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END OF SEASON AWARDS 2007/08
James Bassett
With another season about to end and the Boro on course for the obligatory thirteenth place finish, ComeOnBoro.com’s panel of writers, pundits and experts discuss the best and worst the 2007/08 season had to offer.
Goal of the season
Luke Young, Middlesbrough 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur (3rd November 2007)
Ignoring a solitary and idiotic vote for Lee Dong Gook’s goal against Mansfield Town (click here), this was a close run thing between Tuncay’s sweet volley against Derby (click here) and Luke Young’s thunderbolt against Spurs (click here).
In the end, Boro’s right back snatched the award by a single vote for an absolute belter against his former club.
Trailing from Darren Bent’s first half goal, Boro had created little and the fans in attendance were getting nervous. With the second half barely ten minutes old, Luke Young – 299 career appearances, six goals – stepped up and wellied an incredible right-foot shot into the top corner of Paul Robinson’s goal.
Not only was Young’s strike a great demonstration to Fabio Rochemback that it is actually possible to connect properly with a football, it was a pretty important goal. Boro were on a run of five straight defeats and had sunk into the bottom three. Unlike our north London opponents, who were in similarly dire straits at the time, there was no overriding sense that we were in a false position; we were where our squad deserved to be.
Young’s goal didn’t suddenly make everything better but it did something to arrest a pathetic run of results. Following the Spurs game, Boro picked up eight points from their following five fixtures.
More than anything, though, it was an absolute beauty.
Gordon Dalton: “A strike of the highest order, which some claim is the fastest moving shot ever. I'm not sure about that but Young's celebration and the chase after him by the Boro players is certainly the fastest any one of them has run all season.”
James Keen: “Not only was it Match of the Day's "Goal Of The Month" for November but it was against his former club. Magic moment for our boy Luke.”
Toby Higgins: “Tuncay's textbook volley against Derby is not to be ignored, although a botched celebration involving the Turk and Downing in the aftermath means Young's belter gets the vote.”
Performance of the season
Middlesbrough 2-1 Arsenal (9th December 2007)
In many ways this match was just as depressing as the Cardiff debacle.
Hang on, bear with me.
While undoubtedly gratifying at the time, the victory over Arsenal is actually quite dispiriting because it gives us an all-too-rare glimpse at what things could be like if our squad could be arsed to perform at the peak of their ability more than a couple of times a season.
Arsenal, top of the Premiership, undefeated in the League and playing some of the finest football the English game has ever seen, swaggered into Teesside to administer what would surely be a regulation four-nil hiding to Southgate’s struggling men.
Boro, on a run of eleven games without a win, had conceded three goals to Man City, West Ham and Aston Villa in recent weeks, and were slap bang in the middle of a full-on relegation scrap.
Mark Schwarzer was injured, Mido was crocked and Julio Arca was still nursing an injury that had kept him out for three months. Notwithstanding Boro’s willingness to take points off the "Big Four", this had hammering written all over it in big red letters.
And yet from the first whistle to the last Boro laid into Arsenal, robbing them of both time and space. Within five minutes, Jeremie Aliadiere beat Kolo Toure to the ball inside the Arsenal area and Boro had a penalty.
Boro get so few penalties that, without Mido in the team, no one actually knew who would take it. Up stepped Stewart Downing to calmly beat Almunia and make it 1-0. It took serious balls on Downing’s part as the “Downing, you big fanny” contingent were making their voices heard loud and clear at that stage of the season.
The Gooners will point to the absence of Cesc Fabregas and Mathieu Flamini in central midfield but Gilberto Silva and Lassana Diarra are no mugs. Not that you’d have known that from the way Rochemback, George Boateng and Gary O’Neil swarmed all over them.
Yet this was no hatchet job, Boro played neat, attacking football themselves and but for some wayward finishing by Tuncay, could have scored more than two.
Tuncay atoned for his misses with Boro’s second goal in the 74th minute before Tomas Rosicky took some of the gloss off the win with a consolation goal deep into injury time.
A wonderful performance and a wonderful result. But why can’t it always be like this?
Stuart Young: “A tough period of the season for Gareth Southgate but he got the team performing at the highest level for this game.”
Alastair Brownlee: "The Arsenal game summed up all that we hope the Gareth Southgate era would go on to provide.”
Rob Dixon: “After the draw at Reading and an array of other dreadful results, it was so unexpected. The team were excellent that day and it showed that when necessary, Southgate can get a performance out of the players.”
Worst performance of the season
Middlesbrough 0-2 Cardiff City (9th March 2008)
Change 'season' for 'all-time' and the answer would still be the same.
The day before, some incredible defending and a dodgy penalty decision had seen Manchester United eliminated by Portsmouth, whilst Chelsea’s inability to deal with Kayode Odejayi meant they were knocked out by Barnsley. It left us with genuine belief that Boro could go on and win the FA Cup.
Surely only a Portsmouth side that we’d already beaten at Fratton Park stood between Boro and Wembley? Boro and the FA Cup. Boro and a return to Europe.
Surely not.
The fans? Well, we certainly did our bit. We sold the place out, even put together a bloody great card display. And while it’s fair to say that many fans were confused about what "Sporting Glory" meant, it became apparent very quickly that the players had absolutely no bloody idea.
To a man, they were rotten. Rotten and cowardly. Devoid of ideas. Devoid of leadership.
As soon as Cardiff scored, as Peter Whittingham – deemed not good enough for Aston soddin’ Villa – waltzed through four non-existent tackles, that was it. Boro offered nothing in exchange. Roger Johnson added a second for Cardiff and the best Boro could muster was a solitary tame on-target effort from Afonso Alves.
Most fans still aren’t over witnessing a performance that was about as far from Sporting Glory as you can possibly imagine.
Steve Goldby: “If Boro had been a racehorse, they would have been shot and duly taken to the glue factory. I personally don't think I will ever get over it completely. Shameful.”
Toby Higgins: “No passion, no pride, no effort and no skill. Cardiff will line-up against 'arry's Pompey at Wembley. The feeling that it should have been us is one that won't subside for many-a-season to come.”
Gordon Dalton: “I'd watched Cardiff the week before and even relegated Leicester played them off the park.”
Graham Frankland: “I'm still not over it.”
Most disappointing player of the season
Mido
If you look up "enigmatic" in the dictionary, you’ll likely see a picture of Ahmed Hossam Hussein Abdelhamid.
Sadly, if you look up "overweight, waste of money and space", you’ll probably see the same thing.
Anyone who watched Mido make his debut against Fulham will know what he is capable of bringing to the team. He’s strong, talented, excellent in the air and, perhaps most importantly of all, he’s a leader.
In short, he’s exactly the kind of player Boro need. And that’s exactly why he has been such a disappointment. When we needed him most, he was nowhere to be seen. It’s hard to believe, for example, that a fully fit Mido would have allowed his teammates to surrender so meekly in the FA Cup quarter final.
And now, having missed so much of the season through injury, it’s difficult to know exactly where Mido fits in. Given the ridiculous outlay required to bring him to the club, Afonso Alves would seem to be Boro’s number one striker. The efforts of Aliadiere and the undeniable talent of Tuncay make them both more than worthy of consideration.
If Mido leaves in the summer, you wouldn’t be surprised. And, given what we’ve seen so far, you probably wouldn’t be disappointed either.
Andy Morgan: “Injury has not helped him this season but when he returned to action a couple of stones heavier, it does make the fans wonder about his commitment to the cause.”
Udayan Mukherjee: “We’ve had Mido who after scoring in his first two games has suffered a menagerie of wang based injuries including, hilariously, a fractured pubic bone.”
Jeff Winter: “We were warned not to sign him and he has proved that decision to be correct. The trouble is that now we are stuck with him. It's a pity because he has talent. I just wonder what size he will be when he reports back for pre-season.”
Young player of the season
David Wheater
Not surprisingly, the panel were unanimous here.
David Wheater’s ascension to not only the Boro first team, but also the fringes of the England squad has been nothing short of remarkable.
Wheater, like Andrew Taylor, actually made his debut in the 2005/06 season in the horrendous 7-0 mauling by Arsenal at Highbury and strung together a series of starts at the tail end of that season as Steve McClaren concentrated on Boro’s UEFA Cup run. Last season was spent on loan at Darlington but he totalled 92 minutes of playing time in two matches for Boro against Fulham.
This season it has been a different story. With Chris Riggott and Jonathan Woodgate both deemed surplus to requirements, Emanuel Pogatetz forced to play at full-back and Robert Huth not so much struggling with as addicted to injuries, Wheater has been an almost permanent fixture in the heart of Boro’s backline.
He’s not the finished article yet. He’s occasionally caught flat-footed – as he was recently against Michael Chopra – but he’s outstanding in the air and composed and assured in front of either goal.
With it looking increasingly likely that Boro will have a new goalkeeper and a reasonable chance that a new centre-half will be brought into the squad over the summer, Wheater is going to have to assume a great deal of responsibility next season. There’s little to suggest that the twenty-one year old won’t be up to it.
And let’s face it, if he needs to learn from anyone, our manager used to be a fairly decent centre-half, didn’t he?
John Powls: “No contest here; it must be The Redcar Rock, The Boro Beckenbauer, bingo fan and extended contract signer whose representatives and parents restored Gate's faith, David Wheater”
James Keen: “Maturity beyond his years.”
Steve Morley: “By a long stretchy neck and mighty chinny chin chin it's got to be Mr D Wheater.”
Player of the season
Stewart Downing
Wheater ran him close but with respect to Big Dave, it would have been an injustice if Stewart Downing hadn’t won this award.
Downing made clear his intentions to have the best year of his career by scoring on the first day of the season against Blackburn. He scored again a few weeks later against Birmingham, popping up in the six-yard box to notch a tap-in. He again scored a couple of weeks later against Sunderland.
Boro then set forth upon an awful course of results and Downing found himself showered in an inordinate amount of boo-boy bile. Downing wasn’t having a great influence on games, it’s true, but with the likes of Lee Dong Gook, Ben Hutchinson and Tom Craddock playing upfront, the winger’s lot was always going to be tough.
Then came a piece of absent-mindedness at Old Trafford that resulted in Wayne Rooney putting United back ahead. It was the nadir of Downing’s season and appeared to affect him in subsequent games against Spurs, Bolton, Villa and Reading.
A week after the 1-1 draw at Reading, Boro received a fourth minute penalty against Arsenal. To the surprise of most people, Downing picked up the ball and side-footed it calmly past Manuel Almunia.
And with that, Downing’s renaissance began. Since then, he crossed perfectly for Tuncay to volley home the winner against Derby, scored against Bristol City in a game that was threatening to get away from Boro, grabbed a goal in an unfortunate defeat to Liverpool and two others against Villa and Spurs.
In patches of previous seasons, Downing had appeared bereft of belief. It was if he didn’t totally understand or appreciate exactly how good he is, how valuable he is. But now he’s playing with arrogance, he’s taking full-backs on again and, what’s more, he’s beating them. In recent weeks neither Juliano Belletti nor Wes Brown have been able to keep him in check.
Ultimately, it’s not a stretch to say that without Downing, Boro would have been relegated this season.
Rob Dixon: “If he continues to play in this vein, a lot of England fans may be forced to change their very shortsighted view of Boro's most successful Academy graduate.”
Andy Morgan: “It wouldn't be right to say that the Boro are a one man team but take Downing out of the mix and we are a very average side. He is our major creative outlet, gives all for the cause and thankfully, has just signed a new deal.”
Gordon Dalton: “For sticking by Boro, for putting in a good shift every game, for being the only player guaranteed to get into another team's starting XI, and obviously for spinning Afrika Bambaataa remixes of Girls Aloud at Empire.”
BACK TO AWARDS INDEX
A GUARANTEED PROFIT OF AT LEAST £41.00 ON THE UEFA CUP FINAL
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