ARE WE on the verge of an exciting season of flexible football and drama? That is the bold intention as Boro boss Gareth Southgate prepares to rip it up and start again.
Here’s hoping. Recent years have produced real undeniable success - the Carling Cup victory and dramatic UEFA Cup adventure can not be dismissed likely - but in some respects the cautious, one dimensional functional approach that yielded those highs has eroded the soul and dampened the flames of passion at the Riverside and it is time for a radical change.
Boring Boro's ponderous midfield trundling forward hesitantly while Viduka held up the ball vainly waiting for reinforcements became the hallmark of that staid approach. Isolated Downing advaning down the left then cutting back waiting for targets to arrive in the box anytime this week was a familiar sight too, along with limited but speedy opponents ripping through a static midfield to score as problems inherited from Steve McClaren’s came home to roost.
Most observers could see the glaring pace deficit that left Boro exposed in a league increasingly based on power and athleticism. They were sluggish getting bodies forward and chances were snuffed out before they could profit and worse, losing the ball when they were stretched and exposed gave swifter opposition a chance to strike quickly. Mono-paced Boro struggled to match the power and pace of the “lesser” teams last term. The lost to poor Watford, Sheffield United, West Ham, Fulham and Manchester City sides who were fitter and faster - a flaw that left them in serious trouble until very late in the day.
Now thankfully that long standing and potentially fatal problem is being addressed. With hungry and fleet-footed forwards Tuncay Sanli and Jeremie Aliadiere already in the bag and energetic Alan Smith also being courted in a £6m move, what the cynics said was just pre-deadline season ticket selling spin is being made concrete.
On the face of it, the cynics can easily pick fault with such a strategy: replacing prolific strikers Viduka (19 goals last year and ) with Aliadiere, pacy and highly rated but with only one goal in the Premiership, and possibly also Yakubu (35 in his 102 starts in two years at Boro... although you do apparently have to take penalties off that) with Smith, a tenacious competitor with a patchy strike rate and more yellow cards than goals for Manchester United seems foolhardy- if the mooted reshuffle comes off.
To reject Smith as a benchwarmer and say he is not "spectacular" misses the point. He adds something we do not currently have, a snarling, snapping presence up front and the pace to harry defenders. He is far more than just a turbo-charged Malcolm Christie and to think Boro can afford to turn their nose up at an Old Trafford regular with so much experience - and so much to prove - suggests a fundamental misreading of both the league table and the club's position in the football pecking order.
It is a gamble - but the new course is not just about changing individuals or the club could put all their eggs in one basket and spend all the dosh on Dean Ashton as a Viduka replacement and continue to plough the same furrow. It is about changing the tactics, changing the tempo and changing the mentality, all imperative if Boro are to avoid becoming bogged down in a style that time forgot, treading quicksand until they finally got sucked under.
Boro have been easy to stifle in recent years. We all know that, and so do opposing coaches.Take Downing out and there is no real Plan B. If Yakubu or Viduka were not on fire there were few goals elsewhere and with little movement or creativity out of midfield the team could be relatively easily contained by even a poor but hard working team.
That had to change if Boro were to progress. And that is where the new recruits come in. They offer versatility, they are Gareth’s flexible friends. Tuncay boasts he can play on the right, the left, in the hole and as a striker and promises to transform the way the team operate; Smith can play up front, wide on the right, in midfield and even at a push in a holding role; Aliadiere can play anywhere along the front line or even on the right. That gives Boro plenty of options going forward with the prospect of exciting, unpredictable runs from a fluid front line carving open defences and leaving gaps to be exploited.
It also gives the option of switching from 4-4-2 when neccessary to an attack minded 4-5-1 that quickly becomes a 4-3-3 when going forward. It gives the option of becoming a team that can genuinely hurt teams on the counter-attack. And it gives supporters something to be excited about, a team that is designed to get forward.
Of course there are no guarantees and there remains the problem of a lack of pace in midfield but the early moves in the market have addressed one key problem and all the noises suggest that the club are trying to address the other. Is it safe to feel a bit optimistic yet?
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