GUSHING praise from the pundits for Gareth Southgate’s Boro is a bit disconcerting. We are more used to barbs, sneering and ill-informed smears from an all-to-often jaundiced media machine that leaves us prickling with righteous indignation and keeps our jealously guarded fuel of paranoia bubbling nicely. But can we deal with praise?
The rare positive pronouncements we have been handed begrudgingly over the years have tended to be a double edged sword. Boro are prone to shrivel in the spotlight of media expectations and hype and are a far more potent prospect when operating as the snotty nosed provincial upstarts than as the media darlings tipped for success. On balance, we are probably better off being ignored.
Yet it seems we must get used to being bigged up as a Boro bandwagon starts to roll and the talking heads and national hacks scramble aboard. It had been inching forward slowly but at the weekend Sky Sports summariser Alan McInally - keeping a close eye on the Spurs game - gave it a hefty shove with a jaw dropping assertion that Boro are “the best team outside the top four.”
That may not sit too comfortably with the league table, the paltry goals for tally or the memories of long spells of disjointed tedium this term, especially for those supporters still smarting over the FA Cup surrender to Cardiff.
In fact, Boro are actually far closer to the bottom four than the top - uncomfortably so - and if they were to lose to basement battlers Bolton on Saturday then it will be “squeaky bum” time for a team that no matter how much sympathetic press they get are still not yet safe from the drop.
Nevertheless, the professional opinion formers are waxing lyrical about Boro edging towards being the real thing.
After the second half show at Spurs, in which they had enough good chances to win (stop me if you have heard this one before), McInally was practically singing along to Pigbag as he pointing his foam finger at a bright future.
“It's important the way they are playing now because we are getting to the stage where Southgate starts to strengthen for next year,” he said. “And of all the teams outside of the top four going for the title, Middlesbrough of those in that area, are by far the best. By far the best.” He repeated that bit for emphasis as gob-smacked viewers in pubs across the country sprayed their beer all over.
A month ago Spurs were reckoned to be the best bet to break the evil cash-crazed quadropoly that are strangling the Premiership. Under Ramos they were faster, fitter and more organised so the Carling Cup was just the start. Now however they can’t stop shipping goals and the baton has been passed to Boro. After a second half tactical switch saw Boro take control the Times, not normally a natural ally of Teesside, was generous in its praise of Southgate’s slow rise to assume the challenger’s mantel.
“He has taken it slowly, not trying anything revolutionary and his caution is paying off,” wrote Alyson Rudd. “Middlesbrough look capable of sustaining an assault on the top six next season. By contrast Ramos needs all the time his cup glory bought him.”
It would be easy to dismiss the plaudits as a one off, except it is fast becoming the norm.The love-in started back in December after a high-tempo 2-1 Riverside rout of Arsenal raised eyebrows. Boro inflicted the first defeat of the season on the Gunners after out-thinking and out-playing them and Arsene Wenger put aside his big book of excuses and admitted Southgate and his fledgling side were a rising power.
“I am convinced that they will find a way out of trouble and will push on to become a dangerous side next year, perhaps in the top eight of the league,” said Wenger. “Gareth Southgate has been mentioned as a future England manager and I think it is possible.”
Since then Boro’s star has been rising even though results have not improved dramatically and the flashes of fluid play that have led to such optimism have yet to sustained for the full 90 minutes. Then after a sparkling second half in the 2-2 draw last week against Manchester United the spin machine went into overdrive.
The Match of the Day 2 team of Lee Dixon and Gavin Peacock could barely contain their excitement at Boro’s display and were scattering superlatives like love struck teenagers. “Ahhh, Boro are great, Alves is brilliant, Gareth is lush.” The pair competed to heap praise on an admittedly inspirational team display.
And the performance, the steel Southgate shown in standing up to fuming Fergie in a technical area toe-to-toe and his dignified progress through a baptism of fire to become an intelligent manager who sticks to his guns also attracted the support of Henry Winter, the Telegraph’s respected libero.
“Far tougher than perceived, Southgate... refused to kowtow to Sir Alex Ferguson, who usually expects subservience from managerial apprentices, " he wrote of the gaffer. “His image has traditionally been of the boy next door, the polite milk monitor with the nice grey jumper and stripey tie, yet all his own managers have seen a leader in him. Clearly intelligent, he is increasingly prepared to speak his mind. The more his nascent career is inspected, the more evidence of the determination and independent streak in his DNA.”
(Incidently, on the question of Southgate being "too nice" to manage effectively because he can't administer a well timed bollocking, Stewie Downing said some interesting things in today's Gazette on just that subject. He made it clear that the gaffer dished out a dressing-room tongue lashing that was as much a part of turning the game round at Spurs as the substitutions were.)
As if all that praise wasn’t enough, Thierry Henry weighed in. Asked how Barcelona could beat Manchester United in the Champions League he said: “By playing more like Boro than Arsenal.”
It may be too early to get carried away, especially if it is not backed by points. For the media the lack of a return from the admittedly rousing displays against the Champions League is not an issue. That Boro have taken the steam out of first Arsenal and then Manchester United and contributed to the swings of fortune of the contenders has helped shape the story and keep the title race alive has been crucial to the commercial enterprise.
That said, this is not the grudging respect that may have been paid to a battling Bolton or spirited Pompey that may snatch a point and cause an upset but also leave the press box purists bristling at the functional route one stylings of a self-consciously limited team. There is in the praise of Boro an acknowledgment that the team is playing with a certain panache, that it is trying to do things the 'right' way with passing at ground level and a fluidity of movement and that the team are technically proficient.
Yes, there is an attempt to tie that to an individual, to make the team reflection of the manager and his cerebral rather than a brutal approach and in some ways the club, the infrastructure put in place by Steve Gibson over a decade, the good habits that begin in the academy and the core of home grown heroes are brushed over, but to be fair that is true on Teesside too.
Southgate has a certain credibility with the press if only because he is articulate, thoughtful and answers a good question with a comprehensive, well thought out answer that is consistent with his espoused footballing philosophy and is underpinned with a certain honest and ethical approach that is refreshing in a cynical world. Southgate was always likely to win friends within the press but now he is starting to influence people. And convince them too that this is team he is building could be more than just a flash in the pan.
The current agenda in the media reflect a growing respect within the game for a boss who is learning the ropes and starting to express himself ever more forcefully and also a respect for his team, a well balanced side that has put in spirited, tenacious and tactically shrewd displays against title chasers Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United in recent weeks.
If the same team can show those qualities against Bolton, Sunderland, Manchester City and Portsmouth, win over the doubters and start to justify the hype then maybe we can really start raising our hopes for a brighter future.
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