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DEEP IN MY HEART
Middlesbrough vs. West Ham United, 22nd December 2007, Riverside Stadium, Premier League
James Keen
All good things come with a downside.
Chocolate makes you fat. Coke rots your teeth. Sex gives you diseases... apparently. Beer makes you fat, hungover and gets you sex with people you ordinarily wouldn't have sex with. And therefore diseases. apparently.
As a society we have come to accept that this is the norm.
So, we should accept that the Boro's recent upturn in form will come with its own negative aspect.
Just three weeks ago we were plunged deep into a relegation battle following a draw with Reading that heralded the last in a run of eleven games without victory. It looked like we were in for the long haul. We were going down faster than a Geordie bird on a hen night.
But two weeks later, and six points from a possible six, has seen us elevate ourselves to the heady heights of fourteenth and has given us a shot at mid-table mediocrity.
I remember the days when many fans would dream of Boro being a Coventry or a Southampton, to be a side that would 'never' be relegated but one which would never challenge at the top either.
We wished that we weren't the League's twenty-first best team, the epitome of 'yo-yo' club.
And in the last few years we have achieved that.
We don't get involved in the relegation scrap any more. Well, not really. Yet we also don't challenge the big boys. This is exactly what we dreamed of. Nice dream.
But, of course, Southampton and Coventry are now Championship sides with little or no real prospect of gaining and sustaining Premiership football.
So now we as fans must get our balancing act right.
We all want to be a Premiership side but must understand that we are not one of the big boys and whilst a relegation battle might be exciting, it's a very dangerous game to play.
We need to avoid the relegation scrap at all costs. Sadly, I think the cost of this is excitement. Whilst we remain a mid-table side, however, we have a chance of progressing.
Our recent improvement means that we are likely to pull away from the strugglers and cement our place in the Premiership for another season, bouncing between twelfth and fourteenth position for the remainder of the year.
The cost of pulling away from the relegation battle is a season of mediocrity. And we must think about the greater good before getting annoyed about it.
Despite this, we should now try to look forward to the season ahead and I pray that we can press on and look to finish in the top ten. But it's not going to be the easiest of seasons unless the Riverside's newest king, Tuncay, continues to fire the goals in.
We must expect that we will lose games between now and the end of the season but what we now know is that we can beat the sides that we HAVE to beat. Relegation, therefore, shouldn't be an issue.
This weekend's visitors to Teesside are West Ham, a side our beloved Turk will love to do a job on.
In spite of our 3-0 reverse at Upton Park earlier in the season, it was quite popularly chronicled that Tuncay could, and should, have had a hat-trick. He was denied that day by a mixture of bad luck and a lack of confidence.
Surely it's not too much to expect Tuncay to strike a fourth goal in as many games?
The Hammers have been on a run of inconsistent form recently and so it may be a chance for us to at least equal last season's 1-0 win.
Having lost twice in a week to Everton, once in the Carling Cup and once in the League (with our former fat Nigerian scoring in both games), West Ham will be looking forward to a change of opponent.
Following the return to the side of Dean Ashton, they do have a more potent attacking threat. They will be hoping that he can do on Saturday what he did in the FA Cup semi-final of 2006.
Boro, though, will be looking forward to entertaining their fans again this week. They will be looking to send them into Christmas with a heart as warm as a roast turkey on gas mark six.
Our Reserve team looked good this week with Robert Huth striking a double against a very strong Newcastle side. He also helped prevent Viduka and Ameobi from hitting the Boro net and so will be pressing for a starting berth.
Perhaps the good form of our first team is filtering down to the Reserves. Even Dong Gook Lee scored against a team containing Steve Harper, Steven Taylor, Damien Duff and the previously mentioned Ameobi and Viduka.
Julio Arca disappointingly missed the Derby game but will, hopefully, be fit and raring to go in the Boro engine room on Saturday. He should replace the suspended Fabio Rochemback.
With a performance of the grit and determination of the Derby game and the quality of the Arsenal game, we will come out of this game with the points. But we need to ensure that we, as fans, get behind the team and turn our home into a fortress.
So, as we look to record a third straight victory, we should now begin to accept that with our current good form, we are practically guaranteeing ourselves a boring season. Or at least a boring March, April and May.
But hey, that's better than relegation.
All clouds have silver linings and all good things have their downside.
We love our club no matter what. Let's accept a season of mediocrity and not relegation, and give Southgate the chance to keep building.
Up the Boro!
The Outcome: My heart says we will win it 1-0 but my head tells me a 1-1 draw and a fourth game without defeat is on the cards.
Last Season: Middlesbrough 1-0 West Ham (Maccarone 74) 11/11/06, Premier League
Boro Form (most recent result first): WWDLDD
West Ham Form: LLWLDW
Probable Teams:
Boro: Schwarzer, Young, Pogatetz, Woodgate, Wheater, Arca, O'Neil, Downing, Boateng, Tuncay, Aliadiere.
West Ham: Green, Neill, Upson, Collins, McCartney, Mullins, Ljungberg, Parker, Solano, Ashton, Cole.
Man to Watch: Nobby Solano
RETURN TO DEEP IN MY HEART INDEX HERE
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