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THE TRUTH HURTS 30-8-05
As Darren Bent sauntered unchallenged from the half way line to score Charlton's third goal on Sunday afternoon, I rose from my seat, also unchallenged, and left the ground.
It was only the second time I had left a game early. On the previous occasion we were 3-1 down to Leicester City, a game which finished 3-3 thanks to some extraordinary pieces of luck producing two last minute goals. On Sunday though, even a miracle wouldn't have been enough.
I've sat through some shocking performances as a Boro fan, most of them against Arsenal. To jog a few memories, 1-6 to Arsenal, 0-4 to Arsenal, 2-5 to Aston Villa and the 3-3 with Leicester previously mentioned, and all of those in the last 5 seasons. As for the worst performance I have ever seen, I'm afraid we have a new winner.
If we play like that every week this season, we will go down - fact. And if we don't get some new faces at the club very quickly, performances like that will become a frequent occurrence.
I didn't go to the game at Birmingham, but people who did have told me we were awesome. We played them off the park, in front of their own fans, who started heading for the exits with twenty minutes to go. On Sunday, we found out what it's like to be on the other end of a thrashing in circumstances not too dissimilar.
Individually and as a team, the performance was unacceptable. There is not one positive to take from that performance. In attack we offered nothing and same can be said for defence.
We conceded all three goals through not being switched on defensively. Nobody filled in the middle of midfield for the injured Boateng for the first goal and nobody was marking at all for the second goal. As for the third goal, nobody was even running.
Barcelona must have pissed themselves laughing the day McClaren turned up to take Michael Reiziger off them. He got hammered all ends up on Sunday, by a decent player in Jerome Thomas it must be said, but Reiziger was awful. He hasn't impressed me at all since he came and the sooner Parnaby gets back in the side the better.
Southgate and Ehiogu both look past it. They were both a yard off the pace and this could easily be the last season in the Premiership for both of them. God help us when we come up against a decent strike force. I'm sorry, but the truth hurts.
In all the time that we haven't had back up for Franck Queudrue I can't remember him going off injured once. Yet, the day our new left back is available, Franck goes off at half time. If he was injured then fair enough. But if the decision to take Franck off was anything to do with McClaren wanting Pogatetz to make his debut then he should be sacked.
Franck Queudrue gives his all for this club. He may be rash in the tackle sometimes, and I know that he does have one or two weaknesses in his game, but the man has passion.
Franck was playing no worse than anyone else on the pitch. Rommedahl was a menace, but only because Franck had no support ahead of him.
Which brings to me Stewart Downing. I said a few weeks back that he won't tackle or take anybody on. Thanks, Stewy, you proved me right.
The one instance which sums Downing up happened in the first half. Rommedahl tried to take on Queudrue, who tackled him. The ball slid loose between Downing and Luke Young, 80/20 in Downing's favour.
Instead of making any effort to win the ball, take on the isolated right back and start a counter attack, he pointed at it expecting Yakubu to come back and win it. Young, who had initially started to back off, was able to stroll forward and collect the ball.
The problem is Downing is in his comfort zone. There is no competition for him. He knows he will play every week, and his performances reflect that.
Unfortunately, his mate James Morrison had a shocker of a first half. At the top level the slightest error can cost a goal. His sloppy touch from a throw-in lead to Rommedahl scoring the first. He then missed arguably our best chance by blasting straight at the keeper.
He went off at half time and I can't say I was too upset to see the back of him. There is no substitute for class, and Mendieta looked to have livened things up when he came on. When he went off, so did our chance of getting a result.
Viduka and Yakubu did nothing. Viduka makes Hasselbaink look like a work horse and I heard more than one person liken Yakubu to Hamilton Ricard.
Tactically speaking, the players didn't have a clue. Whether that was McClaren's fault or not I don't know. At least twice I saw both Boateng and Parlour go to get the ball off the back four, and not once did I see either of them join in creatively in attack.
It's not their style to do that which is why we have got to get someone else in there. And I don't mean Doriva.
It's hard to be optimistic about the rest of the season when McClaren puts the defeat down to a, "lack of strength in depth". Is this not a phrase used when talking about resting players to avoid fatigue?
Do me a favour! We're only four games into the season. Who the hell can be fatigued or tired? And there is now a two week break for each of the poor little things to get their breath back.
Rant over.
On the positive side, we can't possibly put in a worse performance than that this season and we don't have to play again until September 10th. Home to Arsenal...
And if you need cheering up at all anytime in the next two weeks, have a look at the league table, where you will see the names Newcastle and Sunderland propping up the rest in 19th and 20th position respectively.
Always look on the bright side of life...
Same time next week. UP THE BORO!
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