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WE CAN DO THIS 8-4-05
Watching the Newcastle v Sporting Lisbon game last night brought on more than a tinge of regret. Long before the final whistle blew, it had become painfully obvious to all who witnessed the dull-fest up the road that if we had been able to play our full strength side against Lisbon, we would have swept them aside.
It was nice to see CSKA Moscow striker Love dancing around with a policeman's hat on after he netted the Russian's third goal of the night but if Boro hadn't have had such rotten luck this season, you would have seen some of our players strutting around with a big shiny silver trophy instead.
Was it rotten luck though or was it all our own fault? You do make your own luck in this world to a degree and the question of why do we suffer so many injuries in training has not only not been answered but has been totally ignored. In public, at least.
We have to hope that behind the scenes, action is being taken to address the situation and it is difficult to believe that it is not. We have, allegedly, the best training facilities in Europe. But do we have the staff to utilise the potential of these facilities?
If you judge them on their performance this season, then you have to say no because the ridiculous level of training mishaps that have occurred during our most important campaign ever simply has to be more than a catalogue of coincidences.
But what can you do when you have a situation like that to deal with? Nothing short of a full investigation into training methods and techniques is probably the answer. As non-insiders, we can only hope that something is being done to rectify the situation and the powers that be are moving and shaking behind the scenes and not just sitting around cursing their bad luck and trying to convince themselves that things will get better in time.
They had exactly the same problem at Tottenham a couple of seasons ago. And a ridiculous list of injuries, mostly sustained in training led to the most drastic action that you can imagine.
They sacked all of the training and coaching staff, closed down the training ground and built a new one. It solved the problem, totally.
I'm not suggesting that we should close down Hurworth but for definite, something equally as radical as this needs to take place because we've wasted a golden opportunity this season and that must never be allowed to happen again.
But despite our catastrophic playing staff situation, we are in prime position to qualify for the UEFA Cup next season and if the commitment and attitude is right, then we will do it with a game or two to spare.
But can we guarantee that the commitment and attitude will be right, going into the final seven crucial games? Too many times this year, we have witnessed lacklustre and halfhearted performances that brought about inevitable defeat and threatened to send us spiralling down the league table.
Too often, players have bemoaned their lack of first team opportunities and then demonstrated why theirs is not the first name on the team sheet when they have been given a chance in the first eleven.
Too many players have let themselves, the club and the supporters down this season and I still find it mind boggling that any professional footballer would take the field not caring about the outcome of the day's events or the quality of their own performance. And nobody can deny that that has happened with us this year.
You can't blame injuries for all of your bad results and for sure, there are other factors involved in our incredibly disappointing 2005.
But the fact is that if we can get three or four wins out of our remaining fixtures, which should be enough to put us into next season's UEFA Cup, then all of this year's disappointments can be consigned to history and we can look forward to a great campaign in World Cup year.
But for now, we can only hope that those with the power and influence have done all that they can to ensure that everybody is fired up and focussed on getting the points that we need, starting with the home tie against Arsenal tomorrow?
Until next week.
Steve
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