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Untypical Boro is a lively topical blog by the Evening Gazette's award winning football columnist Anthony Vickers that aims to get behind the headlines to flesh out the stories that Boro fans are talking about.

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Europe Through The League?

Posted by on March 11, 2006 10:15 PM | 

MARK Schwarzer insisted exclusively in tonight's Sports Gazette that Boro can still qualify for next year's UEFA Cup through the league.

Admittedly he said it having been ambushed in the mixed zone while still buzzing with post-Roma euphoria but it speaks volumes of teh confidence surging through the club.

A month ago relegation hanuted Boro looked poised to implode. Now they have one eye on overhauling sixth placed Arsenal. Can it be done?

Don't be daft. The recent run of four wins out of five has clawed us ten points above the drop zone but still another ten adrift, and that will take some spectacular form to overcome.

Boro have eleven games left - but nine of them are against teams currently above them, including six against teams who will see their own claims for that Euro place as stronger.

The teams below them are Portsmouth and Fulham who Boro must play away. But they must also play Bolton (twice), West Ham, Man City, Blackburn, Newcastle and Everton as well as a Man United side who will be out for revenge at Old Trafford. Those fixtures don't bode well for the hopes of closing the gap.

Meanwhile, Boro may be in the UEFA quarter-finals next week while an FA Cup win at Charlton next Sunday would put them in the semi's.

With a kind draw even losing in the FA Cup final would be enough so by that route Boro would be just TWO games away from a third successive UEFA Cup qualification.

The UEFA Cup route is slightly longer with the games being two legged and they would need to win the final - and how great would that be! - but that is still just five games away.

But the league route would require them to win at least seven of the last 11 and probably not lose more than two. That would give them 57 points - still no guarantee it is enough. The odds are against us.

Plus, going all out in the league could undermine the quest for glory and silverware - and right now cup progress is paramount.

Yes, every league place earns £700,000 in prize payments and is the true measure of a team over a season but to exit both cups now but finish, say, eighth, would be hard to sell as a success in a season that was billed as the big push for the top six.

But mid-table would be most acceptable if it was accompanied by an open-top bus parade. A cup would help heal the wounds of this season, help sell season tickets and help attract the players so sorely needed if that Great Leap Forward in the league is to be realised.

Onward to glory. It's time to concentrate on the cups.

Comments (3)

John Powls wrote...

Vic

You're dead right but with 3 major caveats; let's be sure of safety first and we're not yet - not by a long chalk. Once we've notched the 40 points we can afford to be a bit more relaxed in the Prem but not until then. Still six to go and - thankfully given the gap to Birmingham - six can be a chasm to fill at this time of year. Confidence in this team and staff and manager can easily spill over into thinking all you've got to do is turn up and look where that got us.

Secondly, I don't think it works like you say. I don't think you can pick and chose what you'll do well in and what you'll pay less attention to. You're either up for it or you aren't. That's so whether you're talking about the same team with their foot off the gas or the much vaunted rotation. In case anyone thinks that's still in vogue with any successful team or coach look around at the teams around Europe and look at their core side that plays week in week out, Barcelona, Valencia, Lyons, Chelsea etc etc. There may be the odd change at the margins but, barring injury, week on week there are at least 8 who go on the teamsheet as standard. No cobblers about tiredness. When did you last hear Terry or Lampard complaining. No rubbish about travelling - Ronaldinho and Eto'o both threw a strop recently when taken off 10 minutes from the end of a Barca game they were winning by a street when they had just returned from Brazil and the African Nations repectively, hours before.

Players and teams get 'in the groove' - once in it you stick in it and change it only when you have to. Every game matters in keeping that going, winning breeds winning and vice versa.

So, agree our goal should be the cups but not at the expense of trying to short change Prem matches. And that brings me to the last caveat. The punters have paid their money for the Prem season tickets up front and it's the bread and butter of club finances now and going forward. We've tested the patience of season ticket holders far too much this season already and it will be interesting to see how many flock to buy next season if we tail off in the Prem now, however well we do in the UEFA or the FA Cups.

Posted by: John Powls  | March 12, 2006 11:52 AM

John Powls wrote...

When I posted earlier, before the Charlton game, even I couldn't believe that The Current Manager would go even further than the rotation I was warning against and try to get away with playing a scratch team, disrespecting both Charlton and the Prem in the process. We got what he deserved.

Now, with no guarantee of a better result than we would have got anyway against Roma, we've chucked away at least a point and what could have been 3 against a Charlton side who have been in and out and who we would have overtaken if we'd won today. Instead we go to Blackburn next Saturday off the back of a defeat and maybe 2 and the run of fixtures coming up means that by the time we go to Portsmouth at Easter we could be back in the do-do again facing a team which could be resurgent again and which tanked us on their ground before. The master tactician does it again!

Is it any wonder why many of us have long since despaired of The Current Manager. This also strengthens what I said in my previous posting about thinking that you can just concentrate on the cups and hope the Prem takes care of itself.

Posted by: John Powls  | March 12, 2006 7:19 PM

Ian Gill wrote...

John Powls mirrors many of my thoughts about focussing on the cups. In a posting on the gazette message board I posed the question about this summer.

It is unlikely we will win a cup, a chance of a final possibly. The likeliest route to europe apart from the travel agent is the much maligned intertoto cup but the three points dropped at Charlton make that more difficult.

The financial costs of dropping points and hence league places in the premiership is huge, Anthony puts it at £700,000 a place. Allied to a 4,000 drop in home attendances and we could be facing a financial crisis this summer. The disaffectd Macaphobes may not buy season tickets anyway and if Keith Lamb is right about us having a club we can afford there may not be many players coming in.

The truth may be we have to realise assets before we can bring anyone in. The obvious saleable items are Downing and Yak, plus anyone we can get off the wage bill with no cost- Parlour, JFH, Boateng.

The fans will forget all about cup runs if we come to the end of the season 16th, with no europe, no prospect of sqaud strengthening and a nice letter asking for ticket renewals. The anti Mac will be saying I told you so.

Posted by: Ian Gill  | March 13, 2006 3:32 PM

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