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ASTON VILLA v MIDDLESBROUGH - SOUTHGATE AIMS TO PICK UP PIECES
Shattered Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate has ordered his players to take their FA Cup humiliation on the chin and come out fighting.
Southgate's side became the 19th Premier League side to exit the FA Cup before the semi-final stage as Cardiff won 2-0 at the Riverside on Sunday.
It was a big opportunity lost for Middlesbrough, who had watched as only Portsmouth of the top flight made it through to the last four.
Yet Cardiff were worthy winners and the defeat must surely rank as the biggest disappointment of Southgate's managerial career to date.
Southgate enjoyed one of his proudest moments in the Welsh capital as he lifted the 2004 Carling Cup but now the city's Championship side have left him to contemplate only a possible battle to avoid relegation.
Boro head for European contenders Aston Villa on Wednesday sitting 12th, just four points above the drop zone, and have a trip to Champions league challengers Arsenal at the weekend.
Southgate said: "What we have to do is accept that there will be plenty of criticism.
"The fans will rightly be disappointed, angry, frustrated. We are most of those things and we have to respond.
"For the fans, that pain is going to take a long time to heal and as the manager, I have got to take that on the chin.
"I said last week the ground [atmosphere] was flat and got slaughtered for it, but I thought it was flat.
"But I am the first to stand here and say we got a full house here and I was desperate to put on a performance that would bring them back - and we didn't do that.
"Whatever criticism comes my way, I have got to accept; whatever criticism comes the team's way, we have to accept.
"But we have got to now stay strong together as a dressing room because it will all come at us from outside.
"We have 10 games left in the league, important games, games that can either have a positive finish to the season or one that drags us through a roller-coaster again.
"I have lost football matches before and I am still here to tell the tale.
"But our response now is very, very important. We have got to get pride back, we have got to get the respect of our supporters back and we have to deal with whatever is thrown at us and stay strong."
The Boro faithful did indeed turn out in force in eager anticipation of a third FA Cup semi-final in six years and a first trip to Wembley since the 1998 League Cup final.
However, Peter Whittingham's superb ninth-minute strike set the tone for a depressing 90 minutes for the home fans.
And when Roger Johnson doubled the lead with just 22 minutes gone, their hopes were pinned on the kind of fightback which characterised the latter stages of their run to the UEFA Cup final in 2006.
Yet there was little or no response from Southgate's men and Cardiff's victory, despite their manager Dave Jones' insistence to the contrary, was as comfortable as the scoreline suggested.
Southgate said: "We haven't got time to feel sorry for ourselves. The fans are going to be desperately down and that hurts me because I have been here that long.
"I have played for the shirt and now represent them as manager and you don't want to let them down in that way.
"You want to give them a great day, you want to give them a trip to Wembley, you want to give them all of those things, and we haven't been able to do that.
"But as the manager, I have got to get the players right for Wednesday now and get a response on Wednesday."
ASTON VILLA FANSONLINE HERE...
By Bettingzone.co.uk
Used with permission.
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