Timing Is Everything
IT'S ALL ABOUT timing. Boro have just fought out a goalless draw against a side with the fifth best defence in the division, generally had a real go and attacked with pace and movement and only been thwarted according to script by a former player. Yes, they were a few little wobbles at the back and Fulham hit the woodwork but on the whole Boro bossed the game. It would have been a decent display back in September.
Now, with time and games running out fast it is hard to salvage too many positives.
On the up side there are two ailing teams within three points and two goals of us and Boro's form - especially at home where we are unbeaten in all competitions this year - is the best in the bottom six. On the down side big boys Arsenal and Manchester United are up next, Boro are terrible away and the two most realistic games to save out status - the nine pointer at Newcastle and the last day at West Ham - are both on the road.
There were boos at the end which was probably harsh after a game in which Boro beavered away, played at a high tempo and put together some excellent passing moves as they looked to get forward in numbers at every opportunity and carved out some good chances against a well organised side that were light years ahead of Hull.
Once again Boro played with spirit and passion. Once again it was scrappy and nervous at times. Once again there were flashes of brilliance from the 'big' players but only in patches and too often not in the areas where it could hurt. Once again chances went begging. Once again the opposition keeper took the plaudits. Same old story.
But if Boro do go down, it won't be because they could only draw against Fulham. It will be because they have lost nine away games on the bounce, have failed the likes of Blackburn, Sunderland and Portsmouth at home and because they can't score.
Now, it is a case of double or quits. Having failed to win this one the stakes are doubled at Newcastle. Before kick-off the safety formula was beat Fulham and don't lose at Newcastle with the balance carried forward to a win or bust gamble at West Ham. Now we are two points behind schedule, we must beat Newcastle - and possibly pick up a "typical Boro" bonus elsewhere - before we go to Upton Park. Some observations:
Find Us Keepers: You don't know what you've got until its gone. Mark Schwarzer had a poor season last year. He was stale, seemed incapable of stopping any shoot from more than 20 yards and clearly needed a new challenge. Invigorated at Fulham and behind a well organised, stable defence the 'greatest Australian hero since Ned Kelly' has kept 13 clean sheets and is rated by number crunchers Opta as the third best keeper in the Premier League.
He always divided opinion at Boro between those who thought he was rubbish and those who were indifferent. Hence his lukewarm greeting on his return. You would think a bloke who played at Wembley, Cardiff and Eindhoven for Boro would generate at least a respectful round of applause rather than the muffled ripple peppered with booing.
How many of those who though he was rubbish were left eating humble pie as he stretched to claw away Tuncay's powerful header, instinctively bundled a Downing shot over the bar and reacted well to parry McMahon's angled drive? And how many who said he was no better than what we had on the bench still though so as Brad Jones fumbled a simple catch then came diving out to skittle over Dempsey outside the box?
Clearly Schwarzer has not been adequately replaced. If the club thought either Jones or Turnbull were the man to step into his shoes they would have offered them contracts back in August. Instead they decided to suck it and see and now the more commanding of the two looks set to leave on a free after being dropped for not signing the deal on the table while the one that opted to stay has proved himself a capable shot-stopper but has a potentially fatal clanger-a-game average coming off his line. Whatever division we are in next season this remains a problem position.
That is not to use Schwarzer as a stick to beat the club. He wanted to leave, or at least wanted too long a deal on too much money for a fading and ageing keeper and his exit wasn't the problem. The problem was nor resolving the issue immediately.
Turkish Terrier: Tuncay combines exquisite artistry with aimless energy and that makes him a delight to watch but also very frustrating. On the one hand he is the Heston Blumenthal of football, needlessly not only over-egging the pudding but adding flicks and flourishes that were never in the traditional recipes and serving up dishes that look brilliant beyond belief but don't always deliver the goods.
On the other he dashes and darts and snaps at heels like a yapping Jack Russell chasing a ball in the park, a trait that always brings indulgent laughter and praise for the zest and sheer determination on show but rarely wins possession and too often his maverick marauding leaves big gaps in his wake, gaps that ask a lot of makeshift midfielder Matthew Bates to cover. Still, he is great to watch.
Crowded Out: Once again the Boro fans were magnificent. Despite the stark statistics and bleak prognosis Teessiders have rallied round the team and kept the faith. Today's crowd was close to being the biggest turn out of home fans all season but while Hull brought 3,750 and demanded a response, Fulham brought barely two coach loads and so the lopsided dynamic demanded more - which Boro fans delivered. However this season pans out, no one can point a finger at the supporters.
Older/Newer
« Launch Stat Attack On Fulham | A Dip Into The Dustbin Of History »
32 Comments
Leave a comment
Profile
Anthony Vickers
Keep up to date
Follow Untypical Boro on
When I got back from the match I switched on the TV and on a show there were two fat ladies singing Baltimore from Hairspray. Very disconcerting.
We are in need of my points from unexpected sources. Not winning yesterday was a blow as the table starts to stretch out at the bottom. Hopefully Spurs will do their bit and we stay third bottom.
The run ins of the teams in real danger are quite similar, the problem is that we are three points adrift. That is big gap to pull back in five games but there is still some hope. There will be a coupon buster before the end of the season and we need it to be us who get it.
A number of gambles were taken at the beginning of the season. Most of them seem to have left us short and when added together leads to our current situation.
The keeper situation is one of them. it is interesting that Swarz is doing so well behind a defence that doesnt employ zonal marking. But he needed to move on.
Jones or Turbull? There is the suspicion that Gate was just waiting for the chance to get Jones in the team. As you say Jones does have his Corporal moments.
Most of us are relying on hope rather than expectation and before I get foam hand assaults just because I express these views doesnt mean I go and boo the teams. Nor does it mean I will be 'happy' if we go down. Sadly most of our early season concerns are gradually playing out.
For Southgate to be happy with a point today is an absolute disgrace his attitude exactly why were down
Another interesting stat. Boro ( pop 150000-ish) v Fulham ( not normally the game of the season ) attendance 30000. Same day, Juventus ( Turin pop 1.5 mill plus)v Inter Milan, Ist v 2nd in Serie A. Attendance 27800! Our fans deserve a bow.
John, Aus
AV,
I think you went over the top a little on the goalie situation, (maybe a lack of sleep, like the rest of us), I'll bet the majority of fans werent too bothered when Schwarzer bailed out on us ,(after the Mclaren row ,way before last season his head was all over the place) and I actually think Brad Jones given time will turn into a top keeper. Name another young goalie better.
Although a little naive at times, remember he is playing for team that for most (all) of the season struggled. The pressure on that young man to help keep this poor team in the Prem is a credit to his resolve. He's big, brave, a good shot stopper and I think the last thing we should be doing is lambasting his abilities. He could save us millions in the future.
**AV writes: He scares me.
Who knows, it could be the point that keeps us up at the end of the season. Wishful thinking I know, however, goal difference is what is going to count either for us or against us. The clean sheet yesterday in addition to Hull and Blackburn only two goals ahead of us in goal difference might have a say in the final reckonings; as long as we don't get tanked at Arsenal or at home to Man Utd.
I said MS would either have a howler of a game or he would be man of the match. It turned out to be the latter, especially with the save from Tuncay which was outstanding.
In my opinion, the next two games will decide our season. Nobody expects us to get anything at all from these matches, and therefore, relegation is inevitable. But these are the kind of games that Boro normally pull a rabbit out of the hat.
We are so far unbeaten at the Emirates and normally put in a good shift at home to the Red Devils. Any kind or result from these games is a bonus, and that bonus plus yesterday's result could just save us, providing they go all out against the Barcodes, Villa and West Ham.
Keep the faith guys.....
The result was disappointing but the graft, spirit and endeavour was not. Had this game been in the middle of the season then we would have left reasonably content.
With points at a premium, every game from now until the season end all of them must be treated as a "must win". Roy Hodgson made the comment "I certainly thought that on the side’s performance today, that didn’t look to me like a relegation team" as an impartial but learned observer he knows from experience what he is talking about.
The boos at the end of the game were out of order and those responsible should be ashamed. I have booed and jeered more than most over this season but the Boro players were literally out on their feet at the end and to ask or expect more effort was unrealistic, Fulham defended like their collective lives depended on it and but for heroics (typical Boro) by Schwarzer we could have collected all 3 points.
Previously I have booed lifeless, disorganised, spiritless and disinterested performances but yesterday was none of them. Anybody who knows anything about football could see that the effort and application was there and if we had played like that all season we would have been comfortably top 10, the reason why we haven't will have to wait until the summer inquisition.
Statistically we had only 45% possession but 63% territorial advantage, 6 shots on target versus their 2, 7 shots off target versus their 6, 11 blocked shots versus their 5 and 9 corners versus their 1.
If thats a cause for booing then I can only assume that the people responsible were the "new found Boro-lite 5000". There was also thankfully a significant amount of cheering and support from genuine Boro fans at the end.
Putting a further spin on it is that Aston Villa are more likely an easier and more realistic three points than Fulham ever were going to be. They are firmly rooted to the bottom of the current form table over the last 8 games and WBA, Sunderland, Hull and the Barcodes are all below us.
Taking AV's theme that "Timing is everything" then the form guide over the last 4 games has Blackburn added to the aforementioned sides that means that despite Sunderland's win yesterday there are no less than 5 relegation strugglers currently performing worse than ourselves.
The big 2 "no hope" games against Arsenal and Manure are not without hope, Champions league semi's will be dividing their focus (and in Arsenal's case now their only hope of silverware this season!). Manure incidentally are currently 9th versus our 13th in the last 4 game form guide and 6 games ago they were 6th and us 15th so whilst we are improving they are hitting a pain barrier with us having home advantage.
It is definitely not over and definitely not without hope. We have been frustrated down the years moaning constantly about "Typical Boro" and how we traditionally take points off the big 4 but always struggle against the bottom half teams so surely that is more cause for perverse optimism in the coming weeks. Yesterday's performance against Fulham was another watershed, we didn't concede in the dying seconds and every player was running on empty at the final whistle.
Come on Boro!
Nice photoshopped sea of red all happily on their way to watch Boro vs Blackpool, new shiny 09/10 season cards in pocket on the MFC webite I see.
Either photoshopped or genuinely unwilling to show their faces. You decide.
I just think Southgate attitude of being pleased with another draw at home and claiming it a good result is totally wrong. This was a must win and for Southgate to be happy with a 0-0 is an absolute disgrace and the exact reason why we are going down.
He was the first to stick the boot in on Stevie Mac for being 'boring' and all his claims of attacking football have been totally unfounded. Instead we are left with a manager who has been delighted with throwing points away in must win games.
Hopefully come summer Gibson will get someone in who is actually a manager and let him spend what we make in sales, the likes of Downing, Pog, Huth, O'Neil, Mido, Aliadere, Alves etc will generate more than enough for a new manager to build a good side combining the best of the local talent (Johnson, Wheater, McMahon etc) with some experienced hands who know the championship and keeping hold of someone like Riggott
Well said A.V. Spot on. The fans were terrific as they were last week and really let the team down and often hold back there true feeling, lest they offend the players.
Then you saw the effort put in by McMahan, Bates, Downing Wheater ably supported by Tuncuy and Huth and you can see the love there is for this club of ours. Yet you rightly pointed out the situation with Schwarzer and I ask you this.? How many experienced pros wanted to stay and play for Southgate?
Did Woodgate?. No. Did Yakubu? No. Did Young? No. Does Downing? No. Will Tunguy, Huth or Arca come the summer? No. The plain fact is that the players don't want to play for him because they all know he is a loser. Mark my words by the time Southgate has gone 90% of the clubs talent will have left because of him.
**AV writes: Generally, players leave for more money.
I'm all for crediting the spirited display, effort, attitude etc but the bottom line is we had to beat Fulham and we didnt. The aforementioned may be enough for Gareth to be chuffed it is not enough to keep us up, results are what count and Boro did not get on. The rest i think is irrelevant.
So just a point eh. Well, by my reckoning, we now need to win three from the last five games. That is a tall order, but on the bright side, both Hull and Blackburn are still sinking, as their goal difference is growing.
Stoke and Pompey have now escaped, leaving ourselves, Geordies, Hull, Blackburn and possibly still Sunderland battling to ensure they escape the remaining two places for the trapdoor.
I'm renewing next season, I can't give up on my beloved Boro after all this time, but my head tells me what I sort of knew in January - we are gonna be watching Championship football next year, though my heart will never give up until it's all over.
The boos at the end yesterday were simply frustration, I don't think they were justified of course, but Boro fans have been superb this season. I was disappointed with the lack of changes by Southgate when it was clear we needed a radical change around to inspire us on for the last 20 minutes.
But Southgate - as Chris was thinking above - also knows that even a point is better than a gamble on nothing. Southgate is simply not a gambler folks. The recriminations should wait until the last ball is kicked, until then we have five collosal games left to ensure our proud Premiership record remains intact. I'm up for it, let's hope those wearing the red shirt are too.
Thought this was going to be about the managerial masterstroke of changing our failing front line with just 8 minutes to go. Alves has been a disaster for the club and is a major reason for our downfall.
Yesterday showed what having a decent, experienced manager can do i.e. mould a set of average players into an effective team.
I wonder how bad Marlon Emnes really is if he is not given a chance ahead of the truly atrocious Aliadiere ?
Better display but, If Southgate is there next year my season ticket money remains in my pocket.........
For all the talk of learning lessons, Gate has failed to learn WHEN to sub, so your blog title is appropriate.
Changes needed to be made earlier with 20-25 minutes left. Also, the change he made didn't change the team shape...there was no plan B -- we were just shuffling players around...same old story.
We need a miracle now, but Fulham showed what can be done last year, so I'll keep the faith for a few more games. But if the fat lady hasn't yet sung, she's definitely warming up.
The main hope now is that Hull and Newcastle flounder even more than Boro in the last few games. Hull are in a total nose dive and might not get any more points, so realistically it comed down to whether Newcastle or Boro go down with them and WBA. The game versus the Magpies will undoubtedly end up settling everything.
The Boro management team have not once this season demonstrated that they possess the coaching skills to put in place an alternative tactic during a game in order to significantly change the approach when it is obvious that the planned approach is not working.
We have seen it from a defensive point of view many times earlier this season when we capitulated under pressure when leading going into the final phase; against Fulham it was the attacking options that were not put in place. How can they have waited until the 83rd minute for the first substitution, taken off Alves and replaced him with Johnson?
When we had no option other than to win this game and we should have been brave enough to have taken off Taylor for Johnson, after 60 minutes, and gone 4-4-3. Where was the promised "all out attack"?
No-one can fault the effort put in by every Boro player. What we lacked was guile, inventiveness, tactics and commitment to ensure that we scored at least one goal. As in previous games we were hoping that we would score rather than deliberately working out how to do so.
One more point, GS gave glowing praise to the players saying after the game that the players had "played with fight and pride in the last two games". What about the vast majority of the previous 20 games? If they had given the same fight and pride we wouldn't be where we are now.
I honestly though that we played really well yesterday (and yes I did stay to the bitter end and applauded the lads off!!) I was disappointed that we did not win but come on it could have been worse when Fulham hit the post (even if the Linesman did not see the offside!).
My point is that one point is better than none and Newcastle is still the biggest game of our season (with the hope that we can produce a typical boro moment in the next two games (me thinking 3-1 against Man Ure with an Alves hatrick :-) lol).....but until it is mathematically impossible we must keep the faith!
Looking at yesterdays performance and with a some better luck (and the fact that I think MS had a point to prove!) we can get those results and hopefully make the great escape....C'MON BORO
brian b:
Marlon Emnes? a typo or intentional?
Anyways, I thought we played well and were desperately unfortunate not to get the three points. I think this season is far from over. We've been on an uphill battle for weeks now and Southgate is right, we are just hanging in there.
Let's hope the team can continue our unbeaten run with Southgate at the helm against Arsenal on the weekend.
The booing at the end in my eyes was an utter disgrace and I had a row with a couple of blokes behind me who started it. How can you boo players who had visibly given their all on the pitch? I actually thought we put too much into the first 25 minutes and ran out of gas in the last 15.
Nobody ever seems to see the team we are playing against. A very well organised settled and improved outfit who are extremely difficult to break down and in very good form.The mentality of these idiots is we have to win therefore because we didnt boo the team off even when it is totally unjustified.
We still have a very slim chance of survival. If we can win two and draw one of the remaining five games including a win at Newcastle this may be enough to overtake Hull with 38 points and keep the Geordies below us.
Good performance, fair result. too many games lost or not won earlier this season have put us where we are. Nobody was gonna put one past Swartz lets face it. Aliadiere to score against the gooners, Deffo!
Its not over yet. If Shearer has the balls to go 3 up front from the off they will get some wins. I would like to see Johnson come on for Taylor though if we are losing at arsenal with 20 to go.
It can still be done!
0-0 against one of the best defences in the Premier League is not all that bad - and as you said AV had that result been 20 games ago we would look at it very differently.
How SG must wish he had gone for Fulhams English manager with his skill in making a bunch of journeymen into such an accomplished outfit. As for us we can now see that Gareth has to go to the plan B before the 80something minute each week.. Let's hope we can score first in the next few.
And the more things stay the same, the more things stay the same!!... that is to say, the next two let's expect to lose, we just must not get flogged but then we must at least draw one and win two of the last three, and one of the wins HAS to be against the Geordies. Keep the faith, seven more points and we'll be fine.
The last six games have yielded 8 points and we may only need six more to stay up. Villa have the deck chairs out, We have been the better team three times against West Ham already this season and the Toon are doing their best to help us!
SO with Blackburn and Hull in freefall... (I'll stop here as I'm starting to sound foam-handed!!)
C'mon Boro
Phil from Aus.
Despite 100% effort by the players it's still the old problem of putting the ball in the back of the net that is our downfall.
OK, in the end a point could prove useful - but we're probably going to need to conjure up a win from either Arsenal or Man Utd to avoid needing to win the last three games.
I think there's a possibility that Arsenal could field an 'understrength' team next week since 4th place looks fairly secure and our game is sandwiched between midweek games against Liverpool and their CL 1st leg against Man Utd - the latter may even persuade SAF not to play his 'A' team the following week.
Anyway, all is not lost and we may still avoid the drop given some better finishing.
GT
I am with AV about Jones, he scares me but is a good shot stopper. Schwarzers time is past so the question of him going or staying is irrelevant. Jones is who we have and we must give him all the backing we can.
On to the midweek games and what would be good results for us.
The team old beetroot sent out against Everton tells us that the FA Cup is not a priority. My instinct is that Fergie wants to finish in front of the Spanish waiter so we will be getting a full blown assault at the Riverside. Once he calms down he will be pleased for Moyes to take Everton to a final especially as Liverpool wont make one this year.
So what would I like this week? Arsenal to get something from Liverpool to help secure 4th place and then concentrate on the Champions League.
Liverpool can then go and tonk Hull on Saturday to keep their titles hopes alive.
ManU to tonk Pompey to widen the gap over Liverpool and then win against Spurs giving them a comfortable cushion in the league. They can then focus on the Champions League and field a weakened team against us.
All this tactical supporting is very tiring!
Current form from the last six matches shows
Baggies 3 points
Toon 2
Boro 5
BBurn 7
Hull 5
Sland 4
Pompey 9
Notlob 4
There is scope for one or more clubs to escape the clutches, a couple of points from unexpected sources would not go amiss.
It looks to me that Stoke and Portsmouth are now out of reach - Bolton too probably. It would be a great help if those three clubs could win their games against our other rivals for us.
I cant see us getting anything out of the next two games so we desperately need our rivals not to leave us behind.
Hull look to me like they wont get another point. They face liverpool at home next game then go to Villa (who currently must be considered beatable even by them. Then they have Stoke at home so we must hope for a Stoke win.
Blackburn cant find a side to put out right now but they face Wigan at home then a trip to Man city and those are both winnable.
Next week Sunderland go to WBA so either we must hope for Mogga to fire up his side for one last desperate effort or we can say Sunderland will get the result that puts them out of sight too. But if they dont its Everton at home next up followed by a trip to Bolton and those will be tough games for them.
Next weekend Newcastle are at home to Portsmouth and if Pompey can do us a favour - even a draw - then they folow that with a trip to Anfield so we could still be above them (or still level) when we meet them.
That game will relegate one of us if there is a win for either. A draw could relegate us both. A win there could be enough to see us catch Hull (who face Stoke that day).
Unlike you AV I see Villa as our best chance of three points in the remaining games. It might be too late by then. We need the other results to go in our favour the next two weeks.
Those who are criticising GS for his apparent satisfaction with Saturdays performance are forgeting that as manager he rightly takes satisfaction from the teams performance and not necessarily the result.
Clearly three points on Saturday would have given us a much better chance of avoiding relegation, but GS cannot take responsibility or be blamed for the fact that Boro were playing a damned good side.
Criticising the manager for the fact that we didn't get three points is plain daft, ctiticise him for the seasons performace overall but not the result of one match. For sure if we go down it won't be because we only drew with Fulham.
It is good to read that the Boro players have put in maximum effort against both Fulham and Hull, however it only serves to highlight the fact that they clearly haven't put in maximum effort previously and it is this that will be responsible for our demise if we go down.
When we all looked at the fixtures a couple of weeks ago I'm sure everyone thought that we needed to beat Fulham and Hull to have a chance simply because they appear to be the 'weakest' teams we were to play, but footie isn't like that is it? Form varies through out the season, big teams loose a couple of star players making the mvulnerable (would we have beaten Liverpool with Gerrard and Torres playing?)
It is likely that we will go down, however it is not impossible that we could 'nick' a win from Arsenal or Man Utd. But even if we do we will need a positive result from the Newcastle match.
For me the hight of my ambition is that we go into the West Ham game in a position that we could stay up if we win, there is still some hope.
Sorry AV but I can't agree with you about Jones for my money he has performed far better thsn Schwarzer ever did over the last couple 0f seasons and as for Tuncay his loss of form can be layed at the feet of only one man - SOUTHGATE.
The poor guy didnt know where he was playing from one week to the next, how could he know what was expected of him? And as for Alves, yes he is out of his depth in this league but how is he supposed to learn by being left up on his own with five centre backs his only means of service?
Has any one noticed the improvement over the last couple of gameswhen he's had three or four more helping to share the load? And while I'm at it, a man who wants to be away can never give you the effort that you want. No matter how he tries if his heart isnt in it he just cant do it.Oneil's heart is on the south coast and thats where he should be. Downing is another kettle of fish he is one of us and will always want to be with us no matter where his fortunes take him
Its nice to see the fans remaining positive but with three wins out of 22 games two out of five seems rather optimistic.
It's strange how football fans think. We cant beat West Brom, Sunderland, Blackburn, Wigan, Pompey, Bolton, Newcastle or any other team in the relegation zone yet we remain optimistic about nicking a point against the champions league semi-finalists...funny old game.
It will be very interesting to hear the clubs statement if we do go down,because we the fans are certainly doing our bit. I'm afraid my £440 pound is staying in my wallet untill we get a decent "EXPERIENCED" manager. Hopefully we will not be playing in the 3rd tier of english football by then.
It's not that we jettisoned Schwazer - which I'd been in favour of in years; it's that we didn't replace him with a better keeper, and, instead thought we could get by this season on what we had in reserve. Erm... no. You can't get by on a wing and a prayer. and yes, there was / is alternatives out there keeperwise.
My previous post was a couple of years ago. After successive years as a season ticket holder stretching back to Ayresome, and after the Eindhoven adventure, I decided not to renew. It was lack of entertainment: three or four decent home performances a season didn't warrant what I was donating in time and funds and committment (I'm a shift worker). Eindhoven was my watershed. As Boro experiences went; this was as good as it was going to get in my opinion.
However, how bad can things now get?
I can't see a quick return should we get relegated. I was thinking that Mowbray might jump ship and help us back up - I think he could. However, after watching WBA's last game, why should he? I think they're a better chance at coming back than we are.
The Hillsborough commemorations brought back memories of a relegation match there years ago; not the 1-0 defeat which put us down in '89, but the 3-2 win. 3-0 up, including a screamer from Pollock, to hang on 3-2 at the end.
We still went down...
Borodude, welcome back.
I watched Sunday Supplement on Sky Sports (on Sunday oddly enough). Oliver Holt thought that if we went down we would come straight back up.
You may have missed my previous posting on this subject but go and look at the results of our Reserve and Academy teams. They are struggling to beat the corresponding teams from clubs like Sheff Utd and Derby, the results are no better than the first team.
So we are expecting our 'stars' to leave and the 'kids' to step up a level and beat the first teams of those same clubs to get promotion? It is a big ask without a large reinvestment of part of the proceeds from the sale of assets.
"Winning at Newcastle is key to survival says Gareth Southgate"
It's spouting rubbish like this that makes me hate this buffoon. We (and Newcastle) could easily be too far adrift of everybody else by the time we play. Southgate should be thinking of the Arsenal game as being the key to survival instead of the Newcastle one. The sooner GS packs his bags the better.
We can all write whatever we want, but the truth has been there for a very long time. Southgate has been taking us on a downward spiral for most of the season. No tactics, no man management, no nothing.
His selections have been rubbish, his buying even worse. We have the most ineffective centre forward in the league and yet he persevered with him, and for all of you out there who stii stated he will get the goals to keep us up, you are worse judges than Southgate, Alves will never ever get the goals, he has the highest statistic for missed goals than any other forward in the league. Money wasted.
I said at the time of signing him, he was scoring goals in a mickey mouse league, and if he had been any good then the "big teams" would have gone for him as they were looking for centre forwards at the time. Their managers knew he was no good but we spend a small fortune on him. Bad management.
We have had more than one chance to win many games this season, and this player alone could have saved us, never mind other players have not scored, he is the one that the most chances fell to and he is the one who did not score.
Southgate has not even had the decency to leave of his own accord. If as is likely we go down I for one cant see us coming back up with him in charge or with the players he has.
Well said Paul Bell, couldn't agree more.
And talking of "Timing is Everything", what a time for some of the nationals (including The Mirror, AV) to announce Bruce's alledged attempts to prise Matthew Bates away.