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PACKWOLF'S HOWL 23-8-04
Welcome once more to my spacious den, you are starting to become somewhat of a regular around here aren't you? Indeed so much so that I may have to start charging rent or something, although please remember that you're always welcome to drop by.
Sorry I wasn't available last week. Incidentally, I tried to take the cubs to a foreign territory for a much needed break but we had a bit of hassle with customs (okay, the alpha males) who apparently do not approve of lupine migration. The bastards. So we had to settle with going round to my mate's den instead, although in all honesty that didn't make it any less of a vacation. It certainly was great to catch up with her again anyway. But that's by the by, please come in and make yourself at home. Just move the dead rabbit to one side although you're more than welcome to have some if you want, it is a particularly tender specimin I admit, I was very proud when my cubs caught him, they're growing up so fast you know. Anyway, please make yourself comfortable whilst I go and fetch my latest culinary treat, something I like to call The Geordies' Finest- a weary looking tart made out of lard and stodge. Although I must apologise in advance I'm afraid as they're a little bit bitter this week, I think I neglected to put in the molasses, believing that Atouba's goal for Spurs would make it sweet enough for me. But then I should have known that requesting Hasselbaink's hands to help me kneed the pastry (which like their defence is somewhat crumbly I fear) was never going to be popular with them. Still never mind, hopefully my insights will be enough to take the taste away as once more I divulge my thoughts on all things Boro.
The Arsenal game- and what a game it was- reflects just how far we have come as a team in the last six months. And it is the emphasis on the word team that is important as after the disappointment of drawing against Newcastle on the opening day of the season, to go to Highbury and put in such a gutsy and determined performance reflects the commitment and drive that we now collectively possess. Granted these qualities could be derived from early season zeal or indeed by the opportunity to defeat the Champions on their own turf and stop them from equalling Brian Clough's record of 42 consecutive league games undefeated, but compared to our performances against Arsenal in recent seasons there were many positives that can be taken from the game. Despite this however, there is still no denying that we were beaten by a considerably better side, but at least we went to Highbury determined to try and get something out of the match rather than to just sit back and soak up any Arsenal pressure. It is this that I find telling as it demonstrates an increasing confidence within the squad, a confidence that will be vital to preserve as the season progresses. And indeed the early signs look encouraging as the gile in the performance against Arsenal was continued from that against Newcastle, when we twice came back from a goal down to salvage a point.
There are, of course, many factors that could influence such belief but I feel that it is primarily down to the new signings, particularly the strikers, that Steve McClaren has brought in. Indeed if there was ever a game that showed the product of astute close season management then the Arsenal game was it. Again, like against Newcastle, we had the confidence to come back from a goal down, except this time we did not just equalise but we also scored two more. This is all very heartening and bodes well for the future. Furthermore I also believe that this positive approach to our play is closely related to the element of competition for places we now have in the squad. Indeed it has been a pleasure to watch Hasselbaink's desire to get on the scoresheet, a desire that is fuelled on wanting the team to do well as well as any personal acolades he might pick up. This was also manifest in the performance of Job at Arsenal, who in the first half was abysmal yet after his goal was scrapping and chasing for everything. Indeed this in itself is testament to what confidence can do to a player, and thus as long as we've got it then success will almost inevitably come.
Furthermore, in scoring three goals against the best team in the country, not only was our confidence evident but so was our creative attacking play. Indeed this was very encouraging as, when in possession, we always tried to forge out positive moves rather than resort to a more negative defensive approach, which was the crime of many who visited Highbury last season. Indeed both confidence and attacking play are inextricably linked as we have now proven three times that we can come back after conceding, which is a virtue that was sorely lacking last season. Indeed at many points during the last campaign going one goal down often felt like a slide into inevitable defeat yet our new signings have not only delivered us goals (Hasselbaink is joint top scorer in the league already) but also the hope required to keep plugging away to try and get something out of the game. This was evidenced at the end of the Newcastle match and it is the single biggest change that has happened to the side during the close season. Indeed, I believe that late equalisier against the Geordies was psychologically vital as it demonstrated to the team the power of playing to the final whistle, which is a tactic that was again employed against Arsenal. Furthermore, looking at Job's goal against Arsenal in particular, our newfound confidence is enabling us to score goals like Arsenal do, from set-up to striker, which in itself can only bode well.
This feeling of confidence is also important defensively as last season we conceded far too many goals towards the end of matches, a run that I am sad to say has continued into this season. It is something that we desperately need to rectify. Yet despite this, once we get both Southgate and Ehigou back then I feel we will be a much tighter unit, which will give us even greater confidence to employ a more attacking policy. However there is a concern over sacrificing defensive security in favour of attacking flair as it could ultimately leave us vulnerable and weak. Indeed this is a lesson I hope we have learned from our relegation campaign of 1996-7 although at least now, as compared to then, we do have considerably better players throughout the defensive positions. Still, a balance must be reached otherwise we could leak more goals than we score. It is this with which we need to experiment over the coming few games.
It is for all of the reasons above that I am not concerned about our current league position of 19th, despite how disappointing it is. Indeed at present I believe that we are doing the right thing and that everything will come together in the very near future. And of course we have also been blighted by injuries although there is little excuse here as we should now have the strength in depth to cope with it. But then against Arsenal, both Riggott and Cooper were often caught out by the Gunners' attacking play, which does pose questions as to how strong our depth really is. Despite this however, now is certainly not the time to get maudlin as two games do not make a season and indeed these two games are amongst the most difficult of the season, with both teams expected to be in the top five come May. Furthermore, the question must be asked, how many teams do you see going to Highbury this season and getting a point, let alone three? Thus to me, despite losing a two goal lead, which is always frustrating, the fact that we lost this lead to Arsenal on their own patch alleviates the pain somewhat as they are a class act who I can quite easily see remaining unbeaten throughout this season as well. Indeed if everyone who goes there loses, yesterday's result will have no effect on our standing whatsoever. Furthermore if we compare our results this season to the corresponding results from last season, we have actually gained 1 point relatively as both Newcastle and Arsenal did the double over us. Thus I am still quietly confident and am hopeful that once we start playing some of the more medicore teams in the league, we will start to pick up the points we require. Despite the results, the performances in both games have suggested that once we start understanding each other as a team more, we do have the potential to finish in the top six this season.
Despite this optimism however, the gulf in class between Arsenal and ourselves was evident on Sunday, although I believe this gulf was made wider by tactical mistakes on behalf of McClaren. When considering the result and how the match panned out, the only thing we can say that was different to last season was that we scored three goals, which demonstrates the quality of our new strikeforce. Of course, compared to last season this is a big plus but on the negative side, we still did not compete against Arsenal in terms of challenges, often allowing the space for them to provide the killer passes they require to score goals. Indeed defensively, in conceding five, it appears that we have made little improvement over last season although I accept that an influencing factor in this was our lack of first choice centre-backs. However this failure was also due to a lack of support from midfield, which on Sunday was at full-strength. Indeed throughout the match, the midfield lacked bite, which was extremely frustrating as if we had harried them some more then I am sure our make-shift defence would not have been exposed as much as it was and thus maybe we would have conceded fewer goals. This could have been the difference between getting nothing and something. None of the midfield four played well on Sunday, and the story was similar to that of the previous Saturday against Newcastle where we allowed Butt particularly to dictate the pace of the game. This, with a first choice midfield comprising of Boateng and Parlour, is simply unforgiveable and questions must be asked as to whether they are being used in the right way. This also effected our attacking policy against Arsenal as the lack of shots on target (5 incidentally, from which we scored 3 goals- again demonstrating just how good our strikeforce has become) was largely due to a dearth of possession because we rarely won the ball in midfield. This resulted in relentless Arsenal pressure and no wonder they scored five goals because of it, particularly because with us attempting to attack they could easily counter, which is what they are so effective in doing.
However in saying this I am not necessarily advocating a more defensive policy, despite the fact that Arsenal prefer playing on the counter and are loathed to attack a robust defence. But with quality like that, it is likely that they will score at some point so you must try to attack whilst keeping one eye on defence. On Sunday, the defence got little support from the midfield (like the attack to be honest) and once we saw that the four across the middle wasn't working, we should have tightened up at the back by playing a five. This would have given us more midfield support for the back-line, it would have made Arsenal come at us which they prefer to do less than the counter and it still would have given us attacking options. Either way, the midfield policy did not work and, even with the substitutions made, nothing of any note was fully realised. Yet against more moderate opposition, our initial policy may serve us well as I can see us easily outscoring the opposition without conceding too much, and I await Fulham on Wednesday with bated breath and conservative optimism. But what has been made clear over the last week is that we still need our full strength side out, demonstrating that maybe our strength-in-depth is not as great as we first thought. Even if it is, all these enforced changes due to injury are certainly not helping the gelling process of the team. These concerns were typified by Zenden's shaky performance at left-back in the last twenty minutes against Newcastle, which culminated in his conceding a clumsy penalty, demonstrating that it is not his natural position nor is he particularly happy playing there. And after all, if we are going to challenge the top six this season, as well as in Europe, we need as consistent a team as possible, and these injuries, many of our own making, have certainly not helped this aim.
Another thing that these injuries have not helped is any realistic assessment of the new players who have come in but I would like to proffer my initial views anyway. Of the new boys, only Hasselbaink is performing anywhere near to his potential at the moment and the worry is that this could affect the others' confidence very early in the season. Reiziger has been disappointing on both occassions he has played, he was run ragged by Bergkamp and Pires at Highbury and against Newcastle he looked far from assured. This is particularly the case when we look at Franck Queudrue, his opposite number, who has been the class act of the season so far, particularly in his defensive blocks, not to mention his wonder strike at Highbury. However he also sometimes struggled to contain his fellow countrymen at Arsenal although against a team of such quality, that is sometimes to be expected. Parlour meanwhile has also disappointed. Against Newcastle he was sound if unspectacular but he never really dominated the midfield as much as we know he can. Against his former club meanwhile he was largely non-existent, and indeed typified our major problem- not getting stuck in in the middle third of the pitch. However he is a quality player and I am sure he will start to perform, we just need to give it a little time. But then when last season we were denied a top six position due to our poor start and end to the campaign, time is hardly on our side and we now need to start winning matches and picking up points, beginning at Fulham. Indeed now we have got two of our more difficult games out of the way, I would hope that our season will start to fall into place. And of course we have Viduka's debut to come too. And after scoring 5 goals in 2 games, the striking possibilities with him in our side as well are phenomenal and hopefully, we should be able to blast them off the pitch. Personally, I can't wait.
Finally it is heartening to hear that Gareth Southgate has pledged his future to the club, stating that he considers us an ambitious side who can attain great things in this and subsequent seasons. It is players like Gareth who will enable us to attain the honours we crave and this is why his signing is such a big boost. His passion was evident during last season and especially after the Carling Cup final win and it is this desire to play for the club and to succeed that could be our biggest asset this season. Furthermore he is an inspirational defender whose challenges have prevented many a goal being conceded as well as being a strong marshalling player, both for the defence as a unit and the team as a whole. He also leads by example and it is for this reason that he is such an excellent captain. Indeed how much we miss him has been evident in recent matches. His vast experience will also aid us in Europe and thus the commitance to the cause of such a pivotal player is an extremely important attribute. It also provides us with one of the final pieces in the jigsaw in terms of our strength, particularly as his positive mental outlook combined with his desire to just get on with the job will greatly and positively influence the nature and spirit of the side. And with him now in place, we really can start to think about striding out into unchartered terrirtory.
Until the next foray (or should that read fur-ay?) into my lupine den of iniquity...
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