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WARDY'S TACTICS TALK - SPURS v MIDDLESBROUGH 26-9-07
Stuart Ward
Middlesbrough's Carling Cup campaign gets underway with a daunting trip to out of sorts Tottenham.
But with a major injury crisis gripping the club, can Gareth Southgate mastermind what will have to be a masterstroke and get Boro to progress?
Tottenham Hotspur Key Players
Jermain Defoe - The explosive England International hardly gets his game at Spurs anymore. God knows why though as he is lightning fast and can score goals from inside or outside the area.
I am sure Boro will be hoping that he is ring rusty, otherwise he could cause all mannor of problems for Woodgate and company.
Aaron Lennon - The young winger has been a little beset by injuries of late, but is expected to play for Spurs tonight.
He is quick and skilful, but perhaps lacks a final product to his game. His crossing and finishing are not yet up to the standards they should be.
He will be up against one of Boro's most consistent performers in Andrew Taylor and it should be an interesting battle.
Gareth Bale - Welsh left back Bale is one of the hot prospects in British football at the minute, as shown by the price tag that he commanded in the summer.
He has a great left foot and is comfortable going forward and solid in defence. He reminds me a lot of Leighton Baines.
Bale will be responsible for stopping Boro causing problems down their right wing.
Spurs Manager Martin Jol
Jol finds himself under a huge amount of pressure at the minute, and a cup defeat could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
He has been found out as tactically naïve recently, and his signings are hardly setting the world on fire. The £16 million he paid for Darren Bent in the summer has yet to be justified.
Possible Spurs Line-Up
Fulop
Chimbonda Dawson Kaboul Bale
Stalteri Jenas Zokora Lennon
Defoe Bent
I expect Spurs to make a few changes to their team, giving players returning from injury a chance to regain some match fitness.
The supposed strong point of this side is their midfield, and it will be strengthened by the return of Aaron Lennon, who will probably slot in on Spurs' problem left wing tonight.
If this is the case, he will come up against Luke Young, and this could well be one of the key battles in the game today.
Canadian Journeyman Paul Stalteri will come in on the right wing, and he is hardly the most petrifying of opponents for Andrew Taylor to face, although he will add some defensive strength to help cope with the threat of Stewart Downing.
Boro will need to restrict the space given to powerful midfielder Jenas, who loves to make surging runs into the heart of opposing defences. Boateng and Rochemback will need to be at their best tonight.
Up top I think Spurs will rest Berbatov (thank God) so Defoe and Bent will have a chance to stake a claim for regular places, which could make them dangerous. Boro will probably go with their first choice defence today and they will all need to be at their best to deal with the electric pace in the Spurs front line.
Whilst Boro are weakened up front, they are coming across a mediocre defence tonight. Kaboul looks like a decent enough player, and while the other players are solid at best, they are hardly exceptional.
If Boro can get the likes of Downing and Rochemback on the ball, things might just happen and then it's down to our second-string strikeforce to take advantage.
Middlesbrough Key Players
Fabio Rochemback - The Brazilian has been one of Boro's stand out players this season so far. He looks comfortable on the ball and along with Arca he has helped to orchestrate most of the good things that have happened so far.
With Arca nwo out for two months, he will need to prove that he can do it alongside The Boat, which hasn't proven to be the case thus far in his career.
Dong Gook Lee - As the only senior striker left available to Boro it is time for Gook to stand up and be counted. He will have to lead the line today or Boro will be in a rather large amount of trouble.
He has the skills and gets himself in positions, he just needs to hit the target more, and bag a few confidence boosting goals.
He will be playing alongside a youth team player tonight, most likely Craddock, and has no choice other than to perform today if he wants his contract renewing at the end of the season.
Tom Craddock - He has been scoring goals for the reserves, but then so did Danny Graham. Craddock has the chance tonight to prove that he is a future Premier League star, and a chance to endear himself to the Boro support.
From what I have seen of him, he looks decent enough. His results come through hard work, and if he continues that work ethic then no one will have many complaints.
Boro Manager Gareth Southgate
Southgate needs to get Boro to develop a killer instinct. We are wasting too many chances of late, letting teams off the hook and dropping points when we should be winning games.
This won't be made any easier by the injury crisis effecting the strikeforce at the minute, but then this is what he is paid to do and Gareth will sort it.
Possible Boro Lineup
Schwarzer
Young Woodgate Wheater Taylor
Cattermole Rochemback Boateng Downing
Lee Craddock
While the defence is as strong as it can be, the midfield and strikers are looking a little bit weak.
With Boateng returning to the centre of the Boro midfield we will have lost a lot of creativity and this puts added pressure on the other players to perform above their usual levels. We don't look as balanced.
Downing looked excellent last match, and hopefully he can continue this. If he doesn't then Boro will really struggle, as we always seem to have done in London recently.
Up top, Lee and Craddock hardly inspire great confidence that we will score goals, so the midfield are going to have to chip in or we will struggle. Badly.
How it will go
Unfortunately I really can't see Boro winning tonight due to injury list. Unless we can come up with goals from midfield then we won't really trouble the Spurs defence.
I am going to have to go for a 2-0 Spurs win unfortunately and I hope Boro prove me badly wrong. It wouldn't be the first time that Boro have won when least expected to.
THE DONG-GOOK LEE SONG
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