THE AWAY END
NEWCASTLE UNITED v MIDDLESBROUGH
John Powls, 21 Dec 2009
The Build Up To The Game
There were few distractions from the wall-to-wall anger, and doom and gloom, on the websites this week.
This was occasionally enlivened by the few 'derby game Pollyannas' who believed that Boro would beat The Skunks and that would forgive all.
However, the greatest interest was provoked by Gibbo's emergence from the self-imposed Purdah that had accompanied the mostly disappointing opening games of his new manager's tenure.
Column Continues Below...
Strangely, it was to address the mothballing of the Redcar steelworks rather than reversing another historic decline closer to home - Boro's!
His threatening of a possible Labour re-election to Government by somehow unseating the sitting five Teesside MPs and replacing them with.. well, he didn't say, was eerily reminiscent of his indignant statements about reversing 'three-point-gate' with a legal campaign against the FA.
The Boro owner's linking of the run of record low Riverside gates - and future further decline - to the laying off of seventeen hundred steelworkers, rather than the rubbish and results on the field, was particularly risible.
Some wondered whether the steelworkers and their families hadn't suffered enough without being invited to watch another Boro Riverside debacle against Cardiff. The best thing that could be said about that game was that it wasn't as bad as Blackpool.
Others ventured that Gibbo might best engineer a lift for the Corus workers and the area as a whole by concentrating on getting Boro performing and winning, instead of using the NotW to spill his guts about sacking Southgate - again.
There was also some interesting socio-economic and politico-historical debate amongst those knowledgeable about the steel industry on Teesside - and you don't get many of those to the pound on most footy websites, this or any other week!
The other main topics were some anger at Strachan's obtuseness in his public utterances, the growing injury list and who would replace Ledge in what would need to be a re-shaped back four - or five, for those who yearned for Brad Jones to give way to Danny, Danny Coyne between the sticks.
There were rueful observations about the fact that tickets for The Away End at Sid James' were still available on the Friday before the game - a sign of the times.
But, as game time approached, the old killer - hope - started to creep back in! You know how it is! However fanciful, Phil and I certainly felt it as game time at Sid James' neared.
The Parmo Army, fancy dressed and full of Xmas spirit(s), were in the rafters with the Subbuteo view. They were part of what turned out to be the biggest Championship gate ever.
Tribute was due to all who survived the treacherous journey to be there.
The Game
Boro's season is at least achieving consistency with the rest of their 2009.
On this form, they have again plumbed the depths of the record breaking away defeats run that played such a big part in ending their Premier League run last term.
The only difference is that they've now added home form that's record-breakingly bad too.
Sunday's ever so predictable outcome confirmed The Reds in the bottom half of the table and twenty points behind The Barcodes, with even the play-off places starting to disappear over the horizon.
Before getting on to some detail of key match incidents, I want to quote from some other Away Enders, just to give emphasis and flavour to the experience that appears not to concern Messrs Gibson, Lamb and Strachan.
After the game, the latter described the run his Boro are on as 'horrible'. But he was talking about it being so for him and the team, not in empathy for what they are putting the Parmo Army through.
"Newcastle were a decent team. Gutierrez and Jose Enrique were very good. Boro were beaten quite easily. They were poor. One thing that the view you get from The Away End at Sid James' shows us very clearly is something that has been particularly obvious against Blackpool (and in most matches, really, since early last year) and that is that our players stroll around expecting the ball to find them, rather than trying (even wanting) to find the ball themselves."
"We have a bunch of players whose confidence is shot. Poor loves! More seriously, we have (now) an Away End whose belief is cracked and whose passion is now a little restrained as a result. Given half a chance, they'll get all their noise back, but can any of these players do anything with half-chances?"
"Boro have a management whose ideas are incomprehensible to most Boro fans or, put another way, we are reduced to guessing what these ideas are. Meanwhile, the global strategy, if there is any global strategy, is kept from us, as if we're the enemy."
"I don't care whether Newcastle were, in Premier League terms, as rubbish as us. They have their future fortunes to deal with. We have ours. What I do care about is that 2,700 good Teessiders went up there, were prepared to watch this game in less comfort than the BBC viewers, with a worse view, were prepared to confront the considerable and justifiable contempt of the Mags' fans, to suffer in the cold etc and that only four of our players recognised their commitment and effort by clapping them at the end of yet another failure."
It would be wrong to say that this was a game that turned on the decisions of officials. Boro were clearly a long way second best to a Barcodes side that were far from at their best in a passionless, almost quality-free, derby that let down the record Championship crowd in everything but the result for the Skunks' faithful.
It was a poor game in a poor league that we know from experience has officiating to match. That Boro are where they are now in that league reflects accurately just how poor a team they have become. Throughout the team and the game, Boro lacked cohesion and creativity, graft and craft. The Barcodes were permitted to ease to a win in a game where they were far from the standards they have set for themselves.
Boro did suffer from some dreadful decisions from the officials - Mr. Friend and his colleagues were no friends to Boro - but the key decisions that handed the game to the home side were the ones that Boro players got wrong on the field. These included the one that quite a few made not to turn up. Others included how to play individually, as units, and as a 'team'.
And you can add the manager to that assessment. His team selection decisions were truly shocking.
Retaining Brad Jones in goal despite his 'Corporalisms' in recent games when, in addition to those, his confidence is clearly shot and he undermines the confidence of those in front of him.
Playing Hoyte - who is not even good enough to claim a place at right-back and who has been out of the side for a while anyway - at left-back.
Playing Arca wide left and benching Mark Yeates, the only player who has shown any drive, energy and ambition in the last two games.
It was said that he laid into the team in the dressing room afterwards with some home truths that they richly deserved and needed to hear because too many are too easily self-deluded.
But who was it who gave him the rollocking that he deserved?
Even before the confluence of bad decisions that led to the Barcodes opener, Hoyte tried to gift the Jawdees an opener by missing tackles, getting caught out of position and, instead of clearing with his head, nodding down into the centre of the Boro box.
When Guthrie - the supplier of quality crosses for both goals - floated his free-kick into the Boro box, Ameobi's obvious shove on Pogi was missed by Mr. Friend and his lino. However, the Corporal should still have cleaned out the cross and Ameobi. Instead, he bottled the physical challenge, flapped, and the ball dropped to Harewood for an easy finish.
He followed that up with yet another 'sweeper keeper foray' that almost presented the home side with an open goal, had they been able to fashion a better attempt.
At the other end, Lita found some decent positions and space with runs into the channels.
However, we know that Boro lack a quality central midfielder who can exploit that sort of movement with the service it deserves. And so, he got no service as Boro's callow or misfiring midfield made the wrong choices too and were pocketed by the Mags' more experienced, more robust and better quality engine room.
Both sides gave up the passing game as a bad job early on in favour of lumping the ball forward. It was another bad decision for Boro who don't have that in their game either.
But then it was Mr. Friend's turn again. Gary O'Neil's free kick was powerful and well-placed enough to force Harper to parry out to Boro's posse of players following up. At first it looked as though they would get in each other's way but Osbourne managed to shunt the ball goalwards.
It was difficult to see from The Away End but later replays showed that Taylor - who has form for this sort of thing - blocked the attempt with his hand and deflected it on to the post and back into Harper's relieved grasp. Neither the ref nor the lino spotted it.
At the start of the second half, Boro started to make some headway and, at last, some service found Lita. Whether it was the frustration of the first half or just his normal greed, he then got his decision making wrong - shooting when he should have passed to better placed colleagues (as he had done at Palace) or trying to kick the ball to bits and driving wildly over when a more controlled effort could have brought a better result.
After Wheats directed a header from a corner wide, that was that for Boro, really. All that was left was for the last bout of bad decision making to cost Boro the second goal and make the rest of the game even more comfortable for the Barcodes.
Harewood should have made it safe earlier but stood on the ball when only two yards out. The Corporal tried to help him out by shovelling the ball into the centre of the Boro box to another attacker but it was scrambled clear.
Hoyte was then caught out of position and not close enough to Guthrie. He turned his back rather than blocked the cross which was, by some distance, the best of the game. The Corporal neither came nor stayed and got caught in no man's land and Wheats was caught under the ball. Ameobi picked it perfectly though, and headed home easily.
Later
Along with 'horrible', Strachan came out with his usual schtick that he knows what the problems are but he's not going to say what they are or what he's going to do about them, including in the January transfer window.
So non-effective has he been in turning things around that the only explanation can be that he's written this squad and team off and is just marking time until he rips it apart and rebuilds it - with whatever Teesside can afford - in January.
But, in the meantime, the DiasBoro are just supposed to put up with it, presumably. It remains to be seen just how many of us will turn up to watch this sort of dross against Scunny on Boxing Day. I fear Phil and I will need to huddle together for warmth!
The Monday newspaper reports provided, as expected, no consolation.
The Away End will return after the Barnsley game on 28 December.
Happy Xmas to you and yours and all good things for 2010. Can we dare to hope that the turn of the year will bring a change of fortune? Well, only if what MFC and Boro do starts to make the difference.
