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MIDDLESBROUGH v MANCHESTER CITY ANALYSIS AND PLAYER RATINGS 19-3-07
Udayan Mukherjee
Well, where to start. That was a football match and performance so astonishingly poor that it made Titus Bumble look like Franz Beckenbauer. This was a performance that was not desired but at the very least expected, due to us competing in the most important game of our season on Monday night.
Resting players is not a crime in itself, as Premier league squad players should be capable of doing a job against such mediocre opposition as Man Citeh, a side that were and are hovering precariously above the bottom three with Stuart Pearce under huge pressure to turn things around.
Alas, as is the situation on all too many occasions, it was the Boro that granted a struggling team a much needed win, in a result that was all too likely.
The management will obviously point to the fact that there is a much more important match on Monday night, and this will provide a certain degree of consolation to us. I say a certain degree because no matter how many players are rested, there is no excuse for a showing as tepid as that.
One thing blatant from this game was the mentality of not to pick up injuries and have a nice stroll around the Riverside pitch, the result of which means this writer cannot really remember the first half because he fell asleep, something replicated around the Riverside and rather alarmingly it seems on the field of play. Oh well, some of the side look like they need the beauty sleep.
In that first half, there was but one bright spark, the work of Stewart Downing, who made some decent runs and hipped over some delicious balls, and one such delivery was taken off the head of Lee Dong Gook by Sylvain Dystin to deny the Boro a half chance.
In a game of few chances and a seemingly endless midfield battle, City made the better opportunites with Barton shooting just wide and Emile Mpenza shoot into the side netting, with the former bossing the game in midfield impressively.
In between these two chances, Boro suffered a huge blow with Pogatetz hobbling off injured. The big Austrian has been very influential to us this season in providing the muscle to Woodgate's finesse in the middle of defence, and it is deeply disappointing that he may miss out on such an important game as the one on Monday night.
At the other end, Downing hit a decent low right footed drive that that the Citeh keeper pushed away for a corner, with resulted in a Xavier header flashing wide, but it was plain that this was not good enough by any stretch of the imagination.
The second half did not bring about any improvement for Boro, and indeed Citeh forced Schwarzer into a number of sharp stops, notably from a Samaras header. City were looking like they were gaining confidence and duly scored via the right boot of former Boro target Distin. It was not a surprise to anyone, but sent the pocket of fans from Manchester into raptures. Middlesbrough, who had earlier brought on James Morrison for the ineffective Lee Dong Gook, made another change when Viduka came into the fray replacing Jason Euell.
The response that was expected following the arrival of the big Aussie was not forthcoming though when City doubled their lead with Mpenza doing the damage. It was telling that City did not have to sweat to hold on, such was the nature of the lacklustre and lethargic effort shown by the Middlesbrough players on this occasion.
Southgate and indeed the fans will be hoping that this is not an indicator of what will happen on Monday night, and the chances are that it is an irrelevant result. However, these dropped points may yet come back to haunt us if we fail to qualify for Europe by either of the available routes.
It is to be pointed out however, that with two games in three days it was important to keep vital players fresh and give our all in the following game. With other distractions for United, we have every chance of snatching a victory at the theatre of dreams.
Player ratings
Schwarzer - Did Ok, not at fault for either of the goals made a couple of good saves - 6 (possibly a 7)
Parnaby - Average/Poor - 6
Pogatetz - Injured early on - 6
Xavier - Not the best game for the Portugeezer with the crazy barnet - 6
Taylor - Average - 6
Downing - Played a decent game, several runs and crosses that were pretty good - 7
Boateng - Did his all too frequent 'run around like a headless chicken with passing abilities almost non existent' routine - 6
Cattermole - See above comments about GB- 6
Euell - WTF? - 6
Yakubu - Not very good. Almost anonymous. - 6
Lee Dong Gook - Short of match fitness sharpness, and possibly footballing ability. Will hopefully come good. 6
Subs
Morrison - Came on, did well - 6 (possibly a 7)
Viduka - Did quite well - 7
As you can probably see, this is a very lazy attempt at a match analysis, mirrored by the ratings which are pretty much exclusively six for everyone. If they can't be arsed, then neither can I. Truth be told, giving the players a rating of average may seem overtly generous, and you'd be right with that.
0
And so on to the biggest game of the season, a game which we can go on and win. Let's upset the prawn sandwich brigade and get a step further to Wem-Boro-Ley.
Up the Boro
That's all folks
Udayan Mukherjee.
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