|
 |
DERBY COUNTY v MIDDLESBROUGH - ARCA: BORO MUST DO BETTER
Julio Arca admits Middlesbrough must do better after dragging themselves out of the Premier League relegation zone with a stunning victory over Arsenal.
The 26-year-old Argentinian midfielder has been a frustrated spectator for the last three months after suffering knee ligament damage and has looked on helplessly as Gareth Southgate's men have flirted with the bottom three after a difficult start to the season.
However, he returned as a substitute on Sunday as the Teessiders pulled off perhaps the shock of the season so far to defeat previously-unbeaten league leaders Arsenal and haul themselves out of trouble, for now at least.
Arca is confident, if Boro maintain that level of performance, they can look forward to a better second half of the campaign, although he insists he never believed they were involved in a relegation scrap.
He said: "I never thought that. There were too many games to go before the end of the season.
"But we were in the bottom three last week and we accepted that. We maybe had not played as well as we would have wanted in the last few games before Arsenal, but everything has changed around in a week.
"From two weeks ago, losing at home to Aston Villa, we went to play against Reading and got a point there, and then we came back against Arsenal with a massive performance and that win has helped to get us out of the relegation zone.
"The quality is there, we just have to use it more, and the players know that now."
Boro head bottom-of-the-table Derby on Saturday determined to carry last week's performance into a very different, but equally testing game.
Their opponents have won only one league game all season, against Newcastle at home, and Arca is acutely aware any inconsistency on his team's part could help give new Rams boss Paul Jewell a foothold in his first home game.
Arca said: "The position maybe tells the way we have been playing: in some of the games, we have played well, in some of the games, we have played badly, that is why we are there.
"There are no excuses about it, we know we can do better and hopefully we start to do that from now on.
"It is a good time to get points because we have plenty of games to play this month, and Christmas is always an important period to get points.
"The best thing that could happen now is for us to get as many points as we can in the next two games and then try to get into a comfortable position before Christmas time."
The win over Arsenal, Boro's first in 11 league games, helped ease the pressure on manager Gareth Southgate - not that there was any from chairman Steve Gibson - and his players were delighted to have done so.
Arca said: "Everyone wants to do well for him and for the club. People might have though he was under pressure, but he was very relaxed. He knew he had the support of the chairman.
"But obviously, being down there is not the nicest place to be, so this win, especially against Arsenal who were unbeaten in the league, was terrific."
Keeper Mark Schwarzer could return from his broken thumb, but it is Arca who is desperate to start for the first time since picking up his injury in an eventful 2-2 derby draw with former club Sunderland on September 22.
He said: "In that game, everything happened. In less than 20 minutes, I gave the ball away for their first goal, then Tuncay got injured, then I equalised and then ended up getting injured.
"I could not really enjoy the game because I only played 19 minutes or something like that. I did not expect all those things to happen in one game."
By Bettingzone.co.uk
Used with permission.
BACK TO DERBY COUNTY v BORO MATCH PROGRAMME INDEX
 |
|
|
|
