|
|
PACKWOLF'S HOWL 20-7-04
Steve looked over the table at me ominously, beer in hand and deep in thought, his eyes cutting into me in deadly seriousness.
'Write a column', he said quietly as he reached over to take another sip of beer. 'Write a column for the site'.
'But isn't that your job?' I replied shakily, slightly taken aback. 'What more can I add that you can't write yourself?'
'Yes it is' he responded, 'but you know more about tactics. I really think you should write a column for the site, I think it'll add something we don't already have'.
I thought for a minute, flattered at the request and giddy over the possibility of fame that now lay before me.
'But I write bullshit most of the time, mate. I really don't know what I'm talking about'. I paused, probably for dramatic effect.
'But if you want me to, then I suppose it's about time I started writing something serious, I can't always take the piss.'
I thought some more, leaving the last comment floating ungainly in the air whilst I took another reassuring gulp of beer.
'Okay,' I agreed. 'I'll do it. If that's what you want'.
Then we shook hands, or something. And with that the deal was done, the concord reached, the accord sealed. I was to write a monthly column to be published on this site. God knows what I would say but we'd come to that later I thought, the proposition still churning around my head in a dizzying whirl. How much was I to regret this naivety as I sat in front of a blank computer screen a few days later.
This is exactly how it happened and so here it is- the first edition of my very own column. All that's left for me to say is welcome to my den, I hope you enjoy your stay. Please sit down and make yourself at home. I'm sorry about the dampness of the earth but it hasn't been the most clement of summers I'm afraid, certainly not in these parts. I'll just go and put the fire on and grab a fresh tray of carrion pies, then we can begin. And I hope you enjoy the words I am about to impart in these weekly forays, whether you happen to agree with them or not. Yet I make no apologies for what I will say, although feel free to direct any abuse in my direction if you feel aggrieved or if you have a point to raise. So gather round and listen to tales of prophecy, analysis and comment and for God's sake stop fidgeting! Do you know how annoying that is! Thank you. Now let's look over the horizon towards the north-east and that industrial town they call Middlesbrough to assess the exciting developments that have been happening at the Riverside Stadium in recent times...
The summer transfer extravaganza kicked-off in style with the signing of Michael Reiziger to replace Danny Mills. This is a very positive move, despite the Dutchman being five years older than the man he replaced, as Reiziger is the more complete player, both technically and in terms of versatility. The Dutchman has also performed consistently at the top level, as evidenced by his solid, if unspectacular, performances for Holland in the European Championships. It is his participation in such tournaments that gives Reiziger the edge over Mills as the former has the greater experience of playing against the best players in Europe. This will undoubtedly benefit us in our UEFA cup campaign as well as giving us a more solid back line next season. Compare this with Mills, who although a good player, never really proved himself on the international stage in an England team that is far easier to get into than the Dutch squad. Indeed, Reiziger's defensive experience may also help redress the statistic that 60% of the goals we conceded last season came from Mills' side of the field. Another advantage of Reiziger is that he is also more of an attacking player than Mills and is never afraid to whip in a good cross, the quality of which was also evident at Euro 2004. This bodes well for us if the likes of Viduka and Hasselbaink can be employed to attack such balls aggressively and implies that our supply next season will be much improved, particularly if we manage to hold on to Bolo Zenden. Reiziger is also more disciplined than Mills, which may lead to less cards and thus a stronger defence for a longer period of time. However, the concern here is that it is always good to have one player in a team who can rile and wind up the opposition, causing them to make rash tackles and inviting them to be booked and sent off. There is no player, either in midfield or defence, now left at the club who is able to perform this role as adequately as Mills. Despite this loss however, the greater accomplishments of Reiziger on a technical level justify Steve McClaren's decision to jettison Mills and his ridiculous wage demands in favour of the experienced Dutchman, which makes the next campaign look all the more promising.
What looks even more promising however is McClaren's acting on the weakest aspect of our team- our strike-force. The simple fact is that last season our inability to score goals cost us from obtaining a top six finish in the league. This view is supported when we compare man-for-man our squad with that of our local rivals, Newcastle, who finished fifth. In doing this, there seems to be little difference in the quality of the players at both clubs, except for those occupying the striking roles, where our rivals were superior. It is my contention that this enabled them to finish in the top six last season and suggests that there is no reason why the Boro cannot expect to finish in the same position this season with our newly signed front-men. Of course it is not as simple as this and much has been made of the temperamental natures of both Viduka and Hasselbaink, and the possibility that they could ruin the cohesion of the team. This view is indeed credible and is a concern, but hopefully Steve Gibson and Keith Lamb have both learnt their lessons from the Emerson and Ravanelli sagas in 1997, and that McClaren's man-management skills are up to the task in preventing history from repeating itself. But in order to minimise this possibility, it is imperative that things go well from the start, and not from the sixth game of the season, as has been common under our present incumbent. In doing this we need to ensure that the new players gel with the rest of the squad as quickly as possible. This highlights the importance of the pre-season friendlies we have ahead of us. This cohesion is also important as it closely relates to achievement on the pitch. Last season we performed well because every player worked for each other and fostered an understanding, which contributed to the free-flowing and attacking football we played. This team spirit is something we must strive to keep as you can have all the best players in the world but they will not get you anywhere unless they all willing to play for each other and to fight for every ball. Just look at Charlton, Birmingham City and Bolton as evidence of what such spirit can do. Or indeed Greece in the European Championships. Thus it is this that must be the biggest weapon in our arsenal simply because it is the most important. Indeed without it, next season may not be as great as we all hope it will be.
Despite these reservations however, I have a very positive feeling about the upcoming season. Both Viduka and Hasselbaink are good buys, particularly when we consider the financial outlay involved in both deals, and I find it impossible not to be excited as we enter the European fray for the first time in our history. How far we can get is, of course, a matter of debate although I don't see why we cannot progress beyond the group stages if we play as a team. Plus I'd put money on us winning another trophy next season, perhaps the FA Cup. I also don't see why a top six league placing cannot be a realistic aim. This is particularly the case when we consider that we have true strength in depth for the first time in a long time. And with the youth players also waiting in the wings, even if we do get struck down with a few injuries, we have enough quality players in the squad who can come in and fill a gap when we need them to. This is even more important this season due to the high number of fixtures we face, which may result in McClaren having to employ a limited form of squad rotation. However, I believe our squad players are good enough for this to pose few problems, which is another reason why we should be optimistic over the season that lies ahead.
But an addenda to this is the contract extension offered to and accepted by Joseph-Desire Job. This is something I do not understand as out of all the strikers that made up our poor strike-force last season, the statistics suggest that he was the poorest, with a games-to-goal ratio of 5.2. Even the much-maligned Michael Ricketts had a better average. This has important ramifications to the future of our frontline, particularly as I would be tempted to give Massimo Maccarone another chance, for a variety of reasons. For a start, we paid an extortionate amount of money for him and at this moment in time his market value could not be any lower. This implies that it is in our interest to keep him as if he does improve it may pay dividends on his financial return should we wish to sell him at a later date, and if he doesn't, it will be no substantial loss relative to his current market value. I think the cost of his wages over the next six moths is worth gambling on this possible improvement. I also genuinely believe that he is not a bad striker. He is still young and although I accept he is not your 25 goal a season first choice hitman, I can see him performing extremely well in a good partnership. Thus we need to find him such a partner and Viduka and/or Hasselbaink could provide the answer. I'd be surprised if our two new boys started together anyway as they are too similar in style but a Viduka/Maccarone partnership could be just the ticket. Szilard Nemeth is worth keeping because he is guaranteed to come off the bench and grab a goal when you need it, although the viability of this option largely depends on whether Nemeth is happy to accept such a role or whether he wants more first-team football. It is also unfair on Malcolm Christie to jettison him after his injury, particularly as he is as largely untried and could perform well for us. Thus out of all the strikers I would have sold, Job would have been the one as he is neither good at long range shots nor prolific enough in the box to warrant the money we spend on him. But then I'm not Steve McClaren, so what would I know?
But the situation at the Boro is not completely rosy and I do have a few other, more major, concerns. One of them relates to Juninho, who has consistently been linked with a move to Celtic over the past few weeks- indeed his omission from the squad that will play at Rotherham on Wednesday night is very telling. He has intimated on numerous occasions however that the only way he would leave is if the management request him to and this is precisely why it would be such a shame to lose him. Loyalty and devotion are rare commodities in football today but Juninho possess these exact qualities for the Boro, it is as much his club as it is ours, and it is this sort of passion that we should fight every inch to retain. Granted, he has lost half a yard of pace over recent seasons, and it is evident that he isn't the player he once was, but I still believe he can perform a role for us next season and thus I would be very unhappy to see him leave. Despite this though, as we saw last season, we cannot build our team around the little man as when we do, its balance becomes distorted and the side is not as strong or as effective as it could otherwise have been. Thus the question that needs to be raised is, is there really a place for him in the midfield? If we adopt a diamond formation with Boateng behind and Zenden and Mendieta on either wing, then I believe there can be. But this asks a lot of Boateng to help out the defence, and was the reason why we conceded goals towards the end of last season. This policy is also harsh on our other Brazilian midfielder, Doriva, who was the players' player of the year last season and rarely put a foot wrong in his role as the important link between the defence and midfield. I also believe that to play the diamond formation in our opening games would be foolhardy as due to our traditional poor starts to the season I would be tempted to adopt a more defensive policy and err on the side of caution. This tactic of getting points on the board may also aid the bedding-in process of our new players, effacing the possibility of restlessness from the likes of Viduka and Hasselbaink who will see that the club is achieving early-on. It may also reduce the expectation directed towards them from the crowd, meaning the players will be more relaxed and thus more likely to play better. And all this, unfortunately, means dropping Juninho for the foreseeable future. But tactics can vary from game to game and as we adopt a more attacking policy as our confidence builds and the season progresses, I believe there will still be a role for our favourite Brazilian. After all, for creative attacking play and darting through defences, there is still nobody at the club who can match him.
My main concern however relates to Bolo Zenden. Last season he was an integral part of the team, particularly in the attractive attacking play that we demonstrated towards the end of it. Indeed there seems to be a strong relation between the increase in Zenden's form after a poor start to the season and the increase in goals and the creative attacking policy adopted by the team around that time. This leads me to believe that without his vital contribution we would have been fighting a relegation battle, never mind looking towards Europe before we entered our last five games. Plus, with every game he played, he just got better and better and I shudder to think how good he could become in the future if he keeps this rate of improvement up. Thus I believe it is important to sign him as quickly as possible, and in these admittedly rather selfish terms, it is good to see that he had a poor Euro 2004 as it gives us more of a chance of obtaining his signature. This is because Chelsea have released him and the only club to have since shown an interest is Fenerbache, a club his agent says he is not interested in going to. Zenden has also intimated that he loves Middlesbrough and I understand that he was pivotal in encouraging Reiziger to move to the Riverside. All of these facts grouped together makes it even more amazing that an agreement still hasn't been reached, which is worrying. But I believe the breakthrough will come and Zenden will be a Middlesbrough player in the very near future. Or at least that's the hope anyway. And when this happens, we will have a very strong team going into next season. And this is vital as now is the time to build on the solid foundations we have laid and climb up to the next level, to become a big club rather than a medium-sized one. Hopefully, we will be up to the task. I am pretty confident that we will be.
Until the next howl.
BACK TO HOWL INDEX
|
|
|
|
