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MIDDLESBROUGH v WIGAN POST MATCH ANALYSIS
Briggsy
After a much needed confidence boosting win against Nuneaton, yesterday's game was the acid test. Looking at the team sheet I was reasonably optimistic because we had a bit of balance.
The first twenty minutes in any game is pivotal. All the match prep went out the window as Jason Roberts scored after just two minutes. The players were a little shakey, as expected even before the goal but now even more so as Wigan took the lead. We almost equalised instantly with a Pogo header, but sadly it was directed straight at the keeper. Either side of the keeper and it was one a piece.
Wigan withstood the Middlesbrough pressure and doubled their lead on twenty-nine minutes as Teale took on Pogo and made a precise cross to David Thompson who directed the ball goal bound. The defending was alarmingly worrying. We can't continue to concede these kind of goals, otherwise we are in grave danger of going down. We need a new face at the back.
Our problems aren't just at the back, they lay in midfield also. We can't keep possession of the ball for long enough which is something we used to do very well. This obviously is putting more pressure on the back four and exposing them to the opposition. Anyone with pace will trouble us and that is something else that must change.
Half time yesterday was the lowest I've felt as a Boro fan for sometime. We are in trouble. If we're going to get out of this we must do something we haven't done for over fourteen months and that is achieve back to back wins. Everton have just won four on the bounce which has pulled them away from the danger zone. Why can't we do that?
Something was said right in the dressing room at half time as we couldn't have asked for a better reaction in the second. Viduka was replaced by Jimmy, a change I was glad to see. You have to question whether Viduka is the man to help us get out of this battle we are now in?
After calls for the manager to pick two strikers and give them a run, he stuck with Yakubu and Viduka for the last seven outings. With Viduka notching up just one goal and that against a non-league team. When Leeds needed to pick up a win on the final day of the season to stay up, Viduka got himself sent off. We can't afford that situation to arise.
Jimmy headed the ball into the net from a well worked corner on fifty-six minutes. We kept pressurising them and again scored from a corner as Yakubu had the easy job to slide the ball into the net from close range. This sent the boro fans into raptures. What a comeback. We could well have taken the lead with a good move ending with a poor wayward shot by Johnson.
The third official indicated three minutes of injury time. I was just thinking to myself, what a well deserved point - we did well to come back from two down. Then the killer blow came on ninety-three minutes, again from a corner. Neil Mellor had the simple task scoring from close range. That was cruel, a point was a fair result in my opinion.
Again we're making silly mistakes that we can't afford to do when we're in a dog fight. We've conceded an alarmingly worrying number of these. We're in dire straight now and something must be done, otherwise on current form we look like going down without even a whimper.
Contrary to popular demand, I don't think changing the manager is the answer to all our problems. The next manager is still left with the same players and then they'll want time to ship some out and bring in who they want. I still believe McClaren in the right man for the job.
But I'll again assess my view point on him at the end of the season. We must all get behind the club now, booing isnt an option here, its only making matters worse. I think we'll see at least two new faces next week, which will bring much needed life back into the team.
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