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DON'T EVER TAKE MY BORO AWAY 11-10-05
I hate it when the Premiership season is interrupted by International games. I'm an England fan as much as the next person, but I just can't seem to get into it. For example, an England defeat doesn't hurt anywhere near as much as a Boro defeat.
Maybe I'm wrong, but you ask any good Boro fan and they will tell you that England losing to minnows Northern Ireland is not in the same league as Boro losing to minnows Sunderland. I don't know what it is really. Just don't ever take my Boro away.
It's probably because as a Boro fan I spend most weeks of the year despising Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd and Newcastle players so much that it's hard to suddenly start to support them again for the odd game. The games tend not to be very exciting also.
However one thing I've noticed in the past week is how most members of the national press seem to constantly be getting on the back of the England side. Yeah ok, we shouldn't have been beaten in Ireland, but look at the wider picture.
We have qualified for a major championship with a game to spare. When was the last time England did that? When you look around Europe, names such as France, Spain and the Czech Republic have all struggled at times during this qualifying campaign.
The fact that England qualified with a game to spare has almost gone unnoticed. Instead, talk of Eriksson's wages and red card records have flooded the back pages. Maybe if the press were behind the team a little bit more, we could genuinely consider ourselves as World Cup contenders.
Anyway, back to the Boro...
The two big questions for the game against Portsmouth has got to be who will be in the starting XI, and what will the formation be.
With an abundance of strikers at the club at the moment, it must be frustrating for McClaren that the system currently bringing us the most joy is the system which involves only one of them. Yakubu.
He has been in fine form of late, and having paid in excess of £7million for him, McClaren can hardly leave him out against his old club. He prefers to play as a lone striker, and the rest of the team look like they enjoy the system more than the 4-4-2.
The 4-5-1 may sound defensive and have many fans tearing their hear out at the prospect of using this tactic at home. But it's the tactic that beat Arsenal and Villa, whereas the 4-4-2 saw us lose to Sunderland and Charlton.
It gives Rochemback much more freedom to roam the pitch, as he clearly likes to do, and means that the play isn't always coming through Boateng/Parlour/Doriva. The width provides a good outlet if the midfield becomes congested and offers a solid line of defence in front of the back four.
However, this formation doesn't cater for the likes of Viduka and Hasselbaink. Neither of them can be used as a winger in the same way Nemeth and Maccarone can, and this is where the problem lies.
Viduka will not be happy spending three or four games at a time on the bench. The man undoubtedly has awesome ability and on his day can be one of the best strikers in the world. But he hasn't found any consistency this season and has only scored in one league game so far.
He and Yakubu have yet to really gel this season and it doesn't look like a partnership that will bring much success, especially as playing both of them along with Rochemback could leave us exposed in midfield.
Viduka and Hasselbaink have shown signs that they could form a decent partnership, but for both of them to be in the side at the same time means dropping Yakubu and playing a formation which doesn't really suit the rest of the side.
As for Nemeth and the revitalised Maccarone, who knows if, where and when they will feature in the long term plans for the team.
McClaren faces a tough task to keep all his big name signings happy. Yakubu must know that he will start most weeks or why would he have come here in the first place? Viduka is the one McClaren will struggle to keep satisfied.
One last point about the formation and team selection this week. It's EITHER Queudrue OR Pogatetz, not both.
Neither player is comfortable on the wing, and as James Bassett agrees, Franck is the best-left back in the world. Pogatetz was only bought as cover anyway, but Mac now feels he has to play him. Don't, it's not working.
We'll hammer Pompey at home on Saturday with a Yakubu hat-trick and everything will be right in the world!
Same time next week.UP THE BORO!
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