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I'M WORRIED... 23-10-07
Udayan Mukherjee
Well folks, I'm worried. For the first home game this season, and indeed for a very long time, I have never been so incredibly and utterly bored.
As soon as a rocket from Chelsea's Alex thundered into the Boro net, it was game over. In reality however, it was game over before we even took to the pitch.
It's evident that Chelsea are no slouches when it comes to the game of football, but the way they played it around with no fight back from the opposition was alarming. In truth Didier Drogba's opening goal was so incredibly easy that it made me wonder what has become of the form of our previously imperious centre backs.
Riggott was in from the start, ahead of Wheater again. I have long been a fan of Riggs, especially during his days as an understudy to the pairing of Southgate and Ehiogu a few seasons back.
Every time he played he looked solid. My friends and I used to talk about Chrissy Riggott's head being the best player in the Boro team, because even then his distribution was awful.
During his enforced period in the wilderness, Riggott seems to have spent an awful lot of time in the gym, and as such, looks very top heavy. This is all very well for rugby, but makes you lack the poise required to shadow lightening quick Premiership strikers.
Maybe Christopher heard the chants of "Riggott, he's only twelve years old, he's only twelve years old" (admittedly only I sang this. And no one joined in either) and decided to look older by bulking up and possibly growing some facial fuzz.
Every time Riggs plays now, he looks to have a poor positional sense, and seems to make mistakes far too regularly.
His partner, Johnny Woodgate, looks to have eased off considerably in terms of performance. I am loathed to say that he isn't trying, because I am sure that he is.
It looks like he desperately needs someone who can attack the ball. He also needs the pace beside him to perform the duties he can't - catching players when the opposition break.
Woody's positional sense is awesome but with slow defenders around him, Boro look exposed. This is especially seen through quick breaks down the middle.
The way teams have sliced through the Boro this season, right down the centre of defence, shows poor positional sense from central midfielders Boateng and Rochemback.
The former looks to be just far too leggy to play any more. This season started promisingly for the skipper, but whereas before Boat could make up for errors and seemingly be at the heels of every opposition player within seconds, he just seems to be running around like a headless chicken.
Rocky, for what it's worth, looked to be doing a very decent job of tidying up and distributing the ball, but again it seems that the partnership between the Boat and Rocky cannot work.
The reason is simple. They both suck each other into deep lying central midfield roles and simply do not bomb forward to join the attack. When Arca plays, Rocky gets forward, but Rocky normally still plays slightly deeper while the Argentinean will push forward to join the front two. Rocky will sit back and perhaps have a pop at goal.
When Boateng plays they both sit. Neither seems willing to help the strikers out.
Against Chelsea very few other players did either. Gary O'Neil was excellent and along with Rochemback looked like the only ones willing to make a difference. O'Neil's cross for Mido was a peach, and his all round running, tackling and passing were at least some kind of positive.
Unfortunately the rest looked stuck in a downward spiral. Every mistake seemed to rip the confidence out of the players. Downing stood around, seemingly frightened to do anything positive and afraid that the boo boys would get on his back again.
Instead of hugging the touchline and looking to stretch the defence, he infuriated the supporters by meandering aimlessly inside with his head down.
We need fighters in the team, people who shout and cajole. In short someone needs to have a word.
We have United next, a game where we could easily lose by many goals. I think that if we go there looking to avoid defeat we will lose and lose badly.
Worse still, the defeat will come after another insipid, gutless performance. We need to attack them and fight tooth and nail. The result is not what matters here, but we do need to leave with plenty of positive things to say about the performance.
Tuncay needs to be central - either as a forward or 'in the hole'. Cattermole should come into the centre where he can snarl and show some fight. The lad may not be the 'new Steven Gerrard' as so optimistically predicted, but if he can keep his head then he can develop into a good player.
Cattermole has to lose his hot headed 'run around like a headless chicken' approach to the game. If he can learn off Arca and Rochemback and add their qualities to his game instead of learning from George Boateng then he may yet go far.
Nevertheless, he still provides an injection of passion when he plays, something that we desperately need at the moment.
If we can go to United and give them a good game then we will be back on track in terms of staying in the division.
One thing is for certain though - relying on the Academy to keep us up will not work. We are now at the stage of playing mediocre players in Premiership action. Downing has become an England international, and in truth is our most highly rated player. Johnson has promise and is scoring goals at Watford. The rest are OK I suppose, but are certainly not ready for Premiership football.
Getting rid of so many players that were decent at Premiership level and relying on this paper-thin squad may end up etched on the grave of Southgate.
When it gets to the point where your strikers are so bad that you are pining for Massimo Maccarone you know your squad is simply not strong enough. Hell, I would even take Joseph Job!
I don't imagine that we will have enough money in January to sign much expensive talent. What we probably need to get are players who will provide competition for places and not players who will not be met by a 'What's the point?' upon their introduction from the substitutes' bench.
A team like Middlesbrough, despite what our detractors might say, are one of the biggest clubs in the land. We regularly get above 26,000 fans. We regularly finish reasonably in the Premier League table and we regularly do well in cups.
We should not have to rely on untried youngsters to fill up our first sixteen. They should be there on merit, not just because we have been forced into considering them.
We spent a considerable amount of money this summer. We signed good players. It seems utterly preposterous that we still don't look like we're anywhere near capable of putting out a strong first eleven, never mind sixteen.
Maybe I've been influenced by the grumbles of my fellow supporters, but right now folks I think that we're in deep trouble.
Up the Boro
Udayan Mukherjee
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