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ASTON VILLA v MIDDLESBROUGH - RALLYING CRY ISSUED BY SOUTHGATE
Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate has challenged his players to swallow their FA Cup disappointment and make their season a success.
The Teessiders saw their hopes of lifting the famous trophy for the first time in their history disappear when Championship Cardiff left the Riverside Stadium having secured a semi-final trip to Wembley.
Southgate and his staff have since had to deal with both the disappointment of the players and a fans' backlash.
However, the 37-year-old remains convinced a strong finish to the campaign which lifts the club clear of the fight against relegation can dispel the gloom.
Boro head for Aston Villa on Wednesday night sitting just four points above the drop zone and desperate to bounce back at the first attempt.
Southgate said: "In November, we were in the bottom three and everybody was struggling to see a way out for the team.
"At the moment, we are 12th, so if you relate that to where we were in November, that would be a success.
"We finished 12th last season and we have had an enormous amount of change, so to finish 12th given the finances of all the clubs involved, that would probably be about a par finish.
"Success is winning a trophy or finishing higher than you did the previous season.
"Whether that's success remains to be seen, but we certainly can't win a trophy now, we have allowed that to slip through our fingers.
"But we have got to finish as high as we possibly can."
With a trip to Arsenal on Saturday to follow Wednesday's game, Southgate is acutely aware things could get worse before they get better.
With just three points separating them from Birmingham in 17th place, the fight for survival looks certain to go down to the wire.
However, the former England defender has maintained throughout an eventful campaign that the scrap to stay in the top flight does not really take shape until the last five or six games, and is confident his team can escape the scramble at the foot of the table.
He said: "We have seen over the last couple of weeks, one result one way or another - Reading's result against us changed the complexion of the whole of the bottom of the table.
"There will be those swings and fluctuations between now and the end of the season.
"What we have to do is stay very calm through all of that and plot our way through it."
Sunday's disappointment left Southgate needing to lift his players, but he knows from personal experience what was going through their minds.
He said: "Whether they are a young player who is struggling to get into the team and needing a spell on loan, whether they are a more experienced player who is out of the team, a player who is injured, a player who has been sent off - I have been through all those experiences and I have certainly been through afternoons where it does not happen and you just want to go home and bury yourself under the duvet."
ASTON VILLA FANSONLINE HERE...
By Bettingzone.co.uk
Used with permission.
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