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THE BORO WAY 28-2-06
Did anyone else notice that on Sunday evening the gasping, wheezing and coughing sounds that the national media associate with Teesside suddenly changed to a much more relaxing mummer? No? Well, they did. ICI may not be closed entirely yet, but Teesside is now breathing a lot easier.
And so it should be. Through in Europe, still in the F.A. Cup and now a staggering eight points away from the dreaded relegation zone, an issue this writer has warned of as frequently as Malcolm Christie breaks a bone.
McClaren was right, and that's not easy to admit even at the best of times, but when he said that the points against WBA were "probably our biggest three points of the season", he hit the proverbial nail on the head.
It won't go down as a spectacular win, yet it could be the win that means we won't go down. When it's time to review the season, WBA away will now almost certainly be the game we look back on as the big result of the season.
We know we can beat any team in the league. We have beaten all of the best teams in the league comprehensively in the last eighteen months. It's seeing off the so called 'lesser teams' that causes us problems. Although to some, my lack of years renders my opinion invalid, it would appear to me that this is becoming somewhat of a Boro tradition. Doing it the hard way is what Teesside has come to expect.
The UEFA Cup games with Stuttgart demonstrate my point perfectly. When VfB scored their free kick to make it 2-1 on the night, surely the same thought crossed every Boro fans mind. 'Here we go again'. We couldn't bring home a 2-0 lead and make it easy, could we? It's just not Boro.
The game at the Riverside was the icing on the cake. We were never going to come out and win comfortably. It was always going to be done the hard way. Whether it's something within the club, the shirt or the town itself, we don't take the easy road. As losing on the night and yet still progressing to the last sixteen was an option, the wise gamblers amongst us would have put their money on a 1-0 Stuttgart win, as this was the only outcome that would have allowed for it. The rest as they say, is history.
But caution was in the air regarding the impending visit to fellow basement boys WBA. Baring in mind our abysmal record after European games, and the fact that we struggle to beat anyone outside of last season's top four meant that said caution was not undue.
Step forward Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. He's still got it. In fact, it never left him. How Jimmy, who will turn 34 next month, can play the best part of ninety minutes up front on his own against Stuttgart and be fit to start against WBA when Yakubu, who isn't 24 until November, needs resting is quite remarkable. Remarkable in the 'just plain stupid' sense of the word.
Beating WBA though signified that our players, despite their best efforts to convince us otherwise, are capable of beating the team at the top or the bottom of the league. This, I feel, an ideal opportunity to share the sentiment echoed by our ex-gaffer, Bryan Robson, who once declared, "If we played like that every week, we wouldn't be so inconsistent".
For those Boro fans that still resent Steve McClaren being our manager, this writer says as he shuffles uncomfortably on the fence, just ask yourselves the question, 'in whose ship would you rather be sailing?'
Put yourselves in the shoes of WBA fans and, as if by magic, a sense of deja-vu creeps in. We have seen Robson take us down, and now poor Baggies fans are watching the same happen to their side. Forgetting that we shouldn't be in the situation we are concerning our league position we would surely all rather take our chances staying afloat with Mac than sinking painfully with Robbo.
The three points on Sunday followed by a win on Saturday against Birmingham will lead us nicely into the path of the steam train that is A.S. Roma. Eleven wins in a row in Serie A suggest that Roma are no mugs, and being the veterans of European competition that they are, our task will be difficult to say the least.
Roma is a massive game, of that there is no doubt. It's the kind of game that we could only dream about for years, and finally it has arrived. It provides us with the opportunity to chance our hand against a 'proper' European side, over two legs, in a competitive match. It is certainly one of the biggest games in the club's history and one that will always be remembered, whatever the outcome.
Without trying to write us off before a ball has been kicked, we are the undoubted underdogs against such opponents. But Roma will be acutely aware that Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal have all lost at the Riverside this season and that defensively our European record is up there with the best, conceding only two goals in eight games this season and only twelve in all eighteen of our previous European ties. Add that to the fact that all good runs end somewhere, it might just be our time.
But before then we must keep focused on the League, and a win against Birmingham on Saturday. The international fixtures means there can be no excuses for a poor performance against the Brum. Let's hope for the same 3-0 win we secured at St. Andrews all those months ago.
So make sure you do breath easy this week and take plenty of oxygen in, because when Saturday comes, you'll be holding your breath for ninety minutes. It's the only way Boro know.
Same time next week. UP THE BORO!!
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