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COUNTY-ING ON BORO'S ARSENAL 13-12-07
Udayan Mukherjee
It was an impossible task made possible by bravery. Anyone you talked to before the Arsenal match placed the chance that Middlesbrough would get a result somewhere between slim and none.
It shows how much we know! Arsenal's famed free-flowing football was never going to stand a chance the moment the Boro roar sounded and a lightning quick break by Aliadiere saw Boro win a penalty.
We hadn't won in three months and we hadn't taken the lead in a match in as long either. But when Downing's penalty squirmed past Almunia, we suddenly believed.
The nagging doubt that Arsenal would just get angrier and wipe the floor with us slowly dissipated as the Boro players bossed the game from start to finish. The sumptuous football associated with Arsenal was nowhere to be seen as Middlesbrough were firmly in the ascendancy.
Normally, when a team of Boro's stature beats a team like Arsenal, the after game talk is of how poor the so-called big team were. On Sunday, this was nowhere to be seen.
Every player that played against Arsenal looked like a world beater and the scoreline should have been much more emphatic.
Every season has potential crossroads that separate the wheat from the chaff. These often determine whether a team will achieve or not.
The nadir that was the second half performance against Villa seemed to place the Boro in a position that made relegation appear par for the course. Worryingly, the lack of fight shown that day, and the complete lack of any positives whatsoever, seemed to show that the Boro were doomed.
The following performance at Reading was a million times better. However, even with a much improved performance, we had again failed to win. This meant we started the game against the Arse in the bottom three.
The main worries were the lack of someone who could score goals for the team and the fact that we were shipping too many goals at the other end. This was a bit disconcerting to say the least, seeing as scoring more goals than the opposition is the aim of the game. Or so I'm told, anyway.
This is why the transformation for the Arsenal match was even more incredible.
At the back, Jonathan Woodgate was back to his imperious best whilst his partner in crime David Wheater arguably put in his best performance in a Middlesbrough shirt.
Indeed David Wheater's thunderous volley and his subsequent chasing back (which wiped out two Arsenal players in the process) was one of those moments which caused all but the most miserable to say something along the lines of "GerrinthereWheatsyabastaaaad".
Up front, the pairing of Aliadiere and Tuncay Sanli stretched the Gunners until they crumbled, with both players running themselves into the ground and, crucially, showing some end product.
In Tuncay's case, it is not difficult to see why the guy is a hero in his home country. He is a pacy and skilful workaholic who will give his all for the team. His second goal in two games has practically made him an automatic choice.
Aliadiere, however, is a player who polarises opinion. His performance against Arsenal, and indeed at many other times this season, has been a joy to behold. Clearly, it is almost impossible to deny that the young Frenchman is a good player.
He has pace and an almost glue-like touch. The problem is that despite being labelled a striker, he cannot shoot. He is probably too lightweight to be a midfielder and not good enough at crossing to be a winger.
The question therefore remains: Will Aliadiere be able to score a reasonable number of goals this season?
I am not asking that he scores twenty goals a season, merely that he continues to make telling contributions and to do his job.
But his job is ultimately to score goals for Middlesbrough. Then, and only then, can he begin to justify his tag of being one of the most exciting prospects of his generation.
He will not get a better chance than at Derby County to gain some confidence in front of goal.
The match against Derby is one that is arguably more important than the Arsenal match. The three points achieved against the Gunners was a bonus, something that could not have been expected.
Matches where we are not given a chance in hell of winning are few and far between, and in this respect the pressure of expectation was perhaps removed from the shoulders of the Middlesbrough players.
This is not the case at Derby. Boro are expected to win, and win they should.
The only overriding worry about the match is that the ugly face of our old foe 'typical Boro' will show itself and we will lose to a team that is not even half as gifted as the Middlesbrough side.
It is imperative that the brilliance of the show against Arsenal gives us the impetus to beat Derby and clock up crucial points on the board.
We have stopped the rot, so lets push forward from here.
Up the Boro
Udayan Mukherjee
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