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TIME FOR ACTION 22-9-06
Steve Goldby
Frantic mindless zombies
Grab at fleeting time
Lost in cold perplexion
Waiting for the sign
"There is no point in being angry becasue that does not resolve anything." Wise words from our manager and a statement that in itself highlights the one big cause of our incredibly disappointing capitulation on Thursday night, namely a serious lack of passion.
Getting knocked out of a cup by a League Two outfit who rested seven of their first team players is bad enough in itself but it is the manner of defeat that rankled most as we went down with a whimper rather than a fight, bar the last five minutes. If we're not going to get angry about that, how else are we going to address it?
Thursday night's team of players who appeared in the Uefa Cup final, the World Cup finals in one case and a good selection of graduates from the finest academy in England should be nothing less than angry about the utter let down of our cup elimination.
Another European run next season is highly unlikely now as our best chance of qualifying has been blown, again. Qualifying through the league is a non-starter, not because we do not have a good enough squad to pull it off or because we lack the ability but because we lack the motivation.
We only raise our game against the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal and we don't have enough games against the very top sides in a season to gather the required amount of points.
Gareth needs to address this problem as a matter of urgency, as if it is allowed to continue it will ultimately destroy any chances of success that the club still have.
Perhaps getting angry is exactly the right way to trouble-shoot this disease of complacency. One good reason to get angry about it is that it has already reduced our expectations of some sort of success in our new manager's first campaign by a dramatic amount. In September.
It could well be a long old season of consolidation now which makes a good FA Cup run an absolute necessity. But I'm not going to count on it.
Boro need to put Wednesday night's awful performance to bed with a rock solid performance against Blackburn. Anything less than a convincing win will see the club lose yet more fans and Gareth's honeymoon period come to an abrupt end.
A manager can only accept responsibility so many times before the time for talking is replaced by the time and urgent need for drastic action. That time has now arrived.
Until next time.
Steve
TALK ABOUT IT IN THE NEW HOLGATE MESSAGE BOARD
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