|
 |
THE THOMAS McAVOY COLUMN
SAME OLD, SAME OLD
Thomas McAvoy, 5 Nov 2009
There is no doubt that the performance on Saturday had all the hallmarks of Gareth Southgate's reign.
Every single one of the problems we encountered and failed to solve against West Brom, Leicester and Watford were all too eminent once again.
If you had been living on the Moon for the last couple of weeks, you'd have been forgiven for presuming that nothing had changed and that Gareth Southgate was still our manager.
Column Continues Below...
If we were to learn just one thing from this weekend, it's that - every bit as much as a change of manager - we need a change of personnel on the pitch.
The problems that we have are long term ones, ones which cannot be changed through rigorous work on the training ground or even through changes in tactics and formation.
Julio Arca has laboriously held on to possession and tried risky passes for the last eighteen months now. Jeremie Aliadiere and Didier Digard have only enhanced reputations of being injury prone throughout their careers since joining the Boro.
Are these changes really changes within a manager's scope?
One of the things which can make football so enduringly popular is its unpredictability. The hope which remains in the back of your mind that this will be the attack which produces a goal and this will be the season we get promoted.
It is this hope, however irrational, which should flare within each and every supporter as the turnstile closes behind them.
But unpredictability is a concept that is alien to the Riverside Stadium.
This is from the inevitable denouement of a 1-0 defeat, to the isolated five minutes attacking the North Stand where we gain a flurry of fruitless corners, right down to the lapse in concentration which will concede the match-winning goal.
There must be some seriously flush punters out there who have been betting on our home games so far this season.
Is it this knowledge (acceptance?) of the inevitable which has long since forced the lustre out of the Riverside and which makes going to home games more of a chore than a pleasure these days?
As the defeats have racked up, each one as inevitable as the last, and our failings become more and more apparent, the calls for change have taken on a shriller, more indignant note.
Rather than the optimistic 'Boro's Going Up To Stay', demands for a new centre forward have been the downbeat soundtrack to this season.
It was rotten luck that Caleb Folan's hamstring wasn't able to last longer than a floundering hour as we were decimated by West Brom (although plenty have already denounced him as a terrible signing having taken one withering glance at his goals per game record).
Similar concerns have tracked Marcus Bent throughout his career. Whilst the finesse is obviously lacking, there is a purposeful power to his game that we are sorely lacking at the moment.
Childishly naive as I am, the obviousness of our problems meant that it wasn't so much the heralded press conference which interested me as the surreptitious glance at what could be a revolutionary next few months.
With one glance at the errant bit of paper listing potential targets, I was immediately visualising the likes of Jack Wilshere and Federico Macheda cementing their reputations as two of the most promising youngsters in European football in our team.
How we crave a player who can, as Jose Mourinho once put it, "break the lines of midfield and attack" - to receive the ball deep, and turn and attack defenders through the middle.
A team which is all too willing to play the ball across - but never penetrate through - deep opposition defensive units requires a creator.
Refreshing as it was to see immediate action in the transfer market, being promised Jack Wilshere and signing Marcus Bent was a little like waking up on Christmas Morning expecting a Spud Gun and receiving a knitted jumper.
Meanwhile Adam Johnson remains an isolated creative presence. Yes, he's a little ball-greedy at times, but wouldn't you be if your only other option was to pass to one of our impotent strikers; especially in the knowledge that you are by far our top scorer?
Accuse him of arrogance if you want, but who can blame him?
That arrogance dissipated quickly enough with the missed penalty anyway. Under the weight of expectation - and the pressure which comes with being the creative and goal scoring pivot of the team - he seemed to wilt and disappear into the periphery of the game afterwards.
Let's hope it's a lesson in modesty, rather than an evaporation of the confidence which, let's face it, makes him such an exciting and inventive dribbler.
Could changing the manager be futile (bear with me here, my knee isn't jerking that much)?
Having witnessed a defeat which bore all the hallmarks of the others which have blighted this season, my mind turned to the 'Moneyball' theory which, amongst other things, argues that the manager's role in performances and results is inconsequential when compared to the wage budget of the team.
It is a solemn thought given the ruthlessness with which Southgate had to cut the wage bill during his three years here, and also given that our results have taken an altogether more inconsistent turn since our last remaining high earners (Huth and Tuncay) departed.
But let's have faith in Gordon Strachan to improve each and every member of the squad (even if it took a bloke sitting near me five minutes to conclude that he wasn't up to the job: "If it was Southgate picking that team, he'd have been crucified" he moaned, and continued to do so with gusto until the final whistle).
And even if the identity of the manager is theoretically inconsequential, maybe the arrival of Strachan will see Steve Gibson be a little less frugal in the transfer market than he was with Gareth Southgate.
Either way, drastic improvement is needed if we are to return to the Premier League.
CLICK HERE TO COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE
DOWNLOAD THE ComeOnBoro.com TOOLBAR
BACK TO THE THOMAS McAVOY
INDEX
A GUARANTEED PROFIT OF AT LEAST £41.50 ON PORTSMOUTH v SUNDERLAND
There's a full round of Premier League fixtures this midweek and did you know that it is possible to win money on Tuesday evening's clash between Portsmouth and Sunderland, whatever the result?
The game kicks off at 7.45pm UK Time and we can guarantee you a profit of at least £41.50, whatever the result of the match. All you have to do is follow the simple instructions below and then sit back and enjoy the game. At full-time, you will be at least £41.50 better off, whatever the result of the match.
A GUARANTEED PROFIT OF AT LEAST £41.50 ON PORTSMOUTH v SUNDERLAND
Comments On This Article
Tommy, November 6, 2009 at 10:36 am
I think given time Strachan can get the job done - his record at battling at the sharp end of the Premiership and a relatively successful stay at Celtic suggests he has the quality. We just live in impatient times.
If anyone bet on last weekend\'s action, you might be interested in this article, http://tinyurl.com/yhd89fl, which outlines how much European betting restrictions inflate prices for many gamblers. There\'s no justice!
|
|
|
|
