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STAND UP AND BE COUNTED 9-9-05
The international break didn't come at a very good time for us. After the Charlton game, we could have done with another match almost straight away to exorcise the demons of that particularly horrific Sunday.
It is now known why the team put in such a poor performance a week ago last Sunday and it doesn't make pleasant reading at all.
Apparently, Gaizka Mendieta led a stormy dressing room revolt over Steve McClaren's comments earlier in the day about 'having the right credentials for the England job.'
Mutiny? Almost, and it was enough to make James Morrison physically sick just half an hour before the kick off. And the performance probably had the same effect on most of the supporters after the event.
Tomorrow brings a 'magnificent' opportunity to redeem ourselves of that horrendous occasion and wipe Charltongate from the memory for good.
We have been beaten eight times out of eight by Arsenal in the Premiership since the reign of Steve McClaren began and have never scored at home. If we can reverse that dismal record tomorrow evening, then the world will be a whole diferent place on Sunday morning.
I have no doubt at all that Steve McClaren has been burning the midnight oil in his quest to find the right tactics to employ against our nemesis but I would suggest that we don't actually need tactics this time around.
What we need is a blood and thunder attitude, a never surrender approach carried by men who will die for the cause. We won't win tomorrow with fancy systems and methods of play but we will win if we want it more than Arsenal.
If the Boss can somehow stir the players into believing that they can redeem themselves tomorrow, then we coud be set to re-kickstart our season. If he sends them out not fully mentally prepared, then we could be in for a spanking.
It's back to basics time and as James Keen pointed out yesterday, we have absolutely nothing to lose.
It's of absolutely no interest to me at the moment which line-up takes the field tomorrow and I couldn't care less which formation we adopt. The only thing that matters is the frame of mind that the players take to the field in.
Football is a very simple game made complicated by 'technocrats' whose job it is to tell seasoned pros to do things that they have never done themselves. In a lot of cases.
A gung-ho attitude will prevail tomorrow because we could rattle Arsenal by relentlessly driving forward and hitting them hard with all that we have, time and time again.
But realistically, Middlesbrough don't play like that these days and unfortunately, the technical approach doesn't really seem to do us a lot of good.
So as we have nothing to lose tomorrow, we may as well drop the tactics and just go balls out for it. Let our talented players express themselves and give them something to play for in freedom of expression. And give the fans something to shout about as well.
If we lose 1-0 after a half hearted effort, it will be a huge disappointment. But if we display the steel and fight that every Middlesbrough team should have as it's feature characteristic then we can all start looking forward again, regardless of the result.
It really is time for everyone to stand up and be counted tomorrow and what better fixture could we have to redeem ourselves with? So just go for it Boro. Prove the critics wrong and show the nation what Ironopolis is all about.
It's much more than just smoking chimneys.
Until next week.
Steve
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