Another team came to the Riverside and won comfortably. Okay, so it was the current and future Champions but in all honesty, it could have been anyone.
We could have played from sunrise to sunset and never scored.
God only knows how many we would have conceded in that time though!
Brad Jones had been getting better with each game but was still making crazy decisions like the now infamous sprint off his touchline to allow Fabregas his second of the afternoon at The Emirates.
However, he has now turned a corner and looks totally inept once again.
I have changed my mind, continuity be damned, I'd give Turnbull another chance to become a hero.
Mark - I don't like the Boro because you made me drop me cards when I sent off Digard - Halsey did not deny Boro anything that any other referee would have given against Manchester United...
That would be several handballs and a possible penalty then.
Not that it mattered. I am quietly confident that had we got the penalty, or the one against Arsenal, Alves, Downing or whoever plucked up a modicum of courage/drew the short straw would have fired straight at the keeper or high into the sky.
And yet we have no choice, we have to put one, two or three men up front against Newcastle and they have to be currently on the books at the Boro. Damn.
So who should start up front? King was pointless against Arsenal and useless against Manchester United.
Newcastle are by no means the same level of opposition - in fact, at this point there is little to choose between us and them - but they are just barely a Premier League team and I don't think King is the quality that the Boro are desperately searching for.
Alves then? The free-kick specialist who skied his effort yet again at the weekend? At this point I think we may as well give him a go. Put him up front with Tuncay or Aliadiere.
On the other hand, both Tuncay and Aliadiere gave up last Saturday. Both started brightly, Aliadiere's first shot went wide but at least it was a shot and he worked Foster with his second attempt. However, that was it.
In a second half when there was no belief and no attack whatsoever from the home side, the Frenchman took to strolling around and holding his ankle as opposed to performing the energetic runs that his fans love him for.
Meanwhile, Tuncay, who had also looked lively when the game started, simply disappeared.
Alves needs somebody to do his running for him and Tuncay and Aliadiere have both played well alongside the Brazilian in the past. However, there is only room for one and Southgate seems determined to start with both of them, although not as a real strike partnership in a 4-4-2 which may still be his best option.
None of them have earned their place for the absolute-no-doubt-about-it-must-win match against Newcastle.
Saturday was also probably Gary O'Neil's most ineffective performance this season. His slight frame meant that United players just took the ball off his toes before he had time to notice it was gone and Matty Bates is looking increasingly overworked with only Tuncay for company in the centre.
Robert Huth started the game with all the passion and intensity which has been a feature of his best displays in a Boro shirt. He ended the game in a petulant sulk which could have ended his afternoon early had he not eventually been convinced to acknowledge the blatant foul he had just committed under Halsey's nose.
Wheater was left to pick up the slack as Huth came to an abrupt halt even earlier than the rest of the team and Hoyte was frustrated by Park, and the ref's assistant, but gave a decent account of himself for the most part.
Downing tried his hand at being a captain having apparently just noticed the band around his upper arm and "had words" with said assistant on Hoyte's behalf.
Didier Digard was the only player who still wanted to take on United when he came on as a sub for McMahon and Bates was pushed into a defensive role where he looked a lot less comfortable than he does in midfield, which is odd for a defender...
A 4-4-2 would also allow Digard his first start since the Wigan match when he got injured and I know I'm whispering in a sound proof room here, but I'd bring Josh Walker back in alongside him.
I would do this firstly because I think his partnership with Digard was developing nicely before it was cut short by injuries to both players, and secondly because unlike the rest of the team, he is relatively 'fresh' having fallen down the pecking order for presumably still being a half decent footballer.
Furthermore, he is from Newcastle and would relish a staring role against his hometown club.
He also possesses the leadership qualities that everybody else in our squad seems devoid of and a sense of boundless optimism which is also missing from our dressing room.
By all accounts Newcastle have even less than us going for them. Their ultimate Messiah turned out to be just as clueless as our most successful captain but whereas our strikers lack confidence, power and accuracy yet have pace and energy (most of the time), they have Mark Viduka who looks like he would need a taxi to get into the box and Michael Owen who is still trying to get a taxi back to his cushy life in Cheshire.
Obafemi Martins is a genuine threat though and unfortunately, you can never entirely discount Messrs Owen and Viduka.
Everything rests on Monday night's trip to St James' Park and if ever there was a time to get it right, Monday night is the night for Southgate.
First published on www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/fanzone - May 09
No comments:
Post a Comment