball that needs to be moved swiftly. The danger is that we take that long to, say, switch the ball between flanks that the cover has time to do just that and cover.
Arsenal are forever moving the ball, not all their passes are of the defy science category. Simple balls into space because they KNOW someone will be probably running into that space.
As John Powls states above, too often patience means taking 18 square balls in your own half with the opposition 40 yards away in their obligatory two banks of four.
We must keep the ball but play a higher line. But it is easy for 58 year old, ex rugby props to talk a good game. It isnt so easy on the pitch.
This isn't rocket science. Good passing and movement will always break teams down, no matter how much they sit back, put two men on Jinky etc etc. And therein lies the one and only conundrum that really needs to be solved at home.
Get that creativity in the middle of the pitch to compliment the work on the flanks and Bob's your Uncle.
Assuming O'Neil gets the nod in his better position more often than not, will he consistently rise to the occasion and deliver this key ingredient we need at home to win games? Can Digard finally fulfill his undoubted potential to provide the creativity needed to break sides down?
My fingers are crossed but one thing is certain, create the atmosphere by turning the Riverside into a cauldron of noise and we'll be one step closer.
AV, feel free to cut any paste any of these updates so you can save time and beat the queue for pies at half time
1 min: Kick off
8min little in the way of Goal mouth action. Emnes fell over
15 mins, Jones flapped at cross. After Arca gave ball away on edge of area.
22 mins Johnson booked for diving, Emnes fell over
29 mins first supporters drift off to bar. Poggy gets of bench to warm up
36 mins Little in the way of Goal mouth action. Wind blows crisp packet into Emnes face, result he fell over.
45 mins HT goal less
52mins Little in the way of Goal mouth action, Poggy gets into argument with Watford Sub and is booked.
60 mins Pogatetz comes on, Emnes through on goal, fell over
70 mins, throw in leads to Poggy wrestling the ball away from Malky in the technical area. Mêlée ensues. Poggy sent off
80 mins Little in the way of Goal mouth action 10 man boro holding out well
90 mins Crowds drift away, point gained with 10 men or two lost?
90mins + 7 Danny Graham grabs the winner for Watford.
AV you go into detailed analysis of our home fixtures tactical failings and dilemmas that we have experienced under the incumbent, inept management.
You rightly point out that a key issue in determining the course of a game is the need for an early break through.
The most potentially productive situations for scoring goals in football matches comes at set pieces. The pattern at the Boro under GS never changes, ie we flatter to deceive with early possession and pressure, spurning the golden opportunities free kicks in offensive situations, and corners offer us.
It's not that we rarely profit from these set piece situations it's been a case of literally never exploiting them, for virtually a whole season. It's significant, I think, that St Leger's two goals came direct from corners.
Is it because he has come from regimes that know how to direct, prepare and organise on the training ground for the successful exploitation of set pieces in matchday situations?
It's a simple and uncomplicated concept, yet it seems to come underneath yours and especially the current management's radar. There are a few small(smaller)town clubs in the Premiership that owe their continuing Premiership status to the high percentage of goals scored at free kicks and corners.
If we had the same nous,canny common sense and intelligent management they benefited from, we would have turned many a home draw last season into invaluable victories: that would have seen us survive comfortably, and coincidentally, saved us from all the ill judged, ill informed, ill advised, obdurate, ignorant, arrogant, scapegoating falsehoods - effectively a litany of excuses from the powers that be at M.F.C. for their abject failings.
Many thanks AV for your seven minute rolling reports for future Boro games.
Here in Abu Dhabi we only get premier league stuff so I`ve been following the Boro every Saturday on Yahoo updated scores (like watching the Teletext). Thats probably been as exciting as the recent home games by all accounts.
I look forward to tonking Watford 5-0 and then Derby 4-0. While I`m in the mood I`ll even forecast a Darlo win this weekend as well!
gt at 1.48pm -
We won't lose the two games, so save your nervouse energy for something else.
Of course if you read this in New Zealand and know we have lost the first one 0-1 after battering the Watford goal for 90 minutes but then conceding in injury time, you would have every right to start being nervous. But we won't. Will we?
Sporting glory tomorrow, and we will win by at least two - with AJ getting on the scoresheet.
**AV writes: Nostradamus has spoken. Get your money on it.
Just got in and read Gates words before tomorrows match.
Couldnt agree more and he hope he sends them out with those words ringing in their ears. It is what we bloggers having been talking about for some time (and a message I have been whitling on about here and elsewhere)
KISS, keep it simple stupid. Glenn McGrath, whinging Aussie that he is, based his career on doing the simple things right ball after ball after ball, hit the top of the off stump.
Football is a basically simple game. Cloughies view was that the ball was precious. So does Arsene Whinger (dare you AV?) whose Arsenal play lots of simple balls but into space for their colleagues to run onto.
And there my friends whatever you may say about Johnno being good on the right is a fundamental fact. Width creates space, more space is created by balance.
Pay attention, Vickers at the back! Put down your fancy 'all join in' super blog. That doesnt mean Johnson is rubbish on the right flank, he is better on the left with someone balancing him up on the right.
Enough of that. I trust when you are all playing that comments will not count towards the 35,000.
Lets finish with something different. Whats the difference between a Rolls Royce jet engine and an Aussie? The engine stops whining when it lands at Sydney.
To Ian Gill,
Were you ever in the minibus in the late 90's with the flag 'Derbyshire Reds'? we must have passed you on the motorway every week? (usually around medowhall) Also is the Derby County game your big one?
Anyone else so excited abou tomorrow that you have already laid out their kit?
Iv'e not been to game since Ipswich and am home alone.
p.s. if you get chance to watch Rooney's goal for maccelsfield at Cheltenham tonight ita a beut!!!
Smogonthetyne
Sorry never on the minibus and for info I always call it Meadowhell though that could be down to a wife and daughter. I explained to them that saturday is for sport and shopping is not sport. By the same token my wife says I am out of shape, my response is that round is a shape.
AV - Chicken!!
**AV writes: You never seriously thought you would get that through this side of a 6-0 thumping in which he punched a ball boy did you?
Bah, I'm going to miss the trial. It's my 40th on Saturday, so I've dragged the family north so that I can go to the game. I'm pretty sure we played, and beat, Watford at home on the day of my 18th, but I could be wrong, probably am, so perhaps some stato will look up who we played 22 years ago on Saturday.
Anyway, if anybody is in the Saltburn area on Saturday night then feel free to join me in the Spa, I've put a band on and everything!
Ian Gill, the flag that smogonthetyne mentions is the one that I was asking you about in the pub after the Reading game. Maybe those Derby reds lost that Boro feeling (or maybe just lost the flag).
No, but it keeps you on your toes.
Billy
I have seen it but never travelled with them. I will make some enquiries and let you know.
I am off to the match so will miss the trial, shame it couldnt have been for a mid week game, work stops me getting to Tuesday's match against Derby.
AV
On that note, good luck this afternoon. John Powls would have been desperate to be the first poster but I believe he is suffering fron a severe infection of relatives. It will be real feat of social engineering to manage to guide everyone to show stuff on the cumputer just as the web commentary starts.
The challenge is set
Is there going to be a sweepstake for the first person correctly to identify Ian Gill's comment censored by AV (posts at 6.57pm and 10.48pm yesterday refer)?
Was it only about Arsene or did it refer to one of the backroom staff at Boro?
And someone on here predicting a win for Darlo! That really would be 9.9 on the Richter Scale, but (Monkey Hangers aside) hope springs eternal. Still feeling good about today, and there is every chance of getting back to the Throttled Hare for the second half of the game involving our main competitors for an automatic promotion place this season. (And trying NOT to show too much glee if things don't go well for them).
Good Luck, AV on the rolling blog. I will not be contributing through being at the game, though I'll bet someone willl have their Blackberry at the ready in the West Stand Upper. And a happy celebration tonight to Billy of Berks at Saltburn. Let's hope were'll all smiling this evening.
AV: Hope you've got the F9 key pre-programmed for Boro goals and the key........ well, you probably won't need that one!
May the force be with you!
I'll be there - but not in cyberspace.
Hope it adds to all the remote Teessiders enjoyment of the coverage.
Can participants have their Caps Lock on to help create the atmosphere that Alan Smith and Gareth Southgate and everyone else seems to want? Or do we just hit the keys harder?
C'MON BORO!
"Its not just this season we have struggled to beat 'lesser sides' at the Riverside for years. Just look at last season Wigan, Pompey, Sunderland, Newcastle, Bolton, WBA - all games on paper should have won but some times struggled even to have a shot"
Oh my gawd! What stunning arrogance and crass stupidity.. LOL!
AV
Thank you for the live feed. Disappointed with the result but LOVE the reports. Any games I do not see I would read this in full afterwards, my Saturday night now includes reading minute by minute the Football 'As it happened' on BBC, I love the swings and frankly match reports alone do not cut it for me ;-)
I pity Gareth on Tuesday. Not only will the fan pressure ratchet up but what ghosts do the first family of Teesside bring with them? And how many here would like Nigel Clough in the home dugout?
''And how many here would like Nigel Clough in the home dugout?''
Clough Junior could be a realistic choice now that Moggas gone onto better things. Still a Rookie but less of a Rookie than GS, and may be an inspiration given the family connections.
But I suspect that Boro can't afford him, nor would be able to persuade him to take on the current shambles of a club. Cheers Gareth!
I don't believe what I have just read that comes from Southgates lips.
"Boro team has to show guts"
Is he now saying he has assembled a team that has no guts? No wonder he gets little support from the fans. The opposition all know the situation and play on this weakness
Look how many goals Newcastle & Cardiff have scored maybe they hold the solution.