WOODY’S MESSAGE to Teesside: Don’t Panic!
After a nightmare start to the season that has left Boro dangling just above the drop zone, frustrated fans may gnash and wail at such advice. The Manchester mauling has sparked an outbreak of fear and loathing while from Saltburn to Sedgefield tin hats are being donned for a long, hard winter of trench warfare. During a morale-sapping bleak slide down the table the last thing fans want to read is banal platitudes about “we’ll get it right”, “working hard in training” and “there are no more excuses’.
But in a neat moment of historical symmetry the imposing England central defender’s ‘don’t panic’ plea comes not from today but from almost exactly a year ago.
The rallying cry came from the Sports Gazette on Saturday October 7 last term and while many are convinced the world is about to end and we are all going to die, it is worth putting the current crisis in context.
Cast your mind back a year. Wobbling Boro went into an international break needing to steady their nerves and regroup after they had suffered a late sucker punch as Sheffield United got a last gasp winner in a TV game at Bramall Lane. That left fragile Boro with just one win from the first eight games and just one point above the dead men - and Spurs - and looking vulnerable as the murmurs of dissent at rookie boss Gareth Southgate’s appointment gained volume.
The season had started with a collapse at Reading as Boro threw away an early two goal lead to go down 3-2. There followed a shock 2-1 win at home to champions Chelsea then a one sided 4-0 Riverside rout by Portsmouth.
Woodie’s arrival stiffened up a porous defence and Boro did well to pick up away points with a 1-1 draw at Arsenal and a 0-0 draw at bubbling Bolton but things took a downturn again with a limp 1-0 League Cup exit by a weakened side at home to Notts County and then a lacklustre 1-0 home defeat to Blackburn.
Being cut down by the relegation haunted Blades was a hammerblow. “But there is no need to press the panic button,” said Woodgate. “We know we have to start winning games and if we keep playing like we did then we will win games without a doubt.
“Obviously we are going to be down after losing like that but we have to keep strong. We have got a lot of experienced players in the squad and a lot of young lads. We have talked about what we need to do and will all keep our heads up.” And to add to the air of deja vu, he added: “You can’t win games if you miss chances like that.
Of course, both extremes of the spectrum will seize on the flashback to prop up their own ideological position. The chicken-run tendency will point to it as evidence that nothing has changed at Boro that long standing tactical problems have gone unaddressed and that the middling club are inescapably locked in a relegation battle as, whatever the ambitions, they are sucked back by football gravity.
The innate positivists will see evidence Boro have proved they have the steely mentality to turn a bleak situation around, that they have the ability to back the big words with action and the potential is there to still challenge.
The truth, as ever, is somewhere in between. This is not a totally unknown - nor a totally surprising one - scenario we find ourselves in now. Indeed we find ourselves here frozen in the headlights of the oncoming juggernaut at least once every season
Boro were not mathematically safe from relegation until two games from the end last term and while there has been some fine-tuning and some problem areas strengthened the squad has not been radically improved by the Summer spending and up front there are fewer options so to expect a dramatic improvement in fortunes would have been naive.
Back in August few bar the wild eyed optimists realistically expected Boro to be up among the pace-setters. The pre-season signings and the deadline day reinforcements perked up flagging enthusiasm but it hardly sparked spontaneous predictions of imminent Champions League glory. We were never going to do a Man City.
This season was pencilled in as one of rebuilding the personnel and the philosophy and a transition to a more attacking style. The path was never going to run smoothly. Part of that package is poor runs, dips in form, spells where it all goes wrong and the weaknesses are cruelly exposed, especially with key players out.
Boro may be behind schedule in terms of how many points most had budgeted for after this opening early run but last term - after the Sheffield United game - Boro only had eight points from eight games too yet recovered to put themselves if not clear of the danger zone then certainly keep it at arms length.
Boro have only finished in the top half twice in the top half in 13 seasons so perhaps we should remember where the bar is when we are judging what constitutes a 'crisis'. There has been an inflation of expectations over the past decade to the point where failure to challenge for Europe is seen as some massive indictment of the club, the team, the management and the fans when in fact is is actually just a reflection of the historic reality.
It is a sobering thought but Boro's current position is, well, about right. The club have said as much. In his seering no-holds-barred interview with Fly Me To The Moon last month Keith lamb reeled off the figures: 14th in gates, 14th in revenue, 14th in TV money, 14th average league placing, 14th in the Eurovision song contest... there is a pattern emerging here. Maybe the reality is that far from being bogged down in crisis Boro are actually mired in normality.
Ultimately, unless there is a great leap forward that changes those 14th places top top ten ones - and frankly there is little on the horizon to suggest such a revolution - Boro are playing Russian roulette. The dark fear is that if you bounce about in the bottom half long enough then it only takes one bad below average season to get caught when the music stops and cast you back into the depths of the Championships. Deep down we all know that is the gamble.
But as Woody says, seemingly on an annual basis, it is too early to panic just yet.
LIKE the first cuckoo of spring it is one of the aural landmarks of the year to hear the familiar startled cry of the worried Teessider ring out: “Are there three teams worst than us?”
The question may be ringing out early this year after a jittery start but it is maybe reassuring to consider the answer. Because yes, there clearly are three teams worse than us. In fact there are probably a few more than three - for now.
Derby County are dead men walking, this year’s Watford, here to enjoy the party and pick up the parachute payments (plus no doubt three points from Boro).
Then come a clutch of teams who have thin squads, light on experience and who will battle and scrap but will be gradually worn down, exposed and found wanting before being dragged into the black hole of the dogfight come January. Among these are Sunderland and Birmingham who are glorified Championship outfits and Fulham, an experiment in seeing if Northern Ireland could survive in the top flight. At least one of these will go.
Then there are three Icarus teams, spiralling down in a mess of wax and feathers after flying too close to the sun: Bolton demotivated by departure of their talismanic former boss in favour of one of life’s natural number twos, Reading stuttering and suffering second season syndrome as they realise the enormity of their task Wigan, now slipping back to last term’s ineptitude after peaking too early. One of these could go too - although they could equally quickly revive should they give their boss the bullet early enough and get the right replacement in.
That should insulate Boro and settle some nerves, although there is no room for complacency and all the calculation depend on our heroes matching their own ranking as a middle sized Premiership fixture who are probably too good to go down.
If the team put in a decent shift and justify their own pre-season predictions they should be well clear of the basement. There is time yet to looking at the implications of results above us rather than below.
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