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THE SOUND OF INEVITABILITY 24-1-06
We at Middlesbrough Football Club appear to be in some kind of stupor. We seem to be stumbling foolishly from game to game with little or no control over our actions, making ourselves look stupid at every chance we get and most alarmingly of all, we are falling. It's a major problem. And the first step towards curing such a problem is admitting that there is one.
Let's make it clear from the off. We have a problem. We are NOT too good to go down. We have to admit it. We have got to realise from this moment on, that we are involved in the relegation battle. Pretending we will be alright and everything will be fine simply won't cut it. It's the kind of thinking that will end with us visiting Burnley, Plymouth and Ipswich next season.
We must accept that we are in trouble but it's hard because we all know that we shouldn't be even contemplating relegation. With our squad of world-class players, our training ground with world-class facilities and our stadium, with it's world-class fans, we should not be in the mess we find ourselves in. These are the credentials of a top European side, not relegation fodder.
If we choose to ignore it, then very soon it will be too late to do anything about it. If we reach March or April before someone at the club comes out and declares that our aim for the rest of the season is to avoid relegation, then we will probably be playing Championship football next season. Someone with status at the club needs to admit that we have failed so far this season, but that our new aim of beating the drop can be achieved.
Unfortunately, any Boro fan who doesn't see us as relegation candidates clearly doesn't appreciate the severity of our situation. To put it into context, we needed Sunderland to beat West Brom last Saturday evening, just to stop West Brom from creeping away from us. Thankfully, the Mackems won it, and in the process recorded their first league win since... oh yeah.
To put our current form into context is scary. One league win since that "famous" demolition of Manchester United way back on October 29th, that win coming against Fulham on November 20th.
At the beginning of this season, Wigan at home was probably the fixture every fan would have bet their mortgage on us winning. If you were told way back in August that by the time Wigan rolled into town, one of the sides would be in 6th and one would be 17th, you wouldn't have believed them. "Wigan will never be as high as 17th" would probably have been your response.
Hope was restored by the inclusion of Downing and Parlour from the start, but that hope was crushed after just three minutes when Jason Roberts stormed onto Neil Mellor's pass to blast through Brad Jones to make it 1-0. There were several individual mistakes that lead to the goal. There was no pressure on the ball in midfield, Mellor shouldn't have been allowed to get to the ball before Southgate, Pogatetz played Roberts onside and Jones should have dealt with the shot comfortably. If that goal doesn't sum up our defensive frailties this season, then the goal ninety minutes later certainly does.
In the time that elapsed between Wigan's first and last goal, three more were shared. Again, defensive blunders cost us. Pogatetz, who looks way out of his depth in the Premiership, was beaten time and again. David Thompson, despite Matthew Bates having a three-yard head start on him, met the cross. Thompson's header could have been dealt with better by Brad Jones, who needs to improve to make it at this level.
Bates and Riggott had both departed injured before half time, opening the door for a Ugo Ehiogu reurn. Despite being booed upon his arrival, Ugo looked solid alongside Southgate, and it's no fluke that his introduction coincided with the end of the Wigan onslaught. Ugo is back, and we looked a lot better for it.
The first half belonged to Wigan, but that is largely due to the fact they were the only ones who turned up. Parlour and Cattermole battled hard, but the Wigan midfield dominated, and Viduka looked so uninterested he was taken off at half-time. Enter Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
Jimmy might be slightly long in the tooth now, but he has the kind of presence on the field that nobody else can replicate. He is a born leader; he captained the side when we beat Manchester United 4-1. He might have irritated some members of the squad over recent weeks, but we were a different side in the second half, and Jimmy is the man to thank.
After converting a Downing corner with a bullet header, he then organised the marking while defending a corner at the other end. He, unlike Viduka, put himself about and let the Wigan defenders know he was there, and it wasn't long before another Downing corner was fumbled over the line by ever scoring Yakubu.
The crowd were buzzing, and had we scored in the ten minutes that remained after we equalised, the game would have been won. But Parlour and Downing, starting for the first time in three and four months respectively began to tire, and with all three subs on by half-time, they were forced to play the full ninety minutes. As is so often the case, we couldn't manage to hang on. Another defensive mistake, with Parlour's headed clearance not making touch, and the resulting cross being allowed to bounce inside the six-yard box. Mellor was left with a tap in to finish in the ninety-third minute what he had started in the third.
It was what happened after that which indicates that we are in trouble. As Mellor wheeled away in celebration, and the fans headed for the exits, the players simply fell to the floor in sheer desperation. The body language of the players told a story in itself. They are playing without pride, passion, or the belief that they can see out a game. They are playing like a side doomed.
As we walked away from the ground, there was an uncomfortable silence. It was the sound of inevitability, as though everyone at the ground had, deep down, known what was coming, but dare not say it. It was a stunned silence, but as much as it was that, it was as though it was finally starting to dawn on us that we could go down.
We go to Coventry on Saturday in the F.A. Cup, but forget a route into Europe- the Cup is now a distraction we don't need. 1996/7 saw two magical cup runs end in the heartbreak of relegation, and 2005/6 could be the same. To be knocked out at this stage could prove a blessing in disguise.
Then, the games that could determine whether or not we stay in this division, Sunderland away and Aston Villa at home. We are the side everyone wants to play at this moment in time, and we are going to the Stadium of Light at the worst possible time. Our North-East Derby's have been nothing short of disastrous so far this season, lets hope Tuesday 31st January is the night we finally turn this season around, before its too late.
Same time next week. UP THE BORO!
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