THE WEEK ON THE TEES
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NEWCASTLE AND BORO SHOW OUR WEAKNESSES
Luke Raine, 25 Nov 2009
Another week has passed, and more ground has been lost on the Championship's top two after both Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion recorded impressive victories.
Newcastle's victory against a hard-working Preston North End side on Monday night may not generate a lot of money from DVD sales with Christmas approaching, but in terms of a Championship performance, it was almost perfect.
Their ability to grind out results can't be underestimated at any level of English football, let alone the tightest division of them all.
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As for Boro, the same could not be said for the final 85 minutes of the clash against Nottingham Forest on Saturday. The statistics do not lie, and two shots on target during the entire game is totally unacceptable.
Excuses have been and will be made for the reasons behind this, but after being in the job for a month, Gordon Strachan will have to take some of the blame for the lack of cutting edge.
This is not to say that I agree with those who decided to boo the side off the pitch at the weekend, who were most probably the same fans who were rejoicing in the streets when they learnt that the fiery Scot had been appointed as Gareth Southgate's successor.
These fans, and those who have decided to stay away, are the reason why Southgate lost his job. Falling attendances were given as a reason for the former manager's departure, but even the arrival of some new blood into the playing and coaching staff has not helped.
I am not aware of the exact figures, but of the 22,000 fans who attended Saturday's game, I would predict around 3,500 of those were away supporters. This leaves less than 19,000 home fans, which is maybe a few hundred up from Southgate's last Saturday afternoon fixture - the 1-0 defeat to Watford.
This proves that there is an underlying issue when it comes to Boro fans not attending the games, and that it has very little, if anything, to do with who is in charge of the club. This makes the chairman's reason for sacking Southgate redundant in my eyes.
Another big disappointment was the form of the loan signings on Saturday. The two strikers who played were hugely disappointing, although it would be extremely unfair to judge Dave Kitson on 55 minutes of first-team football. Hopefully the former Reading man can hit the ground running against Peterborough United on Saturday.
As for Marcus Bent, his signing looks like a small gamble that, ultimately, will not pay off. Strachan will have to take the blame for introducing yet another forward who looks completely lost in front of goal.
One positive to come out of the game was a typical goal poacher's finish from Leroy Lita, who was given a second chance by Strachan after his poor display at Selhurst Park a fortnight ago. The side have been crying out for a player who is capable of this, and while Lita is hardly as prolific as Jermain Defoe in front of goal, his goal was at least promising.
With positives hard to come by this week, optimists will point to the fact that despite a dreadful run of form, the team still sits just two points outside the play-off zone. With 87 points still to play for this season, automatic promotion is certainly not out of the question just yet.
However it does sum up the side's predicament in front of goal when you see Spurs score as many in one half as we have at home all season.
After Boro take on bottom of the table Peterborough on Saturday, they then embark on a run of fixtures that could, excuse the cliché, "make or break their season".
At the time of writing, QPR, Blackpool, Cardiff and Newcastle all sit above us in the table, so the set of fixtures can either be viewed as being daunting or a chance to make up ground on our closest rivals. We just have to hope that the squad's mentality is closer to the latter than the former.
If the team can pick up 10 points or more from these next five fixtures then they will be in a very healthy position going into the Christmas period. Unfortunately, the dire home form has meant that slip-ups will hurt the side a lot more in the second half of the season, as there is little scope for more performances like Saturday's.
Anon, December 2, 2009 at 1:20 pm As someone who attended the game at selhurst park, when the opportunity arose to watch the Boro face Blackpool, i had to summon all my experience of excuses i have used to get out of such invitations. I decided on the excuse of \"costs\".
Bring back the days of 2006 when the boro were at least losing cup finals
